JUST CURIOUS--THOSE OF YOU IN THE BUSINESS AND ANYONE ELSE OF COURSE

[windowshopper]

Does anyone know anything about JB International--supposedly a very high end whole sale supplier to among others Harry Winston , Cartier etc. Went with a friend to look at stones. They had gorgeous stones(to my eye) She found a beautiful stone already set in a ring. She was given the prices of a number of things she liked. I plugged the specs of her top choice into the Pricescope online vendor diamond search to COMPARE the price she was given to somthing similar online. I swear I found her stone listed with DCD''s at a much lower price. ..........Thoughts, comments. Does anyone know anything about them?
Window Shopper

 

[solange]

I think you answered your own question. If you are sure it is the same one as DCD has for less, it is obvious that they are working on a higher mark-up. If she saw it and loves it, why not buy it fromDCD.

However, I wonder how it could be the same stone listed on DCD if it was already set in a ring.

 

[valeria101]

Happens often... if ou run a search for "memo" around here you will find dozens of pots on the same topic or close.

What you have seen simply means that at this time the stone is owned by a cutter (or some other intermediary) and happens to be "rented" on memo by JB to show to clients. This is rather expensive for whoever shows the stones. In the same time, many other sellers have the same stone listed on a virtual inventory lists (like the listing at DCD, that you have seen) until someone makes a sale. At that time the stone is taken off the virtual list. In this case, if DCD receives a deposit for this stone, JB will have to return it to the owner and the stone will be shipped to DCD (or whoever else). This is about the story, as far as I understand.

I am not "in the business", as you say, but this is quite common knowledge.

As a fun fact, you may want to look down on MMM (avatar "moremoremore") recent thread about her 0.5 cts cushion. She selected the diamond from the virtual inventory at Blue Nile and bought it from... EnagagementRingsDirect! I don't even think that diamond was listed by other shops but BlueNile. However, as long as this is "virtual inventory", anyone can call in any diamond. If there are any exclusivity contracts between cutters (or whatever owners) and retailers, these do not seem to be the norm... At least as far as Pricescope practice suggests. It happened before between other sellers, as far as I remember.

JB does not cut special diamonds, they make a selection like anyone else. Higher or lower prices makes the same diamond seem bargain or exclusive jeweler.

Hope this helps.

 

[windowshopper]

Valeria

We were told they cut the stones themselves--so assumed they owned all of them

 

[denverappraiser]

Yes, JB International is a legitimate dealer.

(Edited to add: There may be more than one company that uses this name. I should have said that there is a legitimate dealer named JB International. We have no way of being certain if the company that you've been in contact with is the same as the one that Valeria and I have encountered)

Wholesalers are people who sell to other dealers for resale. Retailers are people who sell to end consumers. A particular company can do both if they choose to but their relationship with Cartier (or anyone else for that matter) is, perhaps, academically interesting but it has very little to do with you or with the diamond at hand. Inventory is often made available to many different dealers who then resell it to consumers with different kinds of offers. Some will offer financing, others will offer trade-up policies, others will offer nothing at all. Listen to their pitch and decide what is valuable to you and what you want to pass on. When you're confident on what you count as importanat, it should be pretty easy to then decide which dealer is right for you.

There have been several threads recently on the topic of this shared inventory issue and there is much to be learned. Use the search function near the top of the page and search for ‘virtual inventory’. Here is an example of one but it may not actually be the best explaination. I don't want to take the time to fish through them looking for the best of the lot, it's a big list and I"m pretty lazy....

Neil Beaty, GG ISA
Independent Appraisals in Denver

 

[noobie]

Two threads, same topic? windowshopper, it would be easier to keep track of and help if the same question was kept to one thread. I think you got good answers though.

Neil: Off topic, What are the specs of the stone in your avitar? I keep meaning to ask when I see. Does it have a larger table or is it just me?

 

[chrono]

This was from a thread in the past by Rachelle. Here''s the specs:

20.12 round diamond. Certified as I1 fracture filled. Colour is L. It is certified by AIG. depth 61% table 62.5%.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 11/10/2004 9

3:38 AM
Author: windowshopper

We were told they cut the stones themselves--so assumed they owned all of them

This is soooo unusual (a retailer to have it''s own, exclusive cutting operation) that a little mound of salt, not just a grain is in order. That retailer never like being undercut by competing distribution channels (the Web) doesn''t help at all.

There is no way two GIA reports would come with the same serial number. Same works with every type of lab report and is farely easy to check if in doubt.

I think there was more detail to this story. It may well be true that JB is related to a cutting operation, but than you probably get a large cutting business with a fraction of the goods sold via some designer brand(s). Think... Daniel K, as far as I know. To sell via a brad is some recent requirement for siteholders (hope my memory is ok, NiceIce mentioned this) - so your story will likely become more and more mainstream if anything. These supply chains are never clear. Should they?

 

[denverappraiser]

Date: 11/10/2004 9:37:13 AM
Author: noobie

Two threads, same topic? windowshopper, it would be easier to keep track of and help if the same question was kept to one thread. I think you got good answers though.

Neil: Off topic, What are the specs of the stone in your avitar? I keep meaning to ask when I see. Does it have a larger table or is it just me?

Noobie.

I just liked the picture. I've never had the opportunity to look at the stone itself. I was just practicing uploading images to the avatar and it seemed like a good choice.

Neil