Frustration with online dealers

[dinah]

I have been looking for a loose radiant online for some time now. My problem is that it seems like the major online dealers all have the same stones--the only difference is the price. Are there any other online dealers that have different stones than the major ones -- but still have great prices? My fi and I live in NYC, and we were thinking about going to the Diamond District, I have heard good things about Shenoa & Co.

 

[oldminer]

You live right where the majority of diamonds are locked up every night wating to be adopted. You are not doing the best job by ONLY shopping from the Internet when you are so close to one of the most major world diamond districts. Just don't be pressured. Look, listen, and learn before you make a choice. You'll see lots of merchandise. There is no shortage.

 

[dinah]

Dave, I thought that we would get the best price by shopping on the web, and additionally avoid sales tax. But we would really like to SEE a variety of stones before we purchase which is difficult with online dealers--although a few have shipped stones for us to examine--none we loved though.

 

[diamondsman]

Your best bet is to go see them ,pick the color clarity and size that you like ,and then compare it to the net!!


and see who ever gives you the best price for your buck!!


good luck

diamondsman

 

[Mara]

Dinah do you have cab fare? Then cab it over and check out some stones! There is no rule that says you can only shop online or offline...the smartest customers are those who do a rounded research circle, checking out all avenues available before making an educated decision. Check out stones in person, ask to see a stores most excellent cut stones, do they have any H&A's? Check them out, buy an IDEAL SCOPE asap for $25 and get it shipped over to you.

Check out stones in person under the IS, then compare their images to some that you may find online at some of the vendor sites who post IS images. You will start to get a feel for what you like to see both with your naked eye and under the IS. I think this is particularly important for the non-round stones where it is harder to gauge the quality of their cut just by the #'s.

The IS will show you were the light leakage is, dark reds are good, white is bad. Some stones may have lots of deep red, chances are its a winner. Lots of white means alot of light is leaking out of the stone and not returning to your eye. This tool will help you make an educated decision on a stone and chances are a stone that looks great under the IS will look equally better to your naked eye than the stone with much light leakage.

You may decided to purchase offline even after all of your online work, that is what we did. It wasn't as though we had our heart set on either way, we did the online research until my spreadsheets were crying...but in the end it was a stone that we both really liked the look of that got the royal treatment.

Don't limit yourself to 'either or' shopping. Check out stones both online and in person. Just don't be suckered into the sales pitch at the B&M stores and buy before you mean to. Their job is to sell you a stone. Think of the field trip as a research stage...Good luck!

 

[Lugus]

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On 2/27/2003 7

6:37 AM dinah wrote:

I have been looking for a loose radiant online for some time now. My problem is that it seems like the major online dealers all have the same stones--the only difference is the price. Are there any other online dealers that have different stones than the major ones -- but still have great prices? My fi and I live in NYC, and we were thinking about going to the Diamond District, I have heard good things about Shenoa & Co.

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Jonathon at www.goodoldgold.com gets stones that I believe aren't shared among the other vendors here. This is true right Jonathon? As an added bonus, he's in New York and gets some amazing stones in.

 

[niceice]

We can appreciate your frustration Dinah, while the majority of on-line dealers do simply "mirror" the multiple listing services available to the trade, there are on-line dealers who carry live inventory as opposed be being strictly virtual. The advantage to those dealers is that they not only have the diamonds that they list, but they can usually source any of the other diamonds offered on the multiple listings and evaluate those for you as well. You're in NYC and Jonathan at GoodOldGold.com is pretty close as is Barry at SuperbCert - no doubt that either one of them can source a Radiant for you