Upgrading diamonds in a setting

[Barrett]

I have heard from a few of you and from a couple friends on here that upgrading diamonds(melee) in settings is the thing to do. Is it like night and day? I don't really know anything about diamonds the gemstones but pretty much eveything else about them..just not the gemstone aspect.... How do you know if you need to upgrade..preferably beforehand I assume? What do you upgrade to? from what? I know it's the quality but what is the standard used and what is the appropriate upgrade to give it a good look..by that i mean if i go look at settings now what is the typical i will find and what if anything do i need to know if upgrading or not? What is the usual price increase for upgrading from a certain clarity to a better? Questions here are vague i know and lots of variables involved but a general idea will help me out
Probably should go in the another section than colored stones but this is the only place I go and I know I am in good hands here

 

[chrono]

“Upgrading” of melee is only done for settings that are not made yet. Once the setting is already purchased and made, it does not make any financial sense to upgrade the melees as the cost of the labour will be greater than the cost of the melees themselves. Pricing will vary on the quality of the melees being upgraded to in addition to the vendor’s markup. The typical melee upgrade is requested when the standard offerings are clarity challenged and low coloured melees. Such melees may not sparkle much if they are tinted with black specks or look like frozen spit, hence it makes sense to upgrade to something eye clean (VS or good SI) and medium range coloured (G/H). Cut quality also matters but most vendors outside of Pricescope either do not care about cut quality or chose to ignore it.