CoffeeEater said:Clothes serve no practical use? Alright, Mr. Nudist, maybe you go jogging in your birthday suit...but I like to wear clothes! Also, my car takes me places when I stomp on the gas.Please re-read the post above: I was talking about designer clothes and nice cars instead of basic transportation or basic clothes to cover your naked body.

A ring does nothing except feed the pockets of DeBeers.Once again, we all acknowledge that your sentiment may be valid but is completely off-topic in this thread, which is created for people who have already made the decision to purchase a natural diamond and are just now wondering how to get the best value for their money.

Take a trip to the diamond district in NYC. Be prepared to haggle, and go there having done your homework. I mean it. Study diamonds like you're preparing to be a jeweler yourself. Only then will they respect you enough to not take you for a ride - like most retailers do. I went to Kay's, Jared's, and Zales just to look around and they had awful stones, for which they were charging ridiculous amounts. The retail jewelers were useless. They were pushy and had no knowledge about what they were selling. I implore anyone not to go to these people. If you've read this thread, you know more than them. I was very close to buying from online, but I really needed to know what I was buying and in the end, I got a better deal than the best price I could find online.


I bought an engagement ring in August 2005. The specs for the rock are as follows:

carat wt: 1.01 ct
cut: ideal, princess
clarity: VS1
color: F

GIA certified.

$3000, no tax. I realize I just paid the equivalent of a 50" plasma for a piece of old carbon - but it's a necessary evil, and you can always point to your wife's sparkling rock when you're negotiating with her about the new Home Theater setup in your basement .

I got the custom platinum setting which had .35 ct diamonds around it for $550. The mounted ring was appraised independently at $7000 and change.

I know not everyone lives in NYC, but for the money you will save, and they money you will spend, it is worth the trip.

In response to a couple of messages regarding the stone that I bought, it is a round brilliant new AGS000 with DQD, 1.22ct, H, totally eye clean SI2, negligible fluorescence. The stone was advertised by an online retailer for $5,800 but was listed on Pricescope for $5,541 (as I posted above, many retailers offer pricescope discounts, which usually but not always represent the best price you can get for that particular stone).

After speaking with the retailer and directly with the wholesaler to confirm the stone's eye-clean status, the location of the inclusions (no graphite, one white feather off to the side and one small white inclusion under the table), the angles and the visual appearance of the stone, I had a friendly retailer generate a Gem Ex report for me, which looked terrific. After negotiating the price of the stone downwards to $5,100 (some $441 below even the Pricescope discounted price), I had it shipped to an independent appraiser who examined it and confirmed all the information, which allowed me to finalize the purchase. Needless to say, prior to finalizing the purchase I ran the stats and the price of the stone by a couple of B&M as well as online retailers and they all told me that they wouldn't be able to even come close to that price.

Since I knew the designer setting that my fiance wanted, I engaged a large local jeweler to order it for me (it took 4 weeks for the designer to manufacture it, which is average). So the stone has been set in an 18kt white gold (we see no aesthetic difference between white gold and platinum, so we used the cheaper metal) Ritani Royal Crown setting. The setting allows plenty of light to enter the diamond, so it sparkles like crazy.

garthman83 said:If people know families who have gone to a local jewler for a long time, you can usually cut a good deal. I am going to a place that has a good reputation and does all the cleaning there so the ring isn't sent out. I know someone whom has been going there for a long time and knows the owner fairly well so he will cut me a deal for whatever the lowest sale price has been in the past few months plus an additional discount. Easily getting over 50%-60 off sticker price. Might be a good try if you know a jewler or owner.Absolutely, if the jeweler in question carries the stones that you want (some jewelers specialize in lower quality stones; some in higher) and/or can get the stones that you want for you at a competitive price, then that is a great option. Not all jewelers (online and B&M) have access to all wholesalers and it is quite common for wholesalers to offer different pricing to different jewelers.

As for the discount though, I would be careful. Most online retailers operate on very slim margins (5-8% is quite common), so a B&M jeweler offering you a 50%-60% discount off the "sticker" price has simply grossly overpriced its goods. As I am sure you realize, the size of the "discount" means absolutely nothing if you still end up overpaying for the stone. The bottom line is that I would certainly consider the friendly jeweler a viable option but would also check out the offer against the competition to make sure that you get what the jeweler says you're getting.

P.S.
I am not sure why you mention the onsite cleaning of the rings that the jeweler does -- I have never heard of a jeweler that doesn't do that since all it requires is an ultrasonic cleaner. Even the most expensive large capacity professional ultrasonic cleaners that allow you to operate continuously cost less than $1,500. By the way, you can get a very good to an excellent ultrasonic cleaner for yourself for $50-$200 (the price depends on the capacity and a couple of features).

has anyone found out what the warranty that ice and blue nile carries?

I do agree that online sites can offer a great deal but with always having to send the ring and the sets on ICE.com are actually more expensive even with the diamond and no sales tax compared to where I am going to to. Total weight is going to be 1.25 carats. The prices differnece after sales tac compared to ICE.com isn't a big difference but I just would rather buy it from this specific store due to the fact that they do the cleaning their and it doesn't have to be sent it. However, online sites can offer great deals (especially with coupons and FW Cash Back) but I have never been able to find what warranty ICE.com offers, does anyone know what it is on their diamonds? I would think it would be a lifetime warranty but have never seen it on their site. Actually the quality of the diamon is slightly better then the a comparable one on ICE.com. Yea I agree everyone should stay away from mall stores!! Usually overpriced and the quality of diamons are bad most of the time. Not to get too far off subject but I do want to ask a little advice. I will be proposing soon (first week of July) and I want to know which idea people think is better. I could do in on July 3rd (which is also my birthday : ) during a fireworks show at a park. The other idea is doing during a horse drawn horse and carriage ride. I am leaning towards the horse drawn carriage ride. What does everyone else think??

Congratulations on your upcoming engagement! This is a very exciting time -- enjoy it.

As for ICE.com, I don't see where it sells loose diamonds. All I see is that it sells pre-set engagement rings, which greatly limits your flexibility in chosing the diamond and the setting. Further, from what I can see, ICE.com only sells IGI certified diamonds in its settings -- not only is IGI unreliable with its certifications but ICE.com also doesn't provide the sarin data on its website. This makes it impossible for you to determine the cut quality of each diamond and, consequently, impossible to price shop or to determine the beauty of the diamond in different conditions (which is what the cut affects) and its objective market value. There are MUCH better retailers out there who offer better service, prices, selection and flexibility to you. Given the extremely limited information offered by ICE.com and the IGI certifications (it may be quite prudent for you to stay away from second tier labs such as IGI or EGL), how are you determining that your local jeweler is giving you a good diamond at a fair price?

As for the cleaning, what quite a few people do is order a loose diamond online but then have it set locally by a reputable jeweler (that's what I did as well). This way you still get your choice of settings and, if anything goes wrong with the setting, you can take it back to the jeweler to get it fixed. Further, you'll be able to get the free cleanings through that jeweler.

As I've already posted before, you can also get your ring cleaned without going to the jeweler. For instance, this $34.89 ultrasonic cleaner (free shipping too) will do almost as good a job cleaning your ring as the jeweler's big ultrasonic one.

ProBanker said:Off topic - but what is the "expected" amount to pay for a wedding ring? Ive heard 2 months salary...That's a personal decision that depends on your and your gf's desires, your financial goals, your expenses, outstanding debts, job and income stability, your willingness to consider upgrading later, your stage in life, etc... Just like with any other luxury item, spend what you can afford and what will make the two of you happy without regard for the random "rules of thumb."

why not finance at 0%? you are paying more for your house/car payments probably.

i'm just playing devils' advocate. I like a good looking wife. Good looking wives like shiny diamonds and expensive clothes and bags. I think that generalizes about 99.9% of women out there. If you are luck enough to have one that wears rags, fake stuff, or no diamonds, more power to you. It's really more of an ego thing the real diamond costing $$. Makes a girl feel extra special. Same thing for those clothes and handbags. If you are wearing items that are phony, then i spose you can still get that effect but with some guilt. lol.

It's funny to see how many people bring really bad fake louis vuitton into a LV store. ghetto.

You guys must think that marrying = free bootay FOREVER, no sir you are going to PAY FOR IT FOREVER lol.

word.