Hi,
I'm entirely new to shopping for pearls and have luckily found this forum. Quite simply, I didn't know which online retailers were trustworthy. I normally go to
http://resellerratings.com to determine a online retailer's trustworthiness, but none of these pearl stores are listed. This forum pretty much fills in that gap (but I'm not blind to the fact that having the store owners as Supermoderators may influence the posts).
In my research, I find "grading" guides here and elsewhere that discuss the AAA-A grading system and how it's not a set standard. But there has been one particular point that I don't full understand; they all mention the use of the frowned-upon AAAA or AAA+ ratings:
"Use of "AAAA" or "AAA+" is considered bad taste, or even dishonesty, by most reputable pearl dealers - simply a way to charge the customer more without providing a superior product."
But how does this practice differ from creating a separate line of pearls which are rated higher than a store's own "AAA" line? Apparently, most of the trusted online retailers offer their own "gem-quality" line as well. When looking at some AAA necklaces, they are "near round, lightly blemished and good luster" while the gem-quality equivalent are "perfectly round, no blemishes and very high luster". So, when I go to one store and see they only offer AAA as their top quality pearls, how would I expect it to compare to the gem-quality line of another store?
I'm sure there's a reasonable answer, but as a new consumer, I find it very confusing.