JEWELRY ESSENTIALS
Powerful sales are hiding in the design and manufacture of your merchandise. Do you know where to find them? In just 5 short lessons – each specially designed for quick learning – you discover how to sell virtually any piece of jewelry by recognizing and promoting the benefits that make your merchandise irresistible. Learn which metals and settings are best suited for durability, wearability, and design. Become acquainted with different manufacturing techniques such as casting, die striking, electroforming, and hand fabrication. Plus, keep GIA’s Essential Jewelry Reference Guide behind the counter and have all the important information right at your fingertips. 
Fee: $249

DIAMOND ESSENTIALS
In just 7 short lessons, Diamond Essentials gives you all the information and sales techniques you need to start closing more diamond sales sooner than you ever imagined. Get powerful tips on translating product knowledge into sales. Learn the 4Cs – color, clarity, cut, and carat weight – and apply them to emphasize the value of your diamonds. Understand GIA Grading Reports and familiarize yourself with the best selling types of diamond jewelry. Gain the competitive edge by learning about diamonds from the world’s foremost authority in gemology™ – GIA. GIA’S Essential Guide to Selling Bridal Jewelry is yours to keep. You have instant sales reference to the best selling engagement styles. 
Fee: $249

COLORED STONE ESSENTIALS
Discover some of the latest “real world” techniques that take you through every step of the sales process – right through the close. Learn how to relate quality, rarity, and color to gemstone value. Plus, get in-depth information on the “Big Three” gemstones: ruby, sapphire, and emerald. In just 8 short lessons – each specially designed for quick learning – you get all the sales tips and product knowledge you need to sell color like a professional. You also receive GIA’s Essential Colored Stone Reference Guide, which contains helpful and interesting facts on today’s most popular gemstones. 
Fee: $249

PEARL AND BEAD STRINGING
Master the skills of stringing and restringing pearls and beads professionally. Learn to create simple, as well as more advanced pieces, with the tools GIA provides. Topics include: precautions and handling procedures; how to choose the right clasps and decorative accents; and how to successfully handle special requests or problems. Gain the necessary knowledge to help you buy, design, and sell custom strung jewelry. Enjoy the rewards of a new in-store service – or a business all your own. 

DIAMONDS & DIAMOND GRADING
Acquire the technical knowledge you need to make profitable buying and selling decisions. Study the fundamentals of diamond treatments, synthetics, and simulants. Understand the effect of fluorescence on body color in diamonds. Discover the role played by cut in the marketplace. Plus, learn about the all-important skills of judging and grading the color, clarity, and cut of diamonds. Protect your business and the interests of your customers by learning to read the unique “fingerprint” clarity characteristics of a diamond. 
[Prerequisite: Diamond Essentials]
Fee: $1225

COLORED STONES
Demand for colored stones is hotter than ever. Become familiar and knowledgeable on a wide variety of gems: how they’re formed, imitated, treated, and enhanced. Learn complete grading procedures for all popular transparent, phenomenal and opaque faceted gems. Plus, feel confident explaining beauty, quality, and value in colored stones using the GIA Colored Stone Grading System. Ultimately, it’s here where you learn how to buy and sell colored stones with profitable insight. [Prerequisite: Colored Stone Essentials]
Fee: $1395

GEM IDENTIFICATION
Practice with hundreds of stones to learn many of the identification techniques used by the experts of the Institute. Use gem-testing instruments to identify gemstones, separate natural gems from synthetics, and detect treated gems. Find out how – and when – to use gemological laboratory services. Learn how to use gem identification skills to protect your business from costly mistakes.

To complete this course, you must have access to gem tweezers, a 10x loupe or microscope, refractometer with polarizing filter, optic figure sphere, dichroscope, polariscope, and spectroscope. These instruments are not included with the course materials, and must be acquired separately.  [Prerequisite: Colored Stones]
Fee: $1395

Diamond Essentials, Colored Stone Essentials, Diamonds & Diamond Grading, Colored Stones, and Gem Identification are the five Distance Education courses that, when combined with GIA’s three Extension classes: Diamond Grading, Gem Identification, and Colored Stone Grading, lead to GIA’s prestigious Graduate Gemologist (G.G.) diploma.

Pearls and Pearl and Bead Stringing Distance Education courses teach you how to enhance your jewelry business with custom-created pearl jewelry.

PEARLS
Find new profit in the full range of cultured pearls. Learn sure-fire techniques for selling pearls at the retail level. In just 11 short lessons, GIA’s renowned Pearls course gives you all the product knowledge you need to buy inventory, build confidence, and increase profits. Buy and sell akoya, South Sea, Tahitian, and freshwater pearls with informed insight and skill. Learn GIA’s 7 Pearl Value Factors™: size, shape, color, luster, surface quality, nacre quality, and matching. Understand the difference between natural and cultured pearls. Learn about post-harvest treatments, imitation pearls, and pearl testing. Developed with the generous support of the South Sea Pearl Consortium, Perles de Tahiti G.I.E., and the Japan Pearl Exporters Association.
Fee: $495