Atx
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2014
- Messages
- 15
Hi!
I have been a lurker for the past few months on Pricescope and have gained a lot of valuable knowledge from both the many articles and individual threads in the forum. The time is drawing close for me to finally purchase a ring, and like many others on Pricescope, I have decided for myself that online retailers pose the best value, at least monetarily, for my loose diamond purchase.
Specs:
I have decided to purchase an Emerald cut ring in the 1.4-1.6 carat range. In order to fit into my budget (hoping to stay near 8K, center stone and setting combined) I have learned that I will have to give a little in some places. For me, after reading a number of suggestions, I have chosen to forego the color somewhat. I am looking at "J" color grades. With re: to clarity, since the Emerald cut has the long clear table, I didn't want to sacrifice too much in that regard, so I have narrowed my options to VS2 or better.
Shopping Experience:
To this point I have contacted Whiteflash, James Allen, B2C Jewel, Blue Nile, and a handful of local Austin area jewelers. I understand the latter online businesses are merely drop shippers and cannot provide the services that the WF and JA can. Nonetheless, my communications with WF and JA have not been the smoothest to this point.
Whiteflash had a custom made setting that was perfect. In my first communication I learned that they could replicate the setting, but that I would have to buy the diamond from them in order to have access to the setting. I have no problems with that requirement, but Whiteflash does not have any EC cuts in house, so you are left with the virtual collection. If you buy from WF's virtual collection, I have learned that you are not provided many of the services that are valued by Pricescope consumers, i.e. money back guarantee, buy back, trade up. I also learned that you would have to pay for the diamond in full prior to them bringing it in. For most customers, including myself, that negates any hopes of bringing in multiple diamonds for comparison sake. Nonetheless, I did find a diamond of interest and notified WF. I was told that the diamond was overseas and that they will not bring those over. I understand if their business model is centered on their own in house diamonds, but if they are going to offer access to a virtual selection, it would be very helpful if they did not set up innumerable roadblocks to make completing a transaction possible.
James Allen offers a wonderful online experience for someone with limited experience such as me. It helps put you at ease to see the 360 degree view of the diamond prior to making a purchase site unseen. Again though, once I reached out to the CS department, my buying experience has been lacking somewhat. I made a request for an estimate on a custom setting. Expectations were set that the estimate would be available at a specified time. That time passed with no communication. I followed up two times further and was assured that it would be 'today or tomorrow.' The new timeframe would pass, and still no communication. I find it odd that both these too online retailers have such a positive reputation, but my experience has been to the contrary. And, I present my experience not to dissuade anybody from possibly using either business, but more as an anecdote for other newbies that may find themselves in the same position in the future.
Question:
Sorry for the previous rambling. If you have made it this far, I was hoping to ask for the Pricescope forum's expertise on a loose diamond. The one I found is from a drop shipper. The price is at the top end of my range, but appears a great value given the specs. I am a bit paranoid I may be missing something! The site offers a single image of the actual diamond and an Aset photo. I requested that the drop shipper ask their vendor for additional information, but they claimed to have contacted the vendor, and no more information can be made available at this time. So my options are to pay in full and bring the diamond in based on the limited information I have or pass for the time being. I cannot make heads or tails of the quality based on the picture or Aset. I am relying entirely on the numbers in the GIA certification. I was hoping that members with a lot more experience than myself could give me their impressions based on the images provided.
Thanks in advance and apologies for a long first post!
I have been a lurker for the past few months on Pricescope and have gained a lot of valuable knowledge from both the many articles and individual threads in the forum. The time is drawing close for me to finally purchase a ring, and like many others on Pricescope, I have decided for myself that online retailers pose the best value, at least monetarily, for my loose diamond purchase.
Specs:
I have decided to purchase an Emerald cut ring in the 1.4-1.6 carat range. In order to fit into my budget (hoping to stay near 8K, center stone and setting combined) I have learned that I will have to give a little in some places. For me, after reading a number of suggestions, I have chosen to forego the color somewhat. I am looking at "J" color grades. With re: to clarity, since the Emerald cut has the long clear table, I didn't want to sacrifice too much in that regard, so I have narrowed my options to VS2 or better.
Shopping Experience:
To this point I have contacted Whiteflash, James Allen, B2C Jewel, Blue Nile, and a handful of local Austin area jewelers. I understand the latter online businesses are merely drop shippers and cannot provide the services that the WF and JA can. Nonetheless, my communications with WF and JA have not been the smoothest to this point.
Whiteflash had a custom made setting that was perfect. In my first communication I learned that they could replicate the setting, but that I would have to buy the diamond from them in order to have access to the setting. I have no problems with that requirement, but Whiteflash does not have any EC cuts in house, so you are left with the virtual collection. If you buy from WF's virtual collection, I have learned that you are not provided many of the services that are valued by Pricescope consumers, i.e. money back guarantee, buy back, trade up. I also learned that you would have to pay for the diamond in full prior to them bringing it in. For most customers, including myself, that negates any hopes of bringing in multiple diamonds for comparison sake. Nonetheless, I did find a diamond of interest and notified WF. I was told that the diamond was overseas and that they will not bring those over. I understand if their business model is centered on their own in house diamonds, but if they are going to offer access to a virtual selection, it would be very helpful if they did not set up innumerable roadblocks to make completing a transaction possible.
James Allen offers a wonderful online experience for someone with limited experience such as me. It helps put you at ease to see the 360 degree view of the diamond prior to making a purchase site unseen. Again though, once I reached out to the CS department, my buying experience has been lacking somewhat. I made a request for an estimate on a custom setting. Expectations were set that the estimate would be available at a specified time. That time passed with no communication. I followed up two times further and was assured that it would be 'today or tomorrow.' The new timeframe would pass, and still no communication. I find it odd that both these too online retailers have such a positive reputation, but my experience has been to the contrary. And, I present my experience not to dissuade anybody from possibly using either business, but more as an anecdote for other newbies that may find themselves in the same position in the future.
Question:
Sorry for the previous rambling. If you have made it this far, I was hoping to ask for the Pricescope forum's expertise on a loose diamond. The one I found is from a drop shipper. The price is at the top end of my range, but appears a great value given the specs. I am a bit paranoid I may be missing something! The site offers a single image of the actual diamond and an Aset photo. I requested that the drop shipper ask their vendor for additional information, but they claimed to have contacted the vendor, and no more information can be made available at this time. So my options are to pay in full and bring the diamond in based on the limited information I have or pass for the time being. I cannot make heads or tails of the quality based on the picture or Aset. I am relying entirely on the numbers in the GIA certification. I was hoping that members with a lot more experience than myself could give me their impressions based on the images provided.
Thanks in advance and apologies for a long first post!
many others know tons more.. as far as jewelers in Austin I have used Americus, and C Kirk Root, I liked Root a lot but he just died a few weeks ago and I don't know what will happen to the store, I know that it was mostly run by the crew they have there for several years, I've had 2 rings made by them and we bought my husbands (3rd 
in my opinion, all colors can be beautiful.
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