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...