Procedure of buying diamond online

[Newbie]

Hi all,I am curious.... What is the procedure to buy diamond online? What to look out for, from the consumer point of view, when buying it online so that you are more or less protected when someone try to cheat you? (eg. what details or acknowledgement form the consumer should get before sending money to the seller)Reason why I'm asking this is that I do not have a credit card and I might be purchasng a diamond online using bank draft or bank wire transfer.Hope that someone can enlighten me on this. Thanks!!Newbie

 

[Newbie]

Thanks alot for your reply, jamesd!!! At least now I know whether to go ahead with the purchase. Newbie

 

[jamesd]

Safest way is to use an appraiser who will appraise the diamond and a vendor who will send the diamond to the appraiser. That way you know that the appraiser has the diamond and that the description matches the goods before you hand over any money.Since this also protects the diamond sellers from fake or dishonest customers it is a good deal for them as well and there are plenty of vendors who are willing to do it this way.Next best is to notice which vendors are regularly noted as having done business in the various diamond forums on the web. Those with an ongoing business and wide publicity from such posts are relatively unlikely to suddeny go out of business or risk their reputation by cheating anyone. I'm not aware of even one case where one of the regularly discussed vendors has failed to deliver what was expected and/or handle corrections well.