How to Buy a Diamond

The retail diamond market consists of three broad categories: the high street jeweller, the online diamond seller and the diamond broker.

The High Street Jeweller

Until recently, the high street jeweller was the only option for most diamond shoppers. In small towns the high street jeweller had a virtual monopoly, and could set their prices at whatever markup they wanted. Jewellery stores depend on impulse buying so they focus on having a selection to pick from, name recognition through extensive advertising, and being convenient so shoppers can walk in and make a purchase with no education or knowledge of the product. If it looks nice to an impulse buyer, they will pull out the credit card and have it gift-wrapped. To attract the impulse buyer, high street jewellers, especially in bigger towns and cities, often have elaborate stores with polished marble floors, expensive display cases, and lighting that makes everything in the store sparkle.

To pay for the stores, the decorations and all the expensive advertising, high street jewellers must maintain very high markups on the items they sell. The more expensive stores have more stock, higher rent and more advertising, which dictates the higher markup necessary to pay for all of these overheads.

The Online Diamond Retailer

The advent of the online shopping basket has provided huge potential for online diamond sellers in recent years. Customers can shop from the convenience of their home or work computer, look at pictures of thousands of jewellery items online and place their order without even having to talk to a human being. Online diamond retailers provide a list of diamonds owned by groups of wholesalers and let the shopper pick the diamond they want based on the specifications in the list. The shopper pays for the diamond using an online payment facility such as Worldpay or PayPal, and the wholesaler or the retailer sends the diamond to the consumer.

The online jewellery retailer offers the advantage of a much greater selection than can be found in a jewellery store, and can ship items anywhere in the world. Due to low overhead costs, online jewelers can provide considerably lower prices than the high street jeweller. The disadvantage of many online jewellers is that there are sometimes few safeguards in place to keep the consumer from making the wrong choice. Picking the least expensive diamond from a list of options almost certainly means there is something less desirable about the diamond. Without an expert adviser to help, online shoppers often have to rely on their own limited knowledge to make their selection.

Fortunately there is one company which is far superior to most of the competition. Blue Nile has a superb website offering the biggest selection of diamonds with very comprehensive details on each individual item, including full certification details and a comprehensive diamond education section, How to Buy a Diamond. I cannot recommend Blue Nile highly enough. They have everything in place to make buying a diamond online as pleasant and successful an experience as possible.

The Diamond Broker

The third kind of diamond retailer is the diamond broker. In common with most online retailers, brokers do not own stock and have low overheads, but they differ in that they work as diamond consultants, helping the customer to find the best diamond at the best price.

The diamond broker typically has a website with an emphasis on diamond education and shopping advice, instead of a list of stock and an online shopping cart. Diamond brokers work with their clients to find the best diamond on the wholesale market. With very low overhead costs online brokers can usually offer their clients a better diamond at a lower price than either the high street jeweller or the online retailer.

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