Online Shopping Vs. Local Jewelers

Many people are afraid to buy online, but the question is, should they? Personally, I think that many people are afraid to buy online because they don't know what to look for in a diamond. From my experience, I'd actually be more afraid to buy from a local jeweler than online. And I have a few reasons why...

Some of the bigger online jewelry stores, like Blue Nile, are not only much larger and can afford to offer lower prices, but they also only deal with GIA and similar certified diamonds. Many local jewelers either deal with uncertified diamonds, or they certify the diamonds themselves, which is unethical (due to the potential bias). Some local jewelers also try to get around this by saying that they have "independently certified diamonds," but they often times will have someone else certify it who gets a percent cut in commission for every sale, which is yet another form of bias.

Bigger online jewelry sites won't do this, because it can really ruin their image online quite easily. Large online stores will also often mention every quality of the diamond from its cut to what type of symmetry it has and so forth. Many local jewelers and even smaller online stores will often leave the cut out.

This is very deceiving, as they'll pretend that their price is a lot cheaper than anywhere else. In reality, they're often comparing the price of their "fair" or "good" cut diamond to an "excellent" cut diamond. If you were to compare a lesser cut stone online to the normal lesser cut stone in a store, you'd see that the online one is by far cheaper. In fact, many local jewelers won't even carry "excellent" cuts and they'll still have a lesser cut far more expensive than an excellent cut diamond online of the same size and everything else.

This is why you have to be careful. If you do shop for a diamond, make sure that it's GIA certified and that it's an excellent cut (if it's a round shaped diamond) or a "very good" cut if it's a fancy shaped diamond (like princess, emerald, etc.) -- GIA only recognizes excellent cuts for round shaped diamonds.

If you know what to look for then, you'll notice that online prices are virtually always cheaper often times by thousands of dollars. If you get GIA certified diamonds, it's also reassurance that you are getting what it claims. This way, you don't have to be worried about being surprised -- something that local jewelers try to trick consumers into thinking will happen if you shop online.

Even when shopping online, be sure to compare similar characteristics and certifications. Many smaller online jewelry stores try to do the same tricks as local jewelers.

Another thing to be careful of (both online and offline) are stores that claim to have the best cut diamond and make up their own names. For instance, they'll re-name a cut to something like "The Leo Diamond" or "Hearts on Fire" and so forth. GIA doesn't recognize any cut other than fair, good, very good, and excellent (also known as ideal). Any jeweler claiming that their cut is the best without a GIA certified report saying that it's an excellent cut is most likely lying to you. Some jewelers rename their own cuts that are really only "good" cuts (which is unethical and tricky), whereas some will be more ethical and rename an "excellent" cut to their new name (still pretending that their cut is better). But keep in mind that these "re-named" cuts are almost certainly not GIA certified, which means you have to trust your jeweler on this...

From my experience, people are simply amazed at excellent cuts that they buy online compared to the other diamond that they see from their local jewelers. But again, the trick is to know what you are looking for.

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If you're still clueless on what to look for, I encourage you to take advantage of our free unbiased searches.