Buying Diamonds

by Owen Jones

Everyone loves diamonds and no one looks terrible in diamonds, do they? It is not really within the remit of this piece to propose whether buying diamonds is a good investment or not, but their perceived worth is colossal. Instead, I want to discuss what the best way of buying diamonds is, because it is more important that you buy your diamond from a reliable dealer with a warranty than that you believe you got a decent trade on eBay by buying somebody's granny's engagement ring, which may or may not be authentic.

Consequently, before you start browsing for your diamonds, think about dealing with a bonded jeweller. However, you will have look around a bit because bonded jewellers sell bonded diamonds and there are not many bonded jewellers about. In fact, out of all of the jewellers in the world, only approximately 5% of them are bonded.

Another factor is that buying a bonded diamond will cost you a bit more than buying a non-bonded diamond, but when you look at what you get with the bonded alternative, I am sure that you will realize that it is well worth the extra expense.

Firstly, bonded diamonds have a buy-back policy for life. No matter how long you keep the diamond, you can take it back to the bonded jeweller and sell it back to him or her, for 100% of the price that you paid.

If a jeweller does not offer a 100% buy-back promise for life, then you ought to take a closer look at the diamond to see what is wrong with it. Only joking! They will always offer you a 100% buy-back guarantee or explain to you why not.

Secondly, bonded diamonds also have a breakage policy. If the stone breaks or chips, the bonded jeweller will replace it with a new one - one time only. No jeweller would ever offer such a guarantee on any gemstone that was not 100% natural, so just the offer of such a guarantee should give you peace of mind concerning the quality of the diamond. This means that you can be certain that bonded diamonds are guaranteed natural and untreated.

Thirdly, bonded diamonds increase in worth according to a fixed appreciation rate that is intended to at least keep up with inflation, which means that a diamond that is valued at a particular amount of money today will be worth more in the future, as the price of diamonds continues to rise. However, this clause does not usually apply to buy-backs. It does normally applies to trade-ins though.

Consequently, you are protected against the prospect of a market collapse by buying a bonded diamond. If a market collapse does happen, the price of diamonds will go down like everythng else. However, your policy means that the bonded jeweller has guaranteed to reimburse you the discrepancy between what the diamond is now worth and what you paid for it before the market crash.

It could be tricky to find a bonded jeweller in your vicinity, but if you can, this is where you should be buying diamonds, as opposed to buying diamonds from an ordinary, non-bonded jeweller. Make a point of informing the jeweller that you are only interested in buying bonded diamonds.

You can find a bonded jeweller in your area by using various online resources like Google or Yahoo, or by phoning around the local jewellery stores. These tips should ensure that you have a safe, reliable and stress-free experience buying diamonds.