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We shop online for everything these days. From clothing and food to investments and insurance, online shopping has streamlined many of our day-to-day tasks.
But should you buy diamonds online?
This is a question we frequently hear. Although there’s no standard one-size-fits-all answer, it’s essential to ask yourself a few critical questions before buying a diamond online.
In this post, we’ll offer tips to help you decide whether or not to shop for big-ticket jewellery online. Then we’ll look at where to buy diamonds online if that’s the route you choose. And finally, we’ll discuss how you can protect your diamonds once you’ve purchased them.
Understanding basic diamond jargon is helpful no matter where you shop, but it’s absolutely essential when you purchase jewellery online. When you browse in a jewellery shop, the workers can explain terms to you and answer questions, but when you shop online, you’re on your own.
So educate yourself about metals, diamond shapes, jewellery care and the best ring styles for certain lifestyles. This research will help you to make a better-informed decision and increase the odds that you’ll find that made-for-her, perfect piece.
Reputable online jewellers offer certification papers for every diamond they sell. So go ahead and ask to see the certificate if you don’t already have access to it. Each diamond should be certified by the GIA, AGS, HRD, IGI, EGL, GSI, GCAL or PGS.
From its certification papers, you should be able to learn the following about a diamond:
This information will help you to know that a diamond is worth what a seller is asking for it. Additionally, you won’t be surprised by the condition of the diamond once you receive it.
There are plenty of scammers out there, and some of them work hard to pass off laboratory grown or other synthetic gemstones as naturals. Fortunately, it’s not hard to avoid them if you know what to look for.
By researching the seller, reading reviews and asking plenty of questions, it’s not difficult to vet online jewellers. Here’s the problem. Diamonds don’t look the same in person as they do in pictures online. You’ve probably experienced this problem with other online purchases. The item shows up at your door, and it’s larger or smaller than you visualised. Or maybe it feels different than you imagined.
Speaking of surprises, what if you receive the diamond, and it doesn’t meet your expectations? Before you make a substantial purchase online, verify the return policy. Most quality online jewellers accept returns and have systems in place to safely ship expensive items through the mail.
Each online jeweller will specify how it accepts payment. For an added degree of security, use a credit card when making a diamond purchase. Most credit card companies provide avenues for recourse if something goes wrong with your transaction.
Many Australian jewellers offer shoppers the ability to buy their diamond rings online. At the lower cost end of the market, retailers like Michael Hill, Prouds, and Angus & Coote have large online stores where shoppers can filter by style and price.
But when it comes to buying online, websites like Blue Nile and Brilliant Earth offer shoppers a more exciting shopping experience. They have massive selections of stones and exceptional filtering systems.
For example, Blue Nile offers a ‘Build Your Own Ring’ tool, which gives shoppers the ability to select their diamond shape, price range, carat weight, cut rating, colour rating and clarity rating. You can also filter by symmetry, fluorescence, polish and more.
If you have a specific idea of what kind of diamond you’re looking for, tools like this can save you a lot of hunting around.
Most people have had an experience where they’ve purchased something online, only for it to fall short of expectations on arrival. Online shopping always carries an element of risk, and with something as personal and unique as a diamond ring, there’s a lot of room for disappointment.
What are the most common risks when buying a diamond ring online?
No matter how great the photography, a diamond will never look exactly the same online as it does in person. After all, diamonds are all about light. Jewellers have precise methods to display how the light interacts with the stone to their customers, which is something that all online jewellery retailers struggle with.
When buying diamonds online, you have to invest a lot of trust in the description of the stone, interpret its gradings and form your expectations from more than the photo alone.
A jeweller’s job stretches far beyond just selling their creations. They obsess over matching the perfect diamond to the ideal customer, and they love interpreting tastes and translating them into pieces of jewellery that will be loved and cherished forever.
Whether they’re selling an engagement ring off the shelf or creating a custom ring, jewellers are experts in ensuring the diamond you buy is exactly what you’re looking for.
On the other hand, when buying online, the selection process is left up to you. You don’t have the years of expert knowledge of a jeweller by your side as you trawl through pages of diamonds. It’s left up to you to decide what clarity rating is best for your needs, what cut and setting are suitable and more.
Diamond shopping is a deeply personal process. As any buyer will tell you, holding the physical ring in a store is an incredibly significant moment; and one you can’t experience while buying online.
Feeling the ring in your hand and seeing how it interacts with light from all angles is often that ‘aha’ moment when you know you’ve found the stone you’ve been looking for.
Whether you decide to buy your diamond online or in-store, one thing stays the same. Your carefully chosen, much-loved diamond deserves the protection that comes with specialised jewellery insurance.
With a Q Report policy, your jewellery is protected from damage or loss with agreed value cover up to 150%. That means that if the cost of replacing your jewellery is more than you bought it for, you’re covered for up to 150% of the purchase price!
To see how little it can cost you to protect your jewellery, get an instant online quote.
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This has not taken cut, colour, clarity or carat, your financial situation or your partners taste into account. There are many factors that can reduce or increase the value of an engagement ring.
Speak with one of our Q Certified Jewellers to find out what you can afford, what your partner is looking for and what will financially work best for you.
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