Online Retailers & “Virtual Inventory”

[the_mother_thing]

I’ve not purchased a diamond via virtual inventory before, but I pulled the trigger and ‘purchased’ one on Sunday. Per the retail vendor, because of a holiday in the overseas country where the diamond is located, the wholesale diamond source is closed this week and won’t ship the diamond out to my vendor until Monday, after which I’ll get the ASET/IS images as well before it’s shipped to me.

Here’s the situation: The vendor from whom I purchased it immediately marked it as ‘sold’ on their website; however, I saw the exact same diamond (same GIA #, images, etc.) on two other diamond websites. Up until yesterday, it was still showing as ‘available’ on those two other sites, but I noticed today, one of them now shows it as having ‘sold’ while the other site still shows it as an ‘available’ stone.

I called the vendor from whom I purchased it, and they said they bought the diamond from the supplier’s website, so it is ‘for sure’ mine; however, I’ve read enough stories on here about diamonds getting bought out from under consumers who’ve ‘bought’ when shopping the virtual market to not necessarily feel I can trust that it is - in fact - mine. My vendor said it may be that the other site (that still shows the diamond available) may not have updated their website yet for that diamond, but I’m thinking maybe the other site has also ‘sold’ it, and there may be multiple purchase orders for this diamond at the supplier come Monday morning. So ... I’m wondering if I should keep looking for alternatives, just in case, because if that is the case, someone else could have ‘bought’ it before me as well.

Questions: Can anyone shed some light on how the virtual market actually works in this regard/scenario when multiple retail websites are listing the same stones? Do different vendors have some sort of periodic auto-update of the diamonds on their website to a source’s database, like twice/week whereby maybe one site has auto-updated ‘their’ inventory while another hasn’t done so yet? Or is it a manual process they all have to monitor supplier databases? I’ll deal no matter what happens with my purchase, but thought this might be interesting to understand not only for myself but other consumers who might be buying on the virtual market to temper expectations.

This is exactly the reason/scenario why I don’t like shopping the virtual market (or ebay auctions). When I buy something, I like knowing it’s mine even if I need to wait a little bit to actually receive it ... not buying it then waiting a week+ to find out if it’s even ‘mine’.

 

[Bron357]

I know it’s frustrating but the “up side” is access to countless more diamonds.
I’ve been “on the other foot”, liking a diamond not held by the vendor I dealt with, showing as “available” however I was told a day and a half later that it was in fact sold.
So if you’ve dealt with the vendor holding the diamond and they have told you it’s yours, then despite other sites still showing “available” if an enquiry is made, the result will be “sorry sold”.
But no, I don’t know how often vendors “update” their inventory, I suspect large vendors might do it more frequently than the smaller sites.

 

[the_mother_thing]

Thanks @Bron357 I’m sorry that happened to you. I’m trying to temper my excitement in case I don’t get it as well as in case it doesn’t end up being as nice as I hope. The access to more diamonds is definitely a bonus! It’s the uncertainty of whether you’re actually getting the diamond that is troublesome, I suppose.

I seem to recall reading a situation on here not long ago where someone did the same as me - purchased the diamond (credit card charged & all), only to find out a few days or so later when it was supposed to have already shipped that he/she in fact did not get it, that it had been sold to someone else by the supplier.

It won’t be the end of the world if that happens to me with this one, as it is more of a ‘nice to have’ vs ‘must have’ purchase. And I can just keep looking.

 

[sledge]

I'm not sure you would ever get a universal answer that applies to all retailers and suppliers. I'm sure each has their own policies and then different ways they run their software, databases, etc will vary widely is my best guess.

I recall someone recently stating Enchanted Diamonds did not seem to update as frequently as other vendors. Not sure if that's who you used or not.

In the event two retailers would have two different buyers wanting to buy at the same time, I guess it would depend on which retailer turned in the order first and maybe even if one of the retailers had secured a better sales price.

Can you post a pic of the cert? I'm curious to see the proportions.

 

[WinkHPD]

I remember once upon a time, back in the dark ages before there was CBI, I sold a wonderful diamond, a perfectly square princess cut with not even .01 mm difference in length and width measurements.

I sold it on a Friday to an internet buyer.

On Monday he called me and wanted a $200 discount to match the price of another vendor who claimed to have the stone "in house". I called my supplier who told me that the vendor involved had been cut off over a year ago for non payment of purchases and was NOT welcome to keep listing this supplier's diamonds, but continued to do so.

I called my client and told him I had the diamond, right up until the moment he paid me and I shipped it out to him. "But the other guy is $200 cheaper!" was his lament. I told him to call the guy and order the diamond and let me know what he says.

An hour later I get a call and was told that the dealer told him that he had sold the diamond earlier in the morning and offered a bunch of substitutes, none of which were even close in length width measurements, which was one of the reasons my client had selected the diamond.

"Well," I said, "When I don't have a diamond and want to beat the guy who has it on price, I sell it for $400 less..."

He finally figured out I was kidding and once he received and inspected the diamond, decided to keep it.

It might take a week, or more, for a virtual diamond to be removed from a site, especially if the person showing it will use its unavailability to offer "alternatives".

Wink

 

[the_mother_thing]

@sledge I suppose that makes sense, that each probably has a different model for updating their online databases. It’s not a MRB, but I’ll share the diamond deets once I know it’s secured and I have the ASET/IS images so I can post it all at the same time for feedback; should be next week sometime.

@Wink That certainly seems plausible ... "ghost-selling" bait & switch diamonds. That would turn me off immediately from wanting to do any business with them.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Oh, I have recommended stones on a certain site and two times in a row it turned out the diamonds were not available after the people tried to purchase. Some vendors possibly like to hook the customer with some great stones (sold ones) and hope they'll continue working with them when they find out the stone is already sold! (Much like Wink's scenario!)

 

[Dancing Fire]

I only buy from vendors with in-house stones. I don't like going on a wild goose chase.

 

[the_mother_thing]

@diamondseeker2006 I think you & @Wink are right.

@Dancing Fire I don’t like chasing wild geese either, and have browsed the sites (that I know) of those who usually have in-house inventory, and either didn’t find this cut available at all or nothing in my desired budget that fit the bill. I don’t mind hunting a bit for something that ticks my boxes.