How to Buy Diamonds Internationally

Diamonds are a girl's best friend, right? The problem is most people, men and women, don't know how to tell a good diamond from a bad diamond and they don't know what to do to make sure the diamond is the best possible cut and quality. Finding good diamonds for good prices wherever you are, that's the trick.

Instructions

How to Buy Diamonds Internationally

1. Assess the value and characteristics of the diamond. Before purchasing any diamond, you should determine, using the "Four C's:" cut, clarity, color and carat weight. This is the value and grade of the diamonds. For instance, the perfect cut of a diamond will have it reflecting light back to you. The clarity refers to the diamond having the fewest flaws, so you can look through it without seeing bubbles or cuts or other flaws. The color of a diamond should be clear (without color) and all diamonds are graded on a scale of D-X, where D, E and F are completely without color and therefore the most valuable, G, H, I and J and are near colorless, still of a high value, K, L and M are a faint yellow and so on. The carat of a diamond refers to the weight and size of the diamond; the bigger it is, the more valuable.

2. Choose a diamond with a certificate. When you buy a diamond with a certificate, or a diamond dossier, it proves that your diamond has been registered, and it tells you everything you need to know about a diamond (its cut, clarity, color and carat) as well as other important things, and verifies that it is, in fact, a high-quality diamond.

3. Find jewelry dealers that sell exceptional diamonds. Diamonds are sold in thousands of stores in nearly every country. Diamonds have a pretty much stable cost basis, so it's neither more nor less expensive to, say, buy a diamond in Germany versus China versus the United States versus the Bahamas. However, some major cities, like New York, have better access to diamonds and a better selection.

4. Compare prices and certificates. Before you choose the diamond you want, compare prices. Make sure you're not paying the price of a 2-carat D grade diamond when it's really a 1-carat H grade diamond. Make sure you're know what you're buying. Again, purchase the certificate because that will assure that you get what you're looking for, and that it really is what you were told. However, a certificate will not save you from paying too much.