Bidz.com
Buying Diamonds Online From Bidz.com

If you are like many people you have come across numerous websites selling diamonds online at ridiculously low prices. Their sales pitch is the usual, “We don’t have a brick and mortar building and therefore we pass the savings on to you…” It sounds plausible to any sane person; however, their prices are so low, them seem TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!

When you see diamond prices and other fine jewelry in which the prices are unbelievable, make a mental note; YOU will receive cheap stones, plastic stones, knockoff watches and other cheap fashion jewelry.

We have researched many of the online jewelry marts and some of them we feel compelled to write reviews about because we care about you and don’t want to see you duped along with others. Since we keep receiving numerous requests about buying diamonds online from Bidz.com, we decided to respond.

As always, our measuring rod starts with the quality of a company’s merchandise. We want to know what grade of diamonds are they selling? Is it Walmart and Target grade? Is it fashion jewelry that they are passing off as fine jewelry? Next, we want to know what type of diamond certificate are they providing with the purchase? How long do you have to return the merchandise if we find that they misrepresented themselves on the website? And finally, what are their customers saying? Has anyone filed legitimate complaints against them? Are there websites dedicated to warning consumers about buying diamonds from them? Having shared those points, let’s examine Bidz.com.

Advisory#1 About Buying Diamonds Online From Bidz.com

The first thing that should be alerted to is the price discrepancy that is easily refuted. For example on September 19, 2008 at approximately 11:46pm EST, I was at the Bidz.com and saw a watch they listed as a, “AQUASWISS STEEL Brand New Gents Day date Swiss Quartz Watch.” For those of you who don’t know Aquaswiss is a well-known brand of Swiss sport watches that average around $1000 to $4000.00. These watches are worn by a lot of professional athletes and scuba divers. On the Bidz.com website, the supposedly $1400.00 Aquaswiss watch sold for a paisley $69.00!

Ok, people, let’s be R-E-A-L! If you knew that you could buy an authentic Swiss watch with an irrefutable value of $1400.00 at the ridiculously unbelievable price of $69.00 plus shipping, how many would you buy? I would get everyone of my family members and friends buying up these watches. Do you see the markup potential? It’s astronomical!

Ok, now stop salivating because if you contacted the owner-maker of the original and genuine Aquaswiss watches, Ian Afshar, you’d quickly find out that the websites offering these purportedly $1400.00 Aquaswiss watches at $69.00 to $100.00 are not the genuine Aquaswiss watches found on Aquaswiss.com, made by the Afshar family. I challenge anyone to dispute that fact!

Advisory#2 About Buying Diamonds Online From Bidz.com

The way the Bidz.com website is set up, it really looks like the jewelry is actually what they say it is. That is if you don’t read the small print and are going strictly by the pictures. For example, on September 19, 2008, at 12:11am EST, they were auctioning a, “Irresistible Ring With 0.50ctw Genuine Heart Cut Diamond Well Made in 14K White Gold- Size 7 We Can Resize from 6 to 8 - Certificate Available. ** compare: $9,809.00.” The highest bid won at $823.00.

Wait a minute! Hold the horses! Stop the train! Are you telling me that it is possible to purchase a ring authentically worth almost $10,000.00 for $823.00 plus shipping? The answer is, “Absolutely NOT, a thousands times no, no way Jose!”

No legitimate jeweler is going to sell a 10k ring for $800, even if they are going out of business and even if they are seriously strapped for cash. They can wholesale pieces like that to other jewelers and not even deal with anyone on a retail scale. I promise you… if the person who won that bid takes that ring that website purportedly claims is worth around 10k, to get it appraised by a certified jewelry appraiser, they are going to be sadly disappointed and potentially furious. NO one sells a 10k ring for $800, not even drug dealers!

Advisory#3 About Buying Diamonds Online From Bidz.com

Bidz.com states on their website that you can order a "Gem and Jewelry Report Available at Checkout." There are a number of issues… Number 1, they don’t spell out the actual type of REPORT a buyer will receive. Is it an authentic GIA diamond certificate? If its not, as we say in the fine jewelry business, “You’ve just got burned!”

Never but never buy an expensive diamond without investing in a diamond certificate. If any jeweler attempts to persuade you to accept their diamond report as valid, just walk away… and don’t forget to take your money with you! The whole manner in which Bidz.com sets up buyers with their diamond report is suspect.

Here’s the bottom line folks and don’t ever forget this; if the diamond report/certificate does not come from one of these two sources listed below, you can be sure the jeweler, dealer or seller has inflated the price of the diamond tremendously or they are misrepresenting what they are selling. 

• (GIA) Gemological Institute of America
• (AGSL) American Gemological Society 

Yes, there are other diamond certification labs, but they simply aren’t worth your time because many of them are known to have unreliable diamond grading techniques. 

Advisory#4 About Buying Diamonds Online From Bidz.com

The Bidz.com “Return policy” has a lot to be desired; 15 days from the date of receipt. In addition, you must pay the shipping charges, plus a hefty 15% re-stocking fee. Realistically, 15 days from the date of receipt is simply not enough time to acquire a genuine diamond appraisal from a certified third party jewelry appraiser.

Advisory#5 About Buying Diamonds Online From Bidz.com

The complaints about Bidz.com just keep rolling in! If you go to the well respected websites such as: the Ripoff Report, Epinion. you’ll find a slew of furious Bidz.com customer who found out after the fact, that THEY GOT BURNED! Read this e-mail from a duped Bidz.com customer who lie many others, thought he was getting the deal of the century.

We could show you hundreds of such e-mails and to make matters worse, the BBB, Better Business Bureau has given Bidz.com an F Rating. Based on what you’ve read, would you buy from Bidz.com?