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We bought ours from a store, but it's a wholesale, so you are not paying for mark up. Trust me, we were working with a serious budget and how much we paid compared to the appraisal is huge. Check them out www.diamondsdirectsouthpark.com We got my e-ring, wedding bands, and I had my grandmother's pearls re-strung. I love them.
My fiance bought mine on http://www.shenoadiamonds.com/ He got a great deal. He was actually able ot call and haggle them down in price!
When he got it appriased and insured, the ring is worth 5x more than he paid...
I've heard very good things about blue nile though....
I highly recommend buying online if you're comfortable with it. You can get a much better deal. I recommend whiteflash.com. We had great experience designing my ring with them and it's tough to beat the prices. I found them (and other reputable online places) to even still be a little cheaper than bluenile.
I recommend you or your fiance spending some time on pricescope.com to educate yourself and talk to/learn from people. There are lots of knowledgeable consumers and professionals that spend lots of time on the boards and are extremely helpful. Plus you can get a discount from a few online places (Whiteflash included) for being a pricescope forum member which is free.
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We were working on a graduate student's budget for my ring. He got it at Blue Nile and we couldn't be happier with the price, quality and customer service. We seriously bugged them every like 5 minutes asking questions about diamonds (color, clarity, etc), they were very helpful. Plus no tax rocked, and we were able to slightly upgrade my stone b/c of this. If you receive your ring and you aren't satisfied you can return for a full refund. I got a .74 ideal cut round, VS1,H color, 18k gold & platinum setting (GIA certified) for the same price Kay's negotiated for a .5 good cut, I1, I/J color 14k gold setting (non GIA certified) just to give you a sense of how much online stores mark up... P.S. Customer service guarantees their diamonds are conflict free
We went with bluenile also. Service was AMAZING and they are conflict-free as well. I had it appraised and it was valued at $2,000 more than the purchase price.
We went with bluenile for the wedding ring too (got the 10% discount) and couldn't be happier.
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FI went with uniondiamond.com and had an absolute wonderful experience. When he finally decided on a ring and called the customer service to order, the stone he wanted wasn't there anymore, so the rep upgraded him to a nicer, larger stone for the same price! And it's appraised at about $2500 more than he paid. I've gotten soooo many comments on it, and it's awesome. I'd like to get my matching wedding band from there too.
We had my ring made locally by a diamond broker/jeweler. The price of the stone was very competitive; the price to have the setting made was significantly less than similar settings I looked at online. One thing to think about if you buy online is where and how you have work done on the ring (resizing, etc). I love my local place, because they can do that kind of work on the premises so when I had to resize I was without my ring for less than a day.
If you want a non-conflict diamond, you just have to ask. The jeweler, whether online or in a store, should be able to tell you the point of origin of your diamond. If the online store doesn't specify on their website, call them to verify the origin of the stone you are ordering.
Try Costco! They have an amazing range of quality and selection, at great prices way lower than retail. And you can see your selection before buying it.
No one needs to know that your ring came from Costco rather than Tiffany, and you can laugh your way to the bank by saving thousands.
Costco is also a good option. They have the same mark-up on jewlery as they have on peanut butter :) Unlike jewlery stores which usually have huge mark ups :) We went with Bluenile over Costco as they had more options to choose from.
My FI got my first diamond at Blue Nile - I never saw it - but apparently it was quite dingy. Then again - I didn't help order it. I'm not sure if he completely knew what he was doing. Anyway, if you are goign to do it, make sure you know what you are doing with regard to color/cut, etc.
I recommend going on Pricescope.com forums and learning as much as you can about diamonds before you make a purchase online. I bought my engagement ring diamond from JamesAllen.com. They knocked $600 off the price of my diamond because I was a member of the Pricescope community. Try doing a general search for diamonds on Pricescope and you'll see price comparisons among the online vendors for the same exact diamond. I noticed that Blue Nile generally had slightly higher prices than the other vendors, like WhiteFlash, GoodOldGold, and Union Diamond (which are all very reputable vendors).
My FI got mine from Blue Nile and it turned out gorgeous! Plus it appraised for 5 times the purchase price.
has anyone used amazon.com for their rings? their prices seem to be good but I don't know anyone who's used the site for the build-your-own ring.
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I just checked out the amazon build your own ring function, and it doesn't seem to have quite as good of prices as the others and the selection seems smaller. I love Amazon for books and stuff, but it goes against my grain a little to see them selling diamonds. If you find just what you're looking for though, they're very credible.
My FI went with Blue Nile for the loose diamond. I heard from several sources that the bands are very poor quality and have a tendency to break very quickly. We had the diamond set by a jeweler instead. We were very happy with the service. I had no idea that Blue Nile diamonds are conflict-free and am now even happier about it! (Thanks legallyengaged!)
I highly recommend GoodOldGold.com They are a family based business in Long Island New York and they have so much information on their available diamonds on their website. Their store is a decent size (not just a booth, they have an actual store). In addition to the 4 Cs, you get brillancescope analyses, magified images, etc. on their website Each diamond is hand selected. We just got our engagement diamond from them. The salesperson that I have been working with has been super awesome and most patient with us. We've been working with him for over 6 months and waiting for the best diamond that came in with our specifications. PM me if you would like his info. I found this place via pricescope and can't recommend them enough! I received with the package a very detailed appraisal, a hearts and arrow viewer, 10x loop and free inscription on the gridle of the diamond. I found their prices to be very fair as well.
My fiance bought my ring from Blue Nile ... it is GORGEOUS and from what my FI had to say, he was thoroughly impressed with the entire Blue Nile experience. He did a ton of research prior to the purchase and found that the Blue Nile representatives had far more gemology knowledge than most people that he dealt with at brick and mortar locations. The part that he most appreciated was that he could choose the exact specifications of the diamond and was then provided with many options. The brick and mortar locations had to follow up with their brokers and were not able to secure his exact request. He also purchased my band from Blue Nile and I haven't had any problems although I've only had it for a month :)
we actually got our first loose diamond through bluenile. as long as you can view the gia or other equivalent certificate, you should be fine. what bluenile has a lot of though are diamonds with flourescence, tiny surface or interior imperfections (little spots or streaks that are not usually noticeable with the naked eye and a lot of times only noticeable with state of the art equipment), or will be slightly deep or shallow, so just look at the certificate closely for anything out of the ordinary, do research on these things, and if you are ok with the slight imperfections, then yes, you'll usually get a pretty good deal. however, there are some very nice quality diamonds that are available on blue nile as well (triple excellent cuts, high clarity and color, etc), but of course these are higher priced but usually better than local jewelry stores. we ended up returning the bluenile diamond only because of "medium flourescence" that did not allow it to shine as brilliantly as it could. but we found a jeweler who works with someone in NYC who places his diamonds up on bluenile, lol. so we still got a great deal and a near perfect diamond. and we checked everything from the 4Cs to the depth, table, girth, flourescence, etc. the return process for bluenile was easy and trustworthy. the customer service was also very helpful and friendly. good luck!! :)
Considering most people don't walk around with special equipment for analyzing your diamond when you show it to them I'd definitly go with the blue nile option and get a beautiful ring that you can afford.
My friend has a "perfect" diamond, which costed almost twice mine and when she saw my bluenile ring she told her finacee she liked mine better!
It seems like people are spending so much more money then they can afford on engagement rings these days. Just keep in mind that if you can't afford to pay for it in cash, you can't afford it. Get something a little less perfect, or wait a little longer :)
good luck!
Probably the advantage of an actual jewelry store or diamond broker is that you can look at multiple stones side by side, compare different cuts, depths, degree of inclusion or fluorescence or clarity, and decide whether you really can see the difference. I was amazed in shopping for my ring to have the jeweler lay out three different stones of the same cut and ask me to pick out the largest - the one I picked actually had the smallest carat weight. It was, however, a more ideal depth than the other two. Things that make only a small difference in price can make a big difference in how your diamond looks, and I'm not sure how you can evaluate those things without seeing the stone, unless you know an awful lot about diamonds. I'm not advocating general jewelry store shopping, but a diamond broker can get you a price as good or better than an internet store, and give you personal advice about stones you can see all at once.
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I was just wondering where your engagement rings came from. Did any of your FI buy it from one of the online jewelers, I'm thinking Blue Nile, Mondera and the like. What was your experience like? The prices are just so much cheaper than the brick and mortar stores I've seen, and if it's the real deal, then I might hint to honey that he should do that instead. He's working within a limited budget, of course.
Also is it possible to get conflict free diamonds that way? That isn't one of my biggest causes or anything, but if all other factors are equal then I'd rather have the more ethical choice.