when people on this forum say "I found the same diamond...."

[garek007]

Hi,

I just read a post where people are comparing online vendors and many people posted saying, "I found the same diamond over here at this site for 1000 dollars less".

Do they mean literally the SAME diamond? Or do they mean a comparable diamond, comparable in terms of weight, color, carat, etc?

Am I to understand that these online jewelers don''t actually own the stone until you buy it, then THEY buy it?

How does this work?

Thanks in advance.
Stan

 

[yssie]

Sometimes it can mean similar diamonds, but sometimes people do mean the exact same stone - if a bunch of drop shippers happen to have the same stone listed, they can list it at different prices. I'm thinking that it would have to be a gigantic - or very high-spec - stone to have a variation of thousands of dollars, though...

 

[Dreamer_D]

Some vendors physcially own the diamonds they sell. These vedors will usually provide a lot of information about the diamonds when you are looking to buy. For example, Good Old Gold, Whiteflash, and Brian Gavin Diamonds all own most of their diamond inventory.

But there is also something called the "virtual inventory", which are diamonds that are owned by large warehouse operations that do not sell directly to the publis. Instead, they allow other vendors to advertise their diamonds and then sell them, and when they are sold the warehouse will send the diamond to the vendor OR directly to the customer in the case of true drop shippers, like Blue Nile.

Any vendor can sell you a diamond from the virtual inventory, hence the same diamond will be offered for different prices by different vendors.

 

[garek007]

interesting... so how can I tell if two diamonds are EXACTLY the SAME? I know I can compare all the data, but that still doesn''t necessarily prove it''s the same diamond...

 

[yssie]

GIA/AGS cert number & inclusion plots

 

[Laila619]

Date: 1/28/2010 9:35:59 AM
Author: yssie
GIA/AGS cert number & inclusion plots

Yep. Check the cert number.

In general though, if it's the exact same angles, table, depth, measurements and specs, you can be pretty sure it's the same stone.

 

[spoogenet]

I concur with what others are saying. In fact it''s not limited to online-only. If you shop around at local stores and have them bring inventory into the store, they access many of the same channels the online vendors do.

I went to 2 different local jewelry stores, and in each of them I have seen a stone that is the exact same stone available online. One store wanted a $8800 for a $7400 (online) stone, the other store wanted $14k for a $5200 (online) stone.

If you have diamonds brought into stores, get the dimensions and specs (color,ct, etc.) and at least part of the cert # and search them on Pricescope. You will be amazed.

b

 

[garek007]

was the store that wanted 14K Tiffany''s? haha

 

[denverappraiser]

Here''s an explanation

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[garek007]

that explains a lot. thanks!

 

[WinkHPD]

Date: 1/28/2010 12:48:13 AM
Author: dreamer_dachsie
Some vendors physcially own the diamonds they sell. These vedors will usually provide a lot of information about the diamonds when you are looking to buy. For example, Good Old Gold, Whiteflash, and Brian Gavin Diamonds all own most of their diamond inventory.

But there is also something called the ''virtual inventory'', which are diamonds that are owned by large warehouse operations that do not sell directly to the publis. Instead, they allow other vendors to advertise their diamonds and then sell them, and when they are sold the warehouse will send the diamond to the vendor OR directly to the customer in the case of true drop shippers, like Blue Nile.

Any vendor can sell you a diamond from the virtual inventory, hence the same diamond will be offered for different prices by different vendors.

And to further exacerbate the price differences, some venders will list extremely low prices on stones that they do not possess and can not get. I once had a client call me on a Monday morning wanting either a discount or a return since he found the exact same stone on another site for $200 less over the weekend. Only problem for him, and for the other site was that I actually owned the diamond and the other vendor could not produce it.

I called my supplier from whom I had purchased the diamond (this was long ago in my pre-Infinity days) and asked what was going on and he told me that this vendor listed all of his diamonds off of his diamonds for sale listing on Rap and that he had been asked to stop doing so as my supplier would not sell to him as he was a slow pay and did not honor his commitments to my supplier.

What was funny is that I told my client to call the other vendor and order the stone and advised him that they would tell him that the stone was out right now and that they would recommend other stones to him, non of which would be as nice as the one I had sold him on Friday. He said that he had already done that and how had I known that was exactly what they told him.

"Simple", I said, "I bought that diamond two weeks ago and my supplier must still be showing the diamond on Rap or the vendor trying to steer you to another stone has not updated since I bought it."

He kept the stone.

Wink

 

[spoogenet]

Date: 1/28/2010 7:24:00 PM
Author: garek007
was the store that wanted 14K Tiffany''s? haha

I''m sure they''d want $20k for it. Haha.

It was Samuel''s. I can certainly see how they afford to offer the warranty.

b