Tips on buying an engagement ring.?

Question

My fiance and I have started looking for an engagement ring. I am leaning toward a radiant or priness cut diamond ring in white gold. I know all about the 4 C's but was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to get a good deal on a ring? I know some chain jewelry stores are really over priced. Any tips?

Answer 1

Forget the mall...worst place to buy a diamond as you will get charged for the high markup chain stores must pay for mall rent. Pretty much all chain stores are overpriced. I have done contract business with (I will not name) certain big-name diamond dealers and have learned they don't have the best quality stones, either.

You need to find a good wholesale diamond dealer who can get you a great stone (at a much better price) and also have your ring made for you to your exact specifications. If you ask around you can probably get a great referral or do a search online for diamond wholesalers. The best ones are typically the ones that 'advertise' the least as they do not have to. (If you are in the Dallas area I can give you one specifically)

A good wholesale dealer will spend time with you and give you a wealth of information that the chain stores will not. They will also treat you with more respect and patience. They can also hunt down various stones, including rare shapes that you might have never heard of.

*Edited to add that once you get the ring, the first thing you need to do is have it appraised and march yourself over to a jewelry insurance company and have it insured immediately. Do a search on Answers about all the women who lost their engagement rings right after they got it. Not pretty...

Answer 2

First of all if you want to do research go on a ruputable website. I recommend www.gia.edu. They have a tutorial on buying a diamond. Find a jewelry store (steer clear of the mall) it's all crap for too much money. Diamonds are tricky...They are very expensive but not very big, and they don't do anything. Except sit on the finger of the one you love forever. That's kinda cool right? Buying an engagement ring is NOT like buying a car. There is no such thing as a good deal. You are dealing with the most precious, rare and beautiful gems in the world!! Get what works in your budget. If you can only afford 5,000 but want a big diamond lower the price of the ring (get a solitaire) that way you can put more $ into your diamond. Or, don't focus so much on the color or clarity, these are just rarity factors, not beauty factors. For instance a 1ct princess cut diamond that is D in color in comparison to a 1ct princess cut that is G in color will look almost identical but cost thousands less. Same goes for clarity - especially clarity any where on the clarity scale (F-Si2) will look exactly the same to the unaded eye. You can only see the differences in these diamonds under a microscope, but again they are thousands of dollars apart from eachother because of the different rarities. Once you hit the I1 area then you see clarity characteristics w/ out a microscope. It usually takes the human eye at least .10ct to notice a different in size between two diamonds. It also usually takes at least 2 steps down the color scale to notice a difference in color between 2 diamonds (if they're the same shape and size) and there is absolutely no visible difference between a flawless diamond and a slightly included diamond other than under a microscope. Just a huge difference in price. There's a lot of wiggle room, but do yourself, me and your future fiance a favor, don't look at like your buying a car.

Answer 3

You can get a diamond simulant which is basically a man grown diamond. They are so clear and look like a high quality diamond. A cubic zerconia is about 2 on the strength scale thing, diamonds are 10 and these are 8.5. Jewellers can't even tell the difference unless they have a strong microscope. This link has heaps and they are set in real gold or platinum and cost heaps less and you look like you've got a mortgage on your finger:

http://www.diamondnexuslabs.com/

If you want a diamond ring with the diamond from a mine, I recommend going to a small private jeweller. The big chains are over priced and sell you crap colour and clarity diamonds. We got ours made and it cost us half of what the insurance valuation said it was worth. Look up "jewellers" in the yellow pages in your area.

You don't need to worry too much about colour from 'g' (d, e,f,g all look the same to the layman) upwards. Also, clarity does help sparkle, but you don't need to get better than an VS2 unless you are going to get a really big rock. Cut is probably the most important as that really helps the light catch in it.

This is the most fun part. Enjoy it! Good luck shopping.

PS here is my favourite wedding set at diamond nexus:

http://www.diamondnexuslabs.com/jewelry/product_info.php?cPath=63_111&products_id=888

Answer 4

Do your research first. Figure out what size stone and the 4 C's you can afford.
Then check out a jewelry manufacturer or wholesaler. You'll be able to design your ring and choose the best stone for what you're willing to spend. They generally charge a lot lessl than a mall jewelry store.
If you can't do that, insist that the jewelry store show you the certificate for the diamond(s) and then go look up similar stones on bluenile.com.
Don't get sucked in by all the pretty sparkly things. This is an investment.

Answer 5

Are you the male or the female? That makes a pretty big difference in the answer.

If you are the male, have a budget, stick to it, and then try to find out what your fiancee likes and try to find something to work. Your preference of color or cut is of less importance than her preference, since she will be wearing it possibly for the rest of her life. You ought to try to make it what she likes as much as possible.

If you're the female, choose something you like that is of reasonable price. You don't want to start your married life together paying off a ring that cost thousands of dollars. Also, if you and your future husband want matching rings, you should make sure he at least likes it and is alright with whatever would go with it. And keep in mind that the important thing is the marriage. Don't jeopardize your relationship because you don't have the perfect 2-carat meteor on your finger that you always dreamed of. The ring is an expression of your love and a commitment, but it should not be the object of them.

Try to find a jewelry wholeseller. Sam's Club actually has wedding rings, etc. Department stores like Bealls, JC Penney, Sears, or Dillards have rings, and they can often be less than Zale's or Kay's Jewelers and other ones.

My husband actually got my wedding ring at a wholesale place that was going out of business. He got it at a fraction of the original price, just because everything had to go.

Good luck and congratulations on your engagement!

Answer 6

Definitely go online. You'll get more bang for the buck and a lot of the online companies are more than happy to give you as much information as you need to make the buying process as comfortable as possible.

A great site to go to for research is pricescope.com. It's full of normal, everyday people who have shopped/are shopping for engagement rings, etc. You can read their posts and get a really good idea of how to buy online.

The site I've heard the most about is www.whiteflash.com. I've seen tons of posts about them and they seem to have a really good reputation.

Good luck!

Answer 7

One website that really helped my husband and I out when we were looking was

www.pricescope.com

It's an online forum, VERY helpful, you can search topics, lots of pictures. Very knowledgable on there.

If you're looking for good prices, I know my husband bought my sidestones from www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com ... name sounds fishy but the diamonds were beautiful!!! If you're brave and aren't superstitious, you can also watch Ebay for people trying to unload their rings.

My husband ended up getting my ring set custom made. Got exactly what I wanted at a fraction of the "designer" cost.

Hope this helps.

Answer 8

I bought online at: www.uniondiamond.com

I found I could not get a better price locally and no local store had the selection of diamonds they had.

www.bluenile.com is the largest online store.

If you do not want to buy online. it is also good to figure out what you can afford. The have good online searches. Knowing what it cost online will help you not to get ripped off.

Answer 9

your on a roll 3 rings in marrage. 1. engagement ring 2. wedding ring 3. supper ring. good luck dude.

Answer 10

www.jewelryexchange.com check them out.
They have really good prices and the employees DO NOT work on commission.
Also no place really has a discount on diamonds but the discount is on the setting (gold, white gold, platinum).