Gemstones

How To Purchase Gemstones on the Internet

So ... you are looking to buy a quality stone on the Internet and you need help determining what characteristics you should be looking for a gem quality. This article is intended as a resource to guide you through the purchase of precious stones, avoiding the many successes of the common pitfalls some consumers get caught. These pitfalls can often leave a bitter taste in the mouth and make you head a little shy about purchasing jewelry online of different types.

I am aware that many people have had bad experiences in the past to buy precious stones, and some, in my opinion, was absolutely horrible. Common themes in their communications:

* Did not really "know" the seller as well as I should have before purchasing my gemstone ...
* Color hand was significantly different from the image shown gemstones online ...
* Did not read the "fine print" on my purchase of precious stones ...
* Wanted to return the stone and the seller to pay a restocking fee heavy ...
* Do not understand the importance of clarity, tone, hue, and saturation before making my purchase of gems ...

And the list goes on and on ... If you have notbeen through an experience like that, or you're a really web-savvy consumer or you just plain lucky. Many consumers of precious stones laid much of their hard earned gems that are worth substantially less than the money they have spent. It's unfortunate for them and very disappointing for the "good" in the gemstone industry.

How many times have you wanted to know that you made a correct assessment of a potential acquisition? I asked this question often and I am amazed that a large percentage of consumers simply do not take the steps necessary before making a purchasing decision. Certainly not due to lack of credible resources that are available to consumers, many people simply leave the "need" for an immediate purchase get ahead of their discretion. Proceed with Caution is always the best place to start.

Let's start with a generic list of things to consider in the process of making a purchase of precious stones. The list "generic" includes items such as the "5 W", ie who, what, where, why, when. If your request relates to several or all of these questions, you have made a good start to get the necessary information you need to make an informed purchasing decision on your next gemstone.

The Gem "who" and "Where"

Who are you looking to do business with and where they are can tell you much about a dealer in precious stones. Is the gemstone retailer headquartered national or are they a foreign company with an online presence? This is generally known or disclosed when you make payment, but not always. Any foreign or domestic issue is worthy of another discussion altogether, but you must decide your own mind what you are most comfortable. Some foreign companies use a domestic mail drop to ship their gemstones. On the surface they appear to be a national company, who willingly submit to the FTC rules and regulations, many of which protect you the consumer, but some foreign corporations could not care less about these guidelines. So it never hurts to ask. This will help avoid the smoke and mirrors game that many foreign sellers implement in their marketing strategy. I knew a business, especially marketing gemstones that has many concurrent reincarnations as I like to call them on the Internet at the same time. They have many web sites, all with different looks, and sell basically the same inventory. Although this type of masked marketing is not in itself "bad" or "dishonest", it makes it difficult to get the answer to both of these Qu.