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Is Ebay so good for diamondrings?

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sbarlin78

Rough_Rock
Joined
May 17, 2008
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Hi,

Can someone help me explain something?
I want to have a right hand ring and have been hanging out on Ebay a bit.
I have seen many what for me sounds like really good offers- for example the one below:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=280276141266

700 dollars for a certified 1.00 c princess cut ring.
I am really not very good with diamonds- that''s why I would like to have your help? What is the hatch?
What should I watch out for if I want to buy a ring over the internet?

Thank you very much in advance!
 
You get what you pay for....$700 for a 1 carat diamond is waaaay too cheap, that diamond looks to be very visibly included, only has a grading card with split colour grades and it will probably be quite tinted due to the poor cut quality anyway and it won't shine and sparkle the way a diamond should. If the diamond was worth more it would definitely be selling for more, there are no huge bargains regrettably. I would recommend checking out the known PS vendors for safe shopping over the internet, better a smaller diamond of excellent cut even if the colour and clarity are low, than a larger one which is poorly cut and visibly included.
 
If you don''t mind, what is your budget and what are you after? We can help you find something from a trustworthy online vendor with solid return/exchange/upgrade policies etc.
Imho, Ebay is only good for diamonds when it comes to estate jewellery - I think there are some decent sellers who have good prices on diamond wedding bands, etc - but as Lorelei said, there are usually no huge bargains to be found when it comes to larger loose diamonds.
 
It is clarity enhanced. That is why it is cheaper. No way is it worth the appraised value of $12400.
 
Date: 10/17/2008 6:27:51 AM
Author: sbarlin78


Thank you so much- I am learning something new all the time:-)
What about this one- it is sold for approximately 2.000 dollars. It is on the german Ebay and in german but the appraisal is in English.
What is the hatch with this one- I am trying to learn- but it goes slowly :-))

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=110297661775
Click to expand...
That one is clarity enhanced and the cut looks bad also. What are you looking for exactly - a Princess cut? If you tell us what you are hoping for and your budget, we might be able to find you a diamond you will be proud of.
 
Ebay CAN occasionally be a place to look for good deals but it is fraught with trouble and you have to look carefully. Diamonds are a pretty blind item anyway and the ebay interface makes it even worse. Here are some of the red flags to look for:

Clarity: SI3 is a bad sign. This is not a standard GIA grade and it is impossible to compare to other stones based on grading. Assume that AT BEST this means I1.

Clarity enhanced. This means that the stone has inclusions that have been filled with a glasslike substance to make them harder to spot. It’s not, of itself, a problem and it can make some lower end stones look a lot better but it doesn’t improve the stone at all, just gussies it up a bit. It’s like putting a fresh coat of paint on a used car. There’s nothing wrong with that if that’s what you want and everybody understands what’s going on but if it was a beater before the paint job, it’ll still be a beater when it’s done. The standard GIA grading scale doesn’t apply to enhanced stones by the way. Don’t be comparing prices on CE goods with untreated natural goods based on similar sounding grades. It just doesn’t work that way.

Color: Split grades are a bad sign. The difference between J&K is pretty important. The seller is calling it J, their chosen grader is calling it K. I think it’s reasonable to guess that the seller is almost certainly pushing things and there’s a pretty good chance the grader is too.

The grader. Anyone who wants to can call himself or herself a gemologist or a gemological lab. They can give any opinion they want, they can print it on a little laminated card and presto you’re ‘certified’. The key is that you don’t have to care. If you can’t figure out who the grader is and convince yourself that their opinions have merit, you should dismiss them entirely. Also bear in mind that there is a serious conflict of interest inherent between the grader and the seller. At best this is someone who was hired by the seller to produce documents for them and, at worse, it's the seller themself or a direct employee thereof. If you can't figure out who it is and you can't convince yourself that their opinions have merit, assume they don't.

‘Certified stones’. If the seller is presenting the stone as ‘certified’, they are wishing you to rely on the opinion of the grader as fact. Research the lab. The credibility of the lab is their own responsibility and EVERY credible lab will have a website, Google presence and other information available to consumers for this purpose. If your research into the grading lab concludes that they’re unreliable or invisible, don’t just hold it against the lab, hold it against the dealer. They are trying to get you to make an important decision based on information that they know to be false. The lab was not chosen at random. Grading is a very competitive business and there are some first rate companies involved, even with enhanced stones.

Appraisal values: Any statement of value must have an element of what it’s worth to whom, when and under what circumstances or it’s at best useless. Value conclusions simply do not stand alone as an isolated statement. An ‘appraisal’ containing an unsupported value conclusion that you know to be false for at least the current set of circumstances tells you nothing at all about the merchandise but it may be telling you something about the dealer. If it’s fiction on it’s face and they’re still trying to get you to believe it, what about other things where it’s not so obviously incorrect?

It's not 'buying over the internet' or even ebay that's the hatch. The Internet is just a medium to communicate with the seller just like the telephone. Evaluate the seller on their own merits (or lack thereof) and decide if you want to proceed. If the seller doesn't measure up, don't do the deal no matter how attractive the ad looks.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver
 
I have heard about alot of bad diamond ebay purchases. They usually are lower in color and clarity than advertised. A well cut diamond is very important when it comes to beauty and sparkle. Check out the online vendors used by people on this website. Good luck!!!
 
I missed an important issue and it’s too late to go back and edit the last post.

Omitted information: It’s the nature of advertising that the sellers would like to prominently feature what they consider the best things about what they are selling so it’s important to read the entire ad to get everything they are telling you. The bad stuff usually appears in the small print or at least at the bottom of the ad, if it appears at all. It’s common to completely omit what they think of as undesirable. Information about cutting, for example,is often skipped unless they want to be featuring it as a selling point. The same is true with the quality of craftsmanship on mountings. It’s always possible that the seller just doesn’t know but this is a dangerous assumption to be making. As a buyer, I recommend the following: If it doesn’t say, assume it’s bad and bid accordingly.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver
 
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