how to Buy Diamonds Online

With all of the potential for scams concerning diamonds, buying diamonds online almost seems unthinkable! However, you actually can purchase diamonds online, without any problems – as long as you are careful.

First, think about your reasons for wanting to purchase the diamond online, as opposed to making a purchase from a local jewelry store. The most common reason is price. Due to low overhead costs, online jewelers and wholesalers are able to offer lower prices. However, you must be careful – sometimes a price that is too low is a sure indication of a scam.

One of the best things about purchasing online is the unlimited selection. When shopping offline, you are limited to the selection in the stores in your general area. Online, there are no limits. But again, you must use a great deal of care and consideration before handing your money over to someone that you cannot see and have never met!

Before shopping, learn as much as you can about diamonds – especially cut, color, clarity and carat weights. When you are knowledgeable about diamonds, it will be harder for a con artist to rip you off. Once you know more about diamonds, you will be ready to start shopping.

Take your time. Don’t purchase the first diamond that you see that interests you. Instead, look for similar diamonds for sale. Do some comparison shopping to find the lowest prices. Once you have found thelowest price, start doing your investigation. You know about diamonds, you’ve found a diamond that you love, and you’ve found the lowest price – but you are still quite a ways away from actually purchasing that diamond!

Ask about the seller’s credentials, such as professional jewelry associations that they belong to. View and print the seller’s return, refund, and upgrade policies. Also inquire about additional services, such as settings and mountings, sizing, and free shipping. Do a search for customer reviews on this particular company around the Internet. Alsocheck with the BBB Online to see if there have been any complaints.

Ask for a diamond grading report from an independent laboratory such as GIA, HRD, EGL or AGS. You should see this before making a purchase. Finally, use a reputable escrow service for high dollar diamonds – preferably one that will have the diamond appraised while it is in their possession. The seller sends the diamond to the escrow service, and you send the money to pay for the diamond to the escrow service. The escrow service has the diamond appraised, sends the diamond to you, and sends the money to the seller. This is the surest way to protect yourself…again, make sure that you use a reputable escrow service!

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Colored Diamonds

Fancy colored diamonds are all the rage these days.  Gemologists have developed new ways to create versions that are affordable for the average person - by treating less desirable diamonds. These less desirable diamonds are treated with irradiation followed by intense heat.  This turns brown and yellowish diamonds into beautifully colored diamonds that you can afford.  This produces stunning greens, blues, yellows, reds, purples and other colors.  These colors are considered permanent, but there is a possibility they could change during repairs if a high heat is used.

Treatments like irradiation make it possible for more people to own these vividly colored diamonds. Most natural colored diamonds are rare and also extremely expensive. When shopping for colored diamonds you need to assume that any affordable fancy color diamond has been treated.  Ask about the stones origin and request to view a lab certificate to verify authenticity.

Synthetic colored diamonds are another option if owning a colored diamond is something you desire but cannot quite afford. They are real diamonds, but they are created in a lab.

Natural fancy color diamonds get their coloring from different trace elements present in the stones, such as nitrogen, which produces a yellow diamond.  Diamonds can be colored by exposure to radiation during its creation.  An example of a diamond affected by radiation is a Green diamond.

Another way that a natural colored diamond gets color is by its inclusions.  Regarded as flaws and undesirable in a colorless diamond, inclusions give unique tones and brilliant flashes of color in a fancy color diamond.  Remember that Natural fancy colored diamonds are very expensive, any colored diamond labeled to be sold as natural shouldbe accompanied by a certificate from a respected grading lab.

A "fancy" diamond is a natural diamond that has color.  These colors vary from red, green, purple, violet, orange, blue and pink – and most shades between.  Fancy color shades vary from faint to intense.

The most famous diamonds in the world are Color diamonds.  The Tiffany Diamond, which is yellow and the Hope Diamond which is blue are colored diamonds.    Color diamonds have an amazing financial trackrecord.  The value has never decreased on wholesale level in more than 30 years.  Blue and pink diamonds have doubled every 5 years of a strong economy.   In the 1970’s you could have bought a very high quality blue diamond for about 50K and today the very same stone would be worth between 2 and 3 million.

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why Diamond Certificates ?

A diamond certificate is also known as a Diamond Grading Report. This report comes from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), and you should require this report when you are purchasing a diamond.

With a diamond certificate, you can verify the color, cut, carat, weight, and clarity of the diamond. You don’t have to worry about a diamond dealer telling you anything less than the truth, because the certificate comes from the GIA – not the dealer. You may be required to pay for the certificate, but the cost is usually low, and in many cases, it will help you negotiate a better price on the diamond – or keep you from purchasing a lower quality diamond altogether.

If you buy a high quality diamond, and then later decide to sell the diamond, you will need to have the certificate, or you will have a hard time selling it to someone else. Furthermore, you can use the Diamond Grading Report to look up the wholesale value of the diamond in question. Use the guide that is used by the diamond cutting industry.

With the Certificate, or Diamond Grading Report, there won’t be any doubts when you are trying to purchase a diamond. You can easily find out what the diamond is worth. This will prevent you from overpaying, and it can prevent a seller from under-charging as well.

A copy of the Diamond Grading Report should be given to your insurance company as well, when you insure the diamond. This provides absolute, unquestionable proof of the value of the diamond should it be stolen in the future. Insurance companies cannot argue with the report.

Avoid diamond dealers who seem reluctantto provide a certificate! Also avoid sellers who tell you that a certificate diamond will cost you more – the only additional cost should be the cost of the certificate, which is low. If the dealer doesn’t want to provide a certificate, then you don’t want to do business with that dealer.

Don’t accept certificates from Gemological Laboratories other than GIA. There are many fly-by-night Gemological labs these days, but in the end, GIA has been established as the most respectable and trustworthy – not to mention oldest – of the lot. So avoid dealers who don’t want to use GIA for certification purposes as well.

Don’t buy an expensive diamond without paying the extra cost of the certificate. If a dealer tries to convince you to make the purchase without the certificate, or if they want to use a company other than GIA, you can be sure that the dealer has probably greatly inflated the price of the diamond – they have something that they are hiding from you.

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How to Buy Diamond Engagement Rings

proposal

There is much to consider when purchasing  a diamond – especially diamond  engagement rings! The tradition of presenting a woman with a diamond engagement ring when proposing began in 1477 when Archduke Maximilian presented a diamond ring to Mary of Burgundy – and in most cases, the woman you plan to propose to will expect a ring to accompany that proposal!

First, determine how much ring you can afford. Most people use the ‘two months salary’ rule. This means that the ring should cost the equivalent of two months of your current salary. Because you have other bills to pay, saving up this amount of money may take quite a bit of time. You should consider financing. Simply go to the jeweler of your choice and tell them that you plan to buy an engagement ring, and that financing will be necessary. Go ahead and get the credit check out of the way, find out what your payments will be, and how much of a down payment is required.

Now, have your mother, sister, or your girlfriends best friend take your girlfriend shopping, and make sure that they gaze at the engagement rings to get an idea of what she might like. Make sure that the jewelry store you buy the ring from will allow you to return the ring, if that is required, or allow your girlfriend to exchange it for another if she isn’t happy with it!

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How to Sell A Diamond

There are many reasons why you may want to sell a diamond that you own. Perhaps you’ve gotten divorced, or you are strapped for cash. The reasons why don’t really matter – getting the best possible price is what counts! The way to obtain the best price for the diamond is to not be in a rush. Slow down, and carefully consider all of your options – there are many.

First, have the diamond appraised. In fact, have it appraised by two or three jewelers to get an accurate idea of the diamonds value. Tell the appraiser that you want the Rapaport Value. This is the wholesale value of the diamond, and it basically tells you the highest price that you can sell your diamond for. If your diamond has no certificate, you should consider getting a certificate from GIA. This may help you get a better price for the diamond as well.

sell the diamond yourself

First, try to sell the diamond yourself, to people you know. Friends and family members may be interested. If you don’t have any luck with friends or family members, you should turn to outside sources. Absolutely avoid pawn shops! A pawn shop will only offer you about 10% of what the diamond is worth! Also avoid offers of selling the ring on consignment. There are many things that can go wrong, and there is no shortage of diamond scams – even in well known jewelry stores.

If the diamond is important, you should strongly consider auctioning it off through one of the famous auction houses, such as Christie’s or Sotheby’s. If it isn’t what is considered an ‘important’ diamond or a high-end diamond, you should try to sell it to an individual using classified ads, or even eBay. However, selling to an individual that you do not know could put you in danger – especially if the diamond is worth a lot of money.

jewelry store

Your final option should be a jewelry store. It is vital that you not let your diamond out of your sight while in the jewelry store – you might find that the diamond you walked in with is not the same diamond that you walk out with! The jeweler will try to tell you that your diamond is of poor quality or low weight. Inevitably, there will be some problem with the diamond. This is where your appraisal and/or certificate will come in handy.

If the jeweler is fair, they will offer you between 60% and 80% of the value of the Rapaport Value. Do not accept anything less than this. Again, do not let the diamond out of your sight until you have been paid for it.

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Want to keep that Brilliance and Shine

Through our day to day movements our diamonds get smudged and soiled.  Even when we are not wearing them, they collect dust.  Lotions, soaps, our natural skin oils, can cause film and grime on diamonds and inhibit their brilliance. 

Want to keep that Brilliance and Shine?   Diamonds require cleaning so that maximum amounts of light can refract fiery brilliance.  Remember that all it takes is a few minutes and a little care to keep that diamond as fiery as the day you first saw it.

small soft brush

You can use an small soft brush such as an eyebrow or lip stick brush and soap and water to clean your jewelry.  Simply make a bowl of warm sudsy water with a mild detergent and place your pieces in the mixture.  Then brush the diamonds with the soft bristles of the brush while they are in the suds.  You will need to make certain that you rinse them clear of the suds after cleaning them.  You can use a small kitchen strainer such as a tea strainer to contain them while rinsing under warm water.  Use a lint free cloth, or a jewelry polish cloth to pat them dry.

amonia water

If your diamonds are in need of a stronger cleansing, you may want to soak them for 30 minutes in a solution of half and half water and ammonia.  Once they have soaked for 30 minutes, remove them and gently brush the mountings with a small brush.  Then replace the pieces to the solution and swish them around in the mixture before removing them to rinse and pat dry.  

liquid jewelry cleaners

If you find your self too busy to be mixing soaps and ammonias, many department stores sell liquid jewelry cleaners.  Most are kits, with everything you need included.  You need to read the labels to determine the one that is right for your diamonds and other jewelry. Read the complete directions and follow all the precautions.

And if you find yourself more the “high-tech type”, even in your diamond cleaning routine, there are multiple ultrasonic cleansers on the market.  These machines use high-frequency to create a cleaning motion.  All machines are not the same, so please read the instructions before using.

Only you can choose the cleaning method right for you.   But, it is essential to keep your jewelry clean to keep it brilliant and sparkling.  Between cleaning, try not to touch your clean diamonds with your fingers or handle your jewelry by its edges. This will help maintain its shine and brilliance for longer periods.

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most sexy jewelry

this is most sexy jewelry ever maby there is more 

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