Is James Allen's 10% discount on True Hearts Cuts a good deal?

[Chan Chan]

Hello!

I have never bought a diamond online but I am lately checking James Allen site closely. They are running a 10% discount on the True Hearts Cuts Lab Diamond right now and I am wondering whether that is actually a good deal or whether James Allen is trying to get rid of certain kinds of True Hearts Cuts that have not been sold. When I check these True Hearts Cuts diamonds, most of the IGI certificates (of stones I checked) are dates on 2022 (March, April, May. etc) as opposed to many Ideal Cuts diamonds that have 2023 IGI certificates. And some of the Ideal Cuts Diamonds I saved in my "wishlist" are selling fast and are sold already.

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Some of the discounted True Hearts Cuts for VS1 and VS2 seem to show very visible dark inclusions on the table and I wonder whether the Ideal Cuts (not discounted) stones might be better than currently discounted True Hearts Cuts. Again, I have never bought a diamond from James Allen but I am very interested in the idea for my future purchases. My concern is that I cannot tel much differences when I view online images and all I tend to notice is when stones have visible inclusions.

Example:

Lab-Created 2.04 Carat Round Diamond​

F ColorVS2 ClarityTrue Hearts Cut​

Lab-Created 2.04 Carat round diamond

This True Hearts TM diamond, 2.04 carat Lab-Created F color vs2 clarity has ideal proportions and a diamond grading report from IGI

www.jamesallen.com

I am novice to James Allen (and PS - just have been reading a lot of discussions) and when I saw such a discount it seems like an amazing deal - but is there any catch? Why are Ideal Cuts diamond not on sale and we can get the True Hearts Cuts at the similar price (or even cheaper?) than the Ideal Cuts?

 

[DejaWiz]

Hello, Chan Chan!
An important thing to keep in mind is that James Allen is owned and operated by the much larger conglomerate Signet Brands...and they pull no punches when it comes to marketing and pricing.
"True Hearts" is a category of diamonds in their inventory that are supposed to represent top cut and optics. For the most part, they do. There are some in that lineup which exhibit amounts of cut precision issues and/or light leakage that I, personally, would say is unacceptable (especially for the price tags).
I feel that James Allen could (and should) offer a much more stringent vetting approach by offering ASET Scope, Ideal-Scope, and Hearts & Arrows scope images for all diamonds in their "True Hearts" lineup. They certainly have the resources and staffing to do so!

 

[Chan Chan]

Hello, DejaWiz!

Thank you so much for your message and sharing your knowledge with me. It is so good to be aware of issues you mentioned ("...JA could (and should) offer a much more stringent vetting approach by offering ASET Scope, Ideal-Scope, and Hearts & Arrows scope images for all diamonds in their "True Hearts" lineup").

One day, I might purchase a diamond from James Allen (or Whiteflash) so I will keep studying what it takes to have a (relatively) successful and satisfying online shopping experience

 

[nezuoko]

I have purchased diamonds and settings from James Allen and other sites. For customer service, the JA team is one of the best I have dealt with. JA's customer service tries harder and is more pleasant to work with than Blue Nile's (even though JA and BN belong to the same parent company, Signet). The technology at JA is better than BN's, and this includes the 360 interactive video that JA pioneered. In terms of selection, JA offers more LG diamond choices as it includes GIA and IGI certified ones, whereas BN offers primarily diamonds with GIA certifications. The choice of settings is also greater at JA.

Both JA and BN advertise price matching policies, but BN has been known to not honor this policy even if the same diamond with the same GIA certificate is presented. BN intentionally blanks out the GIA Certification number on its site to make it difficult for customers to request price matching. In terms of pricing, both JA and BN marks up their diamonds with very high margins. If price is the only consideration, sites like Adiamor and DreamStone offer better prices for similar diamonds, including the JA True Hearts that are on sale. Go with JA if you need a lot of customer service assistance and for its high quality workmanship. JA's prices are reasonable if the settings and diamonds are on sale, but go to StoneAlgo if your main criteria is diamond prices.

 

[tyty333]

Hello, DejaWiz!

Thank you so much for your message and sharing your knowledge with me. It is so good to be aware of issues you mentioned ("...JA could (and should) offer a much more stringent vetting approach by offering ASET Scope, Ideal-Scope, and Hearts & Arrows scope images for all diamonds in their "True Hearts" lineup").

One day, I might purchase a diamond from James Allen (or Whiteflash) so I will keep studying what it takes to have a (relatively) successful and satisfying online shopping experience

Whiteflash in-house labs provide all the images (Idealscope, Aset, H&A, and videos)...if you really want to know what you're getting.

For example:

Diamond | 1.03 ct E VVS2 Round Cut Precision Lab Grown Diamond IGI Certified | 243335

This fabulous 1.03 carat Round Ideal cut diamond has a clarity grade of VVS2 and color grade of E.It is an excellent choice for engagement rings. | 243335

www.whiteflash.com

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