« Here Is A Beautiful Radiant Cut Diamond! | Main | Diamond Studded Wine Bottle To Be Auctioned. »
Consumer's Rights on Diamond & Jewelry Appraisals.
Consumers buying diamonds and diamond jewelry should get Independent Appraisals of their merchandise.
Getting an Appraisal from the Merchant who sold you the item(s) is not the best way to go. In fact, it is extremely unethical for a seller of diamonds & jewelry to issue "an appraisal" for his own merchandise. This is frowned on by every one of the appraisal organizations and insurance companies alike because of the obvious vested interest a jeweler has in validating (at the very least) what he's charged for the item, on one of his own in-house generated "appraisal" reports.
Certainly, anybody who gives you an "appraisal" together with their merchandise is going to tell you whatever they know you wish to hear.....truth is, these kind of "appraisals" are worthless and are usually designed to deceive not to enlighten.
While it may look cool for a diamond or jewelry vendor to "throw" in an "appraisal" with the package, and some unscrupulous jewlers even flaunt this added "perk" they give you, gratis, beware of this sham as it is of no practical value to you the consumer, and may actually be indicative of some other "shady" practices of said jeweler.
The same is true if the Vendor offers to directly pay the Independent Appraiser for your Appraisal or offers to reimburse you for this cost. This fee should be directly paid by you to the Appraiser and all fees negotiated directly between you and the Appraiser without the Vendor's interference.
It just makes sense that if the appraiser is paid by the Vendor for your Appraisal, objectivity is tainted.
The National Association of Jewelry Appraisers (NAJA) has distributed a Client's Bills of Rights to more than 700 of its members.
After a six-month study of standard bill of rights from similar organizations, including the American Society for Quality and the American Society of Association Executives, NAJA's Client's Bill of Rights was created. It contains 13 abiding principles such as the right of the client to have the appraisal charges explained before the process, the right of the client to have his or her confidentiality respected, and the right of the client to have appraisal records retained for at least five years.
The NAJA is the largest membership association specializing exclusively in gem and jewelry appraising and related appraisal issues. It offers education, biannual conferences and networking opportunities with knowledgeable appraisal professionals. The NAJA Conference Scholarship gives a gemology student a first-hand experience of networking with appraisal professionals by attending the NAJA Educational Conference during a time when Tucson devotes itself to gems, jewelry and minerals.
For further information on becoming a NAJA member, attending the NAJA's Tucson Educational Conference or the 2007 Conference Scholarship opportunity, contact Gail Brett Levine, GG, Executive Director, The National Association of Jewelry Appraisers, P.O. Box 18, Rego Park, NY 11374, (718) 896-1536, fax (718) 997-9057, naja.appraisers@netzero.net, NAJAappraisers.com.
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blogadmin.mysecureweb.net/mt-track-back.cgi/5793
Comments
Barry,
You issue a Scam Alert and throw a blanket over every appraiser in business today.
You state that: it is extremely unethical for a seller of diamonds & jewelry to issue "an appraisal" for his own merchandise. ***This is frowned on by every one of the appraisal organizations and insurance companies alike because of the obvious vested interest a jeweler has in validating (at the very least) what he's charged for the item, on one of his own in-house generated "appraisal" reports***.
Sir: It is not unethical nor is it frowned upon by insurance companies, appraisal organizations, or anyone else for that matter. When an appraisal is issued with the purchase of a diamond or any piece of jewelry it is completely ethical to include an appraisal with the purchase.
You state that **it may look cool for a diamond or jewelry vendor to "throw" in an "appraisal"**
Well, I would agree that to just throw in an appraisal in order to be cool would be improper (although I have no idea what “cool” has to do with professional appraisals). If an appraisal is done by a professional appraiser with proper training in the Personal Property Discipline it would be a proper document that represented the current market value of the particular item.
You further state: beware of this sham as it is of no practical value to you the consumer, and may actually be indicative of some other "shady" practices of said jeweler.
Shady practice? Sham? Every professional appraiser would take serious issue to this *ridiculous* statement.
What would be your response if someone wrote an article attempting to point out that every diamond that you sell has a Shady, Sham, or possibly even fake GIA or AGS Grading Report?
Sir: Will you please tell us what your Appraisal credentials are?
Thank You,
James Greene
Master Gemologist Appraiser 1991-1996
NAJA Senior Member 1993 to present
Posted by: James Greene on May 5, 2007 11:21 PM
James;
We do not issue appraisals on the diamonds and jewelry we sell. Ww advocate that our clients get this merchandise apraised by an Indpendent Appraiser who does not sell diamonds or jewlery in order to get a fair, accurate, and objective appraisal of said merchandise.
The fact is that we have been on the short end of too many "objective appraisals" issued by in-house Brick and Mortar Jewelry appraisers who when our client has walked in with our diamonds/jewelry to get an Appraisal done for Insurance purposes, has shot the hell out of our merchandise, bad mouthing it no end and offering to sell our client something far superior and for less money. So get off your high horse because this happens all the time.
Insofar as to the quality of the merchandise we sell, it is of the highest and superb quality. We are very proud of the reputation we have earned for selling qul=ality diamonds and jewelry with full informational disclosure on every aspect of the Product as well as our Customer Service which we provide after the sale as well.
Posted by: Barry Gutwein on May 6, 2007 2:01 AM
Barry,
I won't beat this dead horse again after this comment.
Those of us that have been trained as professional Appraisers also deliver merchandise (Appraisals) of the highest and superb quality possible and we are indeed very proud of the reputation that we have earned for delivering appraisals of the highest quality.
Yes, I am familiar with your company and know that you sell a quality product.
Therefore, I would never write an article and include all diamond dealers that sell on the internet under a ***SCAM ALERT***
One last thing: You didn’t tell us what you’re professional Appraisal credentials are.
James Greene
Posted by: James Greene on May 6, 2007 8:15 AM
James;
I have only the highest respect for Professional Apprasisers that are Independent and do not sell Diamonds or Jewelry and list themselves and their Services as such.
Indeed, on our Exceldiamonds.com website, we have a separate and specific section listing Independent Appraisers across the United States so that our prospective clients know of this and can avail themselves of a service that is untainted by ulterior selling motives.
In answer to your other question: I am not a Professional Appraiser and nowhere do I make such a claim. Indeed, we encourage our Customers to get a separate evaluation and Independent appraisal on items they buy from us. We don't believe that for us to provide Appraisals to the Customer is the right way to go. We want to avoid any indication and/or claim that the item has been appraised too high.
Insofar as your umbrage at the tone and content of my post, I apologize if it offended you personally, I empathize with you; but unfortunately this situation exists and is experienced by Internet Vendors in particular.
B&M Jewelers are hurting in that they have lost market share to Internet Vendors who sell Diamonds and Jewelry and so when a consumer walks into their store with a diamond purchased from an I-Net Vendor and requests an Appraisal from their in-house Gemologist, the diamonds quality and pricing is knocked and a superior alternative is offered. This has happened many times to us and our I-net colleagues and is the resson we offer a listing of Independent Appraisers, nationwide that only do Appraisals and do not have a conflict of interest by selling their own merchandise to the public.
Posted by: Barry Gutwein on May 6, 2007 9:47 AM
RE: SCAM ALERT
Mr. Gutwein,
As a Certified Gemologist Appraiser who ran an appraisal department for an American Gem Society AGS)jewelry store, I indeed provided proper professional documents for clients diamonds, gems and watches. These documents were produced with the highest level of accuracy and professionalism and the were correctly identified as "INSURANCE DOCUMENTS". I produced no 'appraisals' for any items sold by the store. This was an added service to our clients. My clients were informed as to the content and usage of the document, which in 999 times out of 1,000 were sufficient to allow the client to purchase insurance for their items.
An appraisal is a defensible, subjective opinion and in the United States there is no license necessary to be an appraiser. There are USPAP standards that educated appraisers use and yes, some of them work for stores that sell jewelry.
Perhaps if you supplied your clients with the type of documents I supplied for my clients, stating clearly the equipment you used in the evaluation, the pricing guides you used and precise descriptions and photos; those less reputable appraisers would be less then eager to challenge the value of the items you sold. Your clients would feel confident that your reputation is as you state and they would have a document that reflected that.
Something to consider.
Kind regards,
Jill McKenzie
GG, CGA, NAJA
Posted by: Jill McKenzie on May 7, 2007 12:46 AM