PS Vendors

[diamondtiger]

Which one do you recommend most? Why?

 

[Upgradable]

I think many people would say "it depends on what you''re looking for."

There are many good diamond vendors, many renown for their upgrade policies, many that are terrific designers.

So..... what are you looking for?

 

[diamondtiger]

All I need is the loose stone. I want someone that I can trust and that will provide me with a good value. I want a good stone. The return policies and upgrade policies are an added incentive that I am just now learning about.

 

[Moh 10]

Which cut?
Round? Princess? Asscher? Cushion? Other?

 

[diamondtiger]

Oval

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

I hope the message is that you can trust any and all vendors that list on Pricescope.
If it were other then please everyone tell the admin and Pricescope will review the situation.
There are no untrustworthy vendors on Pricescope.

 

[diamondtiger]

Understandable/expected response. I am just wondering if there was a site in particular that one person might recommend because of an experience they had. For instance, I think I found one diamond WF and then the same one on James Allen for $300 cheaper. That kinda made me wonder why and if the $300 might be worth it to buy from WF. You see where I''m going?

 

[Moh 10]

Compare their policies carefully.
They are not the same.

Yes of course all PS vendors are honest.
I don''t think anyone was implying otherwise.

Also you may want to search for threads on complaints and observe the resolutions.

 

[swingirl]

Are you looking for in-house stones? Because if they are not in-house the vendor has to call them in and do their own inspection, photography, etc. which could account for the difference prices. Make sure you know what''s included when a vendor calls in a stone and what, if anything, they charge in case you don''t buy it.

 

[diamondtiger]

I don''t really care if it''s in-house or not. I just want to find the best stone for my money and have a great experience both in the present and the future.

 

[Regular Guy]

DT,

Welcome.

You might start with the Search by cut database, which does list 4 of them.

Otherwise, especially for non-rounds and non princesses (Upgradeable...you asked for one shoe to drop, where would you go with this info of shape?), I think GOG, for example, can provide unusually robust use of technology to help you assess light performance in your search.

Regards,

 

[Ellen]

Date: 7/14/2009 7:26:48 AM
Author: Regular Guy
DT,

Welcome.

You might start with the Search by cut database, which does list 4 of them.

Otherwise, especially for non-rounds and non princesses (Upgradeable...you asked for one shoe to drop, where would you go with this info of shape?), I think GOG, for example, can provide unusually robust use of technology to help you assess light performance in your search.

Regards,

Ditto. Along with Whiteflash, High Performance Diamonds, and Brian Gavin Diamonds. You need an ASET photo, these all provide one.

 

[Regular Guy]

Everything''s relative. The vendors here largely have only a modest premium over "dirt cheap" prices, in comparison to many other vendors with national presentations, who''s quality is often not good, or not near as good.

GOG may be a tad higher (or may not...I haven''t done a close study), and from your comments, DT, your more primary valuation (may not be different than mine?), may be to save a few dollars where you can (given your example with JA). But, and although Ellen''s point is consistent with mine...

Date: 7/14/2009 9:28:56 AM
Author: Ellen

Ditto. Along with Whiteflash, High Performance Diamonds, and Brian Gavin Diamonds. You need an ASET photo, these all provide one.

...although I think GOG uses this, he can and does draw on other technologies, too, including those available from IEEE (or something like it), Brilliancescope, and some possible others....plus, he does custom videos, used with buyer satisfaction as well.

Marginally, these additional technologies may not extend a great deal beyond what ASET can do...and for that matter, ERD we know has a great deal of experience with eyeballing non-rounds, too...but from the point of view that every little bit helps...including having good good additional policies, etc., Jonathan provides some unique benefits, with marginally incremental premiums for them.

 

[Gypsy]

I think we recommend them all. LOL. Else they wouldn't be PS vendors.

As Upgradable pointed out though, some vendors specialize in certain things (others don't).

I've seen beautiful ovals come out of GOG, and it's a relatively simple process of calling them up and saying "This is my budget, this is what I want, and NO bowtie, or as little as one as possible", then wait until they find you some candidates, they'll provide every conceivable scan and pic and even a video for you to compare the stones.

Alll of that costs more though because they are really being your personal shopper and providing you with everything and anything... even when you don't know you need it. They also have a set of policies that apply to their stones regarding buy backs, upgrades, etc... and I believe some of that is on a stone by stone basis with stones they call in.

James Allen is also relatively easy to shop at for Ovals simply because they provide one picture for every stone in house right on their site. So you can just type in your parameters then it will pull up all the stone that meet your criteria and you can start clicking on pictures to see what the stones look like. Then narrow them down in terms of appearance., post them on here and ask us which ones we like and why then you can ask JA for an Idealscope image (IS). JA doesn't provide videos or 10 different scans and pics, but they will give each customer 3 IS images (total, one for each stone they are considering) so that we can see what the light performance might be. James Allen is usually less expensive as a result, because you are doing the majority of the work yourself. JA also offers a discount for bank wires and PSers, and they also have specific policies regarding upgrades, buy backs relative to their stones.

Other vendors operate differently-- these are the two extremes, the others fall somewhere between these. I chose those two because generally GOG is on the higher side of the priicng scale (though they do offer a bank wire discount) because of the "full service" model they operate under, and James Allen is on the lower side of the pricing because, as I said, it's largely self serve.