I'm looking into buying a loose diamond, and was wondering if anyone has had any experience dealing with online vendors? I've been to a few B&Ms in the area and was going to compare to prices online.

Anything I should stay away from, pros/cons?

Thanks in advance!
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I don't think I would every buy a loose diamond on line. Too much variation in color, clarity, quality. I would need to see the stone, look at it through a eyeglass, see the quality of the stone, see any imperfections, ... .

You might get a good stone online, but I just would never do it. Kind of like buying a car without seeing the title.

Matt
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The ones online clearly dont shine as much as the ones from the local B&M :-)
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Most of the big vendors I have come across online (Blue Nile, Union Diamond), all show the actual GIA certificate online for every diamond they are selling. Seems like a pretty good representation of what the diamond will look like. But I see where you're coming from too..

I was waiting for that.. :-)
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Is this for an engagement ring? One of the fun (stressful) parts about going through the process off picking out the diamond for my fiancee was actually looking at different stones. One of my good friends was a is a jeweler at a local independent shop. So when I went in I told him what I wanted to spend and he pulled out some stuff for me to see in my price range. I got to see some small but really nice ( I guess, I don't know) stuff and some bigger stones that an an inclusion or color in it. I know that the fact that I put so much thought into the stone is really important to Kathryn and I know if I bought the same one online she would love it but it's wouldn't have the background.
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It is for an engagement ring. I have done quite a bit of shopping and looking around at local stores and shops (chains and independent). I'm seeing a noticeable price difference online compared to the same quality and size diamonds that I've been seeing in the store. It'd be nice to save the extra cash and go with a nicer setting. Just looking for some feedback, thanks. :-)
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Sparkle is not as easily measured as cut, clarity & carat. I recommend seeing a rock in person.
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Yep.

That said - if I was to buy a diamond online - Blue Nile would be the one that I would trust. I haven't been disappointed with any purchase from them yet. I have purchased pearls, sapphires, etc - and everything has just been perfect.

In addition they have a 30 day return policy.


Ron
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I agree, I am also in the market for a diamond for a ring and I have been looking really closely at Blue Nile.
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I just purchased a ring this month. I did look extensively at Blue Nile in particular. However, I also went down to a jeweler who a few friends at work have used to look at stones in person. The one I wound up choosing was not one I would have picked, based on the GIA report. However, once I was comparing stones visually, that was the one that popped the most, and the one I eventually went with. The quality of the cut is the one thing that makes the most difference in the look of the diamond and the one thing they really can't grade for. Go see stones in person. And talk to the guy about what you want. Give him some time to put a few stones together for you to look at. You won't regret it.
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I too, looked online and in the end bought an engagement setting & picked out the center stone in person. A GIA or AGS certificate really is not enough alone IMO. You would be surprised at how many times a slightly lower grade diamond actually looked better than one they classified as a slightly higher grade.
In the end:
1.51 ct center
G color
VS2 clarity
very good cut
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Haven't actually ordered a diamond online, but ther's also pricescope.com
one other thing - I have no experioence with it but I've heard you want to avoid "clarity enhanced" diamonds...
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Thanks for the input guys. I think I'll keep looking around in person. There's a ton of jewelers in the Dallas area, I'm sure I can find what I want. Quality of the cut is certainly something that can only be judged in person.

Thanks again! :-)
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I bought my wife's at Nasr Bros jewelers and was very pleased. I don't know if there's one close to you, but I know there are several around the metro.
Posted via Mobile Device
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I came within inches of buying one online. Spent who knows how much time on the phone with a fellow who I felt incredibly comfortable with but ended up not doing it only becuase I found a guy in my office building that gave me as good if not better a deal. I would buy online only if you have educated yourself well enough to know what you are talking about and have confidence in it, otherwise I wouldn't do it.

What I would suggest is finding a wholesaler in your area and work with him/her. They'll treat you right and give you a much better deal than a retailer. Stay the hell out of the malls.

:-)
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Josh, congratulations on your upcoming engagement. I wish you and your bride much happiness together. :-)

If I may digress for a minute, I had a really neat experience when I bought my wife's engagement ring. All during my growing-up years on Long Island my neighbor across the street, Mr. Chevalier, was a jewelery maker for a very famous NYC jeweler. By the time I got engaged, he was an older man, and was retired, although he kept a small workshop in his home. (He was an immigrant from France, and had served stateside in WWII, and during his off hours made glass eyes for soldiers who lost an eye during combat.)

Anyhow, he said that he would make the engagement ring for me, and how much did I want to spend. I gave him the figure, and that my wife wanted a quality diamond rather than a large diamond. He told me to come with him to NYC one morning. We took the train into Manhattan, and went to a coffee shop where we met an Hassidic Jew who was a diamond dealer and an acquaintance of Mr. Chevalier. The diamond dealer had a small drawstring bag of diamonds in his pocket, and over coffee Mr. Chevalier looked at diamonds and haggled over prices. Finally told me this is the one we want to buy for my engagement ring. They tried showing me how one diamond differed in quality from another, but frankly I never really caught on.

A week or so later my ring was complete, and he had put two small diamonds on the ring as well, as a gift to us for our engagement. My wife still wears this ring 23 years later.
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Thanks for sharing. I think I'd rather have a story to tell years later than to save $400 buying a diamond online unseen. :-)
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Blue Nile and other online stores offer great prices because there is no guarantee they are selling what they say they are.

I must preface this by saying I am no expert, I have just spent a lot of time with a wholesale jeweler, with over 30 years in the business, who happens to supply well over 16,000 shops with their diamonds.

It works like this. All diamonds when they come in are immediately and automatically grouped into a broad category of the 4 C's and then are put into a cache of similar diamonds before they are sold. The certificates are pre-determined and the diamonds that most closely fit the certifications are given to them. The diamonds will appear to be what they say they are to an untrained person (you or I) but a true jeweler will tell you that most of these diamonds are far from what they claim them to be.

Ask the jeweler to see the chart that they have for determining retail prices. It is called the Rapaport (I believe), a quarterly report put out by the diamond authority that determines retail price. A lot of them will choose not to show it to you and rather punch in a whole bunch of numbers to a calculator and then show you a huge number and then say something like "And you get a special 60% off discount" and hit a few more keys and show you a final price. All retail prices are more or less predetermined based on the 4 C's, but it is no where near what the whole sale price is, so haggle, haggle, haggle.

If you are buying loose, put them all on the table next to one another and look at them with the jewelers magnifying glass. If you can't see the differences, go with the best looking and cheapest diamond. A friend of mine put two diamonds right next to each other with a $2000 difference and couldn't see the difference, and clearly chose the cheaper option.

I do like the option of buying loose because you can make it into the perfect piece of jewelry for your future fiance. I had a basic idea of what she wanted (3 stone, not a plain band, and round cuts) and worked my way backwards by picking out a ring style and then the diamonds to fit in it based on my price range.

Oh and metal. If you are looking for something with the silver color, skip white gold and platinum. White gold is essentially bleached yellow gold and will always turn increasingly yellow over time. Platinum is very nice, but expensive and scratches easily. Try paladium, it is whiter and brighter than white gold and will not scratch near as easy as platinum and the price is less than half of platinum and only slightly more expensive than gold. Some jewelers do not use this metal, but it is on the periodic table and is a precious metal just like the other two.

If any of this doesn't make sense feel free to PM or ask any clarification questions. Hope this helped and I don't seem like a complete moron with endless drivel.

Best of luck with the purchase :-)
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Here is a semi current price list for round diamonds just to give you an idea.

http://www.mor-brothers.com/PriceLis...tPriceList.pdf
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Nice find there Quan, exactly what I was talking about. Might be a good idea to be armed with the Rapaport ahead of time :-)
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