Diamonds can't be significantly cheaper in one big city than another. The arbitrage is too easy.

Have you been to HK before?

If you walk down Mong Kok area of Nathan road, theres like 10 Chow Tai Fook and Chow Sang Sang, all within a few hundred metres of each other ! Theres also Chow Tai Fook or/and Chow Sang Sang at most of the shopping centres like Telford (kowloon bay), Maritime Square (Tsing Yi), they are everywhere, some stores are bigger than others though.

I wouldn't buy diamonds, i would buy gold. Have a look in Chow Tai Fook or Chow Sang Sang and you'll be impressed with what they can make nowadays.

Plus if you buy from Chow Tai Fook or Chow Sang Sang (ie big merchants) they can buy back your old gold years down the line and itll still be worth considerable money. In my opinion, you get what you pay for!

be careful about old stones.  Like cars, every few yrs the stone cutting changes.  Like archaeologist, gemologist can tell how old a stone is by the way its cut.  Over decades, cutting technique is changing for the better every few years.

Also if its cheap there is always a reason, I gave the website bc its a starting point & it was universal. Even if two stones have SAME 4Cs, there can be a price differential & there is always a reason why.

govt controlled?  if it was so easy, I would be buying hoards of diamonds & bring it back to my native country. If it was only that easy.

In my experience, no jewerly is a bargain except maybe rolex bc there are so many dealers in hk.  Its true about the sales tax comment but you have to be careful about customs.

Thanks for the input bros....

I have made up my mind and will be buying in HK...

Cheers bros..

True.  What I am trying to say is Blue Nile gives you a list of price with all the 4 Cs. When you go to a store, you have to look at tens of diamonds and write down the price. I'll say go to Blue Nile to get a sense of price and diamond quality that you think you want to pay for.  Once you are at a store in HK or anywhere else, you know that you ain't gonna pay more than what you can get at Blue Nile.  You don't always look for the lowest price, there are other aspects of shopping, such as service or guarantee that you won't get screwed/cheated.  Unless you're a diamond expert, can you really tell whether the diamond quality is what the seller says?

For example, I'll print this and bring it to the stores.

the GIA report will give you the grade of a stone. They are the most stringest grading company but gia will only tell u so much hence an expert is more ideal

do your homework, get to know the diamond specs, and shop it online, you could save a lot....just makes sure you get the diamond which is rated by on of the trusted agencies and come th all the paperwork.
good luck...

cheers.

well if it's not the case... then my aunt lied to me....

In the US GIA is the way to go, you get a full certificate that is laminated with a serial number, can be laser engraved into the stone if you wish, it has a picture on it so that you can put it under a magnifying device to see where exactly the flaws are and see if they match the close up pics that the GIA certificate has in it.  It will keep it's value much better and you don't have to question whether you were ripped off or not, I'd rather pay a bit more for a GIA certified diamond.  In my experience, do not trust EGL, there are always horror stories with EGL because they don't back their claims 100%, GIA is much more strict, so let's say you have the same diamond and you send it to GIA and EGL, GIA will give the true color and EGL may give a higher color claim because they are not as strict.

I do not consider myself an expert, but I know when I get a diamond, I always purchase it from my Uncle who owns a diamond wholesaler in the Chinatown Diamond district here in NYC.  He always shows me how to look at the diamond from all sides, especially the table (on top) to see where the imperfections are.  I purchased an IF grade diamond, great color, great cut, etc... for my wife's engagement ring a long ass time ago from him.  I read up a lot about diamonds during the time, ( I knew shit about diamonds before that) and knew that I had a great deal at a wholesale price after my uncle explained everything to me.  So GIA is the way to go, dunno if you can get GIA certified diamonds in Europe but I know you can send the rock to them and they can certify it for you if it will make u feel better after the purchase.

As for HK being cheaper?  I know a street in Ching San Doe, I think cherng sai wan station, im gonna have to relook it up on a map and tell the OP where it is, they are much cheaper than those Chow tai fooks, man, I Cringe when I think about how much they boost up their prices.

GIA is most standard in the world, I would not trust anything else less.  Also jewelers get its discounted to certify stones, some more than others. Also GIA will confirm a stone matches a certififcate....for a fee of course.

A diamond tester will not tell you how about clarity, size, rating or color.  It will only tell you if it is a fake or a real diamond. It will either have a light or sound telling you if it is a real or fake diamond.  My sister only buys used diamonds that are certificate, GIA, with sales receipt.

I don't know if a diamond store will have a tester in its store but you can ask. A tester cost anywhere from $100USD to 300USD. Ebay has a few used one.  Do a search in google for more infor on diamond tester.

[ Last edited by  Weelock at 21-1-2010 18:45 ]

Precious metals and gems are now selling at its historical highs now. If you think gold will go even higher, then buy gold, but in my opinion, I believe it's a bad to time to buy any precious metals or gems for "investments", unless you have to buy a ring for getting married. Gold is selling for over 1000 USD a troy oz. In times of turmoil and bad economy people will start buying precious metals and gems. When the economy starts to get better, precious metals and gems will start to decline in value.

When the economy does start to pick, I see more people and businesses spending money. I heard some of the KTV and BBS are complaining about lack of customers. This will change when the economy picks up.

This is just my opinion and I could be wrong.  Gold can shoot up to $1500 USD a oz. if something real bad happens in the world.

[ Last edited by  Weelock at 22-1-2010 03:31 ]

It is just depends, it is cheaper than in China at least.
And if you are just buy the diamonds, you can upper store instead of retail store. They can offer you a better price and with a cert of the diamand.

you can go to Houston Centre in TST East, opposite the Auto Plaza.
there are a few small jewelry shops there.
they are quite exclusive, doors are locked, u have to press the bell, before they let you in.

they usually sell only the diamond, then u pick a design before they set it for you.
prices are very competitive at these shops...
you can get a 1.0 Carat, VVS, Color F diamond for as cheap as HKD20k+.
compared to other Big Brand stores like CTF, such a diamond u need to pay like HKD80~100k...
you can opt to pay a fee for the IGI or GIA cert.. if you are worried abt the authenticity.

if you want to buy a damond,
choose clarity:VVS color:F
why?

for color, D, E, F, they are in the Colourless category.
G, H, I, J are in the Near Colourless cat.
in the top tier, obviously D is the most expensive.. F much cheaper, but to the naked eye, you can tell teh difference.
G is just slightly cheaper than F, but yet F is in the top tier...
when you show the GIA cert, your wife/girlfren will be happier to know her diamond is in the Colourless tier.

as for size, avoid 1.01 carat...when buying in HK.
it is usually more expensive than 1.02 ~ 1.09..
why?
it represents "1 and only 1"
a stupid gimmick that mark-up the price.

you definitely need to shop around. The bigger shops will cost more, but the small shops may rip you off giving you fake stuff. Don't know if you're concerned about blood diamonds or not. But the best way by far is to have someone who knows their shit help you buy.

That is some asian superstition like buyings  2.44 karat.

There is something called a Rapport sheet (aka Rap sheet) which is used by only dealers worldwide. It prices the stones from every size & shape.  Everyone wants a deal & many claim they got a steal.  The stone price quoted is always relative to this sheet.  So lets say the rap sheet says 20k usd for a 2 karat is the qoute.  If its a  true perfect stone (triple X in the industry lingo), it will go for 20k OR MORE as triple X stones are pretty rare.  Then as the stone is less perfect, prices gets discounted.  Tons of people are kidding themselves when they claim they can get 15 grand or 10 grand if rap sheet says 20 grand or the stone is seriously flawed.  Its pretty tiring to hear that every other person got some kinda super deal for ego inflating i surmise.

Fyi, say a .95 stone is under the category of .50-.99 price range, then there is a separate box range for 1.00-1.49. So you would save some money by buying a .99 stone oppose to a 1.01.

WRONG! (Buzzer going off) LOL... I'll tell you why.  If one is buying a GIA certified diamond, all the stats are going to be visible to the person you are giving it to.  You know what bitches do?  They like to compare and when my wife was showing off her D colored Internally Flawless to her friends, she got lots of ooooh and ahhhs.  You know what I got?  A whole lot of incredible loving for the next year we were engaged.  It set off like an internal sex kitten button every time she would tell people, it's an IF diamond, excellent cut and D color.  Yeah, it cost me a year's salary but you know what?  It was worth it! Till this day she wears it, admires it and shows it off.  It's just what women do, "the quality of my diamond is the quality of the love my husband gives me"

Further to what the others wrote, shop around and don't be pushed into buying anything from a pushy salesman. One time I was looking at a diamond ring for myself and the guy was kinda pushy but still acceptable in the beginning.  I wanted to compare prices as I was still new to HK.  I explained this and he zeroed in with the calculator like all salesmen do when trying to close the sale.  I was still unsure about the price and said I wanted to discuss it with my wife first (who was looking at other shops some along the same street).  Then the guy said "Your wife doesn't need to make decisions for you.  Can't you make decisions for yourself?"  I guess he felt he had nothing to lose.  

Alright bro Thai-delight.. I would of "FUCKED HIM OFF"..If he had said that to me.. I hope you did the same bro..That is such a disrespectful remark...( What a "WANKER"..)

Well anyway back onto topic...Do you know what the percentage of commission these salespersons recieve...It would be handy to know..When it comes down to haggling..