I mean, this has been true for the better part of a decade. The difference now is that jewelers caved and many offer a selection of lab diamonds. There's still a high markup on lab diamonds in most retailers though. Loose lab diamonds are incredibly cheap, only $600 per carat!
I was surprised by this, but the top three results for lab grown diamonds, all of them had good cut, color clarity 3+ carat (loose) diamonds for ~$1200-1400. That's very impressive given that's what a mid grade 0.75-1.0ct mined diamond cost 5-6 years ago
The trade uses a variety of sites for "wholesale" prices. Rapnet is the standard, and they publish the Rapaport Price List. However, it only covers natural diamonds, and rapnet only lists natural. Diamonds generally go for a % discount off the Rap Price List.
Polygon (.net) is the other major listing platform. They include lab diamonds, and most everyone uses them. There are other platforms, but those are the two majors IMHO.
You need to be a member of the trade to sign up AFAIK.
However, I have seen one retail site, Ritani, actually post "wholesale" prices and they seemed to be pretty accurate. They seem to have good prices too. They list their wholesale/markup/etc. Of course, you should buy from a nice local jewelry store, but if you want to buy lab online they are at least great for checking prices.
This looks too good to be true. I am interested in this (because of all the terrible stuff related to diamond mines), but how do you protect yourself from scams on this site? $500-$1,000 is a lot to "test the waters" and see if they are real or even if they will arrive. What is the chance the just swap it out with Moissanite or who knows what?
