Who are all these posters? / advice question

[Just fork out the cash]

This is a great site. Are most who post on this site either in the market for a diamond or in the industry? That is, once the ring/diamond is purchased, do many still browse this site?

Seems like many of you recommend internet over B&M (I assume that means brick & mortar), any suggested etailers? Any to avoid? I apologize for the layman questions, as I''m new to the site.

 

[oldminer]

Pricescope is so intriguing that many very well informed, post-purchase consumers, become pretty good advisers to other consumers here. Also, you will find a good sized group of pros, like myself, who come here to advise. In addition, you get very good and professional vendors who also particpate and advise consumers.

All the professionals here walk a somewhat grey and delicate line. We don't want to push our services or merchandise on you, but we cannot totally separate ourselves from our own business viewpoints. That is why it is a good thing to be able to get consumers to tell you how they did the job of buying a diamond as well as seeking out professional advice.

If you have a good question someone, or many, will offer you some advice or comment. The big thing is to open your mind to learning how to do the job of buying a diamond well. So many people buy a diamond and then realize they did not learn enough to do the job properly.

 

[antigoon]

Hi NOCZ4GJ,

(How do you pronounce your name?)

I've only been on this forum for a couple of months, but I've read most of the posts, so here's my take on it.

Who's on the site

• There are regular, long time members. Some of these are diamond or jewelry experts. A few are just regular folks who love diamonds. Note that Leonid (who runs this joint) closely monitors posts to make sure there is no blatant advertising in posts. (There is a fine line, of course. For example, the Royal Asscher cut is patented by the Asscher family business, so any discussion of it is kind of advertising them, but of course you wouldn't ban any discussion of the cut. So he makes a jusgement call.) Anyway, all this just to say that although there are industry people on the forum, they really offer good advice which is not trying to unfairly trick you to buy their stuff.
• Then there are a lot of people who are in it for the short term (< 6 months) while they look for diamonds. If they show some goodwill by doing their research (by reading previous posts, and the various pricescope, www.goodoldgold.com, and other tutorials) their questions are always answered helpfully and courteously. Many of these people, after a few months' reading and learning, themselves become pretty good at offering advice.

B&M vs e-tailer
Check out this thread in the FAQ: B&M vs E-tailer

I think you'll find if you read a little more that there is no e-tailer bias. What there is, is an educated seller bias. And unfortunately, many of b&m jewellers (especially those in chain stores in malls) have not kept up with the times and will give you diamond information that is 20 years out of date.

Hope this helps,

Steve

 

[madmarlin]

Welcome aboard. Obviously, I cannot speak for all. As for me, I stubled across this site during my quest to upgrade my sife's center stone for our 10th anniversary. I've been a "frequent browser" ever since.

As to e-tailers, I can recommend Mark at Engagement Rings Direct (www.engagementringsdirect.com). He was a pleasure with whom to work. Found me a great stone. Everything was verified via an independent appraiser prior to any money changing hands, which most of the vendors here will do for you. He has the same list as many of the vendors here, as well as other stones which he has in inventory. Not pushy and knows his stuff.

I'm sure you will get other recommendations from others on this board. I would check a few out an go with whom you are most comfortable.

Best of luck in your search.

 

[fire&ice]

Welcome. I can speak for myself. I came aboard when we were searching for my 20th anniv. diamond/ring. I have always had a love for the little pieces of carbon. So, I stayed. I find great joy in helping people who are about to make the commitment of their life. That's me.

But as outline above - we are consumers, vendors & appraisers. A pretty well balanced group.

 

[WinkHPD]

Welcome. As you have been advised, a little reading will turn to hours and hours of interesting conversation, a few squables, and a TON of information. Most of us vendors will be easy to identify, we will have contact information at the bottom of our posts or a link to our websites. We will also be the ones not saying how wonderful we are, but hoping that some of our clients will. (They do, it is one of the very nice features of PriceScope, happy people do the bragging, not the vendors.)

Enjoy your journey to the perfect for you diamond, whether it takes a few days or you get addicted and stay for years.

Wink

 

[Daniela]

As for me, I'm just a girl who came here looking for my engagement stone and stayed. Now I happen to be upgrading, but even if I weren't I would still be here. I have an overwhelming fascination for sparkly things and always have, so Pricescope feeds my obsession nicely! This is such a great place to learn about all sorts of things related to jewellery. I'm so glad I found this site.

Daniela

 

[aljdewey]

----------------
On 5/10/2004 4:54:49 PM antigoon wrote:





I think you'll find if you read a little more that there is no e-tailer bias. What there is, is an educated seller bias.
----------------

Steve, I could KISS YOU!!! Finally, someone got the point....whew!

That's *precisely* the mantra of PS......buy *informed* and buy *smart*. There is not one perfect way to buy for everyone.....for some, buying at a B&M is a better choice than buying online. For others, online is the way to go.

At the end of the day, the important thing is to do the homework *first* and buy remorse-free!

I'm a customer who came here about 18 months ago to do her homework, and in learning, I became completely fascinated. We bought my engagement ring about five months ago, and I'm still here....and still passionate about diamonds!

 

[squirerad]

Welcome. I'm one of those many who fall into the category of "in the short term (< 6 months)." But I'm a little different in that I have purchased an engagement ring not once, nor twice, but thrice.

To make a long story short. I originally purchased an overpriced, thick girdled, dull looking ering from a local brick and mortar. At that point, I knew nothing about diamonds so I was badly taken advantaged of... very very badly. Fortunately, I had a good return policy and had the curiosity to look into my purchase and discovered the wonderful world of Pricescope. After returning my 1st ring, my second purchase was with an online PS vendor but the center stone was not as brilliant to my eyes as I wanted so I went with a third vendor, also internet (but not listed with PS).

So obviously I have a bias for e-vendors since I have not only made a bigger, better and brighter purchase on the net, I did it at basically the same price. I have no doubt that you will find a lot of information on PS useful. My only advice, just from my own experience of making uninformed purchases, is to not make a purchase until you've found the ONE. And of course, it's not a bad idea to run it by one of the wonderful folks here on PS.

squire

 

[niceice]

Some of us are dealers (pretty clearly marked we think) and others are gemologists and others are diamond consumers, both past and present... We're here to advise, comment and hopefully encourage people to "think" about diamonds and ask all sorts of questions "before" they make a purchase in hopes that they will be a more educated consumer and thus (we believe) happier with their diamond purchase for a longer period of time than most people who wander in to a jewelry store and buy the first thing offered to them by some jeweler who's idea of selling a diamond involves little more than saying "isn't this a pretty diamond?" thus far, this has been our experience. Obviously we hope that our presence here on PS is a benefit to the community and that it encourages people to visit our web site and possibly purchase a diamond or two from us... Or tell a friend or co-worker about our site, etc. but more often than not the advice we provide here on PS helps people get what they really want from their local jeweler as many people are still extremely hesitant to purchase diamonds on-line (although that number seems to be shrinking every day)... So it's kind of a long term investment and one which we find extremely rewarding, not just financially, but also in terms of the relationships that we have built with people and other vendors over time... Forum's such as PS need a constant influx of new people to keep things interesting AND people who have already purchased their diamond to provide some sort of "hindsight" AND experienced professionals to provide insight which the first two groups might not bring to the equation themselves... We're reminded of the phrases "a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing" or "the blind leading the blind"... Long story short, we're happy to see everybody here on PS because it creates a kind of balance

 

[pqcollectibles]

I'm a regular person who found PS like everyone else does. I was looking for a diamond pendant at local B&M's. One that I fell in lust with sold and I started searching on the internet. I found PS and began learning. Around the same time, one of the jewelers got in a loose, UnCerted, deep cut, over priced diamond. That kinda did it for me. I realized I could do better shopping on-line, so I spent time lurking, learning, and finally started posting. Been here ever since. Other regular folk, and the pros helped me in my search, so I like returning the favor.