Pricescope Vendor Best Practices

[TwinkleStar]

Hello! I love this space and have learned so, so much from the great discussions here. Longtime lurker! I heard of Pricescope from my husband who did a lot of research here for my original engagement ring.

We recently upgraded my diamond from a ACA to ACA with the truly lovely people at Whiteflash (I’ll wait to separately post on that!), and now with the stone in hand, it’s time to seriously look at vendors who could set it.

The options have definitely increased over the past decade, and there are many fantastic reviews of vendors here and some not great experiences, so I wanted to ask you all how you went about deciding who to work with and what made that choice easy!

After narrowing down the list to the artistry you like the most:

• Did you reach out the multiple vendors at the same time or go down the list one by one as you resolved if you and they were a fit?
• What do you expect in terms of communications and expectation settings? Some of the folks here have had great communications, and some have never heard back, so how long until you move from one to the next?
• Do you e-mail and call? E-mail, then call if you haven’t heard back? If there isn’t anyone in the office (COVID), do you just consider it closed if you haven’t heard back in X days and move on?

All of the vendors here do amazing work, and at the end of the day, it is about business, so there are no hard feelings either way. But, unlike other business transactions, I think jewelry can be so emotional, because the investment is personally meaningful. It’s definitely not an investment in the hopes you can resell what you got for what you paid or higher! The investment is in the daily joy of wearing it or as heirloom pieces you can pass on.

Personally, I love good communications and expectation setting. If vendors have other projects, are out-of-office, have planned vacations, trade shows, only work on stones they source, etc. and that means they can't be in regular communications or have long timelines on the project or they just can't fit it in, great! But just let me know!

Thanks for any guidance or stories to help me on this journey!

 

[lovedogs]

My general opinion is that it's safest to have the stone set by the people who you purchased from (in this case, WF).

 

[lulu_ma]

Hi! Check out this thread. It Seems like a lot of good info/ perspectives on different PS vendors

Artists/Designers similar to CVB?

Wondering if there's a reputable artist/designer with a similar style to CVB. Searching for "antique" or "vintage-inspired" doesn't quite capture CVB's finesses and edge. I see her style as a mix of modern and antique, with very refined details. I'd like to expand my horizon and see if there are...

www.pricescope.com

 

[diamondseeker2006]

My feeling is you choose the ring style you love and have the ringmaker who does that style the best make it. Almost no ringmaker is going to be in contact with you during the making of the ring. You work out the details, pay your deposit or full amount, and then they will let you know when it is finished, basically. There are some people who have a desire for progress reports, but really, that is taking time away from the project if they have to do that. It's just unrealistic. You definitely do not reach out to multiple vendors. As I said, choose the one who you think can best make what you want. If you show us what you want, we can make suggestions of who might make it well with a shorter timeline. It depends on who it is as to the best way to contact them.

I also agree with @lovedogs that the diamond seller is a good place to start looking at settings! Whiteflash has a relatively fast timeline. Other than that, I think David Klass has a pretty fast timeline for custom if you know exactly what you want and don't have to do multiple CAD revisions.

 

[tyty333]

Some people are not good candidates for custom made. I think the more expectations
you have as far as communications and hand holding the less likely it will be a good
experience. 100% what @diamondseeker2006 said. You need to pick a trusted
vendor/artist for the style you want and let them do their thing.

With respect to DavidKlass (DK) , he takes a lot of input to create what you want, and if
you are new to custom I dont suggest him unless you pick a design he's already done
and tell him you want that for a size X finger and a size X stone.

Edit...options also depend on your budget.

 

[Mreader]

My feeling is you choose the ring style you love and have the ringmaker who does that style the best make it. Almost no ringmaker is going to be in contact with you during the making of the ring. You work out the details, pay your deposit or full amount, and then they will let you know when it is finished, basically. There are some people who have a desire for progress reports, but really, that is taking time away from the project if they have to do that. It's just unrealistic. You definitely do not reach out to multiple vendors. As I said, choose the one who you think can best make what you want. If you show us what you want, we can make suggestions of who might make it well with a shorter timeline. It depends on who it is as to the best way to contact them.

I also agree with @lovedogs that the diamond seller is a good place to start looking at settings! Whiteflash has a relatively fast timeline. Other than that, I think David Klass has a pretty fast timeline for custom if you know exactly what you want and don't have to do multiple CAD revisions.

I don’t think it’s a problem to reach out to more than one vendor before settling on one. But all of this is good advice in terms of expectations and yes if the OP is buying the stone from Whiteflash easier to do the setting there if there is some thing that she likes.

 

[TwinkleStar]

Thank you @lovedogs , @lulu_ma , @diamondseeker2006 , @tyty333 , and @Mreader for your thoughtful advice.

I have looked at the WF settings, and I know they're zoomed in, but I don't love them, but I understand what you're saying about that it's much easier (and likely seamlessly insured?) to have WF do the setting for a diamond they know well.

That's great feedback on David. Again, a lot has changed over the past years, and though he does CAD, his work looks similar to handmade. I'm not an expert here at all! I have found his different pieces here so creative and different for each person's tastes.

Okay, so I will start with one vendor at a time and prep mentally for the long-haul on this project, just in case. It's my first time doing all of the research and decision-making, so I feel overwhelmed and am still learning what to expect and just want to go about it the right way. I'm sure in the next project (I think I'm done working on this ring after this setting, but who knows what will happen), I'll feel a lot more confident and maybe even find a few favorite designers for life.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I don't think the first step is contacting a vendor. The first step is looking through lots of settings on their IG pages or websites and see what style you want. That usually will determine the vendor you choose to make your ring. I forgot to mention Maytal Hannah if you want a micropave ring. I think she is easy to work with and will accept outside stones.