Facts about Wholesale Diamonds to the Public

[pricescope]

Thanks to Dave Atlas, LawGem and all other contributors, we put together a few topics on this matter: Wholesale Diamonds: Myths and Facts.

LawGem gave a link to JVC article: Wholesale to the Public: An Advertising Case Study.

Interestingly, if one searches Google or Yahoo for “Wholesale Diamonds”, there are many websites that advertise Wholesale Diamonds to consumers and quite a few of them have JVC logo...

 

[niceice]

The one that really has us BURNED at the moment is Yehuda Diamond Company's advertising campaign on Google which states "Ideal Cut Diamonds. Priced 30 - 50% less than web retailers!" yet nowhere in the advertisement does it suggest that they sell FRACTURE FILLED diamonds... The advertisement looks like this:

There are two violations here as we see it, the first is the failure to disclose the treatment and the second is an open attempt by a wholesale manufacturer to sell openly to the public. We have asked the JVC to investigate the matter. If you want to see the advertisement for yourself, simply run a search for "ideal cut diamonds" on google.com and look at the keyword advertisements that appear on the right side of the page.

 

[oldminer]

Leonid;

A public thank you for Pricescope and for this pretty amazing set of articles and threads. I hope a people will take the time to read all of them. You took me by surprise with this compilation of some of what I have written in response to questions.

I'd suggest consumers send the names of JVC, Jewelers Vigilance Committee Members who offer bogus "Wholesale to the Public" diamonds into the JVC with a formal complaint. It would appear that the JVC needs to do some heavy housekeeping of its own members before attempting to regulate and/or educate non-members. JVC members usually display a JVC logo somewhere on their website.....

 

[Mara]

Also R&T...you can complain to Google that the ad is misinformation, they police their 3rd party ads rather strictly and would at the very least bring it up to Yehuda to let them know people are watching.

 

[mike04456]

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On 1/20/2004 12:40:38 PM oldminer wrote:





It would appear that the JVC needs to do some heavy housekeeping of its own members before attempting to regulate and/or educate non-members.

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I wouldn't be so hard on the JVC. They don't have the resources to do everything themselves. The problem is too big for one little organization to tackle--it's something that consumers, ethical members of the trade, and government regulators have to address together. I am optimistic--there has been a lot more attention to poor ethics in recent years--but it's going to take a lot more work.

 

[niceice]

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I wouldn't be so hard on the JVC. They don't have the resources to do everything themselves. The problem is too big for one little organization to tackle--it's something that consumers, ethical members of the trade, and government regulators have to address together. I am optimistic--there has been a lot more attention to poor ethics in recent years--but it's going to take a lot more work.----------------

This is completely true. They are understaffed and underfunded, the only way for them to know that this type of thing is occurring is for people to bring individual matters to their attention - which is why we did provide them with a printed copy of the Yehuda advertisement which we take issue with... By providing them with the printed advertisement, they don't need to look it up for themselves, although we did provide them with the specific steps that we took to find the advertisement in the first place.

Mara - good idea, but of course, we want the advertisement to stay up there long enough for the JVC to see it for themselves.

We ourselves use the words "wholesale diamond prices" in the keyword structure of our site but we do so in such a way to pick up on the traffic looking for 'wholesale diamond prices' which is what we are advertising in the form of our pre-profit cost report; we also provide a clear correction http://www.niceice.com/hohowholesale.htm regarding the mis-use of the term "wholesale" as often used by various retailers in an attempt to confuse and mislead the public. Our hope is to catch the traffic while providing people with correct information pertaining to the mis-use of the term.

 

[pqcollectibles]

GREAT JOB!! Leonid and LawBen!!

As Price Scope grows, you continue to address growing needs and concerns in an educational and informative manner!!

 

[icelady]

I agree and am very appreciative of all the great information that is provided by the experts on this forum.

Regarding the JVC; I contacted the JVC and spoke to a woman from their organization regarding a B&M with whom I was considering doing business. I wanted to know if they had any complaints on file on this company. Even though the focus of my conversation with the JVC was not about companies using the word "wholesale" to descibe selling to the public, the subject came up. The JVC person was incredibly adamant that "NO WHOLESALER SELLS TO THE PUBLIC". I dare say that her tone on the subject and the number of times she repeated this to me was overkill. Needless to say, I am quite clear on the fact that "wholesalers" do not sell to the public!

However, I am disappointed that the JVC has not made it a priority to police this subject, especially with as big an issue as this was made in my short conversation with them. Realizing that understaffing and underfunding are problems for them, I still feel that if there isn't some kind of consequences for vendors (who display the JVC logo) who are not complying with the rules, then the JVC organization will not receive the respect it deserves.

Incidently, the JVC representative was very supportive of a number of the trustworthy vendors involved in selling online and even directed me to a few sites to view what a good job they do in educating potential diamond purchasers!