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Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2004
- Messages
- 6,825
Information. You want to know every thing about what is being offered, including the size of stones and the weight of the finished piece if appropriate.
I'd more say, "Information as in crown/pavilion angles and a copy of the grading report at minimum." I should be able to find this information on your site without having to ask you to get it. I found when buying an e-ring stone that the numbers usually weren't what I wanted anyway, so I don't waste time anymore with vendors that don't list crown/pavilion angles as a minimum.
Free shipping was not mentioned often, but when it was mentioned it was emphatic. Was this a lone voice in the wilderness, or is shipping a major irritant? (Sheila tells me that she thinks it was NOT a lone voice in the wilderness.)
Sheila's right - it's not a lone voice in the wilderness. I didn't mention it only because I've come to expect it already from vendors who gave it. I ordered from DI; then returned the stones and had new stones sent to me. Both times, they paid shipping. I bought a stone from WF, a custom e-ring setting, and a custom wedding band - all three purchases, they paid shipping.
Having stones in stock. There are now hundreds of sites that list a bazillion stones that they will drop ship to you and then there are the sites that list only their own stock that they have on hand. How important an issue is this? VERY...depending on the purchase. For my e-ring, I wouldn't deal with a vendor who didn't have it in hand. Too important a purchase to take chances. For smaller purchases like earrings, I still want vendors with stones in hand. The only way I'd go to a drop-ship vendor is if NO in-hand vendor had what I needed and I couldn't wait for product....and then only if I had a really good full-refund return policy.
Are those of us who can look at a stone and give guidance to our clients truly being replaced by paper?
Emphatically not. I've picked up the phone to every vendor to discuss my stones prior to purchase, and that is invaluable to me. When I called Whiteflash with one stone in mind, they gave me an alternative for a better, larger diamond for less money. I would never have known about it if I hadn't spoken with them.
Is ten days long enough to look at a stone, or do you need thirty or sixty days?
I think ten days is a little tight - 15 would be more reasonable. I think 30/60 days are excessive.....not fair to you as a vendor.
Last thing - hasn't been mentioned: Communication! When you give your word, keep your word. If you tell me that I will hear from you by Friday, then call me Friday.....even if it's to tell me that you didn't get the response/info yet but you're still working on it. Trust that I'll have patience/indulgence as long as you don't ignore me/keep me in the dark.
Here is where a lot of vendors, myself included might dissagree with you. If you buy a stone for $500 or $500,000 and send it to a vendor for setting and he is getting a $35 fee, then I think it unreasonable to expect him to assume liability for that.----------------
On 7/1/2004 5:22:42 PM quaeritur wrote:
Wink wrote:
The third party doing the setting should assume that responsibility as long as the stone is in their posession.----------------
OK Wink, having just completed my third buying experience in the last few months with PS vendors and each one was many thousands of dollars here are my comments:
Guarantees and a reasonable time to inspect a stone before having to say yea or nay Ten days is borderline, unless I have tons of information and can see and appraise the stones in a convenient time.Much more comfortable with 30 days, however, I never abuse these policies and rarely return anything so I may be the exception
Independent confirmation. If you mean send to appraiser on approval, Yes absolutely.For me this is a deal breaker. Tied into return time . I generally will pay in advance and rely on return policy just to avoid more hassle with bank transfers.However as a MAJOR irritant two times, I paid in full and the stones arrived at the appraisers office marked unpaid.I had to call and ask for fax confirmation of payment so I could take the stones.IF YOU ARE PAID IN FULL DON’T MARK THE PACKAGE UNPAID
Ability to talk to a person. Point taken Good
One last thing for you vendors, can anyone come up with a better way to pay than blasted wire transfers.This is 2004 and with all of this on-line shopping, I still have to physically go to bank that I haven’t been to in years and pay a $16 excessive fee to avoid being dinged a 5% credit card fee.It’s very inconvenient.That’s one reason I pay first.Don’t want to go to appraiser, run to bank, wait for wire, back to appraiser to pick up.
If I think of more, I’ll post, but having said that, each of the vendors I used have there own character and quirks.None is perfect, but one does clearly set a service standard to aspire to in my small sample set of experience.All were honest and of high integrity which as I said before is tops on my list.
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On 7/1/2004 6:21:08 PM noobie wrote:
One last thing for you vendors, can anyone come up with a better way to pay than blasted wire transfers.This is 2004 and with all of this on-line shopping, I still have to physically go to bank that I haven’t been to in years and pay a $16 excessive fee to avoid being dinged a 5% credit card fee.It’s very inconvenient.That’s one reason I pay first.Don’t want to go to appraiser, run to bank, wait for wire, back to appraiser to pick up.----------------
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On 7/1/2004 11:07:53 PM coldfusion wrote:
I know people are divided on the 'setting of the stone' accountability. Personally, i'm on the side of it being the setter's responsibility. This may mean that a dollar or two more is charged (to cover your insurance), but I liken it to taking my car to get it washed and it coming out with a big scratch in the paint. It's one of the risks of washing cars, and the car wash should be insured against its risks.
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Ah.....but a major difference between your car and the diamond....the car can be restored to its original state with a paint job......costs some money, sure, but one scratch doesn't mean the car wash has to buy you a brand new car.
there isn't really a difference of opinion, at least in the trade. you can't expect someone who is getting $35 for a setting job to be a surety for a $10,000 stone. it's long been settled, in the courts and elsewhere, that the owner of the stone bears the risk. and the insurance companies will not write policies for that sort of thing anyway.----------------
On 7/1/2004 11:07:53 PM coldfusion wrote:
I know people are divided on the 'setting of the stone' accountability. Personally, i'm on the side of it being the setter's responsibility. This may mean that a dollar or two more is charged (to cover your insurance)
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Ah.....but a major difference between your car and the diamond....the car can be restored to its original state with a paint job......costs some money, sure, but one scratch doesn't mean the car wash has to buy you a brand new car.
However, chip a diamond, and it will never weigh as much as it did. You can recut/repolish/whatever, but it will lose weight in the process. The only way to make you whole (with a 1.25 diamond if that's what you started with) is to replace it with another like 1.25 diamond.
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On 7/7/2004 8:36:47 PM Wink wrote:
They have listed stones by size catagories. To me, that makes even more sense for a small site than a search engine. Opinions pro and con are welcome.
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Please don't! Go there I mean. Now that I know what you want I really wish I had never tried to be a web site designer instead of just doing what I do!----------------
On 7/7/2004 11:01:55 PM noobie wrote:
Ummmmm, ditto what AnA said
Well that Wink's site, lets's not even go there.... What's for dinner?
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On 7/7/2004 11:51:49 PM strmrdr wrote:
gog site sux wheen you are shopping by price initualy and dont know what size, color ,and clarity stones fall in your price range.----------------
The concept of having lots of information is a good one......but not if I get sick of waiting for everything to load. NiceIce's site makes more sense because it lists EVERYTHING in the table....including price, dimensions, etc. You can see ALL the specs of the stone on the "spreadsheet", and you can click into the stone to see more detailed information.
On Jonathan's site, it's too cumbersome to click in and out of every single stone just to get pricing.