Diamond Reports – Its wrong – Who Cares? Alright, you’ve heard me rant about this before! If you are buying a diamond don’t become price blind! That is where you become so focused on price that you are willing forget everything about true grading and end up BUYING the PAPER!! O.K. So this is my second […]
Diamond Reports – Its wrong – Who Cares?
Alright, you’ve heard me rant about this before! If you are buying a diamond don’t become price blind! That is where you become so focused on price that you are willing forget everything about true grading and end up BUYING the PAPER!!
O.K. So this is my second show after JCK Las Vegas and I’ve had some time to think and I’m Cranky!
Any JEWELER who advertises that they sell WHOLESALE is LYING to you! That is unless of course you are truly buying from a wholesaler (which 99.9% of the time you aren’t) – BTW if you want to find out if they are a wholesaler just contact me and I’ll check for you!
Now reasonably, they might just be saying “Hey, I’ve got lower prices than the other guy.” So instead of legally stating “Low prices or Deep discounts” they use this word “Wholesale” Not so legal – Now, what they can legally say is “Wholesale Prices.” That is if they truly had an occasion when their price at retail was at current wholesale levels. Their margin or markup may be minimal but, when you pay sales tax you are buying from a seller who is reporting your retail purchase on taxes. Otherwise they can be hit with penalties from their state department of revenue. You are an end consumer – you’re a retail customer.
Rule number 1. Never Buy from a business that lies to you!
Ok, so you met your “UNCLE/FRIEND” in the business and he’s got this diamonds that matches your request for color, clarity, price and cut grade. He’s even going to read the “certificate” for you if you want. He will even write it out in email or text it to you. You’ve learned about grading and even have an app that tells you what the different grades on a diamond mean. So you go with the deal! Your “Uncle/Friend” sells you the diamond and puts money in his pocket – everyone is happy.
REALLY? You just got taken and you are happy!?
The problem:
* BOGUS Reports
* BAD Jewelers
Paper mills /Bogus reports – Terrible Labs who care more about running money through the till than accurate ethical grading. Bad jewelers – I was at JCK and I overheard a jeweler at a table actually saying that “all my customers want is some certificate with the diamond, so I give them a certificate”. I couldn’t believe this! Now I’m back in California and I’m visiting stores up and down the Northern California Peninsula and I hear this again. Some jewelers out there don’t care because you don’t care about the diamond as long as it has paper/report and it fits your price range. This has been going on for a long time. This is not the first or last time that I have mentioned it – When will we get a clue and stop being price blind. A jeweler is a person and a jewelry store is the representative body of those who work there (jewelers). Any business that acts as a vending machine and can’t explain or earn your business doesn’t deserve it. If you are looking for a diamond today – please understand this, Jewelers deserve to make a profit and stay in business – discounters who reduce your out of pocket expense are doing the same thing – making a profit. Most of the time though, the “Value Capture” is bent highly in their favor when they use these unethical reports. Price blindness is a term I use for conscious and subconscious acts of Loss Aversion. Contrast happens when one person says 7k and another person says 4k. Absent blindness – You can’t compare the actual stones next to each other so you do the next best thing and compare the “paper”, Right? WRONG! Just because you want to believe it to be true does not make it true – so Loss Aversion kicks in and h...
Alright, you’ve heard me rant about this before! If you are buying a diamond don’t become price blind! That is where you become so focused on price that you are willing forget everything about true grading and end up BUYING the PAPER!!
O.K. So this is my second show after JCK Las Vegas and I’ve had some time to think and I’m Cranky!
Any JEWELER who advertises that they sell WHOLESALE is LYING to you! That is unless of course you are truly buying from a wholesaler (which 99.9% of the time you aren’t) – BTW if you want to find out if they are a wholesaler just contact me and I’ll check for you!
Now reasonably, they might just be saying “Hey, I’ve got lower prices than the other guy.” So instead of legally stating “Low prices or Deep discounts” they use this word “Wholesale” Not so legal – Now, what they can legally say is “Wholesale Prices.” That is if they truly had an occasion when their price at retail was at current wholesale levels. Their margin or markup may be minimal but, when you pay sales tax you are buying from a seller who is reporting your retail purchase on taxes. Otherwise they can be hit with penalties from their state department of revenue. You are an end consumer – you’re a retail customer.
Rule number 1. Never Buy from a business that lies to you!
Ok, so you met your “UNCLE/FRIEND” in the business and he’s got this diamonds that matches your request for color, clarity, price and cut grade. He’s even going to read the “certificate” for you if you want. He will even write it out in email or text it to you. You’ve learned about grading and even have an app that tells you what the different grades on a diamond mean. So you go with the deal! Your “Uncle/Friend” sells you the diamond and puts money in his pocket – everyone is happy.
REALLY? You just got taken and you are happy!?
The problem:
Paper mills /Bogus reports – Terrible Labs who care more about running money through the till than accurate ethical grading. Bad jewelers – I was at JCK and I overheard a jeweler at a table actually saying that “all my customers want is some certificate with the diamond, so I give them a certificate”. I couldn’t believe this! Now I’m back in California and I’m visiting stores up and down the Northern California Peninsula and I hear this again. Some jewelers out there don’t care because you don’t care about the diamond as long as it has paper/report and it fits your price range. This has been going on for a long time. This is not the first or last time that I have mentioned it – When will we get a clue and stop being price blind. A jeweler is a person and a jewelry store is the representative body of those who work there (jewelers). Any business that acts as a vending machine and can’t explain or earn your business doesn’t deserve it. If you are looking for a diamond today – please understand this, Jewelers deserve to make a profit and stay in business – discounters who reduce your out of pocket expense are doing the same thing – making a profit. Most of the time though, the “Value Capture” is bent highly in their favor when they use these unethical reports. Price blindness is a term I use for conscious and subconscious acts of Loss Aversion. Contrast happens when one person says 7k and another person says 4k. Absent blindness – You can’t compare the actual stones next to each other so you do the next best thing and compare the “paper”, Right? WRONG! Just because you want to believe it to be true does not make it true – so Loss Aversion kicks in and heck 3k back in your pocket seems to be a safe bet. In the end the discounter most likely turns a higher profit than your jeweler around the corner – and in the end you get what you pay for – Not what you wanted!
If you are buying a diamond today HELP elevate the jewelry industry and drive standards and ethics to a higher level use the Diamond Buying Agreement. Or make sure your jeweler/diamond broker / whomever writes all this information on the receipt with some sort of guarantee or warranty. There are a LOT of good jewelers out there – find one and buy from them!
By the way if you have questions about your ideal diamond call me! 803-792-1326 I’ll see what I can do to help you.
J. Christopher Guritz
(Disclaimer – I’m not a medical professional)
Your Finger is ITCHY!
The skin under your ring is either RED ,maybe burning, or Whitish and puffy (swimmers hands)
You may have a Contact Dermatitis.
The question is which kind?
If you have a metal allergy it will usually be red and ITCHY if left the area can become a darker skin color(can even blister).
Maybe you’ve got soap stuck up under your ring (or food – YUCK)? Looks and acts like a metal allergy – Maybe all you need to do is take your ring to a jeweler and have an ultrasonic cleaning done, keep the ring off for a week or two and put cortisone or lotion on the area.
Or your like me and you have a wide ring. Sometimes you ladies have your rings soldered together and all of a sudden you get this. If you take off your ring for a little while it turns to a whitish area – your skin was waterlogged for too long. The sebum (your skins natural waterproofing oil) is long gone and the skin kept absorbing the moisture trapped under your ring. This also can take a few weeks to clear up and you want to keep the area and the ring dry! If you wash your hands either remove your rings (maybe clean them too) and dry around your fingers before you put back on your clean DRY rings.
Causes