|
www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing public photos and videos from Engagement Rings By Secret Diamond. Make your own badge here.
|
 |
| Hours (CST) | |
| M-F 9am-9pm Sat-Sun 9am-6pm |
|
 |
By Email |
 |
7 Days of Week 1-651-263-5121 |
 |
|
The opinions expressed herein are secretdiamond.com's opinions and do not represent anyone else's or any other company's views in any way.
© Copyright 2009
Independent GIA Appraisals and Independent GIA Certificates
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
It seems that some people searching for diamond engagement rings are becoming a little confused over the term Independent GIA Appraisals and Independent GIA Certificates. We have been asked a lot lately if there is such a thing as an "Independent" Gia Appraisal/Certification. The short and easy answer is No.
You have a contradiction in terms when you say the words "Independent" and "GIA certified" in the same description. You see you are probably thinking the word "independent" is being used by the diamond merchant to reference GIA as the independent source of the certificate or appraisal he will furnish you with. However the diamond merchant may very well be using the word "Independent" to describe a certificate or appraisal that will be furnished by someone completely other than GIA. The only reason he is including GIA in the same sentence, is because he is twisting the real meaning to fool you.
You see this diamond merchant knows very well that you are probably trying to teach yourself all about diamonds, by reading everything you can find about diamonds online. And you are probably trying your very best to make sure you get the nicest diamond for the most affordable price. You don’t want to be the one to get rip-offed. I mean who does?
So as you start to browse through the thousands of pages available online to learn about diamonds and engagement rings, you probably start to hear about "GIA Certified Diamonds". There is no doubt that you will hear nothing but good words about GIA certified diamonds. This is because GIA certified diamonds will command the highest price of any type of certified diamond. GIA certified diamonds are the"Gold Standard" when it comes to buying diamonds.
So most people will start to search for diamond engagement rings with GIA certified diamonds. As you browse through the many diamond businesses online and start to see their prices on GIA certified diamonds, most people start to become a little surprised to say the least. You probably have already started to learn a little bit about diamonds by now, so you look for diamonds with good color, good clarity and good cut grade, along with the carat weight you had your heart set on. When you start to see the prices for GIA certified diamonds with all of the characteristics that you desire, most people become very surprised at how expensive they are. After all, you are not in the diamond business and it may very well be the first time buying diamonds for you, so who can blame you for being a little bit surprised to learn that a 1 1/2 carat round brilliant diamond can cost easily $14,000 for something along the lines of an F/SI1 with "Ideal Cut". (That doesn’t include an actual engagement ring setting yet) Now let’s add a setting to that. If you just want a simple & traditional solitaire setting, you are in luck. You are probably only going to have to add a couple hundred bucks to that. But if you want something with some diamonds on it, like the antique or vintage inspired rings that are so popular today, you are probably going to have to add a couple of thousand dollars more to the cost of the center diamond. Thousands of dollars more if you buy the setting from a jewelry store. (And certainly thousands of dollars more for the center diamond if you buy THAT from a jewelry store too) I mean you could easily spend $20,000 on an engagement ring with those specs in any jewelry store. (So much for that idea!) I don’t care if you have the $20,000 to spend, who wants to spend that kind of money on an engagement ring in today’s economic climate. Put it in the bank or invest it, you might need it.
OK. Now if you are like me, you say to yourself, "I don’t believe it, I am going to shop around and find a steal of a bargain. It must be out there somewhere! There is now way every diamond business is charging that kind of money!"
So you keep looking, and yet you still keep seeing pretty much the same prices. You see, the prices on GIA certified diamonds are all going to be very similar online. That’s because you are seeing pretty much the same diamonds and GIA certified diamond prices are "Regulated" so to speak by Rapaport. It’s kind of like the "Blue Book" of car values. The only difference in price you will see is in the markup. And this difference will be very little because you are buying your diamond online and the prices of GIA diamonds online are already marked up VERY LITTLE as opposed to your local jewelry store. So there is not a whole lot of room to discount GIA certified diamonds. The margins are pretty small. You also need to know that the diamonds you are seeing on these diamond websites are not their diamonds. They are part of a national database that is uploaded to their website. You could find the exact same diamond on many different websites. All of those websites that are offering that diamond for sale are buying it from the cutter for the same price, and then marking it up to you as a retail transaction. No-one actually has the diamond in their possession. It is just sitting at the diamond cutter and whoever sells it first, gets it. That’s why it’s always important to call first if you find a diamond online, to see if it is still available. It may have been sold by another diamond website company. I have heard stories from people that purchased a diamond from an online database, only to receive a call from the retailer saying that the diamond has "Just been sold". What they are really saying is that another website sold it before we could. (We actually have our clarity enhanced diamonds in inventory-That’s very rare in a diamond business)
Then all of the sudden "Presto" just like magic, a GIA certified diamond for only a couple thousand dollars. (Or so you think!)
You can’t believe your eyes! The secret source that you have been searching for has just appeared right before you very eyes. You knew that if you searched the internet long enough, it would magically appear sooner or later. You look at the website and it even says that the diamonds come with an "Independent GIA Appraisal" Could this really be? GIA certified diamonds for thousands of dollars less than EVERYWHERE else? Then the skeptic in you kicks in. I better call them and ask a few questions just to make sure. So you call. Yep, sure enough, the person on the phone tells you that your diamond will come with an "Indepenent GIA appraisal". Holy Toledo Batman, you just found the Magic source. Sherlock Homes would be proud of you.
There is just one small little catch though. The diamond has "Been Cleaned Up With A Laser" you know, the same kind you might find in a dermatologist’s office, or for laser eye surgery.
Well that doesn’t seem like such a big deal, after all, technology has come such a long way. Certainly they can do it to diamonds too. It’s still a GIA certified diamond you think to yourself. After all, the guy on the phone told you that it comes with an Independent GIA Appraisal. How could that be twisted around? So now you embark on even more research before you actually but that "GIA certified diamond". You find that there are these things called clarity enhanced diamonds. You may also find that a "Laser Drilled" diamond may be certified by GIA, and they are also referred to as clarity enhanced diamonds. "That must be the diamond that this guy is selling me", you start to think. But that is still not a big deal, because it is still a good deal, and "Laser Drilled" diamonds are still pretty valuable. This guy must just have a really good source that allows him to sell them for thousands of dollars less than EVERYWHERE ELSE.
Well Sherlock Homes, I am going to let you in on a little secret. The diamond he is selling you is not a GIA certified diamond. As a matter of fact, it has not been certified by GIA at all. It’s not even a "Laser Drilled" Diamond. It is clarity enhanced though. But it’s a "Fracture-Filled" clarity enhanced diamond. The only reason he is using the phrase "Independent GIA Appraisal" is because it was certified by a company that has a GIA graduate gemologist on staff, that certifies the diamonds. It’s a twist on definitions. You see the diamond is not GIA certified, the gemologist is. He went to GIA to get his/her graduate gemologist degree, and now he/she is a "Graduate GIA Gemologist". Some diamond ring companies like to conveniently refer to him/her as a "Certified GIA Gemologist". GET THE PICTURE
The bad news is that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and what your mom taught you is true. "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is".
Just like everything else in the world, you get what you pay for when you buy a diamond.
The good news is that a "Fracture-Filled" clarity enhanced diamond can truly be a good deal and still look extremely beautiful. There is nothing wrong with that. You will pay thousands of dollars less and you will get a good deal on a nice looking diamond. But don’t let yourself be fooled in to thinking that you are buying some magically discounted GIA certified diamond. It doesn’t exist. But you are certainly welcome to keep trying.
If you really want a GIA certified diamond and you are willing to pay for it, then call us at 651-263-5121. We have access to the same diamond databases that you see on all of the other websites out there. We will find you that GIA certified diamond for a very fair price. But we won’t try to fool you in to thinking you are buying a GIA certified, "Fracture-Filled" clarity enhanced diamond. You may want to read more about "Fracture-Filled versus Laser Drilled" clarity enhanced diamond here.
|
|---|
This article is about diamond secrets revealed. Learn these little secrets about diamonds online, and buying diamonds will make more sense. The first little secret I would like to cover is that the vast majority of websites selling diamonds online do not actually own the diamonds, or even have them in their possession for that matter. There are 2 major diamond databases that exist for online diamond sellers to use. These diamond databases are where all of the major diamond cutters of the world upload their inventory to. Once they have uploaded their inventory to these databases, the online diamond retailers just pay a programmer to integrate a diamond search engine in to their website. These 2 diamond databases are managed by a company that works with the retailers and charges them a fee according to how many diamonds they want to list for sale on their website. The more diamonds that you list on your website, the larger the fee you will pay per month. If you pay close attention to the diamonds you are looking at, you will probably even see the same diamond listed on more than 1 website. You might even see it on for sale on several websites.
Note: I just looked at one of these diamond databases to see how many diamonds are available for uploading to a retailers website. There are currently 302,217 certified diamonds and 29,224 non-certified diamonds available. That is 331,441 diamonds total. No company I am aware of actually pays to list every diamond available. Many of them are very small or low quality and not worth paying to list. Retailers can limit the sizes that they list and may choose to only list diamonds that are larger than 1/2 carat for instance.
Have you ever gone shopping for diamonds and noticed that some websites tout how they have 25,000 diamonds available? Then you go to the next website and they have 50,000 diamonds for sale. And then you will even find some websites that have 100,000 diamonds for sale. Have you ever wondered how many diamonds 100,000 is? It’s a lot of diamonds. As I write this I am wondering myself how much space 100,000 diamonds would actually take up. I don’t know. I have never had even close to that many. 100,000 is probably a lot of diamonds to even the diamond mining companies.
Now let’s figure out in a pretty raw and quick form, how much those diamonds could be worth. Remember, some of those diamonds will be 1 carat, some will be 2 carats, and some will be 3 carats and even larger than that. So 100,000 diamonds is probably more than 200,000 carats. Now if you calculate that a 1 carat diamond of pretty decent quality can easily cost $4,000-$5,000 and 2 carat diamonds can easily cost $15,000-$25,000 and 3 carat diamonds can go as high as $70,000 (or higher for top quality) the total dollar value of those diamonds is staggering. Even though my formula may be inaccurate, I think if you were to know the actual dollar value of these 100,000 diamonds listed for sale on these websites, I believe that you would see for yourself that it is ridiculous to think they own them all. (Or even any of them)
Note: I just looked up the most expensive diamonds currently for sale on a well known website and listed them below. I have included all of the more popular diamond shapes and their specifications. The Most expensive diamond ever sold at auction was called "The Wittelsbach". It’s a 35.56-carat blue diamond that was mined in India and sold for $24,300,000 in December of 2008.
Price: $1,338,291
Carat weight: 11.52
Cut: Ideal
Color: D
Clarity: Internally Flawless
Can you imagine how expensive the round diamond listed above would be if it were a better color grade or better clarity grade, or both? WOW!
Price: $245,555
Carat weight: 5.00
Cut: Very Good
Color: F
Clarity: VVS2
* The Emerald Cut Diamond
Price: $920,104
Carat weight: 10.02
Cut: Very Good
Color: E
Clarity: VVS2
* The Asscher Cut Diamond
Price: $383,946
Carat weight: 8.22
Cut: Good
Color: H
Clarity: VVS2
* The Marquise Cut Diamond
Price: $662,594
Carat weight: 6.48
Cut: Very Good
Color: D
Clarity: IF
* The Oval Cut Diamond
Price: $538,996
Carat weight: 5.27
Cut: Very Good
Color: D
Clarity: IF
* The Radiant Cut Diamond
Price: $635,136
Carat weight: 11.16
Cut: Very Good
Color: D
Clarity: VS2
* The Pear Cut Diamond
Price: $1,112,115
Carat weight: 13.01
Cut: Very Good
Color: E
Clarity: VVS2
* The Heart Cut Diamond
Price: $617,935
Carat weight: 5.78
Cut: Very Good
Color: D
Clarity: Internally Flawless
* The Cushion Cut Diamond
Price: $539,721
Carat weight: 5.12
Cut: Very Good
Color: D
Clarity: Internally Flawless
Now if you add up the cost of these 10 diamonds, you will see that they total just under $7,000,000. Again remember this is just 10 diamonds listed on this website. Now imagine if you have 100,000 diamonds listed on a website. I would like to add that up for you, but unfortunately I don’t have a week to do it, but I am sure the total amount would be staggering.
My point is that if you sit down and really think about it, you will see that it is almost impossible for any ONE online retailer to actually own all of these diamonds. (Unless you are De Beers) You will certainly have a larger selection to choose from if you visit a diamond search engine with 100,000 diamonds listed, but don’t let them fool you in to thinking that they have them in their possession. Just call them for yourself and ask them to pull one out of their safe and examine it for you. They will more than likely tell you that they can’t. They will have to call the diamond wholesaler first and have them do it. They may try to tell you that it is out on "memo". This means that they "allegedly" loaned the diamond to another retailer to try and sell. This is probably the most widely used fabrication in the industry. It is simply used as a stalling technique to allow them more time to get the diamond in to their possession from the diamond wholesaler.
Now you are prepared with the truth about how diamonds are sold online. As you go shopping for your diamond engagement ring, call and speak with some of these companies. Listen for yourself to their answers and see if they are being honest with you about the diamonds they sell and their company. Don’t be afraid to ask them about their company and how they can assure you that you will be protected in your purchase. If you really want to be safe from unscrupulous "Diamond Companies", due your homework and be your own investigator. There actually are many good and honest engagement ring sellers out there today to buy from, just make sure you pick one of THEM!
A little bit about our engagement rings company. It’s called Engagement Rings By Secret Diamond and it is located at www.SecretDiamond.com. We are a custom manufacturer of designer diamond engagement rings. All of our engagement rings are handcrafted in the USA using only the finest materials. We make all of our engagement rings to order, per your specifications. You can have your choice of precious metal that include all of the following: 14k white gold, 14k yellow gold, 18k white gold, 18k yellow gold, Palladium and Platinum. We will make your engagement ring exactly to your ring size and we will even manufacture in 1/4 sizes. If you get the ring size wrong, we will resize it for free. All of our engagement rings are shipped fully insured and signature required. You are not responsible for a lost or stolen engagement ring unless you sign for it. Although our engagement rings website is built to cater to the clarity enhanced diamonds market, we also have access to all of the diamonds you see listed on other websites. We will make your engagement ring with the center diamond of your choice, whether it’s an EGL certified diamond, GIA certified diamond or certified clarity enhanced diamond. You may also purchase only the engagement ring setting if you would like and we use only non-enhanced diamonds in all of our settings. The diamonds in our engagement ring settings are all high quality diamonds with an average clarity grade of VS2-SI1, and average color grade of G. They are all very well cut diamonds that will sparkle nicely. Please feel free to call us on our toll free number at 1-877-999-9920 with any questions you may have. We enjoy speaking with our customers very much and we will take as much time as you need, to make you feel comfortable with buying a diamond online. We know it can be a little bit scary making such a large purchase, but we can assure you that we have done everything we can to make our company as transparent to you as we can. We have an excellent reputation and our standing with the BBB is top rated. We have never had even a single complaint registered against us in thousands of online diamond engagement ring transactions. We stand proudly by our record and we hope to hear from you soon.
Purchasing Diamonds & Engagement Rings Online
|
|---|
Over the years we have answered numerous questions from customers about purchasing their diamonds and engagement rings online. It seems that most people are very interested in the idea of buying diamonds or engagement rings online for a couple of reasons. The main reason we hear is that our prices are dramatically less expensive than those of their local jewelry store. This is really not surprising when you consider why. The first reason why we are less expensive is low overhead. We do not have fancy jewelry stores that have a significant amount of overhead. Think about all of the expenses that jewelry stores have that we do not. Many jewelry stores may have only 1 or 2 locations. These stores can only sell to the local customer base, so they have to spend an enormous amount of money on advertising to convince the locals to buy from them instead of online. Typically they are not selling their engagement rings worldwide like we are, and in many cases they may not even have a website to display their diamond rings. At Engagement Rings By Secret Diamond, we do not spend a single penny on advertising, throughout most of the year. Lets say that a local jewelry store has an advertising budget of $50,000. (Not really that much) Just imagine how many diamonds or engagement rings have to be sold, just to pay for that advertising. Again consider that they are more than likely, only selling to their local customer base. I think you would be surprised to hear how few engagement rings some jewelry stores actually sell. That advertising expense is added to the cost of your diamond engagement ring.
Now also consider the very well known, national jewelry store chains that spend literally millions of dollars a year on advertising. I know they have a lot of stores to spread the expense around to, but I can’t even begin to imagine how many engagement rings they have to sell, just to pay for their advertising. Now add the cost of renting the mall space, the cost of the salespeople, the cost of fancy store displays, the cost of fancy lawyers, fancy accountants, fancy salaries for the fancy corporate executives and so-on, and it is really no wonder why they are SO EXPENSIVE.
The second reason why we are much less expensive is because we work directly with the diamond importers, right at the source. Unlike your typical jewelry store that has maybe 3-4 companies that mark-up the diamond before it gets to them, with Engagement Rings By Secret Diamond you are buying a diamond that has the fewest number of companies marking up the diamond before it gets to you possible! Fewer companies marking up the diamond, means a lower cost to you. Now when you have sold as many diamond engagement rings online worldwide as we have, you have a very large base of happy customers. Just read our testimonials page located at the link below to see what our satisfied customers have to say about our Engagement Rings Store. Also please feel free to visit our Better Business Bureau page to see that we are a proud member of the BBB online, and in excellent standing.
Again this means lower prices to you. Why? Because we receive many sales referred to us by other satisfied customers. Customers that refer us to their family members, co-workers and best friends. In business they say that the best form of advertising is "Word of Mouth" advertising. When we sell an engagement ring to someone that is referred to us by our happy customers, that sale cost us nothing in advertising dollars. That means that we do not have to "Add The Cost Of Advertising" to the price of our engagement rings, which means additional savings to you, our future customer.
We want you to know that at Engagement Rings By Secret Diamond, we take "Word of Mouth" advertising very seriously. We are very proud of our commitment to our customers (Past, Present and Future Customers) And we want you to know that we will work very hard to earn your trust, and to make you our next satisfied customer. We want to earn YOUR future business, as well as all of the future business you refer to us including YOUR family members, co-workers and friends.
I think it is important to note that this is not an article meant to criticize your local jewelry store. Everyone I know would like to spend their money in a local community business, including us at Secret Diamond. Also, a jewelry store can add a certain value to your engagement ring buying experience. You will actually be able to see, touch, feel and try on the engagement ring before you buy it. And it will most likely be easier to have your engagement ring worked on for routine maintenance, or cleanings without having to ship it back to us. However if you are working with a limited budget, or you have the money & you just don’t want to pay a lot more than you have to, buying diamonds or engagement rings from our online store is without a doubt, the best way to save.
Princess Cut Diamonds and Round Brilliant Cut Diamonds are the 2 most popular diamond shapes purchased for diamond engagement rings, by far. They are also the most popular diamond shapes used for diamond stud earrings. Traditionally Round Diamonds have been the most popular, however the Princess Cut Diamond has been surging in popularity for the past several years. I personally know many people in the diamond business and they all confirm that Princess cut diamonds are their best sellers. Even though Round Brilliant Cut Diamonds probably account for more diamond sales throughout the country, we actually sell more Princess cut diamonds at our online Engagement Ring Store. Below are pictures of a Princess diamond and a round diamond, as well as how they are faceted.
 |
 |
|---|
The 3rd most popular diamond shape is Radiant. Radiant diamonds are probably not as well known to new couples, as Princess and Rounds. If they were better well known, I am sure there would be more sales of them Nationally. Quite often I speak with a customer that did their preliminary shopping at a Jewelry Store and saw a Radiant cut diamond. They probably went in to the jewelry store thinking that they wanted a Princess cut diamond, but changed their mind after seeing a very well cut Radiant. Radiants are faceted differently than Princess diamonds and when they are cut well, they can be extremely sparkly! However they do not have the Glamorous name “Princess” cut diamond, and I believe that has an impact on their sales. The name is not as memorable or Romantic. What woman does not want to be treated as a Princess?
Radiant diamonds sparkle differently than Princess diamonds. They tend to sparkle all over the entire diamond more than Princess, and their sparkle tends to resemble the sparkle of a round diamond.
|
Below you will see a Radiant cut diamond as well as a diagram of it’s faceting.
|
||
 |
 |
 |
|
A Radiant Cut Diamond placed in a Diamond Engagement Ring Setting
|
 |
All of the rest of the diamond shapes combined do not total the number of Princess cut diamonds or round cut diamonds sold in the USA. This includes shapes such as the Marquise, The Emerald, The Cushion, The Trillion, The Pear, The Heart and The Asscher Cut Diamond.
One more note. If all of the characteristics are equal in 2 diamonds such as it’s clarity grade, color grade , carat weight and it’s cut grade, a round brilliant cut diamond will cost the most. This is because there is more waste created. It takes a larger rough diamond to create the same carat weight round diamond as it does the other shapes.
More Options ...
Categories
Tag Cloud
Blog RSS
Comments RSS
Void « Default
Life 
Earth 
Wind 
Water 
Fire Light 
Last 50 Posts
Back