Rapaport - News

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

How do I buy a diamond and avoid all the scams

How do I buy a diamond and avoid all the scams at the jewelry stores?
Let's separate scams into two categories: major and minor. Frankly, major scams rarely occur... but when they do, the media overpublicizes them to sell newspapers or magazines.
On the other hand, minor scams are very common and are found in almost all of the major jewelry chain stores to some degree. Such scams persist simply because it is hard for consumers to educate themselves before they buy. That is why we decided to stop selling diamonds and start offering this much-needed information to help consumers buy intelligently.
Below are the common scams and mistakes we see every day...and tips to help you avoid them. We also wrote a few basic precautions to protect you against almost any trick you might encounter.

Blue-White Diamond A jeweler tells you, "This is a blue-white diamond."
This is a very old term that is now carefully controlled by the FTC because of misuse and scams in the past. The dealer will probably tell you that it is a better diamond, but actually it is just the opposite. Blue-white refers to the fluorescence that results in natural light, which contains ultraviolet wavelengths. This blue fluorescence actually makes a colorless diamond look a little oily or milky in sunlight and decreases its value. However, for stones with a faint yellow color, a moderate amount of fluorescence can make it look whiter because it cancels some of the yellow. Solution: Avoid any jeweler who still uses this term and walk out, since he may have old habits established by scam artists of the past.

Carat Total Weight (ctw)
The tag only states the CTWMany jewelry tags only list the "carat total weight" of diamonds in a ring and do not list the center stone separately. You can't compare prices with another ring if you don't know the weight and quality of the main diamond. This is crucial because one large diamond is worth much more than 6 small ones that total the same weight. For instance, if you have one G/VS2 diamond weighing 1.00 carat, it might be worth about $5,500. But 10 smaller G/VS2 diamonds totalling 1.00 carats might only be worth about $1,800. Big difference! And normally, smaller diamonds at such stores are much lower quality than this example, so the actual ring would be worth still less.
Solution: Ask for the weight and quality of the center stone by itself, in writing. Leave the store if they can't or won't do this. They don't have your interests in mind.

The 50% Off Sale Huge Sales at Jewelry Stores
If you see a sale price in the newspaper, don't fall for it. You will probably pay much more than the regular price at an honest dealer. We know of a major store in Florida that marked gold chains up from $100 cost to $500 regular price, then marked them half-price during a sale. That means the customer paid $250, thinking it was a great price. This same thing happens with diamonds on sale. Liquidation and "going out of business" sales are usually no different. We heard of one store in New York City that has been going out of business for 15 years.
Solution: Don't fall for sales of any kind. If a dealer can afford to mark it down, then he marked it up too high at the start. (Courtesy: diamondhelpers.com)

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