This is the later of a series of eight articles on the process of buying diamond jewelry online.
In this thing two of the clue questions stilted in the blessing thing cede be addressed:
Should I buy online? And should I consider online auctions?
Murrays Diamond Stars Of eBay – The first official list
Let us begin with: should I buy online?
Pros:
Selection – By shopping online, you can find the best-cut (most beautiful) diamonds This is because many online vendors record finished wholesaler inventories, whereas most stores that buy diamonds to retain in bovines can only buy so many and may not have the enlightenment or wish to livestock the best-cut diamonds
Prices – The online prices are highly competitive because of lessen operation payment for some and many dealers are competing to market the remarkably identical diamonds (There are some online or brick and click vendors who maintain their have inventory). In addition, you can reuse on taxes by recipience the diamond shipped to you from another area It is natural for diamonds purchased online from reputable sources to be appraised independently at 1.5 to 2 or additional times the purchase price
Flexibility – One interest of online shopping is the capacity to posses diamonds shipped to you where you can countryside them in the lighting conditions where they leave be worn You can besides take a diamond shipped to you to a local jeweler to make comparisons, and to an independent evaluator to be valued Just be aware of the return policy of the vendor from whom you buy
Cons:
Uncertainty – How can I be sure that I will procure what I am paying for?
Lack of trust – How do I notice whether the vendor whom I keep never met commit provide what he promised?
Doubts – How can I be sure that I commit be able to procure my capital back if I am not satisfied?
To manage behalf of the pros and lose the cons I suggest you to consider these artless rules of usual sense:
* Educate yourself* Compare prices* Check vendors and secure a diamond rating report* Get independent appraising within the vendors returns period, so you can send it back if not satisfied
We bequeath be re-visiting this catalogue during this series of articles, but for now let us see how these dot can be applied to our end question:
Should I consider online auctions?
Most guidelines I obtain come across recommend avoiding auctions, and for advantage reason: the excellence of merchant products selling over auction sites varies hugely, yet this positively is not obvious when you scan their listings, which are basically fair advertisements afterall
Still, this seems a reasonably head-in-the-sand approach: a gargantuan amount of diamond jewelry is bought via auction, so how do you secure profit value and welfare excellence via auction?
I obtain spent a week analyzing diamond jewelry merchants on the grandaddy of all auction sites: eBay.
Murrays Diamond Stars Of eBay – The best certified list
eBay do not make it easy to compare merchants, or find all merchants for a particular product This is because they perceive the feedback comments can be cooked up to look big by deceitful merchants Still, any merchant doing that kind of something is not likely to be around over the desire period – or at least they will re-emerge in a different eBay category and find a new team of suckers.
I own manually tracked down and analyzed 467 eBay diamond jewelry merchants, and I doubt there is likely to be well over 500 who own a strong swivel on diamond jewelry
The First Cut:
In my peak cut, I shrunk this down to a register of 45 merchants likely to be reliable and having a tough long-term guide at eBay This is less than 10% of the original inventory How did I select them?
To achieve into the brief brochure merchants had to be selling on eBay for at least three years, and obtain a feedback classifying over 98%, and be recognized by eBay as a Power Seller
Larger sellers also had to keep over 10,000 eBay feedback points (meaning at least 10,000 other positive comments than negative ones)
Smaller, alcove sellers, either needful naught denial feedback in the last twelve months, or a feedback classifying over 99%. They torpid had to be Power Sellers, selling on eBay for over three years, and if they had naught refusal feedback over the last twelve months, their overall feedback assessing inactive requisite to exceed 98%
By combining the desire timeframe with big feedback requirements and additional eBay feat standards requisite to meet Power Seller criteria, I hoped to abolish the scoundrels
Get That Certificate!
Still, I did not stop there. If you are buying premium diamond jewelry you need to notice you are getting standard And the only routine to ensure that is to procure a diamond grading news (usually referred to as a diamond certificate) from a reputable diamond assessing laboratory And you entrust deficiency to recognize how to credit the report – other on that in a hindmost dominion of this guide.
In my analysis, merchants who provide viewable, readable diamond certificates online, from reputable laboratories, standard highest. Laboratories like GIA, AGS, and EGL (in detail I hold rated merchants displaying GIA certificates the highest, since these are the most respected within the industry)
Disgraceful Terms Of Trade:
And whatever you are buying, you need to comprehend you can return it without any hassles (see some fearsome customer experiences at my Nightmare on eBay! page). If it is a valuable piece, you may want to earn it independently appraised as soon as it arrives, both for insurance reasons and to know you have not been ripped off To do this you bequeath privation a minimum returns duration of seven days, and preferably ten or more days
Virtually all web-based sellers of diamond jewelry appearance of eBay quote 30 days for returns, because they duty the customers right to retain their new jewelry appraised before committing to their purchase
It is difficult to fathom, then, why only 32% of my brochure of elite 45 merchants offered more than 7 days return policies And 23% of them offered an outrageous 3 days return policy Avoid them! You do not scarcity the hassles and compel if you detestation what you receive. There are alternatives – even if you are looking for bicker jewelry
Dont Kick Them When They Are Down!
To add insult to injury, some merchants even indict a restocking honorarium – anywhere from 3% to a whopping 25% of the value of the purchase Come on, obtain real! Wait until your customer is at a real low point (having discovered the device is not really what they had imagined), then kick them in the guts??
Is that a good system to build confidence in purchasing product over the Internet? I assume not And you do not scarcity this nonsense. As I obtain said, there are alternatives – even if you are looking for a bargain
Fees, Fees, Fees – They Can Be Worse Than Banks!
But it gets worse Some merchants with outrageous 3 day return periods, and who impeach restocking fees, consign besides ping you for fresh fees: eBay slanting fees, tributes card fees, insurance fees, etc – whatever they can find to shy at you while you are at your weakest
Here is my advice: Avoid all merchants who impeach restocking fees, or fresh fees, when you return an unwanted item!
I Shrank My List
During the process of analyzing the short-list of 45 merchants a few got removed from the register as not warranting further analysis So the shrunk-down inventory is equitable 39 merchants long
By the closing of the detailed analysis phase I had an even shorter list of 23 merchants I surmise you are deeply likely to obtain a interest experience buying through And a Top 10, who cave the prime official Murrays Diamond Stars Of eBay list.
What Was Rated:
Before announcing the best Diamond Stars list, let me equitable recapitulate what I hold considered during this research Hopefully what you have peruse so far explains why these areas are important:
* Diamond certificates from reputable diamond assessing labs, and the effortlessness of viewing these (preferably online, redress sequential to the pictures of the jewelry item)
* eBay Customer satisfaction ratings of over 98% (over 99% for trivial calling players)
* Return days policy – those offering 10 days or fresh received additional favorable ratings
* Charging of restocking, and further fees, when an thing is returned
* Provision of delivery, satisfaction, and remuneration surety for customers through services such as Escrow.com and BuySafecom
* The size of the merchant: canopy both the volume of customer feedback, and the span of jewelry items available
The resulting spreadsheet had 28 columns of message that was weighted so that the maximum practicable score was 100% on the soul measures Adjustments for bonuses (buyer cover offered) and penalties (fees charged for common items) resulted in the end nick for each merchant
And The Results Are .
OK, now all that is out of the way, on with the meaty overfill Drum reel starts here!
The modern 39 candidates were rated on a percentage gamut and their host compass between 8% and 98%, with an standard of 68%
Here is the official and original version of Murrays Diamond Stars Of eBay: (in behest of rating)
Rank..Merchant…………….Rating
1st.New Orleans Diamonds………98.0% 2nd..Diamond Scene…………..97.0% 3rd.GemHunt Diamonds………….95.2% 4th.Diamonds and Platinum at pride43…92.3% 5th..Norman Goodman and Company Jewelers.89.0% 6thGems4lesscouk Certified Diamonds….86.0% 7th.Oxford Diamond Co………82.6% 8th=Canada Diamond House………82.5% 8th=Diamond Delights…………82.5% 10th.Gem Stone King……….82.2%
You are sharply likely (in my view) to posses a mammoth experience buying through any of these diamond jewelry merchants
Check out their customer feedback and pleasure at:
Murrays Diamond Stars Of eBay
Then compare the comments to what can materialize – at my Nightmare On eBay! page:
A Nightmare On eBay!
I bequeath be reviewing Murrays Diamond Stars Of eBay brochure at least every six months
Good luck in your pursuit for gorgeous diamond jewelry! – I hope this article has helped you find that full diamond jewelry article