Buying over the internet - Is it safe???

[fiery_di]

My partner and I have had many lengthy discussions about E-rings and where to purchase.

To date I have seen some beautiful quality diamond rings from overseas (US mainly) sites on the internet.

My partner is not fussed at all by the idea of buying over the internet from the US (we live in Sydney Aust), so my question is:

Is it safe to buy an e-ring over the internet from an international company???

The company in particular is Fancydiamondinc, and I have also seen great loose diamonds on Whiteflash.

Any advice and comments are much appreciated!!!

 

[kenny]

IT depends.

From eBay, no.

From places like Bluenile or Whiteflash, yes.

Using a credit card may not get you the lowest wire price but it means you can challenge the charge if there is a problem.

 

[jaz464]

I am not so sure about that Fancydiamondinc place. Many of their diamonds are EGL and DJL certified. I wouldn't go that route with a transaction like you are asking about. Stick with GIA and AGS. Definitely safe with WF. Ypu may want to check out this thread:

https://www.pricescope.com/diamonds/x30047.htm

 

[fiery_di]

Thanks guys, so Whiteflash is relatively safe?

Why is EGL grading not so good???

Cheers,
Fiery Di

 

[Ellen]

fiery, you might find this thread helpful on your EGL question.

Hmmm, link wouldn't work...

 

[Lorelei]

Welcome to PS

In brief, EGL has the rep at times of being softer on their grading than GIA or AGS. However EGL USA is said to be quite accurate, moreso than the other EGL labs, Europe, Israel, Antwerp etc. This is of course subject to opinion

but EGL certed diamonds have their place as they are generally cheaper than their GIA graded counterparts. Best advice is if you love an EGL diamond, get an independant appraisal ( prudent with any diamond purchase) to make sure it checks out for colour and clarity. A downside is that should you ever wish to trade up, many vendors won't consider an EGL graded diamond, also you lose a lot of money with any diamond reselling, with the EGL cert probably more so. BUT.....I have an EGL certed diamond I am delighted with, if you enjoy the hunt and know what to look for you can find a great diamond. Also EGL's cut grades crown and pavillion angles in percentages, so if you are considering one of these for purchase, as percents aren't as accurate as angles to determine cut quality, see if the vendor has a Sarin report available or will do one for the diamond you are interested in or any other cut quality tools or info.

 

[belle]

Date: 7/10/2006 7:51:13 AM
Author: Lorelei
Welcome to PS

In brief, EGL has the rep at times of being softer on their grading than GIA or AGS. However EGL USA is said to be quite accurate, moreso than the other EGL labs, Europe, Israel, Antwerp etc. This is of course subject to opinion

but EGL certed diamonds have their place as they are generally cheaper than their GIA graded counterparts. Best advice is if you love an EGL diamond, get an independant appraisal ( prudent with any diamond purchase) to make sure it checks out for colour and clarity. A downside is that should you ever wish to trade up, many vendors won''t consider an EGL graded diamond, also you lose a lot of money with any diamond reselling, with the EGL cert probably more so. BUT.....I have an EGL certed diamond I am delighted with, if you enjoy the hunt and know what to look for you can find a great diamond. Also EGL''s cut grades crown and pavillion angles in percentages, so if you are considering one of these for purchase, as percents aren''t as accurate as angles to determine cut quality, see if the vendor has a Sarin report available or will do one for the diamond you are interested in or any other cut quality tools or info.

miss lorelei gave a great summary. in short, the best cuts aren''t usually sent to egl for grading. it takes quite a bit of work and a good amount of knowledge about what to look for to find a great egl stone. if you know for certain that you will never need the trade up policy that most vendors offer, an egl graded diamond could be a good find otherwise, it is safer to stick with gia and ags graded diamonds.
whiteflash is as safe as you can get. i have made several no hassel purchases. they have the best diamonds you can buy!

 

[Lorelei]

Thank you Miss Belle!

 

[cadycat]

Hi Fiery Di - buying online can be safe and there are a number of online vendors that are mentioned in multiple threads here on PS. Not too long ago I was asking the same questions and both Whiteflash and Good Old Gold were recommended to me. I ended up purchasing my diamond from Good Old Gold and would highly recommend working with them. Good luck!

 

[Cehrabehra]

I''ve sold my husband on buying on the internet... better prices and really, better selection. He wanted to go to S co and I did a search on them and the SECOND hit on google led me to this site and I haven''t looked back since lol I haven''t actually done it yet.

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 7/10/2006 8:11:06 AM
Author: belle

Date: 7/10/2006 7:51:13 AM
Author: Lorelei
Welcome to PS

In brief, EGL has the rep at times of being softer on their grading than GIA or AGS. However EGL USA is said to be quite accurate, moreso than the other EGL labs, Europe, Israel, Antwerp etc. This is of course subject to opinion

but EGL certed diamonds have their place as they are generally cheaper than their GIA graded counterparts. Best advice is if you love an EGL diamond, get an independant appraisal ( prudent with any diamond purchase) to make sure it checks out for colour and clarity. A downside is that should you ever wish to trade up, many vendors won''t consider an EGL graded diamond, also you lose a lot of money with any diamond reselling, with the EGL cert probably more so. BUT.....I have an EGL certed diamond I am delighted with, if you enjoy the hunt and know what to look for you can find a great diamond. Also EGL''s cut grades crown and pavillion angles in percentages, so if you are considering one of these for purchase, as percents aren''t as accurate as angles to determine cut quality, see if the vendor has a Sarin report available or will do one for the diamond you are interested in or any other cut quality tools or info.

miss lorelei gave a great summary. in short, the best cuts aren''t usually sent to egl for grading. it takes quite a bit of work and a good amount of knowledge about what to look for to find a great egl stone. if you know for certain that you will never need the trade up policy that most vendors offer, an egl graded diamond could be a good find otherwise, it is safer to stick with gia and ags graded diamonds.
whiteflash is as safe as you can get. i have made several no hassel purchases. they have the best diamonds you can buy!

Another question from me lol:
Once it is graded by EGL can it NOT be graded by AGI? Is it a one time thing? Or can a stone be regraded - at a cost?

 

[Lorelei]

A diamond can be regraded and submitted to any lab at any time, so not a problem. Of course you would have to pay the lab fees. Then of course you might find the grading results differ either higher or lower than the original cert, depending on which lab did the first grading...

 

[jadeleaves]

Hi, welcome to PS!

I''m a fellow aussie pricescoper chiming in to say that you''ll be fine as long as you work with reputable vendors.

My preferred diamond vendor is Good Old Gold - purchased from them several times and always been happy with my purchases!

Make sure you take into account custom handling charges and 10% GST when calculating the cost of the stone!

 

[niceice]

Welcome to PS

There are many excellent vendors to be found on the internet and as with any industry a *few* who wreak havoc upon the public and should be avoided. The nice thing about forums such as PS is that the vendors to be found here literally live in a sort of glass fishbowl, the reality being that if any of us were operating in a less than desireable fashion that it would be exposed rather quickly and everybody would know about it.

Before making any major purchase, on the internet or anywhere else for that matter, it is a good idea to talk with a few people who have purchased from that company before, check out the company''s rating with the Better Business Bureau and in the case of the jewelry industry, call the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC) in New York City at 212.997.2002 or online at JVCLegal.org to ensure that there are not active complaints against the company.

Look for proper documentation accompanying the listing and avoid vendors who provide vague descriptions for their products... Buying a GIA Graded 1.01 carat, round brilliant cut diamond that is H color and VS-2 in clarity accompanied by a specific lab report and lab report number with clarity photographs that highlight the inclusions within the diamond so that you have a reasonable expectation of what you''ll see through a loupe when you receive the diamond in-person is entirely different than buying a diamond represented as "one carat, near colorless and absolutely beautiful" which is the type of description we see on auction sites all the time and it never ceases to blow my mind when people seem surprised that what they receive doesn''t live up to their expectations... A little "due diligence" on the part of an online buyer can go a long way to avoid disappointment and fraud.

 

[username]

I have been looking at buying online and buying from B&Ms in my area. While I find the best prices to be had on the internet, I quickly found out that the B&Ms prices will quickly descend into the realm of reality once they know you''re fine with buying online. I also found out that if you avoid the hooty-snooty "our diamond is better because your buying it from us so it costs more" places, the prices are more easily negotiated as they don''t belittle your other real offers. That said, I haven''t bought online and the prices at the B&Ms are still higher, it''s just the trick I''ve found to get better prices from the locals. It also helps immensly to be armed with more diamond knowledge than you ever wanted to know.

Now, if I don''t buy from my local B&M stores, I will most likely buy a diamond from Whiteflash and feel very safe doing so. I have heard a lot of good things about Good Old Gold as well, so I think I would also trust them (although haven''t researched yet). To really answer your question though, I think it really depends on where you''re buying it online, because there are places out there that won''t think twice about ripping you off. My favorite thing to do to check out an online retailer is to type "[company name] Scam" or "[company name] Ripped Me Off" into google and see if anything pops up. While not real accurate, it''s a good way to instantly weed out a retailer if you get tons of pages with stories of how the company screwed them over.

All in all, I did do quite a bit of research on Whiteflash and couldn''t find any dirt and from what I''ve seen on this forum, they are a good company so if you are looking at their diamonds, I think you''ll be pretty safe especially if looking at AGS/GIA reports. As for EGL reports, nobody seems to trust the numbers and prefer to see an EGL certified diamond for themselves, a big disadvantage when buying online. AGS and GIA are quite consistent and generally trusted as accurate.

Hope that banter somewhat helps...

 

[fiery_di]

Thanks guys. Your advice has been most helpful.

I gotta say that Whiteflash do seem very reasonabley priced compared to the retail shops here in Australia.

So, how much in customs fees from US to Oz does one pay???

 

[katebar]

Welcome Fiery_Di from a fellow Aussie. I asked a similar question last week and here are the helpful facts. Link

 

[fiery_di]

Very helpful thank you fellow aussies!!!

So loose diamonds are the way to go if you ordered from the US...

Great, I just need to assure Stu that the Cushion Cut loose diamond on Whiteflash has my name on it *wink*.