How well can you buy a diamond without having seen it first -- (the long form, with examples)

[Regular Guy]

See Hangout for the short form. Here, we need to be specific, with some behaviors....

 

[Regular Guy]

At the GIA conference, if we were to imagine that something like this question was at hand...really...if Leonid and Rhino were the two presenters...the GIA could not have gone more middle of the road. Take Rhino, for example...what doesn't he do? He has a shop, for people to touch, look and see. He provides a complete internet shop, with lots of information associated with his options. He also provides branded options...the value of which, in his case, probably become discounted because of these other two elements. Likewise, though Leonid's Pricescope IS the internet, if you will...it merely takes advantage of making public the options specific dealers would choose to make available on this forum...and not to mention, by the way...he hosts a discussion forum where we can talk to each other. But...both of these "players" are merely exploiting the environment available...they are not...taking sides..if you will.

Take two guys that might instead have been representing these two different sides:

I can think of one or two vendors here (who may as well go nameless). They make available to shoppers the "50,000" diamonds available for purchase. They may or may not provide as an option, at all, viewing the diamond before it is "drop shipped" to the buyer, but it is clear that even if they will do this, it is not their standard practice to do this.

Take, in contrast, a vendor in my neck of the woods in the DC metro area. I'll pick on Washington Diamond...somewhat arbitrarily, or not so. They have some sort of reputation for being large, and well priced. They even have a web presence. But they don't post what they have. You have to go there. You HAVE to see them. You can make an appointment, and they'd prefer this. They have sales people who have a reputation to follow up with you, after you visit them. Regardless, it would seem their model is based on the need to see them, up close and personal, for you to make a purchase.

I think that, for those who are shy of the internet, or willing to not go there, and who choose not to do this, but we don't attribute that choice to laziness...we have to attribute it to the belief that it doesn't make sense to shop diamonds without seeing them.

Fundamental here, your choice has to be based on how you regard the quality of the information available on-line, with respect to making a buying decision. kcoursolle notes this in the parallel post...and your judgement about this will logically point you to your thoughts on this. One could speculate that your trust in the information about a diamond's beauty will be higher if round, and lower if not. Probably, most readers here will be predisposed to be believers in at least the potential of information to map affirmatively on preference. But, we'll see for sure.

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 9/8/2006 6:03:29 PM
Author: Regular Guy
At the GIA conference, if we were to imagine that something like this question was at hand...really...if Leonid and Rhino were the two presenters...the GIA could not have gone more middle of the road. Take Rhino, for example...what doesn''t he do? He has a shop, for people to touch, look and see. He provides a complete internet shop, with lots of information associated with his options. He also provides branded options...the value of which, in his case, probably become discounted because of these other two elements. Likewise, though Leonid''s Pricescope IS the internet, if you will...it merely takes advantage of making public the options specific dealers would choose to make available on this forum...and not to mention, by the way...he hosts a discussion forum where we can talk to each other. But...both of these ''players'' are merely exploiting the environment available...they are not...taking sides..if you will.

Take two guys that might instead have been representing these two different sides:

I can think of one or two vendors here (who may as well go nameless). They make available to shoppers the ''50,000'' diamonds available for purchase. They may or may not provide as an option, at all, viewing the diamond before it is ''drop shipped'' to the buyer, but it is clear that even if they will do this, it is not their standard practice to do this.

Take, in contrast, a vendor in my neck of the woods in the DC metro area. I''ll pick on Washington Diamond...somewhat arbitrarily, or not so. They have some sort of reputation for being large, and well priced. They even have a web presence. But they don''t post what they have. You have to go there. You HAVE to see them. You can make an appointment, and they''d prefer this. They have sales people who have a reputation to follow up with you, after you visit them. Regardless, it would seem their model is based on the need to see them, up close and personal, for you to make a purchase.

I think that, for those who are shy of the internet, or willing to not go there, and who choose not to do this, but we don''t attribute that choice to laziness...we have to attribute it to the belief that it doesn''t make sense to shop diamonds without seeing them.

Fundamental here, your choice has to be based on how you regard the quality of the information available on-line, with respect to making a buying decision. kcoursolle notes this in the parallel post...and your judgement about this will logically point you to your thoughts on this. One could speculate that your trust in the information about a diamond''s beauty will be higher if round, and lower if not. Probably, most readers here will be predisposed to be believers in at least the potential of information to map affirmatively on preference. But, we''ll see for sure.

I did things in the opposite order I think... I mean I researched what I might want here, then bought spontaneously and blindly, then went around and shopped/compared to verify I''d made the best eye choice.

 

[strmrdr]

My diamond buying habitss dont really fit in eitheer of the 3 choices.

The first e-ring stone I picked by eye out of a bunch of simular stones at a pawn shop with some mild research on the net maybe 10 hours and not having found pricescope..
The second I bought after a years of learning , tons of information and a diamond expert who knows me very well saying if you get a round you have to consider this one.
Then I went back and forth between a small asscher and the round and in the end let her pick without telling her it was for her.
So in your poll id have to pick none of the above but im not the normal diamond shopper anyway so any poll you can come up with im likely not going to fit unless there is a "your storm" option :}

 

[strmrdr]

the answer to your question is very very very well .. thank you :}

 

[Dee*Jay]

Regular Guy - Does your poll relate only to rounds or to all shapes?

 

[Regular Guy]

Date: 9/9/2006 12:06:04 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
Regular Guy - Does your poll relate only to rounds or to all shapes?

All shapes! As any buyer''s choices encompass these. Of course, as inferred above, the consequence of buyers wanting more than rounds is likely to effect their answer.

 

[Dee*Jay]

OK, I'm trying to fit the "square pegs" of my answers into the "round holes" that will allow me to vote... but I'm not having much success.

For rounds, although I'm not in the market for one right now, I would purchase a diamond off the net if it came from a reputable vendor and had a reasonable return policy. But I would not COMMIT to it until I had it in my hand and could evaluate it in person. That being said, if the numbers were good (which is why I would even be willing to get to the point of purchase in the first place) I would *likely* keep it.

For other shapes (again I'm not in the market right now), I probably would purchase a diamond off the next from *certain* internet vendors, but again I would not commit until I was able to view it with my own eyes. In this situation, even if the numbers were good, I would deem myself more likely to return the item because fancies are so much more e-eye specific than number-specific for me.

If these comments fit any of your answers please vote for me!

 

[Regular Guy]

Dee Jay,

See clarification to Widget in the parallel question in Hangout. Really, this is turning into a study of Bayesian statistics.

In order to vote for you, although I would either selecte (b) or (c), to know which one, I''d have to know whether you were more likely to get the round or fancy.

 

[Dee*Jay]

RG - Consider me a round buyer then. (I''m really not trying to be difficult--I swear!

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