
What the Forbes article doesn't mention is that the folks at this online jeweler often don't actually see the stone. The rings are typically less expensive than traditional bricks-and-mortar stores which have a much higher overhead. This online jewelry site has a network of dealers that work through a web-based diamond exchange. The stones are often shipped directly from these dealers without being inspected by an Online Jeweler. Most of the time this is not a problem but Judah Gutwein of Excel Diamonds writing for Diamond Vues profiled some of the potential risks of this situation describing a situation in which a customer did not receive the diamonds she had ordered. Buying through a middleman such other online jewelers can lead to a more circuitous route of recovery when there are problems, reports of such troubles are relatively small.
The future of the diamond industry does appear to be a more open and honest one. The Diamond man Martin Rapaport had recently held his first of a monthly internet auction of stones. His goal is to bring open pricing to the diamond market and he has been working to create both a futures exchange and a fair trade system for diamonds. The future of diamond buying looks a lot more transparent and less shrouded in secrecy and mystery than it has been in the past.
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