B&M Store vs Online

[getting excited]

Since I have started lurking in these forums, I have noticed that probably 90% of people on here buy their diamonds online. I know that many jewelers will inflate value and cost and may not know very much about diamonds, BUT there are still good jewelers out there right? How can I tell if a jeweler is a "reliable" jeweler where I can get a good deal?

 

[stone-cold11]

Most of the ''online'' vendors has a physical presence, just going online allows for a larger pool of customers they can reach, so their turn-over is higher and they can get by with lower margins than pure B&M stores.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 4/27/2010 7:56:41 PM
Author:getting excited
Since I have started lurking in these forums, I have noticed that probably 90% of people on here buy their diamonds online. I know that many jewelers will inflate value and cost and may not know very much about diamonds, BUT there are still good jewelers out there right? How can I tell if a jeweler is a ''reliable'' jeweler where I can get a good deal?

compare your jeweler''s price to online prices from the same lab and same 4Cs.

 

[TheDoctor]

I know that many jewelers will inflate value and cost and may not know very much about diamonds.


Stay out of the malls. Typical mall jewellers are merchandizers who might be better off selling shoes. They can''t all be painted with the same brush, as there are may notable exceptions, but on average...
Every city in North America has jewellery professionals who work in office buildings, sometimes many companies located within one building. Check your Yellow Pages for "Jewelry Manufacturers" and you''ll find that a bunch of them share a similar address. They work in office buildings because they pay a third of the rent charged in malls. Who really pays the rent? The customers.
The price differences betweeen jewellers is almost entirely the result of differences in the cost of doing business. Support the kind of business you wish to deal with, whether it be someone who is the cheapest for hidden or undisclosed reasons, or the most expensive for misunderstood or blatantly obvious reasons.

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

Just like there are hundreds of diamond-vendors online, of which only a handful really are good and worth working with, there are thousands of B&M''s, of which again a fraction are really good in their job.

As time progresses, the distinction between the two categories will disappear, since most B&M''s currently have a web-presence and are definitely trying to use that to attract customers to their store. In this, if you want to find a good local jeweler, assessing the build-up and the information on their website will probably make you feel comfortable or the opposite. And review-sites like citysearch and yelp might even offer you further information.

The traditional reasons to prefer online, because it is cheaper due to lower overhead, is also gradually becoming a moot point. Making an online-sale of diamonds involves a similar personnel-cost, if not more, as making an in-store-sale. And the cost of rent is most probably a relatively small cost-factor, offset by other expenses, unique to an online-operation. Finally, even the argument of volume is relative, since I know many B&M''s running a much bigger volume than a lot of online-vendors.

The online-vendors naturally have an advantage and a better visibility on a forum like this, because in theory every consumer here is a potential consumer, unlike the B&M, who operates with geographical limitations. On the other hand, certain B&M''s can probably give a much better and more personal service, simply because of the fact of being local.

What I am trying to convey here, is that it definitely is not a matter of black-or-white.

Live long,