When what you got wasn’t what you bought

[Itsmeagain]

I have seen a couple of people mention DeeJay Jewelers on eBay for tennis necklaces. When looking at their site, I am intrigued by the quality and prices. However, the last time I bought from a less-known jeweler was for diamond studs about 10 years ago. I bought them from diamondstuds4less.com. The lab certificate said they were a higher quality than what they actually are. I recently had them appraised at a well-regarded local jeweler by a GIA-certified gemologist. In fact, the earrings are MUCH worse quality. Given that diamondstuds4less.com is out of business, and how long ago I bought them, I am going to just continue wearing them and hope to save enough to buy something better in the future. So here’s my question:

Have you bought anything online that turned about to be worse quality after you had it appraised locally or in person? Who was the retailer? I don’t want to get burned again. If you bought from DeeJay Jewelers, have you had your item appraised post-purchase?

 

[lulu_ma]

I bought a necklace from Deejay Jewelers. Prior to the purchase I studied the market and bought a few other necklaces to look at.

The Deejay necklace was excellent value. I tested the diamonds and louped them. For the price I paid for the necklace I would not have personally paid for an appraisal. I was very comfortable with the quality.

 

[Bron357]

Likewise, I did a lot of research before buying my tennis necklace from DeeJay jewellers.
Here in Sydney Australia there were no diamond tennis necklace to view in a shop and my jeweller quoted me around $20,000 A$ for 12ct tw.
I bought the 12.77ct yellow gold one. Around $7,000 US.
Thats less than half the price I was quoted here.
As for the appraisal being higher, I place no importance on those, it’s estimated retail replacement and I don’t know why they bother. Maybe it’s to emphasis their prices being “wholesale”?
In any regard they have a 30 day return policy. You just cover shipping. If you don’t like the necklace, send it back. Not an option for me though as international shipping is $$$ and I already paid $$$ in import fees.
I was and still am very happy.
The necklace has good weight, 30 grams, so it’s not a flimsy piece. The diamonds are all sparkly. I choose graduated so the biggest one is .50 carat. The ones up behind my hair are tiny but you can’t really see them anyway.
At this price point we aren’t talking top quality, we are talking good quality at a good price. Because the diamonds are relatively small what matters is sparkle. They are graded SI clarity but NOT cloudy. That’s what “kills” lower quality diamonds normally, lower quality = cloudiness.
actual photos of mine. Note I put a heart pendant onto it.
The heart pendant has light champagne colour diamonds. The centre hear diamond is white.

 

[flyingpig]

I recently had them appraised at a well-regarded local jeweler by a GIA-certified gemologist

You had your piece appraised by a local competitor. What do you expect?

Sorry to those who have education with GIA. But GIA GG means nothing to me. It is like you have a college degree.

If you believe you paid fair price, enjoy it.

Otherwise, find a real appraiser who is not a jeweller.

 

[LilAlex]

I bought them from diamondstuds4less.com.

I did something similar for my spouse at the dawn of the internet -- some smallish (= very small for PS) diamond studs. I never loved them: included and not very sparkly. I never had a loupe and they had no report. Spouse wore them faithfully for a decade before mostly setting them aside. They were well loved; the box now looks like one of those "found" antique boxes that everything is popping out of on IG .

The place had an upgrade program and they are long out of business. Reminds me of my late dad's take on the "lifetime guarantee." He would always ask "Who's lifetime?"

 

[Lookinagain]

I bought a 5 ctw diamond tennis necklace from Deejay on Ebay after reading some of the reviews about them on PS. The diamonds are white and sparkly. I didn't bother looking at them with a loupe, nor did I get an after purchase appraisal (but I never do that anyway). It was very reasonably priced and the stones are white and not cloudy. I second what @Bron357 said. I'm happy with my purchase.

At this price point we aren’t talking top quality, we are talking good quality at a good price.

 

[Bijouteried]

Likewise, I did a lot of research before buying my tennis necklace from DeeJay jewellers.
Here in Sydney Australia there were no diamond tennis necklace to view in a shop and my jeweller quoted me around $20,000 A$ for 12ct tw.
I bought the 12.77ct yellow gold one. Around $7,000 US.
Thats less than half the price I was quoted here.
As for the appraisal being higher, I place no importance on those, it’s estimated retail replacement and I don’t know why they bother. Maybe it’s to emphasis their prices being “wholesale”?
In any regard they have a 30 day return policy. You just cover shipping. If you don’t like the necklace, send it back. Not an option for me though as international shipping is $$$ and I already paid $$$ in import fees.
I was and still am very happy.
The necklace has good weight, 30 grams, so it’s not a flimsy piece. The diamonds are all sparkly. I choose graduated so the biggest one is .50 carat. The ones up behind my hair are tiny but you can’t really see them anyway.
At this price point we aren’t talking top quality, we are talking good quality at a good price. Because the diamonds are relatively small what matters is sparkle. They are graded SI clarity but NOT cloudy. That’s what “kills” lower quality diamonds normally, lower quality = cloudiness.
actual photos of mine. Note I put a heart pendant onto it.
The heart pendant has light champagne colour diamonds. The centre hear diamond is white.

This. Is. Stunning. The pendant is an excellent accompaniment to your beautiful necklace!

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Likewise, I did a lot of research before buying my tennis necklace from DeeJay jewellers.
Here in Sydney Australia there were no diamond tennis necklace to view in a shop and my jeweller quoted me around $20,000 A$ for 12ct tw.
I bought the 12.77ct yellow gold one. Around $7,000 US.
Thats less than half the price I was quoted here.
As for the appraisal being higher, I place no importance on those, it’s estimated retail replacement and I don’t know why they bother. Maybe it’s to emphasis their prices being “wholesale”?
In any regard they have a 30 day return policy. You just cover shipping. If you don’t like the necklace, send it back. Not an option for me though as international shipping is $$$ and I already paid $$$ in import fees.
I was and still am very happy.
The necklace has good weight, 30 grams, so it’s not a flimsy piece. The diamonds are all sparkly. I choose graduated so the biggest one is .50 carat. The ones up behind my hair are tiny but you can’t really see them anyway.
At this price point we aren’t talking top quality, we are talking good quality at a good price. Because the diamonds are relatively small what matters is sparkle. They are graded SI clarity but NOT cloudy. That’s what “kills” lower quality diamonds normally, lower quality = cloudiness.
actual photos of mine. Note I put a heart pendant onto it.
The heart pendant has light champagne colour diamonds. The centre hear diamond is white.

Can i borrow that for my work xmas do ?
(Too soon ???)

It is absolutly gorgouse
Ive never seen anything like it in the shops here (even the really exspensive jewlers that don't display their prices in the window)

 

[Wink]

You had your piece appraised by a local competitor. What do you expect?

Sorry to those who have education with GIA. But GIA GG means nothing to me. It is like you have a college degree.

If you believe you paid fair price, enjoy it.

Otherwise, find a real appraiser who is not a jeweller.

Great advice from @flyingpig.

I once sent a diamond to a lady in another state. She returned it saying it had performed very poorly next to a diamond that the "appraiser" just happened to have in house. I was truly shocked, until she returned the diamond and the diamond still had the "nose gooky" coated on the top of the diamond. Clearly the "appraiser" swiped her finger along her nose and transferred the oil and makeup to the top of my diamond, making it look terrible by comparison.

A highly qualified appraiser would never "just happen" to have a diamond for sale to show you. In addition, a highly qualified appraiser will make a point of cleaning all diamonds that you bring for comparison to avoid any such "accidents" from happening.

 

[La2020]

I have seen a couple of people mention DeeJay Jewelers on eBay for tennis necklaces. When looking at their site, I am intrigued by the quality and prices. However, the last time I bought from a less-known jeweler was for diamond studs about 10 years ago. I bought them from diamondstuds4less.com. The lab certificate said they were a higher quality than what they actually are. I recently had them appraised at a well-regarded local jeweler by a GIA-certified gemologist. In fact, the earrings are MUCH worse quality. Given that diamondstuds4less.com is out of business, and how long ago I bought them, I am going to just continue wearing them and hope to save enough to buy something better in the future. So here’s my question:

Have you bought anything online that turned about to be worse quality after you had it appraised locally or in person? Who was the retailer? I don’t want to get burned again. If you bought from DeeJay Jewelers, have you had your item appraised post-purchase?

wow what a coincidence. this is what exactly happened to me:

Help! Is it a common practice for tennis bracelet sellers to send items which are different from their listing?

I purchased a tennis bracelets and the item arrived different from the list. The seller said that the bracelet is the same bracelet, and there are ranges where the deviation is up to 5% and that they "sell hundreds of this model and you do not have to worry because we have recorded the minimum...

www.pricescope.com

My main complaint is that for what was advertised, the bracelet carat and number of diamonds is different from promised. The color and clarity is likely a lot worst too.

 

[denverappraiser]

It happens all the time.

Several red flags here, both from you and others in the comments.

#1 You mentioned a ‘lab certificate’ that was wildly inaccurate. This almost always means the problem is the credibility of the lab but the same holds for whoever you’re using as the benchmark for what is ‘correct’. The onus is on both of them to convince you that their opinion has merit and the default answer is no. Check their websites, their reviews, etc. to see if you even care what either ‘lab’ has to say. It’s a completely unregulated business. Anyone who can fog a mirror can hang up a sign and call themselves a gem lab. That doesn’t mean you have to care.

#2 if you decide that the paperwork given to you is wildly inaccurate, don’t just hold it against the people who produced it, hold it against the people who gave it to you. You can bet they know, and this gemologist was chosen for exactly that reason. It’s not an error, they’re deliberately trying to mislead you.

#3 “Certified Gemologist” is a trademark of the American Gem Society. I am one, by the way. CGs mostly are pretty good, and there are some qualifications to get and retain it, but don’t read too much into that title. They aren’t ‘certified’ in the usual way people think of that word and the items they look at aren’t certified either. You can look up what it means at www.ags.org. As with #2 above, if you find someone who is misrepresenting their credentials, don’t just ignore it, hold it against them. If they’re lying about that, what else might they be lying about?

#4 Online is full of merchants with this problem but it’s hardly limited to that. Anywhere you are shopping where the price is the primary draw is suspect for a problem. Flea markets, pawnshops, and deep-discount jewelry stores are problematic areas for this too.

#5 The value conclusion is usually NOT the most important thing on an appraisal document. ‘Insurance purposes’ doesn’t mean what you think it does and, in particular, it doesn’t mean you did or didn’t get a good deal. Far more important is the grading data and the methodology. Did they weigh the stones or estimate from dimensions for example? Did they test the metal? Did they test to see if the stones are synthetic? Did they notice any craftsmanship or condition issues? Did they even look? Who signed it? As with #2 above, appraising is an unregulated business. Anyone who wants to can call themselves an appraiser and there are some shocking charlatans out there. The burden is on them to convince you that they are qualified, unbiased, and that they did the requisite work for the job at hand. The default answer is no. Check their credentials, their websites, their reviews, etc., just like with any other service you would hire. As above, if the report is given to you by the seller, it's automatically suspect and if you find evidence that it's deceptive, don't just ignore it, hold it against the seller.

#6 eBay, Etsy, and the like tend to have merchants that appear and disappear in a blink. Especially the problem ones. Read the reviews. Don't just look at the stars. People leave 5*s, or 1, for amazingly bad reasons. The good stuff is in the text. Look for their history. They can change names, they change emails, and they reappear as someone who looks completely different just by a new template and some new pictures. They are sometimes the same company with 10 different faces. These are all sleights-of-hand that are difficult with ‘real’ stores and well-established websites.