Help! First time diamond buyers

[allenbeth]

Hey there

Well hears the story, we live in Southern California and are both first time diamond shoppers. We have been to the mall (bad idea) I have talked to an out of state jeweler friend (he can get me GIA cert diamonds for 10% over his cost), the internet, and now we are thinking of going to the Jewelry District down in LA ( I have been before, and got overwhelmed just buying gold jewelry) We are looking for the best price and quality on a round 1 carat GIA cert diamond.
The last jeweler we went to, showed us a 1 carat uncertified diamone J color SI1 and wanted to sell it to us for $4,000. He used the Rappaport report to verify the price. After returning home I read about the report and realized that it was used for certified diamonds only. Phew, glad we didn''t buy that one.

Can anyone help? Name of reputable dealers, advice....anything??

 

[Jennifer5973]

You can't go wrong with one of the popular vendors here. If you do not have a local jeweler whom you can trust, I'd start looking here. I'd study the tutorial and educational information, and then look for stones that match your parameters.

You really almost got scammed with that uncerted stone.

 

[SeanSD]

Do your in-person shopping for stones and settings until you decide what size/quality you are comfortable with (i.e. find out what she likes), then shop the internet vendors here. You will most likely save a substantial amount getting it online, if you are comfortable with that. If you go through and read the rave reviews from many of us who have done that, it may give you confidence to do so.

Don't rely on Rappaport and I personally wouldn't feel comfortable with a non-cert stone unless I got it independently appraised BEFORE I bough it. In fact even a certified stone should be appraised, but as long as its AGS or GIA, you could probably appraise it after the fact, most of the reputable internet vendors that are on here have a money back guaranty that gives you time to inspect it and get it appraised.

Good luck!

 

[SeanSD]

Some internet vendors that get great reviews on here:

dirtcheapdiamonds.com (who I used and are great)
nice ice
good old gold
white flash
wink