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Why does Blue Nile rate their Princess stones for "Cut"?

xizenta

Rough_Rock
Joined
Nov 28, 2012
Messages
17
Hi,

I'm given to understand GIA does not rate the cut quality of a princess stone.

Looking at the Blue Nile website, as well as other merchants, I can see that many of them sell GIA stones and provide a rating for cut quality. For example, one stone I saw on B2C Jewelers was rated "Excellent" cut quality.

I know that these stones are not even in the possession of the merchants. For example, one stone I am looking at is listed on both Blue Nile and B2C, and neither of them have it, they are listing something one of their wholesalers has available for purchase.

So my question is, if they haven't seen the stone, and there is no reporting regarding the cut quality, how can they rate the cut??
Also, is it possible to request either of these merchants to provide ASET light performance testing for a stone? This is a $20,000 stone and I am concerned about light performance, since it looks to me like it is rated a lot higher than the price would suggest (it is rated excellent in every category and G/VS2).


Last question is this. With regard to merchants like the above. Do they generate a selling price for a stone based strictly off of the data in the GIA report? Or do they factor in fire/scintillation? The stones I am interested in seem like a really good deal. I am concerned that the merchant has priced it down because of intangible/unratable qualities like light performance. I am not naive enough to believe in something like a free lunch.


Thanks for the help.
 

WinkHPD

Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
May 3, 2001
Messages
7,516
xizenta|1449177162|3957057 said:
Hi,

I'm given to understand GIA does not rate the cut quality of a princess stone.

Looking at the Blue Nile website, as well as other merchants, I can see that many of them sell GIA stones and provide a rating for cut quality. For example, one stone I saw on B2C Jewelers was rated "Excellent" cut quality.

I know that these stones are not even in the possession of the merchants. For example, one stone I am looking at is listed on both Blue Nile and B2C, and neither of them have it, they are listing something one of their wholesalers has available for purchase.

So my question is, if they haven't seen the stone, and there is no reporting regarding the cut quality, how can they rate the cut??
Also, is it possible to request either of these merchants to provide ASET light performance testing for a stone? This is a $20,000 stone and I am concerned about light performance, since it looks to me like it is rated a lot higher than the price would suggest (it is rated excellent in every category and G/VS2).


Last question is this. With regard to merchants like the above. Do they generate a selling price for a stone based strictly off of the data in the GIA report? Or do they factor in fire/scintillation? The stones I am interested in seem like a really good deal. I am concerned that the merchant has priced it down because of intangible/unratable qualities like light performance. I am not naive enough to believe in something like a free lunch.


Thanks for the help.

Most sites factor in a percentage profit margin based on what they are paying for the diamond. This is especially true for sites that drop ship without seeing the diamonds. None of the data means anything when setting the retail price, only the wholesale cost. Vendors who invest their own money in having in house inventory will be factoring in many things. They would not purchase if they did not expect to sell it.

I can offer no explanation for cut ratings on GIA papered princess cut diamonds since GIA does not offer a cut grade on princess cut diamonds.

Hope that helps.

Wink
 

ADN

Shiny_Rock
Trade
Joined
Nov 24, 2015
Messages
311
xizenta|1449177162|3957057 said:
Hi,

I'm given to understand GIA does not rate the cut quality of a princess stone.

Looking at the Blue Nile website, as well as other merchants, I can see that many of them sell GIA stones and provide a rating for cut quality. For example, one stone I saw on B2C Jewelers was rated "Excellent" cut quality.

I know that these stones are not even in the possession of the merchants. For example, one stone I am looking at is listed on both Blue Nile and B2C, and neither of them have it, they are listing something one of their wholesalers has available for purchase.

So my question is, if they haven't seen the stone, and there is no reporting regarding the cut quality, how can they rate the cut??

Hi
From their website - http://www.bluenile.com/au/education/diamonds/cut/grading

Blue Nile Diamond Cut
"If a GIA or AGSL certified cut grade is not available for a particular diamond, Blue Nile's proportional grading system will determine the diamond's cut."

I guess that in this case it's ultimately up to the customer to determine if they're happy to have a cut grade that's been assigned by the seller.

Hope this helps
 

xizenta

Rough_Rock
Joined
Nov 28, 2012
Messages
17
Wink|1449190320|3957149 said:
xizenta|1449177162|3957057 said:
Hi,

I'm given to understand GIA does not rate the cut quality of a princess stone.

Looking at the Blue Nile website, as well as other merchants, I can see that many of them sell GIA stones and provide a rating for cut quality. For example, one stone I saw on B2C Jewelers was rated "Excellent" cut quality.

I know that these stones are not even in the possession of the merchants. For example, one stone I am looking at is listed on both Blue Nile and B2C, and neither of them have it, they are listing something one of their wholesalers has available for purchase.

So my question is, if they haven't seen the stone, and there is no reporting regarding the cut quality, how can they rate the cut??
Also, is it possible to request either of these merchants to provide ASET light performance testing for a stone? This is a $20,000 stone and I am concerned about light performance, since it looks to me like it is rated a lot higher than the price would suggest (it is rated excellent in every category and G/VS2).


Last question is this. With regard to merchants like the above. Do they generate a selling price for a stone based strictly off of the data in the GIA report? Or do they factor in fire/scintillation? The stones I am interested in seem like a really good deal. I am concerned that the merchant has priced it down because of intangible/unratable qualities like light performance. I am not naive enough to believe in something like a free lunch.


Thanks for the help.

Most sites factor in a percentage profit margin based on what they are paying for the diamond. This is especially true for sites that drop ship without seeing the diamonds. None of the data means anything when setting the retail price, only the wholesale cost. Vendors who invest their own money in having in house inventory will be factoring in many things. They would not purchase if they did not expect to sell it.

I can offer no explanation for cut ratings on GIA papered princess cut diamonds since GIA does not offer a cut grade on princess cut diamonds.

Hope that helps.

Wink


Great, this seems true. Now the next obvious question is, will the wholesaler price the diamond based on the stone's light performance in most cases? Or do they often just go strictly off of the GIA report data. Again, what makes me curious is that the GIA report is rating for something that should be a higher value than the stone is priced for. I assume that means the wholesaler looked at the stone, saw it had poor light performance, and dinged it.

Thanks to the other person who found the Blue Nile website tidbit that basically says they are rating "cut" strictly off of the table and depth measurements. That is not comforting at all. It is exactly what I was afraid of.
 
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