National · SA-wide remote service
Bedfordview is the bench. The country is the showroom.
Most South Africans who eventually buy from Prodiam do not live in Bedfordview. They live in Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Durban, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, George, East London, Polokwane. The Bedfordview viewing room is where the cutting bench is; the country is where the clients are. The two stay connected through video, paper, and an armoured van.
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Only natural diamonds
Mined-Earth, never lab-grown. Kimberley Process documented from the mine of origin.
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GIA & EGL certified
Every loose stone certified by the GIA or EGL. Cert PDF supplied per stone.
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Insured overnight delivery
Brink’s, G4S or our nominated jewellery courier across South Africa. Ferrari Group / FedEx Custom Critical international.
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Twenty-five years on the desk
Director-led from 2001. Co-director Letsiki, chairman of the SA bourse, on the manufacturing entity since 2019.
The structural answer to "why JHB"
The South African retail diamond market is concentrated in Cape Town and Johannesburg, and the cutting industry is concentrated almost entirely in Gauteng, specifically in three or four streets in Bedfordview, around De Beers DBSSSA. That is a historical accident of where the rough viewings happen, and it is why a buyer in any other SA city is, structurally, today, buying from a chain that is at least one (often three) layers downstream from the cutter.
The economic upshot, on a typical engagement-grade GIA-Excellent round brilliant: a Cape Town or Durban retail purchase commonly prices within international published chain-retail markup ranges (60-120% over wholesale per Bain, JCK, and McKinsey research) above the same stone supplied directly from a Bedfordview cutting bench. The wholesale-vs-retail pricing guide sets out the arithmetic in detail. Two days of insured overnight dispatch and a 30-minute video viewing closes the gap.
The remote service, in numbers
| Service | Detail |
|---|---|
| Couriers | Brink’s, G4S, or our nominated jewellery courier (changes by city and value) |
| Insurance | Jewellery-grade insured to invoice value; included; optional additional cover before dispatch |
| Transit time, major centres | Cape Town / Durban / Pretoria / PE / Bloemfontein / Stellenbosch / East London: overnight |
| Transit time, smaller towns | 1-2 business days, depending on courier coverage |
| Video viewing | Zoom or WhatsApp; stone on daylight tray under microscope; 30-45 minutes; recorded if you ask |
| Settlement | EFT (ZAR, no fee), Yoco card, PayFast |
| FICA / KYC | SA ID or passport copy, recent proof of address; encrypted; POPIA-compliant; 1-2 business day turnaround |
| CPA distance-sale window | 7 days from delivery; unset, unworn, original parcel; full refund less return shipping |
| Sizing | Existing ring couriered to us, OR a free Prodiam sizing-ring set posted to you |
How a remote SA purchase works, step by step
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Brief
Email, WhatsApp, or the contact form. Shape, carat range, colour range, clarity range, budget, deadline, destination city. We respond within 24 hours.
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Shortlist
Three to five candidate stones from current Procut DCW inventory or upcoming De Beers DBCM viewings. GIA report PDFs, full proportions, loupe photography, 360° video, sent within 48-72 hours of the brief.
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Live video viewing
Zoom or WhatsApp video, stones on the daylight tray under microscope, 30-45 minutes. You see each candidate face-up, side-up and through the pavilion; we walk through the certificate and the inclusion plot.
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FICA & settlement
SA ID + proof of address sent encrypted; KYC clears in 1-2 business days; EFT or card; funds usually clear in 1 business day for EFT, minutes for card.
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Dispatch
Next business day after funds clear. Insured overnight to all major SA centres. Live tracking; signature on delivery. The GIA report number is laser-inscribed on the girdle; the cert is signed across with the stone before sealing.
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Verification on arrival, then a 7-day window
You match the inscription on the girdle to the report number under loupe at home. Run the report number against gia.edu/report-check; all three should match. The CPA 7-day window starts on delivery for unset, unworn stones.
Coverage notes by region
| Region | Notes |
|---|---|
| Western Cape (Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Paarl, Hermanus, George) | Overnight insured dispatch via Brink’s. Cape Town is the largest non-Gauteng segment of our national clientele. |
| KwaZulu-Natal (Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Ballito, Hilton) | Overnight insured dispatch via G4S. Durban-based remote consultations have grown materially over the past three years. |
| Eastern Cape (Port Elizabeth, East London) | Overnight insured to PE and EL. Inland Eastern Cape towns: typically 1 additional day. |
| Pretoria and broader Gauteng | Same-day in-person hand-over at the Bedfordview viewing room is usually faster than overnight courier; many Pretoria clients drive in. |
| Free State / Mpumalanga / Limpopo / North West | Brink’s or G4S to provincial capitals; smaller towns 1-2 additional business days. Ask in the brief. |
| Northern Cape | Available; transit times longer; we will quote on the brief. |
Who this works for
- SA-resident buyers who care about price-per-carat and provenance and are comfortable settling without an in-person handshake.
- Couples in any SA city commissioning bespoke engagement rings, where the design conversation can happen by video and the stone selection happens off-site.
- Family-stone holders who want to remount or remake an heirloom, where the existing piece can be sent to us insured and returned with the new piece.
- Trade-in / upgrade buyers, where the original piece can be valuated remotely against the Rapaport list and the credit applied to a new stone.
- Wedding-band, eternity-ring, and stud-earring commissions, where the design and grade decisions matter more than the in-store experience.
Who this does not work for
- Buyers who want to walk into a high-street store on a Saturday and try things on. We work by appointment only, and only in Bedfordview. If the in-store browse is the experience you want, we are not the right fit.
- Buyers in jurisdictions outside South Africa, for which the dedicated international service applies, with different couriers, currencies, and customs paperwork.
- Buyers who need to settle in cash without ID. SA Diamonds Act, Financial Intelligence Centre Act, and SARS rules do not allow this; the regulatory floor on a SA diamond transaction is firm.
Frequently asked questions
Why buy from a Johannesburg cutting house if I live in Cape Town?
The same structural reason buyers from Bedfordview itself use Prodiam: the chain between rough and your finger is shorter from a cutting bench than from any retail jeweller, in Cape Town or anywhere else. The Cape Town retail diamond market is largely importer-and-retailer based, not cutter-direct; the per-carat price on a comparable GIA-Excellent stone is typically 40-90% higher at Cape Town retail than at the Bedfordview bench. Two days of insured overnight dispatch and a live video viewing closes that gap.
How does insured shipping work between provinces?
Domestic SA dispatch is via Brink’s, G4S, or our nominated jewellery courier, jewellery-grade insured to invoice value, with optional additional cover available on request. Overnight delivery to most major centres (Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, East London, Bloemfontein, Stellenbosch); 1-2 business days to smaller towns. Live tracking; signature on delivery. Insurance is included; you do not pay separately for it.
Can I see the stone before settling?
Yes, in three formats. (1) GIA report PDF with full proportions and the inclusion plot, emailed before any settlement. (2) High-resolution loupe photography and 360° video, also emailed in advance. (3) Live video viewing on Zoom or WhatsApp where the stone sits on the daylight tray under microscope while we walk you through it; you can ask anything you would ask in person. Most national buyers select after the live viewing, not before.
How does settlement work for a national buyer?
EFT in ZAR is the default and is fee-free. International or instant card via Yoco or PayFast is available with the card-processing fee added transparently. We do not accept payment in person from buyers we have not yet met; this is a FICA/AML safeguard, not a sales policy. Funds usually clear within one business day of an EFT and within minutes for a card. Dispatch is the next business day after funds clear.
What about FICA and KYC for a remote SA buyer?
For SA-domestic transactions above R 25 000, the Financial Intelligence Centre Act requires us to verify buyer identity. We request a copy of your SA ID or passport and a recent (last 3 months) proof of address, a utility bill, bank statement, or municipal letter. These documents are stored encrypted, used only for FICA compliance, retained per the schedule in our POPIA-compliant Privacy Notice. The KYC step usually takes 1-2 business days.
What if I want to physically see the stone before deciding?
You have two options. (1) Fly to Johannesburg for a viewing. The Bedfordview viewing room is 25 minutes from OR Tambo airport; some national buyers schedule a same-day return trip. We will not bill you for the trip and we do not press to settle on the day. (2) Use the SA Consumer Protection Act distance-sale window. Once the stone arrives, you have a 7-day inspection period during which an unworn, unset stone in its original sealed parcel may be returned for a full refund less return shipping. The CPA is your safety net.
Do you have a presence in Cape Town, Durban, or Pretoria?
No. Prodiam operates one viewing room, in Bedfordview. The choice is deliberate, the viewing room sits in the same building as the Procut DCW cutting works and the GIA South Africa office, which is what makes the chain short. Opening satellite showrooms would re-introduce retail-style overheads and undermine the wholesale-direct pricing structure. The trade-off is that we serve buyers from outside Gauteng remotely. Most national buyers say it is the right trade-off.
What about ring sizing if I cannot come for a fitting?
Two routes. (1) If you have an existing ring that fits, courier it to us insured; we measure it and use the same diameter. (2) If you do not, we send a free Prodiam sizing-ring set in the mail; you try the rings on, find the size, send it back. Standard sizing (one to two sizes either direction) on a finished commission is included in the price; meaningful resizing (more than two sizes) is quoted on the brief.
Send a brief from your city
Single message: shape, carat range, colour range, clarity range, budget, deadline, destination city. We come back within 24 hours.