Blue Nile Hearts & Arrows

[rachelheart]

Hi, all..what a great forum here. I''m brand new to pricesope, but have spent a lot of time studying various posts and outside education materals..like the GOG tutorials. I''m want to buy a top-quality cut Hearts & Arrows RB stone, around the 2.5 ct range.

I''ve found that there is very little online inventory for what I''m seeking, except for Blue Nile''s signature ideal stones, which they represent as among the best H&As available. Here''s my questions:

1. I''ve read and heard that Blue Nile keeps very little inventory on hand, but primarily drop-ships from its suppliers. Is this the case with their Signature Ideal H&As also?

2. Can other vendors get access to the Blue Nile Signature Ideal RB stones which are listed on their website? If so, how much can I expect to save off the Blue Nile listed price? Which firms are likely to give me the best deal?

3. Does anyone have experience with the Blue Nile Signature Ideal RB stones? Are they on a par with the best H&A diamonds offered by other Pricescope firms, such as the Brian Gavin Selects, Whiteflash ACAs, and the GOG H&As with Lifetime Policies?

4. I recently spoke with one firm, who said that top notch H&As are hard to find, but offered to call in some stones for me and try to find one that''s up to that firm''s standards. However, the firm wants me to pay the shipping costs involved. First, couldn''t the firm call the supplier and get an honest evaluation of the stone without having it shipped out? In any event, do all or most firms require the potential customer to pay for shipping to have stones called in for evaluation?

5. Last, but not least, I''ve found that many of the Pricescope firms have prices that don''t vary that much, but there are significant differences in policies. Does anyone know if there is room for negotiation with various firms to match the policies of other Pricescope sellers? For example, I love the fact that GOG will allow a customer to trade up for $1 more, while many others require a significant price increase. Had anyone been able to negotiate this or other important policies with the sellers on here?

 

[jet2ks]

I believe that Blue Nile Signature diamonds are in-house stones. That means that they have actually purchased them and are not drop-shipped, as most of their inventory. It also means that no one else can call in those diamonds. My major problem with Blue Nile advertising these as H&A is that they do not supply Idealscope and Hearts images to customers, so you can''t compare cut precision to other vendors. In reality you don''t know for sure without an appraisal that a BN Signature stone are cut to H&A standards.

If you want a true superideal H&A, I would recommend sticking with vendors that supply all the images and information, such as WF ACA''s, BGD Signature H&A''s, GOG Signature H&A and Crafted by Infinity diamonds--sold by a few PS vendors. Another advantage of these is that if you are searching inventory on these stones, they are in-house, so you are not paying for multiple stones to be shipped in to find one that meets your criteria. It is normal for vendors to ask the customer to cover the cost of shipping in stones--again, the easiest way to avoid these charges is to look at in-house diamonds.

As far as negotiation of policies, all you can do is ask. I really doubt that there is a lot of wiggle room on some aspects, as it would be impossible for a company to keep track of individual policies for each customer, but only the vendor can decide that.