After some deliberation between Michael and myself, we decided to post this Q&A. As I wrote in my article, The Diamond Pro.Pro, it’s perfectly fair and understandable to question why we do what we do. That’s why I wrote that article. We felt, however, that this guy’s belligerent threats were completely uncalled for – especially since from the other side of his mouth, he was asking for free advice. What do you think? Do you think we should help him in the end? Let us know in the comments!
The The Diamond Pro web site reports a lot of detailed, important information regarding the ring buying process. However, something does not seem right. Is truthaboutdiamonds.com in any way affiliated with jamesallen.com? A lot of the recommendations on The Diamond Pro are overly supportive of James Allen. In addition, I do not see advertisements on the site and you offer a free recommendation for which diamond to buy within a given budget. This personal attention must be costly; what is the payback? It all seems suspicious, and suspicion is not what I am looking for when buying something as financially and emotionally important as an engagement ring.
It is also important to note that I am making this assumption after 5-10 minutes of searching the Internet. Unless this is resolved quickly, I will be purchasing a ring from another online retailer and spreading the word to my friends and social network about the apparent connection and conflict of interest between the two sites.
Regards,
-Brian
Hi Brian,
A couple of more minutes of research you may have stumbled on our about us section. We do not hide how we make money. https://www.diamonds.pro/truth-about/diamonds-pro/
We are affiliated with James Allen as much as we are affiliated with any retailer. If we feel the company offers good value for our readers, we will recommend them. Several companies realized the large competitive advantage JA has, and have recently stepped up their game in what they offer (sites that let you search by photos, sites that offer designer brands, sites that offer gemologist inspections).
As websites offer services that we feel are necessary to make an educated decision for diamond buying, we start to recommend them. After we have an established track record with the company, we add content to our site. Most readers contact us directly and we recommend from whichever site we feel is best. But we don’t want readers to decide (solely based on our content) on purchasing from a retailer without us being sure that company will handle them correctly.
As you can see from our website, we have plenty of information on our site regarding Brian Gavin Diamonds as well. They are a company we’ve had an established track record with and are willing to add content on our site about them. You can also see are very negative feeling on Blue Nile. I can tell you that Blue Nile offers at least as much compensation (if not more) than JA, but we don’t think they are a good alternative for diamond buying anymore. They may have changed the game 12 years ago, but they haven’t kept up with the competition.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t alternatives. We are about to start adding content on www.since1910.com. We love them. They offer photos, have designer brands people want, and we’ve had amazing feedback from the many readers I helped personally. Now that we’ve had a decent track record, in the next month or two we’ll be ready to add content.
Another site that may be an alternative, but has issues is www.ritani.com.
Even if you were to find a diamond from a site we don’t work with, I always give objective advice on them. If its a good deal, great. I don’t benefit from not giving people the best advice. It would ruin our reputation. The only sites I will not comment on are sites that we have terrible experiences/feedback about, or if the site looks like a scam.
Bottom line though, I genuinely believe www.jamesallen.com is the best company to work with. We know they offer the best product (high quality videos, gemologist inspections) and I’ve been far more impressed with their sales staff and overall customer service than any other site.
All that said, I found your email to be very oft-putting. Yes, we absolutely make money. I work full time (plus) helping people find a better deal on the internet. Aside from answering your email at 7 in the morning (I am American, but I currently live in Europe), I spend countless hours doing research (just because I’m an expert in the field, doesn’t mean there aren’t new sites opening up). Next week I am travelling to several destinations for the sole purpose of investigating the diamond markets (London and Antwerp) to see whether there is value there. Whether we make money or not (I’d be fascinated if you can point out an expert in a field that doesn’t want to be compensated for his time), I don’t think making keyboard threats is conducive for getting someone to help you. I am perfectly happy to explain how we operate (as I just did), but I would like to have a more mature conversation.
Mike, thanks for the quick and detailed response. I did find the “truth about” page on your web site a few minutes after sending my comment. Perhaps I am more skeptical than most people. I do not have a problem with anyone, especially an expert in the field, earning money. However, from my perspective, I would rather see an advertisement on the side of the page making it obvious where the money is coming from. I think the commission or market affiliate approach leaves too many open questions. I am not in the diamond or online advertising business, so maybe this is quite normal and I just do not notice it when buying less important items. I will only buy a ring once (hopefully) and I want to be sure I am making the right decision – this is how I ended up at your site in the first place.
All of that said, you do offer detailed explanations on your site (which I did spend much more than 5-10 minutes reading). I am glad they are not written by someone from the JA marketing department. Unfortunately, there are a few forums that question the relationship between your web site and JA. Not sure how to fix that, but perhaps there is a way to do a quantitative assessment of the major online retailers that removes subjectivity from the discussion. Hopefully I didn’t miss this on your web site as well.
Regards,
-Brian
What we love about them:
- No questions asked returns within 30 days of shipment. James Allen will send you a paid shipping label to return the ring.
- Lifetime Warranty
- Free International Shipping
- Free prong tightening, repolishing, rhodium plating and cleaning every 6 months
- Provide insurance appraisals
- One free resizing within 60 days of purchase
- Free ring inscriptions
- Best-in-class high quality imagery of all diamonds in stock
- 24/7 Customer Service
- Best-in-class packaging
What we love about them:
- No questions asked returns within 30 days of shipment. Blue Nile will send you a paid shipping label to return the ring.
- Lifetime Warranty
- Free Shipping
- Free prong tightening, repolishing, rhodium plating and cleaning every 6 months
- Provide insurance appraisal
- One free resizing within the first year of purchase
- High quality images of about half of their diamonds
- 24/7 Customer Service
- 100% credit towards future upgrades (must be at least double in value)
- Best in class fulfillment
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