- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
My ering was bought from Blue Nile (setting and stone), and I am very happy with it. We took it for a GIA appraisal and the report from GIA and Blue Nile matched. Plus, the value of the ring was worth more than what my husband paid for it. He didn't have any issues with Blue Nile and their customer service was good as well.
I did a lot of research online but ended up buying my diamond from an in real life store.
If you are doing a round diamond, an online report is enough to tell you whether the stone will be good or not, but as soon as you are getting into princess or other square cuts, you need to see the diamond in person to truly know if it is "alive". We got a good dose of this issue when we went to see 9 (!) diamonds that one jeweler got in for us. We had seen pictures of them, but in real life they looked totally different... In the end, we didn't like a single one of them.
We went to a jeweler that specializes in square cut radiant diamonds, and found exactly what we wanted! (and at very little more in cost than we thought) They ended up giving us the setting, so we didn't pay any more than we thought we would.
We (or rather "he") went with Bluenile. It had the best selection for "build-your-own rings and the price of platinum was excellent. With the e-ring came a 10% of wedding ring coupon which we used to buy a platinum band as well. The service was excellent and we were both really impressed with the product!
See, I've looked through Blue Nile and for the price, we can get a bit bigger diamond on other sites. We did a search for our price range and they only had 3 diamonds and they were on the extreme low end of our size range. Other sites like Michael Jay and Gemfind had a LOT more diamonds and had a LOT more in our price range. I am hoping someone here has used a lesser known site like those and can speak from experience.
I looked into the build-your-own ring on bluenile but they didn't have any of the styles I was looking for. We are getting a vintage-style ring and they seem to be hard to come by on the build-your-own sites. :( That is why we are getting the band in the store and then hoping to get the diamond online.
BTW, we are looking for a plain old brilliant cut diamond, nothing too fancy, just round!
check out pricescope.com. on the left hand side, you can enter the specs of the diamond that you are looking for. it will then list all the diamonds available from all the different online vendors.
i got my e-ring diamond through pricescope. the actual vendor that i got it from was angara.com. service was really good. i got exactly what i was looking for. it appraised for a lot more than what i paid too.
i then took my diamond to different jewelers to get it set. one of them asked how much i paid for the diamond. she told me she could've matched it, but i would've had to pay tax.
i have a round 1 ct.; VS1; D. excellent color, cut, symmetry. couldn't be happier!
Good Old Gold is one of the vendors that has continuous praise from Pricescope. My stone is from GOG. We worked with Jonathan who is a real sweetheart. They have the most comprehensive website and online reports for diamonds I have ever seen. With all the accompanying reports, we were very comfortable that we were getting an excellant quality stone for a fair price.
mrs. peony wrote a series of posts on buying diamonds. it's not specific to buying online, but there is some very helpful info there if you haven't already read it.
I purchased my diamond online from James Allen. They have magnified photos of all their diamonds online. You can also ask for an idealscope image of the stone too.
Other reputable online vendors include Good Old Gold, Whiteflash, Blue Nile, etc. Most online vendors have generous return policies, so if you're not happy with the diamond, you can always send it back. Just be sure to take the diamond to an independent appraiser after purchasing it. Pricescope.com is a very good resource if you want to learn more about diamonds.
Thanks girls.. all your comments have been very helpful. I am going to check out pricescope.com for sure. If anyone else has any ideas of other vendors, keep the ideas coming!! :)
Have you tried sites like www.idonowidont.com? I've heard really great things about them. The diamonds sold on their site are priced really well, cheaper than Bluenile and Whiteflash. It's definitely worth at least checking out
BEADE001.JPG (30.4 KB, 73 downloads) 2 years old BEADE002.JPG (21.4 KB, 50 downloads) 2 years old
My fi bought mine on http://www.shenoadiamonds.com/
he was able to call them and negotiate the price
it appraised for 5x more than he bought it for because the diamond is such high quality
votive.JPG (19.3 KB, 125 downloads) 2 years old burout.JPG (39.3 KB, 81 downloads) 2 years old burcan.JPG (33 KB, 74 downloads) 2 years old bnwhite.JPG (33.1 KB, 88 downloads) 2 years old
I also recommend Pricescope. We bought our diamond from Good Old Gold, and will be purchasing my band from Whiteflash. Both are an absolute dream to work with!
also, if you buy from blue niles there's no sales tax! This should be true for any other online store that doesn't have a physical store in your state! and like another poster said, get the 10% off coupon first before buying!
10% off coupon? I think she was talking about getting one from Blue Nile for the subsequent purchase of a wedding band. That would be awesome to get a 10% off coupon for the diamond purchase..
I'm going to have DF check out all these sites and then leave the rest up to him.. I can only intervene so much! 
My ring came from bluenile. The one downside of getting your ring online is that you need to get it insured on your own. It is easy, though. They give you all of your information and suply you with a brochure on how to do it. My ring is great!!
My fiance loved the site, especially because he was able to become a diamond expert. ****I got to choose exactly the features and sizes I thought were neccessary, their selection was second to none. I ordered the diamond, and had it in had in two days time, one day to mount it, and then it was shipped overnight fed ex, with no indication that there was a ridiculously expensive carbon stone in the package. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't hesitate at all to use BlueNile and I have recommended the site to other friends who have been just as thrilled with their purchase! The only downside is, you can't just go to the store to get it cleaned all the time. The ring appraised for about 40% more then I paid for it at Blue Nile, and the insurance company they recommend and deal with is the best in the Industry.******
I forgot to mention before, that if anyone is planning on buying a colored diamond, I rapidly became an expert--so feel free to PM me. Its a whole different ballgame than white diamonds!
I'm not getting my ring online, just the diamond. The band has already been picked out from a local jeweler. I couldn't find anything online that looked like what I was looking for (vintage style) so that is why I'm just getting the diamond online. I really wish we could go with Blue Nile because so many people are giving it the highest of praises but it really is a bit more expensive than other sites I've seen!! Maybe we were just searching at the wrong times as I know their inventory changes all the time! I also wish we could just get the band and the diamond from the same place but it is a lot more cost efficient to get the band I love from the jeweler and then go online for the diamond. Unless, of course, the jeweler would match the diamond price. But then we'd still have to pay tax, so it would never work out equally.
Doctorgirl, one of my BMs wants a yellow diamond and needs a lot of help.. I'll be PM-ing you!
whoops, you can get a 100 dollar off purchase or something like that from blue nile...
I used excel diamonds and got a beautiful radiant diamond that is certified and insurance appraised at over 1,000 than we paid for it. Judah and Barry were awesome to work with, and unlike Blue Nile and some of the other places mentioned, Excel's diamonds are in house, so they can send you a magnified picture of any stone on their site. I love my stone, and would highly suggest you at least check them out
Wedding_Stuff_To_Sell_001.JPG (930 KB, 170 downloads) 1 year old 
My FI got my ring from Blue Nile. He "web" shopped for several months before going with Blue Nile. He said they were extremely patient with how many times he talked to them on the phone to make sure it was what he wanted. My only gripe is that had he gotten it from a local place (or even a local IRL chain store) they would provide periodical cleanings and check ups. Other than that he loved the price he got and we were both impressed with the quality.
securedownload.jpeg (93.2 KB, 44 downloads) 1 year old securedownload.jpeg (156.4 KB, 26 downloads) 1 year old securedownload.jpeg (104 KB, 27 downloads) 1 year old 
My Fiance purchased my ring from Blue Nile after looking all over the city at different jewelers. He loved their customer service- specifically their attention to detail and willingness to explain individual differences between diamonds. I love my ring! Today I went to see a custom jeweler about my wedding band and he certainly confirmed the quality of my e-ring. We would buy my band off Blue Nile but they don't have what I'm looking for, whereas the jeweler I found suggested a band for my ring that I love!
I know this is a two year old thread, but i thought i'd give some info on my ring for anyone wanting to buy a ring or diamond online.
My fiance got my ring on Excel Diamonds. I absolutley love it! It is a cushion cut center stone in the tiffany legacy setting. I just recently got it appraised for over $13,000!! Which is over double what he paid for it. I highly recommend excel, not sure about the other sites.
I was pretty weary about him getting something online but I'm happy he did. The only draw back is if you need any work done you have to mail it to them to do it instead of going to a store.
I'm assuming you bought your stone by now, but for other people reading this, I thought I'd share some tips I found useful when shopping online.
-Ask around on forums like this one to see if people have had good/bad experiences with certain sites and to see if they have a good reputation.
-Make sure they have a return policy that you are comfortable with in case the stone is not everything you hoped it would be.
-Most importantly, make sure the stone you purchase comes with a reputable grading report so that you can be sure you are getting exactly what you pay for. I would not buy a diamond (online or in person) that was not GIA-certified, especially since they have a reputation for very strict grading standards and accurate reports. Plus they developed the 4 C's in the first place. For me, that's the most important piece when shopping online.
You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
 vorpalette |
27 |
| Brielle | 25 |
| caseyleigh10 | 24 |
| ellisrobertson | 24 |
| les105 | 23 |
| lionskitty | 22 |
| fishbone | 22 |
| SouthernGirl | 21 |
| mypinkshoes | 21 |
| kat2014 | 19 |
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| lionskitty | 13 |
| GelaMac | 11 |
| Brielle | 10 |
| jcent | 8 |
| mylittleviolett | 8 |
| blkqueen | 8 |
| MrsBlueSeptember | 7 |
| Mrs.danish | 7 |
| JustLove25 | 5 |
| mypinkshoes | 4 |
Has anyone bought just the diamond from an online source? I'm talking about bluenile, amazon, michaeljay, gemfind, etc. My fiance and I are engaged but in the process of picking out the ring together. We found the perfect setting in a local jewelry shop, but want to get the diamond online because the prices are SO much better than in the jewelry shops!! Blue Nile seems to be the priciest of the bunch, followed by amazon, but we seem to be finding good prices from both Michael Jay and Gemfind. Does anyone have any suggestions or reviews of places they have bought their diamonds online???