Best Way To Buy A Diamond Ring
The industry makes massive profits by selling to uninformed guys who walk through the door and want to buy the biggest ring they can afford (or stretch to afford). Jewelers do everything they can to make buying an engagement ring an emotional decision. And when you make an emotional buying decision, you spend too much.
best way to buy a diamond ring
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Being a naive (at, at the time, financially irresponsible) 21-year old, I decided I would just buy a nice but modest ring and pay for it over time with a credit card. There were no shortage of jewelry stores in manhattan, so I shopped around at all the well-known jewelers like Zales, Kay, Tiffany & Co. I was smart enough, on my budget, to steer clear of Cartier, LOL.
I was turned off by the rather aggressive salespeople at Zales and ultimately ended up begin drawn to the brand mystique of Tiffany & Co. I put down $2,800 for a small half-carat round solitaire engagement ring in platinum.
The worst part? I ended up selling that Tiffany ring to a jeweler for a measly $750. You can never recoup the retail price of a diamond ring. But you get totally hosed when you pay such a premium for a brand.
If you want a highly-customized ring (beyond what you can design on these online sites), find a local independent jeweler to design the ring for you. And even in this case, you may want to buy a loose diamond online to use in the setting the jeweler designs.
If you want to buy an engagement ring your fiancée will love at the lowest price possible, first figure out: 1) What kind of rings she likes, 2) Her ring size, 3) Your budget and 4) how to compare diamonds using the four Cs. Then, visit top online jewelers to build her ring at a price you can feel good about.
From there, a simple solitaire setting will be the least expensive, costing a couple hundred dollars in 14-carat gold. Prices for settings can reach into the thousands for settings with sidestones or many small diamonds around the center stone.
Online jewelers make it easy to filter and compare diamonds by each of the four Cs, shape, and price. The only downside to this is that you might be overwhelmed by just how many diamonds there are to choose from in your price range!
With an independent jeweler, you may have more unique choices in styles and settings, as well as the ability to customize the setting if your jeweler does bespoke rings. Your local jeweler can, for example, reset a diamond you buy elsewhere or have in the family. It also feels good to support a local business.
Sites like James Allen, Brilliant Earth and Brilliant Earth and Blue Nile feature a wide variety of diamond engagement rings and the ability to build a custom ring by matching a loose diamond and setting. Like national chain jewelers, these sites have a spotless reputation so you can have 100% confidence in your transaction (no questions asked return policy, insured shipping, etc.)
How can they do it? Pretty simple: By not paying for 1,000 stores across the country. The rent at your local mall is not cheap. Nor is it cheap to pay a staff to sell the jeweler. The result? Near-wholesale prices on diamonds.
James Allen is the most competitive diamond vendor with more than 150,000 loose diamonds in inventory. They have been a leader in selling diamonds online and pioneered 3D imaging so you can see the exact diamond you're buying in exquisite detail. You'll find it hard to beat James Allen in terms of price or selection. Read our James Allen review.
Whiteflash is the home of "A Cut Above" diamonds which are among the best quality round- and princess-cut diamonds in the world. With superior diamond photographs and videos, Whiteflash's diamonds seem to come to life -- even online. Read our Whiteflash review.
Buying a diamond engagement ring is a tricky process that can feel overwhelming at times. We have many articles that help you with the 4Cs and more. This article will help you with one of the most fundamental questions; Where to buy an engagement ring from and should you buy an engagement ring online?
To help you with the diamond buying process we lean on our expertise and experience. The author of this article, our CEO, Mike Fried has over 20 years of experience in the diamond industry. Mike started from the bottom, sorting and evaluating hundreds of thousands of diamonds to learn every facet (pun intended) of diamond quality and value. Mike followed that up by spending years buying and selling diamonds on the wholesale market as well as selling tens of millions of dollars worth of diamonds to diamond retailers.
Mike Fried has written hundreds of articles and helped answer more than 30,000 emails from our readers. This has given him a unique perspective on what information truly helps our readers in their quest for finding the perfect diamond engagement ring or piece of jewelry.Mike is recognized as an industry expert and has been quoted in publications such as Us, People, Page Six, The Next Web and more.
There are plenty of options to sift through when it comes to finding the best online jewelry store and where to buy engagement rings online. We go more in depth on our favorites below, but the best way for us to help you settle on the right company, engagement ring, and diamond would be via our personal help. Feel free to contact us anytime. And this service is 100% free for you the consumer (we explain how we work here).
Despite other companies catching up a bit on the technology side (see above), James Allen still has the best videos out there. That is advantageous when selecting any diamond and a must when you are picking fancy shaped diamonds (like ovals, pears and marquise).
The high quality imagery that James Allen provides is what enabled us to develop our industry first Ringo AI tool that can identify and make recommendations of eye-clean diamonds. Below you can see some of the latest recommendations generated by Ringo.
With lab-grown diamonds explosion in popularity the last few years, James Allen has helped lead that wave. They have a phenomenal selection of lab-grown diamonds to pair with their great selection of settings and superb customer service.
Online diamond engagement ring shopping and Blue Nile have been synonymous for years. They literally built the market. They were the first company to develop the concept of removing all middle-men and virtually listing loose diamonds direct from the manufacturers so that you can build and buy engagement rings online.
My last secret shopping of Blue Nile was in October 2022. I was in town and purchased their Scatter V diamond necklace for my girlfriend. Not only was their online service fantastic, but I loved the experience picking up the necklace at their Garden State Plaza location.
Their place as the industry leader of engagement ring retailers has allowed them to cultivate relationships with some great designers as well. Most prevalent is their relationship with Bella Vaughan. I adore this take on the classic baguette engagement ring.
Couple that with their strong relationships with vendors and a streamlined business model (which means they are often better priced than their competitors) and they have earned our seal of approval for our readers as one of the best places to buy diamond engagement rings online.
Recently, though, we have expanded our relationship with them to include readers of ours who are looking for a more customized bespoke shopping experience buying a high-end diamond and/or expensive piece of fine jewelry, diamond jewelry, or engagement ring.
Abe Mor is an interesting option for people with a budget of $20,000 or more. They specialize in large and rare diamonds, and are able to offer a fantastic experience for consumers looking to make a high-end purchase.
Brian Gavin is one of the industry leaders when it comes to diamond cutting. Speaking honestly, his knowledge of cut is far superior to mine. Their Signature and Black diamonds will be more brilliant than anything else you can find.
Our go to company for fancy color diamonds is Leibish. They are the best. Period. End of story. They are one of the biggest purchasers at the Argyle auctions and have a stunning array of fancy color diamonds like black diamonds in all budget ranges.
Many of our readers have purchased diamonds and diamond jewelry from Leibish, and all of them have been ecstatic with the end result. Not only do they have an amazing selection of diamonds, but they are also the masters of building the jewelry piece around the diamond to bring out the color in the best way possible.
According to Smartscrapers, Jared has 239 locations in the United States. So wherever you may be, there is likely a Jared nearby. In our most recent secret shopping of Jared, we were pleasantly surprised. All of their natural diamonds were GIA certified and their lab grown diamonds were IGI certified. We found the staff to be extremely knowledgeable. While the prices are higher than those from online vendors, they are still pretty good.
Until lab-grown diamonds became popular, Moissanite was the only cheaper alternative to natural diamonds that looked similar to diamonds. They are still a popular option in the budget range of engagement rings. And there is no better place to find them than Charles & Covard.
Charles & Covard is synonymous with moissanite. Not only are they the best place for you to buy a moissanite for your engagement ring, they are the best place for other moissanite retailers to purchase them. The majority of retailers that offer moissanite get them from Charles & Covard. You may as well cut out the middleman and go straight to the source.
Of these top diamond engagement ring retailers, James Allen and Blue Nile are hard to beat. Both offer everything a customer needs to buy engagement rings online: broad selection of conflict free diamonds, low prices, and modern technology like high-quality imagery and 360 degree inspection tools. Both James Allen and Blue Nile also provide top-tier customer service, which contributes to a superb customer experience every time. 041b061a72