List of trusted online diamond vendor

[shinshino]

Hi all,

I am new here.
After studying the tutorial, I am planning to shop online for a diamond for my fiancee.
However, I am not able to find a list of trusted vendor.
I did a search but to no avail.

Can anyone enlighten me and point to a few good shops?

 

[MissAva]

Pricescope Diamond Vendors

Personally I like Good Old Gold and WhiteFlash.

 

[Regular Guy]

Date: 11/20/2005 9:20:16 AM
Author: Matatora
Pricescope Diamond Vendors

Personally I like Good Old Gold and WhiteFlash.

Agreed.

Storm & Perry sometimes publish their favorites.

My own protocols are below my signature.

Good shopping!

 

[dazzling]

From what I have read here, GOG and Whiteflash are consistantly getting rave reviews. I have just posted about my wonderful experience with Judith Arnell Jewelers. I went to her store, but I know that she does much of her business out of state, and she carries all GIA 0, excellent polish/excellent symmetry diamonds. She doesn't carry a huge inventory of loose diamonds, but she can get whatever you want. However, if you like seeing all the diamond stats online, I found Whiteflash to be great. They show sarin reports and idealscope images. Best of luck!

 

[perry]

My standard recomendations for new pricescope memebers:

I recommend a sliding scale on vendors based on the time and effort you wish to put into the search and the money available.

If you need to buy something quick - and want a phenominal looking diamond with documentation on how good it is (by multiple various methods): Go directly to Good Old Gold or NiceIce.com (Currently NiceIce inventory is low while issues related to Robins passing away, but Todd is doing well and will be rebuilding the inventory shortly - and is filling orders). You might pay a tad bit more - but you more than get your money''s worth in the resulting pictures and certifications. Note That I have purchased from this list.

If you need to buy something quick - and want a phenonimal looking diamond with some documentagtion on how good it is. Whiteflash "A Cut Above" line, and Winfields (Wink Jones) "Infinity" line (also 8* for the connoissreus where price is not that critical), and Superbcert.

If you want a good to great looking diamond, but probably with little documentation on light return and quality of cut their are several other vendors who tend to have high quality goods: Check the above listed vendors (some have "other" diamonds), then look at others: Pearlmans comes up a lot (he works old school - by look; but must have a great eye based the posted results). However, you should seach the other Pricescope vendors names in the forums for the other vendors. I admit that I have not kept up that much in the last 6 months so their may be a new vendor that is doing well.

If you want to save money, and have the time to learn about diamonds: Then welcome to the pricescope forum. A good basic education takes 1 - 3 weeks depending on how much time you are willing to invest. Becomming very knowlegable takes 1-4 months depending on how much time you are willing to invest. Then you can search the other vendors and find what you are looking for. If you are going to shop local vendors: Buy an Idealscope with its lightable (and learn how to use it). Their is a new scope out as well (from AGS) which may be usefull as well. But the Ideal Scope is a basic tool that can be used on any diamond to determine how well it is cut for light return.

Alternately, you can post what you are looking for and your budget - and many people here on pricescope will try their dangest to find you a good diamond and ring in your budget - or tell you that you are going to have to compromize somewhere for those of us who have champaige taste but a beer budget.

Hope this helps,

Perry

 

[strmrdr]

my short list:

www.goodoldgold.com

www.diamondexpert.com

www.winkjones.com


www.whiteflash.com

honorable mention:
[url="http://www.jamesallen.com
'' target=]www.jamesallen.com[/url]

www.niceice.com



One that I have my eye on for moving up in the list:

www.icemine.com

"Capital bill" from icemine has impressed me with his willingness to help when he has posted here and he is an infinity dealer.
When he gets more testimonials I will have a better idea about him.


For settings
http://www.pearlmansjewelers.com/

has a huge selection and
several PS vendors have teamed up with him in the past.

 

[leeenie]

Just to clarify...the Pricescope vendors are all technically advertisements, right? As in, they pay to come up on the searches? Sorry if this is common knowledge and I just don''t know. The searches pull up a stones from a limited number of vendors, although the searches don''t indicate that the vendors are for-pay listings.

 

[Regular Guy]

Date: 11/20/2005 12:39:41 PM
Author: teagreen
Just to clarify...the Pricescope vendors are all technically advertisements, right? As in, they pay to come up on the searches? Sorry if this is common knowledge and I just don''t know. The searches pull up a stones from a limited number of vendors, although the searches don''t indicate that the vendors are for-pay listings.

Teagreen,

That a listed vendor is associated to Pricescope has some value, in and of itself. Although Pricescope administrators don''t necessarily warranty anything, they have thrown off vendors who pay good money based on discovered misrepresentation, and in a recent case, one vendor was specifically invited by Pricescope to help make good on a problem case. Also, and perhaps regardless of a vendor being advertised here or not, the Pricsceope forum does represent an environment where vendors are vetted and publicly made available to either applause or ridicule, as appropriate. Good and bad can come forward with ease.

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 11/20/2005 12:39:41 PM
Author: teagreen
Just to clarify...the Pricescope vendors are all technically advertisements, right? As in, they pay to come up on the searches? Sorry if this is common knowledge and I just don''t know. The searches pull up a stones from a limited number of vendors, although the searches don''t indicate that the vendors are for-pay listings.

Yes they are.
The ones that make my list are the ones that go above and beyond just paying to list diamonds and have a reputation for dealing fairly and quickly should any problems happen.
No vendor is perfect, how they handle things when stuff dont go 100% right is more telling of a vendor.

2 of them on my short list advertise but dont list diamonds.
They help out here and have a strong history of happy clients.


There are vendors that list diamonds in the search I wouldnt deal with.
Thats why a search of the forum needs to be done for the vendor in question.

 

[noobie]

Date: 11/20/2005 12:09:03 PM
Author: perry
My standard recomendations for new pricescope memebers:


I recommend a sliding scale on vendors based on the time and effort you wish to put into the search and the money available.


If you need to buy something quick - and want a phenominal looking diamond with documentation on how good it is (by multiple various methods): Go directly to Good Old Gold or NiceIce.com (Currently NiceIce inventory is low while issues related to Robins passing away, but Todd is doing well and will be rebuilding the inventory shortly - and is filling orders). You might pay a tad bit more - but you more than get your money''s worth in the resulting pictures and certifications. Note That I have purchased from this list.


If you need to buy something quick - and want a phenonimal looking diamond with some documentagtion on how good it is. Whiteflash ''A Cut Above'' line, and Winfields (Wink Jones) ''Infinity'' line (also 8* for the connoissreus where price is not that critical), and Superbcert.


If you want a good to great looking diamond, but probably with little documentation on light return and quality of cut their are several other vendors who tend to have high quality goods: Check the above listed vendors (some have ''other'' diamonds), then look at others: Pearlmans comes up a lot (he works old school - by look; but must have a great eye based the posted results). However, you should seach the other Pricescope vendors names in the forums for the other vendors. I admit that I have not kept up that much in the last 6 months so their may be a new vendor that is doing well.


If you want to save money, and have the time to learn about diamonds: Then welcome to the pricescope forum. A good basic education takes 1 - 3 weeks depending on how much time you are willing to invest. Becomming very knowlegable takes 1-4 months depending on how much time you are willing to invest. Then you can search the other vendors and find what you are looking for. If you are going to shop local vendors: Buy an Idealscope with its lightable (and learn how to use it). Their is a new scope out as well (from AGS) which may be usefull as well. But the Ideal Scope is a basic tool that can be used on any diamond to determine how well it is cut for light return.


Alternately, you can post what you are looking for and your budget - and many people here on pricescope will try their dangest to find you a good diamond and ring in your budget - or tell you that you are going to have to compromize somewhere for those of us who have champaige taste but a beer budget.


Hope this helps,


Perry

This is a good start and good advice. If you want to save some money and invest some time, try James Allen or Engagement Rings Direct. ERD''s prices are hard to beat. All of the vendors mentioned (except when selling 8*) should be within plus or minus 5%. Go with one that you feel comfortable with.

 

[WinkHPD]

My thanks to Storm and Perry for the kind words, they are always appreciated.

Wink

 

[Petra]

Regarding Whiteflash. I''ve spoken to a smith recently who said one of his clients had trouble shipping a stone to him because Whiteflash wanted to do the custom work. There''s more to the story than that but it would require identifying the smith involved.

The client ended up telling Whiteflash that they weren''t the only game in town and he could go somewhere else to buy. At that point Whiteflash sent the stone to the smith.

My advice, there''s lots of game in town. The vendors people have listed have had many good things said about them -- so I''m sure you''ll do fine.

 

[shinshino]

Thanks for all the advice:

Maybe I should state what I am looking at:

H & A
0.4 to 0.499 carat
colour G or better
VS2 or better
Fluorescence (good to have)

Looking for brillance so crown height (~14%) and depth% (~58%) to be on the low side. ( Am I right?)

Budget below $1800


What do you guys think?
Did I miss out any important point?

All comments are welcomed
Thanks in advance.

 

[belle]

Date: 11/21/2005 11:51:06 AM
Author: shinshino
Thanks for all the advice:

Maybe I should state what I am looking at:

H & A
0.4 to 0.499 carat
colour G or better
VS2 or better
Fluorescence (good to have)

Looking for brillance so crown height (~14%) and depth% (~58%) to be on the low side. ( Am I right?)

Budget below $1800


What do you guys think?
Did I miss out any important point?

All comments are welcomed
Thanks in advance.

hey shinshino, you should start another thread about what you are looking for in a diamond you will get more responses on that topic.

 

[Mara]

Petra...that story about WF not wanting to ship the stone is interesting because yes, they do custom work, but they still ship out stones that are to be set in other settings all the time.

Original Poster ... I would use Strm''s list... he covered all the bases!!

Part of what may dictate who you work with is inventory, aka who has the stone you end up wanting. But if you start out with that list, you can''t go wrong IMO.

 

[JohnQuixote]

Date: 11/21/2005 11:23:00 AM
Author: Petra

Regarding Whiteflash. I've spoken to a smith recently who said one of his clients had trouble shipping a stone to him because Whiteflash wanted to do the custom work. There's more to the story than that but it would require identifying the smith involved.

The client ended up telling Whiteflash that they weren't the only game in town and he could go somewhere else to buy. At that point Whiteflash sent the stone to the smith.

My advice, there's lots of game in town. The vendors people have listed have had many good things said about them -- so I'm sure you'll do fine.

Petra, it’s regrettable to hear your story posed like that. There are abundant examples of WF diamonds in other designer pieces, as well as in our custom work. Whether we do the work or send a diamond to the client for setting elsewhere our priority is a finished piece that is what the customer wants.

This ‘trouble’ may have been our shipping policies: We do not typically send a diamond to anyone other than the client making the purchase or an approved, independent appraiser. That is for everyone’s protection, including any third party who may work with the diamond later. For instance: If we sent a diamond directly to a third party for setting and the diamond had a chipped culet when the customer received the finished work who would be responsible? To avoid problems we always prefer the client to have the diamond at the beginning of the 10-day inspection period. In this manner he/she can be certain everything is as we shipped it. That may have been the hold up.

In rare circumstances I believe we have sent to Mark Morrell, but these were with special understandings/agreements. If we did work out third party shipping with this client it was done as a favor. In any event, I would like to express that our policies are intended to protect our customers, not to limit them.

Thanks

 

[Gonzodogg]

Date: 11/20/2005 12:09:03 PM
Author: perry

If you need to buy something quick - and want a phenonimal looking diamond with some documentagtion on how good it is. Whiteflash ''A Cut Above'' line, and Winfields (Wink Jones) ''Infinity'' line (also 8* for the connoissreus where price is not that critical), and Superbcert.

How does anyone feel about WF''s expert selection. Any good or bad stories?
I am currently chosing between two diamonds - one ACA and one ES.
Thanks for any advice.

 

[aljdewey]

Date: 12/6/2005 10:45:44 PM
Author: Gonzodogg

How does anyone feel about WF''s expert selection. Any good or bad stories?
I am currently chosing between two diamonds - one ACA and one ES.
Thanks for any advice.

The overwhelming majority of their ES inventory is STUNNING. Many are stones that just missed the ACA distinction due to some miniscule flaw in the pattern that doesn''t affect diamond performance. As such, I really feel they represent the most value. Providing the images look materially similar to the ACA images, you''re getting a great stone in the ES designation.

However, I also own an ACA stone (2 actually), and both are stunning. When we bought my e-ring, the ES inventory was in its infancy and there wasn''t as broad a range to select from, so the parameters I wanted could only be found in the ACA line.

Either is a fine purchase.

 

[TexasLawyer]

Uniondiamond.com

I received my ring from them today and I am very, very satisfied. Their prices were very good, and the service is excellent (ask for Tony).

 

[Gonzodogg]

Date: 12/7/2005 11:36:25 AM
Author: aljdewey
The overwhelming majority of their ES inventory is STUNNING. Many are stones that just missed the ACA distinction due to some miniscule flaw in the pattern that doesn''t affect diamond performance. As such, I really feel they represent the most value. Providing the images look materially similar to the ACA images, you''re getting a great stone in the ES designation.

However, I also own an ACA stone (2 actually), and both are stunning. When we bought my e-ring, the ES inventory was in its infancy and there wasn''t as broad a range to select from, so the parameters I wanted could only be found in the ACA line.

Either is a fine purchase.

Thanks

 

[freaknyea]

This is what I had to say about a trusted vendor. Check it out.
Thank You... Chris