Sarine Technologies has begun pricing certain diamond scans according to stones’ value rather than purely weight, enabling customers to put large but cheap goods through its machines at lower cost.

Since the Israeli company launched the Galaxy systems in 2009, it has charged users based solely on the carat weight of the items they scanned, it explained in a statement Sunday.

This pricing mechanism often made it uneconomical to obtain Sarine’s manufacturing plans for certain categories. As a result, some 15% of larger rough diamonds did not pass through scanning machines, CEO David Block estimated.

Initially, the new service will apply to rough ranging from 2.5 to 10 carats valued at less than around $100 per carat, Block told Rapaport News. Sarine will offer Galaxy scans at a lower per-carat price for those goods, while maintaining regular pricing for other items. Using artificial intelligence (AI), the company intends to develop several specific value categories over time, enabling more fine-tuned pricing, the executive added.

“Throughout the years, we have been aware of our customers’ conundrum of not being able to cost-effectively scan all their various qualities of natural rough diamonds,” said Block. “We expect this new capability will expand the market for our Galaxy systems and services.”

The new system will also make it harder for other companies — which Sarine alleges are infringing on its intellectual property (IP) — to offer similar services for lower-quality goods at cheaper rates, Block explained.

Courtesy: Rapaport