Buying Stones on line The Pros n Cons

[ACE]

I Know People are Doing It -

What makes for a good Experience ? :)

What Makes For a Bad Experience ? :mad:

Would You feel More Comfortable Viewing stones At your Local Jeweler

ACE

[panachegems]

Buying Color or Diamonds on line from a reputable dealer is one thing, buying on Ebay is another. As long as you have a good base of gem knowledge and a few instruments you will be OK.
I have had many people come to me with stones that they have bought off of Ebay. Many were what was advertised although I would classify them as upper commercial stones. Many of the stones were not what was advertised such as several Chrome Diopside stones were nothing more than glass. A lot of the Ruby & Sapphire sold as natural were no more than Lab Corundum. The dealers selling these items are playing the odds of the buyer not having the knowledge of what they are buying, or not having them checked, or identified as they don't want to spend the extra $$ after the stone purchase.
AC

[Jeff A.]

Beware the decimal point. Just saw an E Bay posting for a magnificent 0.01 ct. red diamond. Some E-bay posters are hoping that you were a terrible math student and will see this as a one carat or a ten pointer instead of a one pointer. As always, buyer beware.

Jeff A.
www.metrojewelryappraisers.com

[GGJoe]

Just as any other product or service, the internet is definately a useful tool in gems and jewelry.

I've focused on it's role in gems and jewelry for the last 10 years. In 1993, my first screen name on AOL was "VVS1DRB" with the hopes of jewelry conciencious people recognizing it as diamond terminology, and it possibly opening up some business doors. It was a big deal then to log on at 2400 baud!

The internet used to be a secret weapon in the mid 90's in my opinion. Only a small portion of the population was online. Now it's just as common as a 25" television. I'll be typing an appraisal today and a client will walk in and ask "you buying on ebay so you can mark it up and sell it in here?" When I was buying on ebay to mark it up and sell it in person, it was almost 10 years ago! LMAO Today I no longer "risk" it. Too many times I'd open the box and be disappointed in what was described.

Now folks, I'm not referring in any way to something like a watch, camera, or waterpump for my Saab. I'm talking about the things where subjectivity and opinions play a big role.

In terms of buying stones on the internet today? I compare online to the same risk of buying at a flea market. Yep, you can score but you can also get burned real fast and real easy.

Watches too still are sold at a risk. A very good friend of mine is the watch manager at Jarad here in Knoxville. Purchased a Tag online but first asked all the right questions and got all the right answers. Brought it to me to eyeball, and it was a fake. Now he purchased it in escrow, but escrow only guarantees the deal will go through.

So my answer is yeah, it's fun to buy stones online just like it's fun to go to a "rock mine" in Sevierville and "pan for stones." Great fun for $5.

GGjoe