Pitfalls of Buying Diamonds Online

1. Online diamonds are NOT cheaper.

A $5000 diamond online sells for $4600 at Perrywinkle's, like-for-like.

2. Online diamonds are NOT as nice as Perrywinkle’s diamonds.

When buying online, lots of questionable diamonds are listed alongside diamonds that are reasonable.

So how do you know which ones are good ones and which ones are not-so-good?

Almost all of the diamonds you view online are not owned by the websites that you are visiting.

They only appear to be that way.

Most online diamond websites are in effect consignment shops, listing inventory owned by third party diamond manufacturers.

So, the diamonds are not hand selected by the website you are visiting, in fact, they’re not selected at all.

The online sellers have never seen their list of diamonds to verify quality or beauty because they don’t actually purchase the diamond from their overseas supplier until you purchase the diamond from them.

That’s why Blue Nile cannot ship a diamond the same day.

They must first purchase the diamond from India before selling it to you.

If online sellers are not committed to the value of a diamond enough to own for their own inventory then why would you want it?

Even amongst properly graded GIA certified diamonds there are ones less desirable within each particular grade.

Online, you cannot compare diamonds side-by-side so that you can see these differences.

Online, you cannot determine whether, for instance, a diamond is it a top SI1 or a borderline SI2.

Two diamonds sharing the same GIA grade can display very different qualities of inner fire and beauty.

In addition, a diamond’s luster or beauty cannot be determined without viewing it and there is no grade on the GIA certificate for its luster.

And there’s more.

One cannot determine whether the fluorescence in a diamond affects its beauty; that can only be achieved by viewing the diamond in person.

GIA’s grading report does not determine whether the fluorescence causes “oily” or haziness in the diamond.

Perrywinkle diamonds must meet a standard higher than simply being certified by the GIA.

Perrywinkle diamonds come from the top-one-percent mines or, if GIA certificated, other mines. Over nine-nine percent of the diamonds sold online, Perrywinkle’s would reject.

3. Think of online diamonds just like cars that go to auction.

You might see the car’s mileage, its Carfax and its photo but a car dealership decided vehicle wasn’t worthy as ‘certified pre-owned' and you don’t want it.

4. If you do buy a diamond online, what happens if the diamond turns out to be not-so-nice?

Search online reviews and you will see that it’s a major hassle trying to return diamonds purchased online.

5. What about the engagement rings sold online?

Most rings sold online come from factories in India, many of which contain questionable diamonds.

Most of the smaller diamonds are set into the rings “cast-in-place” (as opposed to being hand-set) and are likely to fall out over time. Place any ring sold online next to any ring from Perrywinkle’s and you’ll marvel at the difference in quality and beauty.

6. What about Amazon?

Amazon is a customer of the Independent Gemological Laboratories (IGL) grading lab owned by a British Virgin Islands holding company. Other lab customers include Samuel's Jewelers, Sears, J.C. Penney's, and Modern Bride. In 2017 Samuels CEO, Farhad Wadia, voiced doubts about the company’s reports:

Wadia was concerned IGL might be enabling Samuels to sell lab grown diamonds as natural diamonds by providing false certifications, committing "consumer fraud on a massive scale". Wadia was also concerned that IGL was giving better grades to diamonds than warranted, and he received complaints from retailers including Sears. In at least one instance, IGL certified a lab-grown diamond that had been labeled by Samuels as natural. IGL's founder and president has posted a comment stating, that IGL does "no advanced testing … unless specifically stated" and said "lab-grown gemstones are not always identifiable in mounted conditions".

Every diamond in every Perrywinkle ring is tested to assure that no synthetic diamonds are present.