How important are lab certificates to customers?

Two jewelers discuss whether grading reports can make or break a sale.

By Phyllis Schiller

DAVID ROTENBERG
OWNER, DAVID CRAIG JEWELERS
LANGHORNE, PENNSYLVANIA When it comes to what certificates are all about, our clients come in asking us to help them navigate the maze. They need us to help them understand what the certificates mean. That’s why they come here. We’re not the average clearing house where they just line up the best price. We provide hands-on service. We’re like a gourmet restaurant. At a fast-food restaurant, one person will wait on you, and you find your own way to a table. But at a fine restaurant, 13 people are going to wait on you, and that’s what we’re offering.

“Yes, we use lab certificates, from the American Gem Society (AGS) and Gemological Institute of America (GIA). They are part of our sales strategy; our staff is trained to answer questions about them. I like to say that we’re not selling, but we are educating. We take it step by step. We talk about color — is it a high G or low G? We talk about clarity — is it an SI1 that wants to be a VS2, or is it an SI1 that really is trying its best to be an SI2? When we get to cut, we discuss the differences in the labs’ ratings. When the stones are side by side, it’s hard for clients to tell the difference and to understand why one stone costs more than the other, depending on its certificate. It’s up to us to guide them about whether a particular stone is worth spending more for.

“Not every diamond is worthy of a certificate. I could always send the diamond to a lab and get a certificate, because I’m telling them the truth about the stone. But I don’t necessarily run into people who only choose a diamond because it has a certificate. It’s not necessarily a deal-breaker. But it can [help give] the consumer a certain comfort level.

PAUL BOSWELL
MANAGER, BRYANT & SONS
SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA Customers do come in here having done their research about certificates. They might not necessarily ask about certs with colored stones, but with diamonds, they do, asking whether a particular diamond is a certified stone. It’s up to us then to explain why what the certificates are saying should be important to them. We ask them questions and have them ask us questions regarding any type of certification.

“We give individual attention, person to person, to convey to clients what they need to know about particular labs’ ratings and why the price of a diamond is indicative of that. We think it’s important to show them the stone using a loupe or microscope so they can see what the ratings are all about. And that depending on the cut, two diamonds with the same color and clarity can have more or less sparkle than [one another].

“We occasionally have certificates from other labs, but GIA and AGS certificates are the prime ones for us for diamonds. We also sell diamonds without certificates, grading them against GIA rating scales. We explain to customers that we are gemologists — I’m a graduate gemologist — and we’ve been doing this a long time. We will give them a proper appraisal.

“When it comes to the larger, more important diamonds, a certificate from an outside lab does give the customer added confidence to buy a big stone. And even if they don’t ask us about it, we will show them the certificate after they’ve looked at the stone. We can show them that the diamond they like is the 5.50-carat, E-color, VSI stone according to information from an independent laboratory. So a certificate can be very useful in that way.

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - July 2019. To subscribe click here.

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