Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate online?

[Paullytle9]

Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate online? It's from a reputable jeweler. They will take the diamond out of the setting and send it to GIA for an extra $500, but I have to commit to purchasing first. How much does the GIA certificate matter?

 

[Strawberry129]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

No, I wouldn't. (hint hint: RUN) If the business wanted your money, they should take it GIA first before you commit to buying and not the other way around imo. There's so many diamonds with GIA already, why risk having one that is crappy and knowing that after you bought it. Just a big fat NO.

Would you buy a 'new car' without knowing anything about the interior leather's color, the car's maintenance record, the mileage driven, or the car's model #?

 

[farrahlyn]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

absolutely not. there are WAY too many other great options out there. nope, nope, nope.

 

[Bedot]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

Most definitely no.

Best possible outcome is that you get close to what you want.

Worst possible outcome is you get a dog of a diamond with no recourse to get your money back.

Sent from my VS990 using Tapatalk

 

[denverappraiser]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

FWIW, GIA publishes their prices online at www.gia.edu..... Depending on how you/they handle shipping an insurance and the size of the stone, $500 is quite a bit for this service.

If you do this, make sure it's clear upfront who will be responsible for what if the results from the lab are different from what was expected when you negotiate the deal. Tiny differences can be important (which is why people want to see the report first)

 

[arkieb1]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

Depends if it is a reliable recommended vendor from here and they had a return policy then yes, if not then its a big NO....

 

[tyty333]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

How big is this stone?

 

[Paullytle9]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

Thanks, everyone! I'm going to pass on it. The fact that I was questioning it already, in combination with your replies has given me my answer.

 

[Paullytle9]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

How big is this stone?

1.67

 

[Rockdiamond]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

My take:
$500 does sound like quite a lot for the service of sending the diamond to GIA.....but, if it's a complex ring, removal and resetting the diamond can cost quite a bit.
BUT- in my opinion, the ONLY fair method would be for the seller to allow the buyer to refuse the deal if the GIA report comes out at all different than the grade the seller claims.

Even then, I'd only suggest doing such a deal if the stone is a very rare hard to find size, shape, color, etc.....

 

[Paullytle9]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

My take:
$500 does sound like quite a lot for the service of sending the diamond to GIA.....but, if it's a complex ring, removal and resetting the diamond can cost quite a bit.
BUT- in my opinion, the ONLY fair method would be for the seller to allow the buyer to refuse the deal if the GIA report comes out at all different than the grade the seller claims.

Even then, I'd only suggest doing such a deal if the stone is a very rare hard to find size, shape, color, etc.....

It's a rose cut diamond and I am having a time finding a similar stone to be able to recreate this look

 

[Paullytle9]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

My take:
$500 does sound like quite a lot for the service of sending the diamond to GIA.....but, if it's a complex ring, removal and resetting the diamond can cost quite a bit.
BUT- in my opinion, the ONLY fair method would be for the seller to allow the buyer to refuse the deal if the GIA report comes out at all different than the grade the seller claims.

Even then, I'd only suggest doing such a deal if the stone is a very rare hard to find size, shape, color, etc.....

It's a rose cut diamond and I am having a time finding a similar stone to be able to recreate this look

Wow that is such a unique and stunning looking inspirational design.
Can't help you with your GIA questions but my guess is no dealer is going to send to GIA at their expense or take the risk if it comes back lower than X in color/clarity than you can get your money refunded.

I also don't know if it will be easy to find GIA graded rose cuts. Is the diamond you are considering even coming with a lab report if so from which lab?

I actually have been finding quite a few large GIA Rose cuts, but they're all round or oval with bad proportions for this style setting. They're out there! I've gone around to antique jewelers in my area and they've rounded them up.

 

[Rockdiamond]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

My take:
$500 does sound like quite a lot for the service of sending the diamond to GIA.....but, if it's a complex ring, removal and resetting the diamond can cost quite a bit.
BUT- in my opinion, the ONLY fair method would be for the seller to allow the buyer to refuse the deal if the GIA report comes out at all different than the grade the seller claims.

Even then, I'd only suggest doing such a deal if the stone is a very rare hard to find size, shape, color, etc.....

It's a rose cut diamond and I am having a time finding a similar stone to be able to recreate this look

Wow that is such a unique and stunning looking inspirational design.
Can't help you with your GIA questions but my guess is no dealer is going to send to GIA at their expense or take the risk if it comes back lower than X in color/clarity than you can get your money refunded.

I also don't know if it will be easy to find GIA graded rose cuts. Is the diamond you are considering even coming with a lab report if so from which lab?

Why would you make that assumption Alexkeating?
We've sent stones to GIA under those circumstances on many occasions. it is NOT an unreasonable request.

 

[Rockdiamond]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

My take:
$500 does sound like quite a lot for the service of sending the diamond to GIA.....but, if it's a complex ring, removal and resetting the diamond can cost quite a bit.
BUT- in my opinion, the ONLY fair method would be for the seller to allow the buyer to refuse the deal if the GIA report comes out at all different than the grade the seller claims.

Even then, I'd only suggest doing such a deal if the stone is a very rare hard to find size, shape, color, etc.....

It's a rose cut diamond and I am having a time finding a similar stone to be able to recreate this look

Wow that is such a unique and stunning looking inspirational design.
Can't help you with your GIA questions but my guess is no dealer is going to send to GIA at their expense or take the risk if it comes back lower than X in color/clarity than you can get your money refunded.

I also don't know if it will be easy to find GIA graded rose cuts. Is the diamond you are considering even coming with a lab report if so from which lab?

Why would you make that assumption Alexkeating?
We've sent stones to GIA under those circumstances on many occasions. it is NOT an unreasonable request.

Example the recent IDJewelry thread we both participated in on the pair of round diamonds with report by AGI, Yekutiel wasn't willing to do it and I am not so sure most dealers have a policy like yours.

Of all the threads I read here where sending to GIA was suggested I never read one where the dealer was willing to accept the expense of sending it to GIA and a complete refund was still open to the customer. The best I have seen is a refund window long enough for the customer to return it if they didn't like the results of the GIA grading which would be paid for by the customer.

So how does this GIA grading dependent deal work where you have agreed to submit to GIA for the customer? (I guess you would have to first tell the customer what you think GIA would grade it and how much it differs from the lower tier lab original report)

In our case when we've purchased or offered stones that either have no report, or a bogus one (EGL, et al) we grade the diamond so that the client has an idea of what we feel the stone is. If the report is not to their liking, we allow them to back out of the deal- then we have a GIA graded diamond which we can offer on the site.
In terms of what IDJ or other dealers will or won't do- I would not assume IDJ wouldn't offer a similar deal, although they may not have in the circumstances of the thread you mention.
Then as far as any other dealers, consumers should ask their vendor. If the seller is being asked for a GIA report, and has confidence in their grading, they will comply. If not, the consumer should walk IMO. But there's absolutely no harm in asking and it's not an unreasonable request

 

[denverappraiser]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

"Can't help you with your GIA questions but my guess is no dealer is going to send to GIA at their expense or take the risk if it comes back lower than X in color/clarity than you can get your money refunded. "

I see exactly this fairly often. The deal is something like this. We'll send it to the lab and guarantee that it will meet or exceed X specs. If it does, the customer pays for the stone, the shipping/insurance, the lab fees, and an additional 'handling' charge for the store staff dealing with it. If it comes up short, the deal is off, the store keeps the stone and the report and they pay all the bills. You owe nothing. They are welcome to make a new offer based on the new data but there are no obligations on either one of you.

That's pretty fair, but to be fair with the jewelers, there are some good reasons to say no too, even if they trust their grades. The biggest is that often jewelers are simply acting as brokers. They don't own the stone and fundamentally the go/no-go call is up to whoever does. They may not want to put up with this. Sometimes GIA can be a little slow and they may not want their goods to be off the market, and their money to be tied up, for that long.

 

[Rockdiamond]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

Oddly enough, about 30 minutes ago we got a call about a stone we are offering with an IGI report. The stone is quite small, so we didn't mind the lack of GIA.
In this case, it did not make sense to enter into the type of agreement where we allow the buyer to back out.
The $159 for a Fancy Colored Diamond Grading report is a pretty fair percentage of the sale price.
But in the case of a larger, more costly stone, I would always advise going with GIA

 

[Diamond_Hawk]

Re: Would you purchase a diamond without a certificate onlin

Hi Paullytle9,

Great advice in this thread, and a neat look into the decision making process of the dealers.

Just curious, if you are still checking this thread - is there a chance that you would wish to re-sell the diamond in the future?