These days, it seems as if you can buy anything online, finding, choosing and purchasing items in less time than it would take to drive to the nearest store, let alone all the rest of the hassles of going to a brick and mortar location. While in many cases it can be preferable to buy an object in person, more and more people are flocking to online retailers for everything from daily hygiene supplies to their next major purchase, be it a car or house, with everything from books to electronics to furniture to clothing standing somewhere in between.
One particular item that seems to defy all efforts to save money on in the physical world is diamonds. Because of the rarity of those particular stones, their expense has long veered into the unreasonable and yet their symbolic value persists in western and other cultures. Most people who could use a diamond, be it as an engagement ring, wedding ring or personal jewelry to impress others, have a hard time affording even a small one. And, like most products for sale anywhere in the world, even diamonds can be found for less money and less effort online than in the physical world.
Particular concerns
Still, as with all other products, it’s entirely possible for an online merchant to sell buyers a less than ideal product. Like trading cards and jewelry in general, it can be difficult to determine the authenticity of a diamond simply from a digital picture.
Plenty of people get swindled buying fake diamonds in person as most people don’t know what to look for in a gem; imagine then how much harder it is to determine a stone’s authenticity from a few pictures on a screen. And, like every other product on the internet, one should always be careful who they give personal information to. Even simple information like your home phone number can be disastrous if it falls into the wrong hands, let alone particularly dangerous information like credit card numbers or bank account numbers. But the question of “is it safe to buy diamonds online?” is not the easiest to answer.
It is more than possible to safely and securely buy diamonds online, but it is not as easy as safely buying books or movie. And, with hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars being traded for a single stone, it takes only one mistake to cost you a fortune buying diamonds online.
What to look out for
Still, there are things anyone can do to purchase diamonds online. The first of course is to stick to reputable store fronts. Businesses that specialize in jewelry and have long standing reputations for providing the real thing are the best place to start if you absolutely, positively want your diamonds to be the real thing.
A good question to ask yourself is how readily a store could be sued in a court of law for selling you a fake diamond. The easier it would be for someone to bring litigation against a company for selling a fake diamond, the more likely it is that you will get a real one for your money. Some businesses, while they may not specialize in jewelry, such as department stores or geological stores, will also fall into this category of businesses that could suffer if it’s discovered that they sold you a fake diamond; these stores are the most trustworthy of all.
Still, oftentimes these stores, certain of the value of their product, charges prices only somewhat lower than brick and mortar stores would. If this is enough to make you happy or you absolutely can not afford to lose money on a fake diamond, reputable stores are your best bet. If you can take the risk and want to save money, there are other options for buying diamonds.
Some online storefronts such as Amazon have affiliate programs that allow other businesses to sell their wares through online vendors. These affiliate businesses are oftentimes less reputable and will disappear pretty quick if they’re revealed to be a scam, but their costs are considerably lower. And, for a particularly high risk maneuver, online auction sites like Ebay can sell diamonds at a greatly reduced cost, but the odds of the stone being a scam are far higher.