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Diamond Buying Guide: Don’t Be Scammed
If it seems too good to be true, most likely it is. We have been told that in buying diamonds we should consider cut, carat, color, and clarity. But between the point when they are mined to the point where they are sold to consumers, diamonds can be abused and misrepresented. In the process, you can lose out on your money.
Beware of sellers who say that they’re selling diamonds at a bargain price, at best, the seller may not be very good at accurately assessing a diamond’s true value. At worst, you are being scammed. Then there are also other ways that you can get scammed aside from apparently deeply dived prices.
The Neighborhood Appraiser
Be cautious of jewelers who do not have the certified documentation for the diamond they’re selling and, instead, only recommend you to an appraiser. You should always be careful of a seller’s reference. Do check out the appraisers credentials.
Michael Campberg for instance is a very well qualified appraiser. You can find information about his evaluation service on this page. Please also note that he simply needs a copy of the diamond certificate to be able to give an educated evaluation of a diamond.
The Overweight Diamonds
There are scammers who take the total weight of diamonds in a batch and assign the total weight to the main diamond. Strictly speaking, this directly violates the rulings of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), because it is misrepresenting the weight of the diamond.
The Enhanced Diamonds
It is easy to make a yellowish diamond stone look whiter – it’s easily just a matter of slightly coating the side of the stone with purple ink. But it’s easy to detect an artificially tinted stone, you only need to wash it with water or alcohol. If you have any doubts about the sincerity of the jeweler, ask that the stone be washed before you so you can exam it better.
There are other ways that the color of a diamond is enhanced. Some people sputter the stone with a very thin coat of a special substance, which neutralizes the yellowish tint of a diamond. To achieve a similar effect, some people coat the diamond with chemicals and bake it in an oven. There are other enhancement procedures to treat otherwise flawed diamonds. There is nothing inherently illegal in treating diamonds, but diamonds that have undergone treatment should be labeled as treated diamonds and be priced as such.
Fake Or Altered Certificates
There are also some unscrupulous jewelers who do not present fake or altered grading certificates. The easies to alter is in the report is the diamond’s color grade. If you have any doubts about the authenticity of a certificate, verify the report by calling the laboratory or visiting the laboratory’s website.
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