Why Do Some Jewellers Not Like Lab Diamonds? A 64% Margin on a Smaller Sale
It is mostly arithmetic. Lab grown stones earn a higher margin on a much smaller ticket, lose value in the safe, and cannot be traded back. Here are the reasons, sourced, including the concerns that are fair.
The author is the founder of Draco Diamond, which sells lab grown diamonds, so read this as one side of the trade. Every figure is sourced to price indexes, trade press, GIA, CIBJO or the companies named. Read October 19, 2026.
Lab diamonds earn jewellers less per sale and lose value in their stock
Most of the dislike is arithmetic. A lab diamond sells for a fraction of a natural one, its price keeps falling, and few jewellers can sell it back on later.
Lab grown share of US engagement ring centre stones
Share of engagement rings bought with a lab grown centre stone, by year of purchase.
Sources: The Knot Real Weddings and Jewelry studies, via IDEX Online and The Knot Worldwide (February 2026).
Yet buyers have moved anyway. Lab grown centre stones were 12 percent of US engagement rings in 2019 and 61 percent by 2025.21
That leaves many jewellers selling a product they did not choose. In INSTORE's 2025 survey, one in two jewellers said lab grown made up at least half of their centre stone sales.3
Some carry it reluctantly. In the same survey, 27 percent sell lab grown only when a customer asks for it, and some called it a necessary evil.3
So when a jeweller does not like lab diamonds, the reasons are mostly about their business, not about the stone on your finger.
Why would a jeweller earn less on a lab diamond?
Because the percentage is higher but the dollars are smaller. A lab stone can carry a fatter margin and still bring in far less money than a natural sale.
Edahn Golan put gross margins on one carat lab grown stones at 64 percent, against 40 percent for natural, in 2024.4
The cost to the store is small. US retailers paid an average of US$191 a carat for a one carat IGI lab stone in mid 2025, almost double the wholesale trading price.5
Three prices for one carat of lab grown diamond
US dollars per carat at three points in the chain. Different dates and stones, shown side by side, not as one line.
Sources: Edahn Golan Diamond Research (October 2026 and July 2025) and Tenoris data via INSTORE (August 2025).
The best selling stones sold far higher. Tenoris data showed a 2.23 carat E VS1 selling at US$917 a carat, a 74 percent gross margin.6
Paul Zimnisky estimates retailers capture a markup of more than 80 percent above wholesale, and thinks current levels are still too high.7
The catch is volume. Golan warned that holding income steady takes at least 20 percent more units, because each sale brings in so little.4
Falling prices turn a jeweller's stock into a loss
A diamond in a display case is money the jeweller has already spent. When lab prices fall, every stone in that case is worth less than it cost.
The falls have been steep. De Beers put the wholesale decline at 90 percent when it announced the closure of its Lightbox brand in May 2025.9
They kept going. Golan measured a 26 percent drop in lab grown wholesale prices in 2025 alone.10
Stock piled up. Tenoris data shows the ratio of lab inventory to sales at US jewellers climbing from the high single digits in 2020 to nearly 50 percent.7
The slide may be slowing. Golan's index rose about 2 percent in the third quarter of 2026, with a one carat D VVS trading at US$87 a carat.8
"Lab wholesale prices fell 26 percent in 2025. A stone in the display case loses value while it waits, and that is what many jewellers dislike."
Garrett McMartin, Founder, Draco Diamond
Most jewellers will not buy a lab diamond back
Jewellers rely on trade ins and buybacks to bring customers back. Lab diamonds break that loop, because there is almost nowhere to resell them.
Jewellers say so to customers. In INSTORE's survey, they tell buyers that lab grown diamonds have no resale or trade in value and that prices will likely keep dropping.3
Resale platforms agree. Worthy lists lab grown diamonds of any shape and size under what it does not accept.11
Chains have softened only a little. In 2019 Jared's trade in excluded lab created diamonds outright. Today Kay lets customers upgrade a lab piece only toward another lab piece.1213
Online sellers set a higher bar. Brilliant Earth credits a lab stone only toward a new lab stone of at least twice the value, against 1.5 times for natural.14
Some independents simply refuse. One told JCK in 2023 that it does not allow lab diamonds to be traded in, nor buy them off the street.15
Part of the dislike was taught by the natural diamond industry
The natural diamond industry has spent years telling consumers and jewellers that lab stones are lesser. Some of that framing has stuck in showrooms.
In 2016 the Diamond Producers Association launched a campaign aimed at millennials under the line "Real is rare. Real is a diamond."16
Some claims went too far. In 2021 the advertising watchdog NAD recommended that the Natural Diamond Council stop certain claims comparing mined diamonds with man made ones.17
The language keeps hardening. When De Beers announced the Lightbox closure in May 2025, it described lab stones as factory made products, set apart from natural diamonds.9
In September 2026 the Natural Diamond Council relaunched as The Diamond Collective, and CIBJO ruled that synthetic should be the sole descriptor for lab stones.1819
Regulators see it differently. The FTC removed the word natural from its definition of a diamond in 2018, while still barring words such as real, genuine and natural for lab grown stones.20
Are any of the jeweller concerns fair?
Yes, several. Undisclosed lab stones mixed into natural parcels are a real risk, detection costs money, and lab stones are a very uniform product to sell.
Mixing has happened. GIA once found 101 lab grown stones in a parcel of 323 submitted as natural melee.21
Screening is expensive. A 2018 roundup priced diamond testing devices from about US$3,800 to about US$349,000.22
The product is uniform. GIA says more than 95 percent of lab grown diamonds entering the market fall into a very narrow range of colour and clarity.23
So GIA changed how it reports them. Since October 2025 it describes lab stones as Premium or Standard, no longer using the grades built for natural diamonds.24
Even De Beers retreated. Its Lightbox brand launched in 2018 at US$800 a carat, cut prices again in 2024, and was slated to close in 2025.259
Many jewellers came round for one reason. As one told Rapaport, they did not want to carry lab stones but were losing sales.26
What a jeweller's reluctance should tell you as a buyer
A jeweller's reluctance tells you about their costs, not your stone. Treat it as a prompt to compare carefully, then decide on the stone and the price in front of you.
Ask what exactly worries them: resale, quality, detection or price. A specific answer is useful; a general one is a sales position.
Line up shape, carat, colour, clarity and cut. Lab and natural stones of the same grade are different products at very different prices.
Ask for the report and look it up on the grading lab's site. The report number should match the laser inscription.
If you may upgrade later, ask whether the jeweller accepts lab stones at all, and at what multiple of the original price.
Add taxes, duty and delivery. A price is only comparable once both are delivered to your door.
Both pushes deserve scrutiny. A jeweller steering you to natural may be protecting a margin; one selling lab at a high markup may be doing the same.
Draco sells lab grown diamonds only and prices them in Canadian dollars, delivered duty paid. Every Draco piece carries 30 day returns, the Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee, free resizing, and free insured worldwide shipping to 25 markets, delivered duty paid with nothing collected at the door, and signature on delivery.
Each piece is IGI certified, E to F colour and VS2 or better, with a report you can verify free at IGI.org.
Browse lab grown diamond engagement rings, tennis bracelets and earrings.
The trade, answered
Why do jewellers not like lab diamonds?
Mostly economics. Lab stones bring in fewer dollars per sale, their prices keep falling while they sit in stock, and few jewellers can resell them. Natural diamond marketing has also framed them as lesser.
Do jewellers make more money on natural diamonds?
In dollars, usually yes. Lab stones can carry a higher percentage margin, 64 percent against 40 percent on one carat stones in one 2024 analysis, but on a much lower price.
Will a jeweller buy back a lab grown diamond?
Rarely. Resale platforms such as Worthy do not accept them, and chains such as Kay credit them only toward another lab piece. Ask for the terms in writing before you buy.
Is a synthetic diamond the same as a lab grown diamond?
Yes. CIBJO voted in 2026 to use synthetic as its sole term, while the FTC still allows lab grown, laboratory created or synthetic. All describe the same diamond.
Can a jeweller tell a lab diamond from a natural one?
Not by eye. It takes testing equipment, which in 2018 ranged from about US$3,800 to about US$349,000, or a grading lab report.
Are jewellers right to worry about lab diamonds?
Some concerns are fair, such as undisclosed lab stones mixed into natural parcels. Most are about margins and inventory risk, which matter to the store more than to the buyer.
References
- The Knot Worldwide, The Knot Worldwide Unveils 2026 Real Weddings Study, February 18, 2026.
- IDEX Online, Six out of 10 US Engagement Rings are Lab Grown, accessed October 19, 2026.
- INSTORE, The Big Survey 2025: Lab-Grown Diamonds, October 22, 2025.
- JCK, Edahn Golan on Lab-Grown Prices' Downward Spiral, March 27, 2024.
- Edahn Golan Diamond Research, Lab-Grown Diamond Wholesale Prices Drop 7% in Q2, July 13, 2025.
- INSTORE, Lab-Grown Diamond Prices as of Q2 2025, August 10, 2025.
- JCK, Lab-Grown Diamond Wholesale Prices Are in Freefall, August 10, 2026.
- Edahn Golan Diamond Research, Was the Bottom Reached? Lab-Grown Diamond Wholesale Prices Rise, October 7, 2026.
- De Beers Group, De Beers Group announces intention to close Lightbox business, May 8, 2025.
- Edahn Golan Diamond Research, Lab-Grown Diamond Wholesale Prices Down 26% in 2025, January 13, 2026.
- Worthy, What We Accept, November 19, 2024.
- JCK, Is There a Resale Market for Lab-Grown Diamonds?, October 25, 2019.
- Kay Jewelers, Diamond Jewelry Upgrades and Trade-in Services, accessed October 19, 2026.
- Brilliant Earth, Lifetime Warranty and Guarantee, accessed October 19, 2026.
- JCK, Lab-Grown Diamonds: How Do You Handle Trade-ins and Buybacks?, December 6, 2023.
- National Jeweler, Diamond Marketing Takes the 'Rare' Route, June 6, 2016.
- BBB National Programs, NAD Recommends NDC Discontinue Certain Advertising Claims, April 22, 2021.
- PR Newswire, via Placera, The Natural Diamond Council relaunches as The Diamond Collective, September 22, 2026.
- CIBJO, CIBJO rules that 'synthetic' should be sole descriptor, September 8, 2026.
- National Jeweler, 8 Key Changes the FTC Made to the Jewelry Guides, September 9, 2026.
- National Jeweler, GIA Detects 101 Undisclosed Synthetics in Melee Parcel, March 15, 2017.
- JCK, Screen Saviors? A Roundup of Tools to Test Your Diamonds, August 1, 2018.
- GIA, GIA to Use New Descriptive Terminology for Laboratory-Grown Diamonds, June 2, 2025.
- GIA, GIA Launches Updated Laboratory-Grown Diamond Services October 1, August 26, 2025.
- JCK, Lightbox Lowering Prices, Adding GIA Verification, May 10, 2024.
- Rapaport, Is Lab-Grown Still a Dirty Word in the Industry?, January 19, 2023.
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