Buying diamonds online

[YogiTKE]

Has anyone here had any experience or know someone who has experience buying diamonds online? (Ex. BlueNile.com)

In the market for an engagement ring and I'm debating purchasing online rather than buy in a store. I can get a much nicer ring online for the same cost as in a store.

[Greg_G]

Personally something like a diamond I would like to see in person rather then ordering online. That would suck to recieve the diamond and have it look like garbage.

[ShotCaLLa]

Don't think I like the thought of buying a diamond online.

I have never looked into it though, just seems like the ABSOLUTE LAST thing that should ever be bought or sold online.

I have heard of buying the setting online, and then buying the diamond from a jeweler and having them set it.

Good luck!!! Hope she says yes!!!

[goblue107501]

I had a very good experience buying diamonds online. Long story short, we got engaged before we had a ring so we shopped for the ring together. We browsed online to look at styles and get a handle on pricing and found one we really liked on e-bay. The seller was 'mr.jewel'. I highly recommend them. We purchased from them, but not through e-bay. We opted for a bigger stone than the one they had listed and did it all over the phone and e-mail. We had no pressure from them, they were very honest, and very fast. I got a couple of different appraisals after we had it for insurance purposes, and the quality that they sold to us was dead on with what the appraisers said. Plus, when we priced the same or similar rings online or in a local store they were around 20-25% cheaper than other places. When I called 8-10 months later to get the wedding bands, they remembered exactly who I was when I told them a first name and city.

Even if you don't e-bay, you can still look at what they have and call or e-mail them and do it off site. When I double-checked the name for this, they still had a 100% rating with well over 1000 replys.

If you want more info send me an e-mail or pm, I'll be happy to tell you more.

[BASHERBAKER69]

You need to go to a diamond broker. Buying a stone on line is not a good idea in my view- what happens if its one of those plastic make believe diamonds?

Go to a broker in person and don't but conflict stones!

[YogiTKE]

Well I know what I'm buying and online diamond sellers like bluenile.com and mondera.com are very reputable and have been for many years. The reason they can offer lower prices is simply based on overhead. A website is much easier to operate than a store. Much more costs involved in the operations of a mall or retail store.

[Rusty2228]

I have two friends who bought their fiance's engagement rings on Blue Nile. They (and more importantly their fiances) are very happy with them. They did appraise for more than they paid, and they were of equal or better quality to what the description online said.

That being said when I picked out my wife's engagement ring I found it extremely helpful to be able to see what I was buying. My wife's ring appraised for much more (percentage wise) than my friend's rings, and because we got the ring at the place our wedding bands were cheaper.

So in the end, my friends recommend highly using blue nile. The rings they got are great. However, for me it was more important to actually see it prior to it being bought.

[Long&Right]

I bought my wife's engagement ring diamond online about three years ago. I had a specific size and shape in mind to fit the ring I bought her - at the jewelery store, a stone that was not as nice was over $15k - I got a much better deal for $9k online, and the process was easy.

I do admit feeling odd about something that small and expensive coming through the mail, but it all worked out.

[YogiTKE]

Thanks very much for all the great input guys. I like hearing true opinions and not reading the testimonials on their websites.