stevieoneder
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2010
- Messages
- 8
Before discovering PS, I was given a recommendation (from a friend of a friend) of a diamond "merchant" (broker?), based on that friend-of-a-friend's experience. He'd been very happy with the vendor, and I blindly went into the negotiations expecting the best. At first, I was very trusting, based on her willingness to answer my ridiculous questions and explain her views on the 4 c's, especially her reasoning for dealing almost exclusively with EGL cert stones instead of GIA or other certs (it seemed reasonable at the time - you're not buying a cert, you're buying a stone, and if it looks good and looks like what you want, who cares what the paper says, right?) Unfortunately (for her), the more I read here, the less I bought into the idea of placing complete trust in someone else without strong supporting visual evidence. Things started to break down when she told me that she'd found a "great" stone for me. I'd given her my budget, and my preferences (such as they were, given that I had virtually no idea what I was doing), and she'd been shopping for me. She gave me the specifics, for the ring + the setting that I had sent her a picture of, and told me that she was ordering the stone from "her guy" in New York to see in-person. A few days later, she told me that she'd gotten the diamond, and that it was "beautiful" with "lots of fire and brilliance", but didn't provide any pictures of any sort. Not of the diamond, not of an ASET, IdealScope, or anything.
So, long story short, I did a PS search on the specs of the stone, and found something with EXACTLY the same specs. Same everything, including EGL cert, but it was 30% less than her price to me (after subtracting roughly $800 for the setting, since she didn't give me the breakout of stone vs. setting in the quote she gave me). I forwarded the listing from MDE to her (no doubt a virtual stone, since I was searching "all" stones, not just in-house), and she told me that a) it was less than her cost on the rock she'd sourced, and b) "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is"
Now, I don't have any real reason to doubt her (other than the fact that, since then, she hasn't responded to my request for ASET or IdealScope images), but I wondered - what are the odds that two stones, with identical specs would be on the market at the same time, and so disparate in price? Did I call her bluff (was she trying to sell me the same virtual listing I'd found)? Am I a jerk for asking why her price was so much higher? (her price, stone + 18k gold solitaire setting = $5800. Price of stone (no setting) on PS search: $3650, exact same specs, weight, color, clarity, LxWxH, EGL cert) For some reason, I feel "evil" for calling her out on that, since I let her know that she was referred by a friend that had a great experience (and the friend (whose friend made the recc) had raved about the diamond that his friend had gotten), and I'm sure she saw that as a guaranteed sale, but at the end of the day, these are pretty significant purchases, and I can't afford to "fudge" the numbers by 30%, you know?
So, what are the odds that we were actually talking about two different rocks? And, more importantly, if they were two different stones, with exactly matching specs, is there any reason that one should cost 30% more than the other? Is this a normal sort of experience?
PS - For whatever it's worth - after exploring this site, I found Excel Diamonds. Working with Judah at Excel has been a great experience. By means of comparison, after 7 weeks of back and forth with the previous vendor (with nothing really occuring), I have made a purchase from Excel after 3 days of communication. Judah's responsiveness (or tolerance of my phone calls/e-mails, anyway) has made it a no-brainer to buy from Excel, and I have no doubt that things will work out. Even better, I know that I've gotten a great value for the price that I'm paying, which counts for a lot. I'm waiting on their quote to do the setting, too!
So, long story short, I did a PS search on the specs of the stone, and found something with EXACTLY the same specs. Same everything, including EGL cert, but it was 30% less than her price to me (after subtracting roughly $800 for the setting, since she didn't give me the breakout of stone vs. setting in the quote she gave me). I forwarded the listing from MDE to her (no doubt a virtual stone, since I was searching "all" stones, not just in-house), and she told me that a) it was less than her cost on the rock she'd sourced, and b) "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is"
Now, I don't have any real reason to doubt her (other than the fact that, since then, she hasn't responded to my request for ASET or IdealScope images), but I wondered - what are the odds that two stones, with identical specs would be on the market at the same time, and so disparate in price? Did I call her bluff (was she trying to sell me the same virtual listing I'd found)? Am I a jerk for asking why her price was so much higher? (her price, stone + 18k gold solitaire setting = $5800. Price of stone (no setting) on PS search: $3650, exact same specs, weight, color, clarity, LxWxH, EGL cert) For some reason, I feel "evil" for calling her out on that, since I let her know that she was referred by a friend that had a great experience (and the friend (whose friend made the recc) had raved about the diamond that his friend had gotten), and I'm sure she saw that as a guaranteed sale, but at the end of the day, these are pretty significant purchases, and I can't afford to "fudge" the numbers by 30%, you know?
So, what are the odds that we were actually talking about two different rocks? And, more importantly, if they were two different stones, with exactly matching specs, is there any reason that one should cost 30% more than the other? Is this a normal sort of experience?
PS - For whatever it's worth - after exploring this site, I found Excel Diamonds. Working with Judah at Excel has been a great experience. By means of comparison, after 7 weeks of back and forth with the previous vendor (with nothing really occuring), I have made a purchase from Excel after 3 days of communication. Judah's responsiveness (or tolerance of my phone calls/e-mails, anyway) has made it a no-brainer to buy from Excel, and I have no doubt that things will work out. Even better, I know that I've gotten a great value for the price that I'm paying, which counts for a lot. I'm waiting on their quote to do the setting, too!
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