i don''t think it''s good advice to tell a first time buyer...

[Dancing Fire]

"if their eyes like the stone then buy it". he or she might think the stone he just looked at is the heavy weight champion of the world (sparkle wise). even though it might be one of the ugliest. but since this is his first stone he looked at, without comparing to more stones, my advice is to take the stone to a few high end stores and ask them to show you the best cut they have and compare the one you are thinking about buying. and if they still think their stone is the king, then it might be the right one. i would hate to ask myself in the future why did i buy this piece of (S). i guess what i''m trying to say is, never buy the first stone you look at,your eyes might not have seen a nice stone yet.

 

[icelady]

vtigger,

Can you point out a post where someone on PS has blindly posted to a first time buyer "if your eyes like the stone then buy it"???

Nearly every post I have seen in response to a first time buyer has made it clear to look for the pavillion and crown angles, in addition to all the other specs and plug it into the cut advisor program to weed out the potentially bad cuts.

In fact, it is usually suggested that the person look and compare stones before making such a large purchase and possibly being sorry later.

Can you shed some light on why you posted this?

 

[Mara]

i second iceldy's note about an example...99% of the posts on here give valuable information rather than just 'use your eyes' and that is it. the point is that numbers are very useful but your eyes can be as well.




I don't think anyone touts blindly buying a stone here on Pricescope...that is against what the forum excels at, which is education and information, ideally before one buys.




I'd also like to see some examples where one just notes to use your eyes...and more than just one random person. if it warrants a post all it's own such as this one, it must be a huge problem that I am completely missing.

 

[Hest88]

Usually those types of responses come when a poster asks about a diamond AFTER they've bought it. In that case, it always seems silly to tear apart a diamond someone's already paid for and claims that they love.

 

[researcher]

I agree with everything said here--when people say let your eyes decide, it's usually when the buyer has chosen a stone that looks great to all of us by the numbers, but one that we would obviously need to see to know how well it truly performed. IMO, if a stone meets the general criteria for a beautiful stone AND the buyer likes what he/she is buying, chances are it's a pretty good stone. What the experts especially are trying to warn against when they say you need to see the stone in person (mostly with fancies) is even stones with great numbers may not be great performers. They're actually trying to PROTECT people from thinking stones with good numbers are guaranteed beautiful stones. Obviously, there's little people here can do if someone is not going to take the stone to an appraiser (which everyone suggests) or look around first. PS members just want to make sure people don't focus on the numbers or walk blindly into a store.

 

[jenery]

well, that is exactly what they told me at robbins bros! needless to say, i didn't buy anything there because my eyes didn't like any of it.

 

[queensr001]

i bought from robbinsbros, had a great experience...
what didnt you like?

 

[squirerad]

This is an off subject to the main topic but since someone asked I have to say that Robbins Bros did have better customer service than a lot of maul-type places I visited. They at least attempt to educate (at least in my case) the customer a bit (a very small bit compared to what you need to know) about the 4Cs. However, I didn't buy from them because of the reasons that many have elaborated regarding internet vs maul purchasing but the most important of all was the certification they used: something like IGS (Int'l Gem Soc) or AIGS (Am Int'l Gem Soc), I don't recall the name exactly but something definitely not reputable/established.

Their certs also list an appraisal price, which should be a warning about possibly using less strict standards to "beef up" the $$$, making a stone appear more valuable than in actuality. I just remember the VS2's they showed me were like SI1/2's on GIAs, although eye-clean for the most part they were simply ugly under the 10x scope.

squire