Tips for Buying Jewelry Abroad

Being a tourist is some special state of mind and body. You wear shorts and sun block everywhere. You are happy and relaxed. You are enjoying your escape from daily routine. It makes you vulnerable to holiday temptations. Tourist attractions start right when you get off your luxurious cruising ship. The first thing you see - besides bright sun and clear water - is Duty Free shops. The diamonds seem even brighter and clearer…

Meanwhile, you are lead away by nice local people who won’t let you “miss this wonderful opportunity”. You can only resist them if you have just sworn on your wallet not to buy anything over $10. Otherwise in two minutes’ time you will find yourself surrounded by “Sale!”, “Up To 50% OFF”, “Great Deals” and “Special Savings” signs. With a credit card in your hands it is almost impossible to fight the temptation…

Does it all look familiar? What you may have in the end is the disappointment of having spent too much money or purchased something you don’t really need. We are not going to thrust our opinion on you. We just want to help you to build up your own. So the question is: to buy or not to buy jewelry abroad?

The point is to answer this question when you are still… at home. Strange as it may seem but you need to make a decision even before you go on holiday. Otherwise you will be easily convinced by promoters or fellow passengers or will make your purchase spontaneously (possibly under influence of another “margarita”). In our opinion, but jewelry prices determine reasonable actions. Let’s go step by step.

1. Do your homework: Visit the stores nearby and figure out what they have and how much it costs. You can even make notes to remember the prices when you are on your vacation. Also, surf the internet: maybe you will find something you like for a reasonable price even without leaving the room.

2. Contact a trusted jeweler if you have one. It may be someone from who you or your friend has bought a jewelry piece before. If you know some company that provides good service and has good recommendations it will help you to choose a seller. You can even send them a sketch of what you want and they will check their stock for you or make an order.

3. Be skeptical when you listen to promoters onboard or read the booklets: “From the sophisticated designer boutiques to the charming island gift shops, the variety surrounds you wherever you go. With jewelry leading the long list of things to buy you will be able to save anywhere from 30% to 70% depending on what you are looking for.” Sounds tempting, doesn’t it? You may want to ask somebody who is not interested in profit, like staff or repeat cruisers about bargains possible in the ports of call.

4. Bargain no matter where you are. Keep on nicely asking about discounts and do not be afraid to leave without buying. They do their job - you do yours as a customer. As a comparison test, we asked 15 stores what they charged for a one-carat round, G color, VS clarity diamond, a basic gem any store would have. We were quoted prices ranging from $5,700 to almost $10,000. Thus, bargaining is important.

5. Return policies are usually printed on the back of the receipt. Take your time to go through it. If you detect a flaw only back home you will have to go through all the disputing through the phone or via mail and it can take forever to solve this problem. In the case of a value discrepancy, every store told us a return would be accepted only if the guest had an appraisal from a gemologist or independent appraiser who is not associated with any retail store and does not sell to the public.

6. Smuggling is not worth risking your money or even getting a criminal record! Even if you get away from carrying it through the customs you may face difficulties trying to sell it later or next time you go abroad. You should know the law and stick to it to stay out of trouble. Also, the values of duty free jewelry you can take home vary from island to island, from country to country. For example, USVI allow $1,600 worth of duty free goods for US residents, while other Caribbean islands only $800.

To draw a line we should mention a situation where you should forget everything you have just read: it is hot Caribbean night, you and your lover are on an empty beach, and he is touching your hair saying: “I have something for you”… Let yourself be romantic this time. You are on vacation after all!

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