mikethewxguy

Hello all!

Been thinking about popping the question later this summer or early fall...

Have been to most of the local jewelry stores and to the ones in the mall. The soon to be Mrs. (if she accepts?) has been with me shopping as well, and I have a good idea of what style/cut she would be happy with.

She is also comfortable in my budget ($1k to $3k) with ($1.5K to $2.0k being my probable purchase price.

I would like to purchase either over the internet (no sales tax!) or at my local Base Exchange (Yep, I am in the Military! - Air Force) to also save on having no sales tax and to also get a trade-up policy for a possible future upgrade.

I have looked at:

www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com

www.bluenile.com

www.overstock.com


Any others I should look at (online?)

Right now, I really like this one from Overstock - and I think she would like it as well. What do you guys think?



It's actually BELOW my price range, as it comes in at $929.99 (Yes, I'm a cheapskate!)

My budget is lower for the ring because we want a fairly large wedding and that will be costing a mint - so for now, I am skimping a bit on the ring budget - but I still want something nice and pretty

Although I am somewhat leary of purchasing from the "O" as I have never purchased there before. They do have a 20 day return policy though. So, I could always send it back if it looked like crap!

Any suggestions for me (BESIDES: RUN!)?

Thanks a bunch

Mike

Mongo

Run fast

Groucho

Scan the obituaries for any recently deceased brides-to-be. Contact the family and see if they still have the ring. If they do, you can probably buy it for a huge discount off the retail price.

Dah-Dee

I highly recommend Blue Nile. Very good prices, very nice diamonds and awesome service. They're good people.

al_bundy

I bought my diamond from dirt cheap and the owner gave me a jeweler in NYC that made the ring for 50% of retail. He was so good that a sales lady at a very high end store thought it was a real Scott Kay Platinum ring. Since I'm in NYC I was also able to see the diamond before I paid for it since it's drop shipped from the diamond district here.

In all I paid around $8000 for a ring that costs more than $12000 retail.

Y2K Falcon

I got my wife's from http://www.diamondsafe.com/ .

The salesman I worked (unless he lied) had years of diamond experience, was personally involved in selecting my stone, followed up to ensure things were satisfactory, etc. They have a simple 30 day return policy (which we didn't need). When we took it in for appraisal, the appraiser was shocked at the price we paid for the quality. I'd recommend them.

I recall looking at Blue Nile at the time and just not seeing something I liked.

My strongest recommendation is to NOT BUY AT THE LOCAL MALL!!!!!!!!!

DustinDT

Sam's Club has really nice rings. I got a engagement set that is certified at $8400 for $3000. I would imagine that Costco would have similar deals.

D.

al_bundy

who certifies it? Unless it is graded to GIA and AGS standards it's not worth the paper it's written on.

RevLiver

I bought my ring at bluenile and couldn't be happier with the service. Got a 3/4 carat diamond, color = D, cut = signature ideal round. In a platinum setting with .6 carats worth of baguette diamonds in the setting.

I paid about $7800 on bluenile, it appraised for $11,300 and was AGS certified.

I did a lot of research before buying the ring and here's the big things I learned.

Forget mall stores, they are complete ripoffs. They generally only have H and lower colored diamonds and they markup their prices a lot to cover the mall rent. We looked at some mall stores and it was hard not to laugh in the guy's face when he tried telling us how great a deal he was giving us. We checked the same quality stone and ring at bluenile and it was $1500 less.

The mall stores also used certifiers I never heard of, neither GIA nor AGS.

Avoid the diamond district in NYC. It's very shady and lots of people get ripped off. ABC did an expose on them and the video is available online.

Locally owned jewelers are your best B&M option.

But I highly recommend Blue Nile.

DodgingCars

DustinDT

It was graded by the IGI.
www.igiworldwide.com

jhko

My husband got my ring from Ashford. They had really good customer service and he was very satisfied with the purchase. I am very happy with my ring!

Static Cling

I went to a local jeweler's to get an idea for the clarity and color that I wanted, and then went on dirtcheapdiamonds.com and bought a stone that matched the "stats" I was interested in. The jeweler was very skeptical when I told him the price I was getting for the stone, but when I brought it in and compared it to a similar stone in his store, he said I'd be nuts to not take the dirtcheapdiamonds.com stone.

I also got the ring "custom made"... selected the band, the setting, and two other stones and had the jeweler put it together from scratch. I think I got just as many, if not more, points from my wife for putting time and thought into the ring as I did for the stone.

UncleGramps

I'm also planning to propose at some point in the next few months, and I could use a little help with finding an engagement ring.

My girlfriend isn't crazy about diamonds, but I know that she likes blue gemstones. Also, her birthday is in March, so I thought an aquamarine ring would be a good choice. This ring seems just about perfect, but I found it on an Italian website.



Any suggestions on how to find a similar ring on a U.S. website or at a local store? I've searched online for a couple of hours to no avail.

RicP

You guys all need to run over to www.pricescope.com

That's the only place to talk about buying a diamond. You'll get FAR better advice than you will at DVDTalk.

animalmystic

www.bluenile.com is BY FAR the best place to make your purchase of an engagement ring. Best prices, awesome service, very high quality product. Highly reccommended.

bill_n_opus

That's a great idea.

Many people seem to be taken in by the advertising ... that you have to go diamond .. which is totally untrue.

You can go whatever you want. Diamond is a good idea since it's pretty tough ... but not necessary. And expensive too.

The Aquamarine looks real nice.

bill_n_opus

Oh ... www.niceice.com is a good place i've heard.

As for engagement ring info the forums have had these questions many times before. Some good info there.

FuzzyBallz

The bigger the better I always say.