Background

The Internet is arguably the most significant communications tools ever developed and it has created unprecedented access to information, goods and services. It has changed our lives forever and will continue to further affect the way we go about our daily lives. In many circles, the Internet has become as ubiquitous as the telephone or television. As younger generations grow up buying anything and everything online, it is undeniable that the internet is here to stay.

In the jewelry industry, the emergence of the World Wide Web has given online e-tailers the ability to sell diamonds directly to consumers without having to own the diamonds beforehand, as was traditionally the case when such sales were made through brick and mortar jewelry stores. Simply stated, online jewelry e-tailers provide a portal for manufacturers and wholesalers to sell their diamond inventory directly to consumers and the e-tailer simply take a cut when a transaction is made. E-tailers often never even see the diamonds they sell, since it is more cost efficient for them to have manufacturers ship consumers directly.

While the benefit of the new online business model is that it delivers diamonds to consumers at a lower price, buying online from most e-tailers does not engender the same level of confidence as buying from a traditional brick and mortar operation, nor do they offer the same level of service. By simply passing diamonds through the supply chain from wholesaler to consumer, there is a lot of room for underperformance and inaccuracies in characterizing the type and quality of diamonds being sold, in the procedures for correcting those errors, in their ability to properly service the items that they sell, and in their capacity to inspire consumers how to romance the gift of jewelry gift. For example, e-tailers who never see the diamonds they sell really provide no assurances that the consumer actually is receiving what they are paying for. In the event a consumer wants to return a diamond purchased from an e-tailer he is often instructed to go the post office and follow a set procedure for insuring and sending the diamond back to the fulfillment house. Failure to insure and/or ship properly may result in liability to the consumer. If a ring is not sized properly the consumer must send it back to the e-tailer's fulfillment house and the consumer must often wait several weeks for the size to be adjusted and the ring returned. Because there is typically no physical store associated with e-tailors, there is no place for the consumer to go to have the ring and diamond periodically checked, cleaned and tightened.

Mission

VIDPA was created by Ideal Diamond Solutions, Inc. of New York (IDS) in response to concern over the ethics and consumer safety of jewelry sales practices on the internet--its mission is to better protect and serve online purchasers of diamonds and jewelry, to engender consumer confidence, and to bring romance back into the online diamond and jewelry purchase. The VIDPA Seal provides consumer's assurance that individual members of VIDPA, all of whom are affiliated with IDS, have committed themselves to Membership Standards and a Uniform Code of Conduct to achieve this mission. The VIDPA Code of Conduct is implemented and enforced by VIDPA and IDS. VIDPA and the VIDPA Seal are licensed trademarks of Ideal Diamond Solutions, Inc of New York.