Not sure about JannPaul. Just to share my experience, I bought a loose diamond from Whiteflash recently and got charged GST for:
1. The price of the diamond.
2. The freight value.
3. The insurance value.

In other words, even though shipment and insurance comes free, I still need to pay GST for the premium paid by the seller. Let's say seller paid RM 100 for the freight, then I need to pay RM 6 for GST. Same goes to the insurance value. The premium of the insurance is 10% of the price of the loose diamond. So let's say I paid RM 10000 for the loose diamond, then the insurance premium will be 1% of it, which is RM 100, and I need to pay 6% GST for the RM 100 insurance, which is RM 6.

So:

RM 10000 for diamond.
RM 600 for GST on diamond.
RM 6 for GST on freight.
RM 6 for GST on insurance.

Total Payable is RM 10612.

My item is shipped via FEDEX from USA. So they will pay the GST on my behalf first, and when they deliver, I will need to pay them the EXACT amount in CASH. So do prepare the necessary money first when it is being delivered.

On a side note, if you ask me why I buy from there? Because personally, I feel that I can get a better deal and gain more insights to the diamond I paying for. So far, I don't see any stores in Malaysia that can provide IdealScope & ASET images. I only get the loos diamond, the setting is done by a local jeweler known as Tailored Jewel. They will cast the setting in Hong Kong.

For Jann Paul, it seems they can also provide you those IdealScope & ASET images. They do take in some branded ring setting, as well as their own brand setting. From their YouTube channel, the guy mentioned that their ring setting are also made in Hong Kong. Overall, they are pretty famous.

Anyway, you can try asking your question on their Facebook fan page. Maybe some fellow Malaysians are able to help out.

Good luck!

Update 5 September 2016: Insurance premium of product is actually 1%. Sorry for the miscalculation.

This post has been edited by kambingkoh: Sep 5 2016, 09:44 PM

Yes. I did. A 0.53ct F-Color VS2. The diamond is just like the way they display it on their website. Those are real pictures of them. The hearts and arrows are great. They provided me a H&A scope for viewing, I can see the reflections of my inclusions as tiny black spots on it, just as what they show on their website as well, anyway, it is okay, because those inclusions are not visible with naked eye. I bought F color, so i can see a tiny bit of yellowish, when look real closely (or maybe i am just picky), or compare to an E color. I view my diamond under normal lighting condition and it looks nice as well, unlike some other diamond i saw, which look duller in appearance. Overall, I am very satisfy with my purchase. Similar specs outside the market will cost me few thousands more. Together with a diamond case/setting, the price can be from 14K+ to 20K+, depending on shop, but for my one, it is less than 11K, with setting. Cartier will similar specs might cost a whopping 8,000USD, based one what I read.

WhiteFlash customer service is excellent. Their CEO will also personally picked up any messages you sent them sometimes. If you have trouble selecting a diamond, their gemologist will also help you out. For my case, I provided them with a few choices, there is an E color that cost more, but ultimately the gemologist picked a cheaper one, which is my F color, so I guess they are not that bias and quite fair. Also, you can request for a Cherry Wood Box (I don't see such box in Malaysia so far) for your ring, even you purchase a loose diamond. Usually purchasing a loose diamond will only come with a loose diamond box, but I have requested a Cherry Wood Box for my ring from them, and they gladly put it in. However, they missed out during the first shipment, so they send me the box alone via another shipment via FEDEX and they bear the USD 75 cost themselves! ACA diamonds will come with a free H&A scope.

First time customer will get 25USD off for purchase of 2,000 USD or above. Transfer by TT will save you another 3%. I used M2U TT service, which only cost me RM10 for transaction. The exchange rate is based on the bank's TT selling rate. So, if you manage to purchase it during a lower rate, you save even more. So good luck!

Just remember that the most important thing of the 4Cs is the CUT. Few shops I went said that they all have perfect cut, and some even show me the Arrows, which I can clearly see that it is symmetrical via the H&A scope. However, since most of the diamonds we see in shops are already mounted, we are unable to determine the hearts. The hearts can be bad. There is one shop that shows me a loose diamond with perfect arrows, but no matter how i tilt to view the hearts at the bottom for the diamond, it does not meet the standard, but the shop will insist it is perfect hearts and arrows.

I am no expert so I rely on online diamond enthusiasts to help me choose. Many emails between me and Paul Gian from Beyond4cs.com. After purchase, I even asked Todd Gray from Niceice.com to take a look at my diamond based on the data on WhiteFlash website, and he rated my diamond a A-, which I think is quite acceptable for me.

Alternatively, you can buy from Brian Gavin. You can email Todd and ask him to cherry pick your diamond for you, I think he affiliates with http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/, maybe you can ask him for discount voucher as well. He spoke highly of Brian Gavin diamonds, but please do your due diligence before making any purchase. FYI, Brian Gavin is one of the founders of WhiteFlash, and he even created ACA diamonds. After that they went separate ways.

One last thing, most of the diamonds from WhiteFlash are graded by AGS lab, which is compatible with GIA lab (some even said AGS is better).

Good luck and have fun with your purchase!


You can also refer to my blog for some images of the stones i got.
http://myengagementringexperience.blogspot.my/


This post has been edited by kambingkoh: Jul 7 2016, 01:59 AM

Thanks.

Because my custom ring is being fixed by Tailored Jewel after I have reported some defects. As far as workmanship is concerned, the 18k white gold sems good, but certain areas are so-so, especially the prongs, but this is afterall a handcraft thing, so i am hoping them to fix the problems I have reported. However, as far as trustworthiness is concerned, they will offer me full money back guarantee if failed to meet my expectation, so I am cool with it. I have reviewed them on my blog as well. Lets see how things go in the end.

But to be more objective, they have satisfied customer, so I can't they are no good, it's just my own opinion. Besides, other jewelers may not deliver 100% perfect because it is craftsmanship after all. Just need to make sure it meets your expectation and that will be fine. I find that SK jewellery's craftmanship seems okay. Maybe you can check them out. Fyi, SK jewellery and Love & Co belongs to the same company.

As long as brick and mortar stores are concerned, the price listed on the label are usually not the final price. My colleagues said that Wah Chan's price are quite competitive. Anyway, I suggest you just drop by all the stores and take a look, no harm knowing more.

No worries. You can afford to buy a few meaning you are not poor. Keep the discount for the poor ones like me.

HCA is only used as a diamond rejection tool, not selection tool. Some jeweller will tell you it is not relevant anymore, but then, I will still use it as rejection tool. The reason why it cannot be used as selection is that it only take into account 17 facets out of 57 facets, according to: http://www.goodoldgold.com/consumers-guide-hca

As a general rule, you have to reject diamonds that fall below a score of 2. Read here: http://beyond4cs.com/shapes/round/hca-scores/

Also, it is only applicable for round brilliant cut, aka the traditional 57 facets diamond. So any extra facets or fancy cut shape probably can't use it.

Once you done calculating the score, you still have to look into the hearts and arrows and light performance, where most local shops won't be able to provide. So, that's the reason I opt to buy online at WhiteFlash instead of local stores. You can read about it here: http://myengagementringexperience.blogspot.my/.

gogogo! And you probably should rethink again if the HCA score is above 2.0... just corrected by Pikachu. lol.

This post has been edited by kambingkoh: Aug 26 2016, 04:06 PM

Aiks, thanks for the correction!

JannPaul is good. They will educate their customers well. They will even show you the IdealScope, Hearts & Arrows, Light Performance, etc. They have a series of Youtube videos you may want to check it out. Too bad they are only in Singapore.

As long as you encounter someone that says "cut is not important", "triple excellent is good enough", i think you can walk away. There is always a reason why a similar specs diamond is priced differently than the other... and such scenario may occur even in the same jeweller.

Since I knew of custom jeweler, I never went looking at ring with brands already +1

That is a failed H&A!

Congrats on your other purchase btw.

Oh? What did they show you then? You are talking about Jann Paul, right?

It is normal for the diamond to be elsewhere, probably with the supplier. In your case, HK. The store usually won't pile up their inventory with a lot of stocks. Even if you buy in Malaysia or from any other countries, it should work the same way. Unless the diamond is a signature cut that belongs to the store, then maybe they will have it with them. I can't say that I am 100% correct, but this should be how retail business works, for instance, if you want to buy a particular sofa from a furniture shop, they will need to order from the factory itself. I know a jeweller in Malaysia call Tailored Jewel also take in stock from HK.

Another interesting fact is that different jewellers may connect to the same supplier. So store A, store B, store C can help you buy the same diamond, as long as they are connected to the same supplier. Same like furniture shop A, B, or C can help you buy the same sofa, as long as it is from the same factory.

So how did it go?

While you are searching for another piece, you can try to take a look at WhiteFlash and BrianGavin for comparison. The clarity and colour may not be what you want but still worth to take a look. My personal experience with WhiteFlash was pretty nice. Did not try BrianGavin though, but Brian Gavin used to work for WhiteFlash. Both ship to Malaysia. And of course, we will need to pay for GST, so need to take it into account as well. Both companies use AGS cert (mostly I guess).

WhiteFlash
0.62 ct F VS1 A CUT ABOVE® Hearts and Arrows Super Ideal Round Cut Loose Diamond
0.635 ct F VVS2 A CUT ABOVE® Hearts and Arrows Super Ideal Round Cut Loose Diamond

BrianGavin
0.617 D VS2 Hearts and Arrows Round

If you are in Singapore, you can try JamesAllen as well because they ship to Singapore, but not Malaysia. JamesAllen use GIA cert (mostly I guess). You can also use this for comparison if you wish to.
James Allen Search Result

This post has been edited by kambingkoh: Aug 31 2016, 11:25 PM

Haha, for your reference only. Don't worry. There are plenty of GIA certified diamonds out there. I am sure you will get yours soon.

Hmm, so limited choice for that store? What are the other options they offer you now?

All the best!

HABIB? Buying Hearts on Fire (HoF)?

As far as I know, if buy whole ring with diamond, the ring should be cheaper, and not something around 2-3k. Anyway, retailer can charge more to the diamond and make the ring setting look more affordable, and vice-versa, whereby the retailer charge more to the ring setting, and make the diamond look cheaper. I think both makes sense to me.

They usually have a separate costs for both, you can ask them about the individual item price, aka the ring setting and the diamond. Also, you can ask them about how heavy is the white gold setting in terms of grams. I have seen ring settings that is quite hollow at the back, meaning, it uses less gold, that's how some business try to save cost.

Another point to concern about is how many karat gold are you getting. Some jewellers these days offer 18K, 14K, 10K, 9K. Higher K more expensive.

And if you are getting, for example, 18K, it will have 75% as gold, 25% as others. Usually, quality ring setting will consist of Palladium, as far as White Gold is concerned. There can be some jewellers' 18K White Gold that DO NOT have Palladium.

If you don't mind, would like to know what is the market price like for HABIB's diamonds. Did not go into the shop before.

Can try Diamonds & Platinum. Should be able to do resize ba. But not sure how much will it cost. The original jeweller that sells you the ring is unable to provide such service?