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  1. No professional diamond buyer would ever buy a diamond without seeing it first. Even if it had a GIA or AGS certificate. There are so many factors that make a diamond beautiful. There are also many factors that make a diamond unattractive. A certificate alone is not enough to judge the beauty of a diamond.
  2. Many appraisals provided are over-inflated to suggest the item is a much better discount than it really is. Don’t forget that the seller is providing the appraisal document, so they have a bias to say it’s worth is higher than it actually is. Also, many online sites cloud the appraisal with terms that sound impressive or true and critical information is left out or vague. For example, some appraisals come in with the statement, “a natural and genuine diamond”. In fact, the diamond may be genuine and natural, but the fact that the diamond was ‘fracture filled’ is omitted. This is a technique similar to filling a crack in a car windshield. A plastic resin is forced into surface reaching cracks in a diamond. It effectively hides the inclusion from the untrained eye. These diamonds basically have plastic filler in them and are far less expensive than untreated diamonds.
  3. The only one of the 4 C’s that man has a hand in is the quality of cut.  I’m not talking round brilliant cut vs. pear or oval cut, I’m talking about the angles and arrangement of facets to give the best brilliance a diamond can deliver. Often online sources will give a GIA or AGS certificate that says the diamond is an excellent cut or an ideal cut. Within each of these categories there is a range, and some diamonds might be at the top end of that range while others barely make the grade. Some online sources can tell you a diamond is ideal AND excellent cut, but they only provide one laboratory certificate. This means that they cannot back up their claims and they are not being truthful. Recently, online sites have resorted to calling their best diamond cuts a name that sounds very impressive but has no way of being validated as it is a totally proprietary name the individual sites use.
  4. Returning an item is not as easy as it sounds. With new Homeland Security rules and customs looking into every item, some items are being scrutinized very carefully resulting in delays, charges and a great deal of paperwork for customs in the country of origin. 
  5. If you need service such as checking the diamond in the setting or polishing the setting over a period of years, the majority of jewellery stores will charge for regular maintenance on a jewellery item that isn’t their own. Over a period of years those services can add up to be a lot of money. Some stores won’t even touch an online jewellery purchase as the quality is usually of such a low standard that the store cannot repair the item or perform any work on it for fear of it falling apart or needing more work than was quoted at the time the customer brought the item in. Over a number of years, the maintenance cost adds up and should be calculated into the cost of the original purchase price. 
  6. You see a diamond and the price looks great, you have researched the heck out of the topic and now you realize that the online source has some rings but not the one you want. Who is going to make you a ring and set your diamond? If you find someone to make you a ring with your online diamond, who will warranty the diamond in the ring? Most good stores are not going to take the risk of a warranty on a diamond they did not sell. It simply doesn’t make sense from a business point of view to warranty a diamond of several thousand dollars for a ring that might cost around a thousand dollars.
  7. Lastly, you purchase your diamond online and it arrives! You look at the diamond and the appraisal. How do you know that the diamond matches the appraisal and is actually the one that you purchased? So, you reach out to a trained professional and ask them to verify your diamond. Wouldn’t it be easier to work with a professional from the beginning and know that your diamond and ring is exactly what you had decided to purchase? You would also get a warranty on your ring and know that you would be looked after for years to come.  

Troy Shoppe Jewellers is committed to helping our clients find the diamond that best suits their needs. We have a huge selection of in-stock diamonds and will show you the differences so that you can make an educated decision on your diamond purchase. If we don’t have what you are looking for, we work with many reputable companies and can source the perfect diamond! We carry both mined diamonds and lab grown diamonds, diamond alternates such as moissanite and gemstones.  

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