online vs brick and mortar

[diamondhunter10]

I would love to get some thoughts of the different criteria that people use when they decide to patronize a store in person vs. online stores.
Maybe I have been lucky but I have had success on buying jewelry on EBAY. What is our experience?
Thoughts?

 

[diamondseeker2006]

My experience was that jewelry stores carried very few ideal cut diamonds. The diamonds they did carry were priced higher than a similar ideal cut diamond online. I wasn''t willing to settle for lower quality or pay $2000-4000 more for the same diamond to buy at a regular jewelry store. After researching here for months, I ended up buying my stone from Good Old Gold, which is a family owned jewelry store in NY, and they also have a website listing their diamonds and some other jewelry online. I found out about them here on PriceScope.

I was uncertain about a permanent setting, so I did have the stone set locally in a solitaire setting. I also bought a diamond wedding band locally just to establish a relationship with a good jeweler (I wasn''t happy with the ones I had previously used). But I''m not willing to do that on large purchases when I can save thousands.

I have bought small items such as a white gold bracelet for my mother on ebay, but I would not buy diamonds on there in most cases.

 

[Sundial]

Personally I am not an Ebay shopper and I certainly wouldn''t consider it for high dollar items like diamond jewelry. Looking at brick and mortar stores vs. the internet vendors I have found the online guys to have greater selection and lower prices. The advantage to shopping at a jewelery store is being able to see and try on the items and having local service after the sale. Normally the service (sizing, cleaning, repairs) is not that big of a deal, but if you are purchasing something like a ring with elaborate pave that may be prone to losing stones it might come in handy.

 

[jrob529]

I''m one of the few who didn''t even shop locally. I stumbled upon this site a few months ago and after reading numerous posts was very confident with the few recommended online stores. With that being the case, what would everyone say is the percentage that people save when they purchase a diamond online v. the typical brick and mortar/

 

[mtrb]

I have purchased diamonds on ebay before, and my experience has been negative twice and positive once. I a pretty convinced that these vendors are resellers that sell their imperfect stones on ebay saying they are better quality then they are as a way to get rid of them...that said, you may come accross antique settings and stones being sold by private parties or estates... in this case it may be a deal. So, my advice is to be careful.

I have bought the following:

A 2 carat antique platinum tennis bracelet which I was very happy with. It was not from a dealer, it was from an estate and the diamonds were very nice.

A pair of 1/2 carat diamond studs which I was NOT happy with at all. They were advertised as something they were not.

1 loose .67 carat diamond back in 1999 before I became diamond educated...advertised as 2 grades higher in clarity and color which I was not happy with at all


So, I think I would mostly stick too the online jewelers if I were you, that have decent return policies.

Good luck.

 

[firebirdgold]

I''m not sure how to put it into precentages and we ended up with an antique ring which could make a comparison even harder. But a local B&M store was offering a platinum(?) antique ring from the same era with similar size sidestones and a .30 carat center diamond of similar quality for over $3000 not including taxes. Whereas we bought my platinum antique ring with a .57 carat center diamond for about $2300 with no taxes.
Also looking at modern rings, I was almost entirely unable to find stylish settings in our price range. Everything was ugly and the most highly rated local jeweler in town was proud of their cheap basic settings. In other words, if you don''t want a zales ring and you aren''t looking for a $20,000+ ring, you''d be kinda screwed in my area.

That said, I do keep hearing an ad on the radio for a diamond jewelry store in a warehouse (near costco) about an hour away. The ads keep going on about their great quality, cut, wide range of settings, and the lowest prices plus one year intrest-free financing. If you belive their ads, they should be comprable to online pricing. Because we became focused on old european cut diamonds we never drove down there to investigate. Next time I''m in that city on my own with a bit of free time, I''ll check it out.

Even if the prices are similar, not having to pay taxes for out-of-state online purchases is pretty sweet!

 

[FacetFire]

I think both B&Ms and online can be the right place...it just depends on what you''re looking for and what you are comfortable with. If I can find a decent price at a B&M, given my knowledge of diamonds, I am happy to buy there because I can see it in person, compare several things at once, and not hassle with shipping. However, you do pay a premium for the B&M availability and service. If I were on a tight budget, and I felt comfortable making a large purchase on the internet, I would gladly buy from WF or GOG or JA, etc. Given all the info they provide, they take a lot of the guesswork out. But for me, there is still nothing like seeing it all ahead of time. And no, I don''t have such a high limit on my CC that I can put several stones on there so an online store can ship me multiple stones to compare. I would never have bought an OEC online because they are so unique, there are no "right" numbers. However, I would definitely buy an ideal cut, H&A stone online.

 

[jasper]

Diamond Hunter,

You might want to read thread #42995:
Why would you buy via internet? (IDEX Magazine Survey)

Also, when I was shopping for Marie's ring, I found that many bricks-and-mortar jewellers had very competitive prices. I bought her diamond on-line because it was easier to select an extremely well-cut diamond on-line. (And by the way, I think of the so-called "on-line" vendors as actually being phone vendors with extensive on-line catalogs.) I had her setting made at a local bricks-and-mortar jeweller, after finding out that this jeweller takes responsibility for the stone while it is being set. I posted my experience in thread #18415:
Seattle Area Jewellers

-- Jasper

 

[Modified Brilliant]

The most important thing to look out for if you decide to purchase on Ebay (especially a diamond)
is the lab document that accompanies the diamond. If you are unfamiliar with the laboratory or have
read negative comments, stay away. The industry currently is plagued by tiny independent "labs"
issuing misleading or incorrect grading reports that inflate the quality or intentionally leave out important information.
Anyone can call themselves a "lab" and grade diamonds. There is no regulation of any kind or licensing of any kind.
There are some very professional and honest diamond grading labs that you are familiar with from reading Pricescope.
It''s the "unfamiliar" ones that require a careful second look. Don''t be fooled by fancy and official looking copycat documents!

www.metrojewelryappraisers.com

 

[diamondhunter10]

great feedback and insight on my topic.

I will definately review the different links as well

 

[diamondhunter10]

good point , I have purchased on ebay and online, and the I completely agree about the certified documents that come with the purchases. I have also had some great experiences with a couple of online and brick and mortar stores.

 

[diamondhunter10]

what is the most you have paid for jewelry online? whether it''s Ebay or an online store that also has brick and mortar.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

$14,000. But you''ll find many on here who have spent much more than that!

 

[diamondhunter10]

Besides having the usual security measures to shield yourself for someone taking advantage of you.
Are there other precautions or rules of thumb that are not outlined in the (Buy Safe) and other advisory notes?