Curious: When purchasing diamonds from online vendors...

[DreamingOfDiamonds]

I have a question and I hope it's understood. If you are a customer purchasing natural diamonds online, can they be falsified? For example if I buy from JA or RareCarat, what are the chances that I'm paying top dollar for a lab grown diamond or a moissanite? Am I making sense...? Kind comments only please...

Thanks all.

 

[musicloveranthony]

Be sure to buy a diamond with a certification - you can use a loupe or bring to a jeweler to have them loupe the diamond to search for the number inscribed on the girdle of the stone. It should match the certification

 

[DreamingOfDiamonds]

Be sure to buy a diamond with a certification - you can use a loupe or bring to a jeweler to have them loupe the diamond to search for the number inscribed on the girdle of the stone. It should match the certification

Thanks for the quick response! What is a loupe? Not sure & needing clarification.

 

[musicloveranthony]

Thanks for the quick response! What is a loupe? Not sure & needing clarification.

It is basically a little magnifying glass that people use to look at gemstones more closely

 

[lovedogs]

I have a question and I hope it's understood. If you are a customer purchasing natural diamonds online, can they be falsified? For example if I buy from JA or RareCarat, what are the chances that I'm paying top dollar for a lab grown diamond or a moissanite? Am I making sense...? Kind comments only please...

Thanks all.

But fwiw if you're buying from JA or other known online realtors who used legit certificates, rhe chances of them risking their business switching out diamonds is basically 0

 

[Dreamer_D]

If you buy a diamond from a reputable online company like the ones you mentioned and it had a lab report from a reputable company, you have no worries. The lab report number is often engraved along the girdle and any local reputable jeweler can look at the diamond under their microscope and confirm your diamond matches the lab reports.

 

[Old_Fossil]

Interesting question @DreamingOfDiamonds

I would offer that the same holds true for brick and mortar stores, and for the guy in the alley in a trenchcoat selling diamonds out of the back of his 1974 Mercury Montego wagon.

Online vendors have liberal return and often trade-up policies, which somewhat mitigates risk of receiving a stone that you don't want/like for whatever reason. Unless you are at least a diamond prosumer or one of the PS experts here who have a good sense/know what to look for, there is nothing preventing a mall jewelry store from doing the same to an unwitting consumer, as the they would likely not know the difference. They just see a sparkly stone under 100,000 watts of specialty lighting and will go with what the sales associate says (don't ask me how I know).

+1 for checking the report number on the girdle to match the paper report.