When I bought my wife's diamond years ago, I got it from a guy named Abraham. I went to his store, and told him I wanted a diamond. He said he wouldn't sell me one, because I didn't know anything. He was right, I didn't know anything about diamonds. He took me in the back of his store, and spent a couple of hours teaching me about cut and clarity, and then dumped a big bag of diamonds on the table. He told me to sort them, and if I did OK, he would talk about selling me one. Then he left the room! I sorted them out, and then he inspected my work. I did OK, because he then let me select one, which he told me to take to another store for a cross check on my selection. I asked how he knew I wouldn't just steal it. He said he knew I wouldn't. Wow, it was amazing. I bought a great diamond from him at a great price compared to the mall stores.

My son is faced with buying a diamond, but Abraham and his store are long gone. Where do you buy diamonds nowadays? Is anyone comfy with buying one on-line? Any good experiences? I dunno, knowing a bit too much about diamonds, I just don't like what the mall guys sell. Seems like junk.

Try a Jewelry exchange. I bought mine at the Tustin Jewelry exchange and I was able to buy the diamond separate from the setting. This allowed for a custom approach.

I would seriously look into buying one from Ebay. Their are some serious "power sellers" on Ebay who sell rings at a great prices. I was surprised to see the feedback comments buyers left in how nice of a quality ring they were getting.

Just a thought.

Diamonds, like cars, are a function of budget. I'd suggest "Hearts on Fire" diamonds. They are cut differently than normal and shine brillantly. Stores that sell them have to be certified and approved by Hearts on Fire. There's only two stores in the Metropolitan Pittsburgh area that I know of, for example.

They are pricey, though.

http://www.heartsonfire.com/#

I bought a set for my wife for our 30th anniversary and a right hand ring for her 50th bday. She loves them!

I was able to pick the diamonds and settings separately, too.

i'm sure there are a lot of diamond rings at pawn shops these days..

Diamonds, like cars, are a function of budget. I'd suggest "Hearts on Fire" diamonds. They are cut differently than normal and shine brillantly. Stores that sell them have to be certified and approved by Hearts on Fire. There's only two stores in the Metropolitan Pittsburgh area that I know of, for example.

They are pricey, though.

http://www.heartsonfire.com/#

I bought a set for my wife for our 30th anniversary and a right hand ring for her 50th bday. She loves them!

I was able to pick the diamonds and settings separately, too.
X2:thumbsup: That's what I did with my wife. Excellent way to get a quality rock and setting and it will keep its value.

I used my Savings money that was supposed to be for an el camino I was saving for. It heart a little bit using that money for a ring but my wife is more important to me than any possessions I could ever buy.

Pawn shops around here want new prices for old rings. I have some of my mom's rings I want to sell, but no one wants to give anywhere near the appraised value.

Hearts on fire is just a name brand. You can get the same cut diamond for substanitally less. I like the hearts and arrow ccut because it must have an AGS 000 rating. I have dealt with http://www.whiteflash.com/ in the past and gotten great service and information.

What ticked me off about mall jewlery stores was they were conspicuously the same price - after looking into it, the stores were all owned by the same corporation! :mad:

I went to a independant store and got a fair price and great service. That is what I recommend. But I don't know about on-line stores... how do they ship that without it being stolen or "lost"?

I bought my fiance's ring online thru Blue Nile and couldn't be happier (except for one thing, mentioned below). I had spent months going to each store in town and realized after learning the 4C's that most of the chain stores are way overpriced....the local independant jeweler seemed much more knowledgable and spoke at length to me about the rings even though he know i wasn't ready to buy at that point. I ended up searching online and found (what I felt to be) a great deal via Blue Nile - I was able to get a diamond that was bigger and "better" than the chain stores for the same price. I knew exactly what she wanted as far as band and stone shape, so it really was just finding the best deal. I"m really happy with them, and a few of my friends have since used that experience and also bought their diamonds thru them (I have no idea if other online vendors are good, this is just my personal experience of course).

The ONLY thing I was steamed about - the diamond was shipped to my house and was clearly noted that I must sign for it....but the delivery guy left it on my front step!! (this was a while ago and i don't recall if it was FedEx, UPS etc). I guess thats the risk, and nothing the diamond company could do - they did clearly state that I must sign for it.

Other than that, I was really happy.

Just my 2cents, or a bit more haha....

-Paul

A freind of mine bought a $4000 diamond engagement ring on eBay!
Absolutely beautiful and from a reputable diamond dealer.

I have been to this shop personally. Barry is a great guy. I believe he ships via fedex insured.

I would stay away from the mall stores,too much overhead,comission sales people. Try to find someone local,that has referrals. I have been dealing with the same local jeweler for over 20 years,great service lower prices. He even saved me money on our Rolex watches.

The only time we considered the mall store was buying her wedding ring - Whitehall was going out of biz, and we spoke to the local jeweler before purchasing...he advised us to buy it, we saved over 50% on the tagged price. I wasn't sure about it, but having an independant jeweler with no stake in the sale "approving" it made us confident it was a good deal. So we got her diamond online via Blue Nile, and the wedding ring at a chain store that was going out of biz and gave us a great price - very happy with both purchases. Whitehall went out of biz for xmas tho, so not sure anything can still be found there....maybe some are still open.

But based on this local jewelers help - advising on the diamond and then the wedding ring, and he didn't gain a sale for either...we're def going to make sure we give him some biz - we have to have her engagement ring resized to fit with the wedding ring and he'll do that, as well as any other future biz we need.

I'd rather support a local small biz anyhow...

Thanks for the help, guys! My son read your responses.

I actually bought some stuff at the Tustin Jewelry exchange while on business in SoCal once, but it seems like the sign changed to a chain kind of place recently(?)

Good old Abe, I wish my son could have gone to him. It was quite an experience. You just don't meet people with their hearts in the business like that when they are working for wages at someone elses' store.

I got mine through bluenile.com They have a range of sizes and quality, and an inventory of thousands of diamonds so you can filter them by price range. Then they put it in the setting you want.

Its always fun to get the hugest rock you can afford, but sometimes on a smaller gal a big rock can look gaudy, IMO.