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BUYING DIAMONDS ONLINEPublished by Stanford Mitchell on 2011-06-03 02:51:11
With all of the potential for scams concerning diamonds, buying diamonds online almost seems unthinkable! However, you actually can purchase diamonds online, without any problems – as long as you are careful. First, think about your reasons for wanting to purchase the diamond online, as opposed to making a purchase from a local jewelry store. The most common reason is price. Due to low overhead costs, online jewelers and wholesalers are able to offer lower prices. However, you must be careful – sometimes a price that is too low is a sure indication of a scam. One of the best things about purchasing online is the unlimited selection. When shopping offline, you are limited to the selection in the stores in your general area. Online, there are no limits. But again, you must use a great deal of care and consideration before handing your money over to someone that you cannot see and have never met! Before shopping, learn as much as you can about diamonds – especially cut, color, clarity and carat weights. When you are knowledgeable about diamonds, it will be harder for a con artist to rip you off. Once you know more about diamonds, you will be ready to start shopping. Take your time. Don't purchase the first diamond that you see that interests you. Instead, look for similar diamonds for sale. Do some comparison shopping to find the lowest prices. Once you have found the lowest price, start doing your investigation. You know about diamonds, you've found a diamond that you love, and you've found the lowest price – but you are still quite a ways away from actually purchasing that diamond! Ask about the seller's credentials, such as professional jewelry associations that they belong to. View and print the seller's return, refund, and upgrade policies. Also inquire about additional services, such as settings and mountings, sizing, and free shipping. Do a search for customer reviews on this particular company around the Internet. Also check with the BBB Online to see if there have been any complaints. Ask for a diamond grading report from an independent laboratory such as GIA, HRD, EGL or AGS. You should see this before making a purchase. Finally, use a reputable escrow service for high dollar diamonds – preferably one that will have the diamond appraised while it is in their possession. The seller sends the diamond to the escrow service, and you send the money to pay for the diamond to the escrow service. The escrow service has the diamond appraised, sends the diamond to you, and sends the money to the seller. This is the surest way to protect yourself...again, make sure that you use a reputable escrow service! JUDGING DIAMOND QUALITY
If you want to begin judging diamond quality, you must first learn and understand the 4 C's, which are four characteristics of diamonds that give the gem stone it's overall value. The 4 C's for judging diamond quality include the diamonds color, clarity, carats and cut. Judging Color Most diamonds are considered to be ideal if they are transparent, or colorless. Diamonds that are rated as colorless are the most expensive of diamonds. The colors of diamonds are rated with an alphabet grading system that starts with "D" and ends with "Z". Completely colorless diamonds fall in the "D" and "E" grade, while colored, fancy diamonds are at the other end of the alphabet, at "Y" and "Z". There are two main ways that jewelers" use when judging diamond quality based on color. They may pull out a set of reference stones, and find the closest match between the diamond and the reference stone to determine its letter grade. Alternatively, the jeweler may use a colorimeter, which can electronically measure the color of the stone and determine its grade within 1/3 of a grade. Judging Clarity The clarity of a diamond refers to whether or not the diamond is clear all the way through, or whether it has tiny flaws and cloudy areas within the gemstone. It's actually very rare to have a diamond with absolute perfect clarity and no flaws, but most diamond flaws are not visible to the naked eye and can only be seen with a magnifying device. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) uses a magnification of about 10x when judging diamond quality based on the clarity. There are treatments available to make a diamond appear nicer than it actually is, and the treatments should lower the overall price of the diamond so it is important to do your research before purchasing a diamond to be sure you are not spending more money than you should. Judging Carat Weight Carat is the term we used to describe the weight of a diamond gemstone. One carat is equivalent to 200 milligrams of weight. A single diamond with a high amount of carat weight is more expensive than the equivalent amount of carats in multiple stones. This is because finding the larger diamonds is much more rare of an occurrence. So if you want a 2-carat diamond ring, for example, you may decide to go with a half-carat diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds that add up to one and a half carats to give you the total of 2 carats! Judging diamond quality by the amount of carats is difficult, since different shaped gemstones, and stones with different levels of clarity will be priced differently even if they have the same amount of carats. Judging Cut One of the most important factors in judging diamond quality is judging the cut of a diamond. It's important because a quality cut diamond will be more brilliant and reflects light more beautifully, and yet the cut of a diamond has the least impact on the overall price of the diamond. When judging diamond quality on the cut of a diamond, look at the stone in a well lit area. If the light seems to go into the stone and bounce back, showing a sparkling reflective surface, the diamond has a good cut. The angles and shapes of a diamond are important to judging diamond quality and the overall appearance of your diamond. JEWELRY WHOLESALE-DIAMONDS
There are four C's when it comes to buying a diamond: cut, clarity, color, and carat weight. All of these must be considered because you want the diamond used in your jewelry wholesale to be as beautiful as possible. Remember that the diamond should not overpower the entire piece, but it should be the main attraction and compliment the rest of the piece as well. The cut of the diamond does not refer to the shape of it. It refers to the way that it was cut – the quality of the cut. The shine and fluorescence of the diamond is determined by how it was cut. The shape of the diamond is only a second factor – or an after thought – in terms of the quality of the cut. The clarity of a diamond does not refer to how clear it is. Instead, it refers to how perfect or flawless – or imperfect – a diamond is. There are internal imperfections and external imperfections. A diamond that has no imperfections is flawless – and expensive. Diamonds come in many colors. The most common are white and yellow. Other colors are available, but they are rare and expensive. The only color you should never consider is a "blue white" diamond. A jeweler may try to tell you that this is a rare quality diamond, but it is in fact an inferior diamond, and you have no use for it. The carat weight of the diamond will be important to your customer. Large diamonds should come with a certificate. You should request this from the company that you are purchasing the diamond from. If they refuse to give you a certificate from a reputable grading company such as GIA, walk away. The chances are good that you will put more work and thought into purchasing diamonds for your jewelry wholesale than in any other gem or stone. Diamonds are by far the most popular gemstones in the world – and with good reason. Not only are they the most beautiful stones, but they are also the most durable stones on the face of the earth – or under the earth for that matter! Effortlessly Increase Your Search Engine Ranking
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