Among the reasons people prefer to purchase diamonds online rather than a physical brick-and-mortar retailer or even a diamond broker includes the bigger range of choices of diamonds, better prices and more obviously the comfort of shopping from home.
Apart from that, potential diamond buyers are faced by less pressure and manipulation from the sales representatives who target commissions. The online diamond retail sphere also has whatever stones listed always “in stock” compared to the local jeweller who has to contend with the limitations of inventory.
However, the setback of purchasing diamonds online means buyers need to have more knowledge about diamonds as most online diamond retail systems do not come with a sales rep to answer questions in real time.
For those of you who plan to buy natural or synthetic (Lab Grown Diamonds) diamonds online, this guide provides some very useful tips on how to make the best from buying diamonds online starting with the Four Cs.
Diamond Value & Grade – The Four Cs – What Matters
The first step in everyone’s diamond education journey starts with the 4 Cs which is a measure of sorts that is used by expert jewellers to grade diamonds and determine the value of a particular stone.
The Four Cs was developed by the Gemmological Institute of America more than six decades ago that simplified the process of determining the quality of a diamond through Colour, Cut, Clarity and Carat.
Nevertheless, consumers must take note that the Four Cs is an over-simplification which results in consumers making grave mistakes when buying diamonds online, simply because they assume that if a particular diamond corresponds to the same colour, cut, clarity, and carat that they want, they are all the same and generally they just buy the lowest priced diamond that match their criterion.
Putting colour and carat aside which are quite simple to comprehend, the bigger mistakes usually stem from the understanding of cut and clarity.
What one needs to know is that two diamonds, both round, both are brilliant-cut diamonds, and of good grades will not perform in the same way as diamonds of the same cut grade do not necessarily handle light in the same way and how a diamond manages the light passing through it is what gives the diamond the beauty we look for.
Hence although the grade reports of two separate diamonds are identical prices of diamonds, for example round diamonds can differ significantly due to the character of the cut despite the identical grading.
The reason is, grade reports are not able to capture the character of the cut which often leads to people paying more for less and hence, when buying online do not just depend on solely the grade report!
There are other tricks involving the metals that these stones are set into, for a diamond engagement ring for example, even if the diamond is of average quality, the choice of metal that the stone is set in and how it is setup on the ring could make a world of difference which we will dwell further into in our next edition of tips and strategies to buy diamonds online.