Most gemstones are now chosen through a screen — where every stone is lit by a professional, saturated by software, and photographed sixty times larger than life. Buying well online means learning to see through the presentation. Here is the checklist we would use ourselves.
What photographs exaggerate
Size: macro lenses make a 6mm sapphire fill a screen — always find the millimetre dimensions (our carat size guide explains why mm beats carats). Colour: saturation sliders turn grey-blue into cornflower; compare multiple photos and distrust colour that looks radioactive. Clarity: a single sharp frame can hide what a moving image reveals.
Video tells fewer lies
A stone rotating in ordinary daylight is the closest thing to holding it. Watch for colour holding steady as it moves (not flashing between two stones' worth of hues), even brilliance across the face without dead windows, and — since video shows inclusions photos hide — an interior that matches the description.
What to ask any seller
Millimetre dimensions; video in daylight and indoor light; treatment status in writing (the disclosure rules); an independent certificate or the option of one (see how to read it); and the returns policy in plain words. Professional sellers answer these before you ask.
Red flags, briefly
Stock-style perfection across every listing; prices dramatically under market for the claimed quality; carats without millimetres; 'certificates' issued by the seller themselves; and any reluctance on video. Each alone is a caution — together, an exit.
How we try to earn the screen's trust
Every stone we list is FGAA-assessed, we supply video and live video-call viewings on request, and everything travels under our guarantee — 30-day returns, lifetime re-authentication. Screens are where trust is hardest; that is exactly where standards matter most. Put ours to the test.
Continue your gem education
How to Choose a Sapphire · Sapphire Clarity & Inclusions · Reading a Gem Certificate · browse all Gem Guides — or explore loose gemstones.