"The British financiers who had organized the South African mines quickly realized that their investment was endangered; diamonds had little intrinsic value—and their price depended almost entirely on their scarcity. The major investors in the diamond mines realized that they had no alternative but to merge their interests into a single entity that would be powerful enough to control production and perpetuate the illusion of scarcity of diamonds..." Frankly, as an educated woman...I wonder: HOW is it that 40+ years after this exposé was published in one of the most credible journalism outlets in the world, millions of consumers still pay more than a few hundred bucks for a diamond (ANY diamond)? SMH. - Mrs. Cubic Zirconia  

If you’ve been in business long enough and have enough happy, satisfied customers…you’re bound to also have customers that think you’re a jackass. Not all businesses would read a bad review over the PA (Public Address) speaker system, but today we’re gonna do just that. Here's one of my favorite customer complaints…and my reply is

Fake online sellers will promise the world, offer a money back guarantee, ship later than promised (or not at all), provide crappy products (or no product at all), then ignore your customer service requests-- and still make lots of money. Here's how to avoid becoming the next ripped-off victim of an online product scam’s lying, cheating and stealing-- in general and with some specific tips on avoiding a jewelry rip off. If you’ve ever bought something off a single social media ad, and the product never arrived-- and then tried to track down who did what when and how the jerks got away with your money…you may already know the general answer. But today’s tips will drive the lesson home to being a smarter online shopper.

A little while ago I learned a new word: “affordibauble”. Alright, alright, you got me.  It’s not a real word, so to speak.Here at the shop, we made it up. But this made up word IS "A Word That Saves You Money".

Frankly, the U.S. higher education system might be the biggest scam running. And the way Big Pharma continues profiting off of drugs for those dying in late stage cancer misery-- and buying up and closing down any companies doing research on early cancer detection measures-- may be the most evil thing we’ve seen in the world of business. In our opinion...not far behind on the scammy and evil list, however, is the diamond engagement ring.Beyond the many, MANY lies the diamond industry has told for decades-- these solitaire swindlers have commercialized the emotion of love and somehow managed to transform a personal and thoughtful gift into a status symbol that has come to be measured-- and judged-- by the size (and the price tag). Yeah, we know that sounds more than a little  ‘tin-foil-hat’ crazy to some people.   But if you’re not already a definite ‘Diamond Doubter’, we're not asking a person to believe anything just yet-- until he or she can see the evidence for themselves. All we ask is that you refrain from disbelieving while we show you our proof that 'the more he spends, the more he loves her' is absolute bullshit.