Engagement Rings... don't buy at the mall?

[ski]

I am searching an engagement ring.

We all know our local mall has 3-4 shops around the food court (Zales, Kay, local ones) that sell diamonds/rings. Amazon.com has the goods too but their setting selection was minimal.

I'm looking for GIA-certified (or equivalent). I want to know all the specs before I buy it.

1) Are the mall/chain stores really a big rip-off?
2) Are there any reputable sites you can recommend?


Can I get some advice on this purchasing part?

[Prngr44]

1. Most likely.

2. Word of mouth independent jeweler.

When I looked into buying mine, I was referred to a lady who ran a shop out of her house. She had far superior stones for much much less than the chains, Shane Co, etc.

[attgig]

I bought mine at bluenile.com. it was perfect. they give all gia certifications.

Also, if you're going to purchase a round cut, i used the dimensions that were provided at blue nile and plugged them into this calculator.
http://www.pricescope.com/cutadviser.asp
helps you figure out how good the sparkle really is (one thing you would want to see in person).

also, you can use bing cash back or fatwallet cash back to get some sizable chunk off + you get another 1.5% off if you do a bank wire vs credit card.


other sites i was looking through included http://www.abazias.com/
and
crap...forgot the other one.

another option is checking out costco. they have some good stuff there, but not many options.

Also, if you're in NoVa, you can sometimes call independent jewlers in other states (ie, maryland and dc), and purchase it tax-free - just get your negotiating cap on. or, drive up to deleware.


also, bailey banks and biddle recently filed for bankrupcy, and some stores are going out of business... could be taking a look at.


Also, a good friend of mine bought from charleston alexander in bethesda, and had a really good experience there.

hope that helps!

and congrats!!!

[wung]

when i got mine, i priced mine at bluenile.com ... then went to a local jeweler and have them match it.

I ended up getting mine at shane co. here in California. Even though they say they don't negotiate and that their prices are always low, I was able to bargain a couple hundreds off of the list price.

I personally didn't want to buy from bluenile.com since it was a "big" purchase and it's kinda a pain if it doesn't fit and if it needed adjustment/cleaning.

The local store (shane co) has a lifetime cleaning and adjustment plan that comes with all their items. So I felt more comfortable buying from them than from online retailers.

One last thing is (correct my if i'm wrong), that i heard there's only a standard in grading diamonds that have round cuts. if you want other cuts like the princess cut, there really isn't a "standard".

[johnnymk]

eBay

[ski]

I feel good about BlueNile.com. Plus 3% cashback with FW, not bad.

I will avoid those mall stores!

[Thesifer]

I went with Bluenile.com.. And the Fiance loves her ring.. shrug.

[Daedalus]

+1 on Pricescope for getting informed. If you're up for it you can know more about diamonds than any salesperson you'll ever meet at a mall store. I also bought my ring from a pricescope sponsor. The cut is fantastic.
Beware the independent store that bills itself as better than a mall store but isn't really any different. I went to a Robbin's Brothers during my search and had to leave to go wash off the used car greasy salesperson residue.

[speedracer120]

Definitely read up at Pricescope. Know your price range, know what you can go for the price you have in mind. Then if you feel like getting insulted after all that go to a mall store. You'll feel dirty afterwards.
Then you can listen to your friends go to a nice neighborhood shop that they recommend and hopefully get lucky like I did. They had a stone that was near colorless and slightly under a carat which was returned because the couple went for an upgrade after a couple of years of marriage. The guy quoted me around $7K and I told him, would love to, but only budgeted for $5K and without even haggling, he told me he'd leave the offer for one week.
Stay the hell away from those chain places because they will try to bend you over and ream you with a ten foot pole if you're not wary. I've never been so insulted in so many different ways by some of those mall people in my life. Don't be swayed when they show you the hearts and arrows. Any well cut stone will do the same trick.
BTW, if you can afford Tiffany's their prices aren't so great, but the wow factor for your girl will be through the roof.
I actually shopped with my fiancée for the rings and love her all the more for it because she knew exactly what was going on and absolutely did not want me to spend the extra cash on just name brand or shinier stores. Better yet, she couldn't see the inclusions when I could spot them, I could've pulled a fast one on her and she would've been none the wiser. :hehehmm:

[attgig]

I feel good about BlueNile.com. Plus 3% cashback with FW, not bad.

I will avoid those mall stores!

yeah. i did blue nile, did the cashback and the wire discount. brought it down pretty significantly.

one thing that was annoying was the resizing afterwards. the whole thing was a surprise, so i had to guess on the size. i decided to go safe rather than possibly not fitting, so it was kinda big on her. had to pay another 70 bucks for the resizing.

but yeah, with jewelery stores and they're annoying hours and pretty high prices, i found bluenile to be the better route. =)

i was able to get about .3 more carats, with one level better on both color and clarifty for the same price as a local place.

[VTGreg]

I purchased my wife's engagement ring at bluenile also. It's easy to customize to get exactly what you want and you can pretty much get any size and any quality.

With that said, if a local independent jeweler had a good selection and the price was comparable then I'd go with them. Always better to support local and you know they will take care of you and that ring as long as you are in the area. It's also better to contribute to the local economy instead of sending your dollars to a national entity.

[Alpo]

+1 for bluenile. i referred myself with a different email and got additional discount. i ended up getting a cheaper setting, so we could switch later. the bigger mall chains wouldn't deal on the diamond itself. but they were willing to discount the setting.

[Prngr44]

Kind of surprising to see the # of folks going through bluenile.

Didn't think their market was so big.

[attgig]

Kind of surprising to see the # of folks going through bluenile.

Didn't think their market was so big.

i'm all for buying at one of my local jewelers, but when I know i can get something that much bigger/better for about the same, I couldn't do it.

[Houdini]

I've bought engagement rings at a kocal family-owned business that sells ONLY diamond jewelry. I was able to get a much nicer and larger cut for an oval d (colorless) center stone than all the other large and small mall and non-mall stores offered at a better price.

Also, they have a policy wherein you can trade in a diamond pirchased from them, even years later, if you upgrade to a diamond priced at least 50% more, which is cheesy but useful in my case, as my engagement a few years ago did not pan out, and I didn't lose any more than inflation by holding it until I was ready to get engaged again.

Plus, because the new ring setting was custom built to accommodate a larger stone and larger side stones, there was a problem ater about 3 wks...one of the 0.5c stones popped out while she was cleaning it. The salespeople said to file an insurance claim (we had the stone) but I said hell no, as thus thing cist more than several cars I've owned over the years combined. The owner promptly got involved (his dad started the company about 60 yrs ago) and found that the prongs were sized wrong. Fixed it in q couple of days and gave me a bottle of champaigne.

The personal touch is alwats nice, and there was no car-sales feeling or pressure. They worked to earn my business, unlike the guys and gals at the mall who all but refused to let me see/handle even less expensive rings when I was casually dressed until they asked what I dud for a living or whatever.

If you're ever in the NOLA area and need a diamomd, or are willing to travel a little to get the best for a fair price, I recommend "Ramsey's."

H

[CedarPow2]

Oh man, yeah I definitely wouldn't suggest getting it at the mall... that just seems so pathetic in my opinion :( Get something special for her! Check out the info-graphic about diamonds on here - http://www.onlinedating.org/everything-diamonds/ - can't go wrong with that I reckon!

[DarkFury]

Wow... a shovel post with a potential spam LINK! :spam:

[cruelpupet]

What about CVT diamonds? Any reputable places online that you can get a ring from yet?

That's the route I would take...I wouldnt want to support DeBeers, conflict diamonds, etc... Oh and its geeky!

[cruelpupet]

Wow... a shovel post with a potential spam LINK! :spam:


guess I should have looked at the thread date

[Houdini]

Heh...I was just reading all of my typos in the above post. I must have been using my old phone to post.

H

[kimchicowboy]

this post was too old before my engagement, but i got my ring from dejoria.com. non-conflict diamonds, great customer service, and great settings. i highly recommend them.