I want to talk a little bit about diamonds – something many of you might be shopping for right now. Diamonds can be a bit tricky to shop for. There are okay diamonds, there are good diamonds, and then there are great diamonds. Most consumers don’t know that the majority of jewelry stores carry mainly okay to good diamonds. They’ll often pressure you to pay more for certain features of a diamond that don’t really matter much, yet they’ll ignore the features that really do matter and make a diamond look nicer. Not only are your typical jewelry stores overpriced, but you’ll often walk away paying more for a lesser quality stone! Now there are good jewelry stores out there, but you do have to be careful.
I’d like to take a few minutes of your time to go over a few tips. Now, if you want a more in depth reading of our diamond ring buying guide, check it out here: www.marriage-proposal-ideas.com/ringguide.html
However, if you already know somewhat of the basics, I’m going to let you in on a few secrets on how to save hundreds to thousands of dollars off of already low priced diamonds, and how to walk away with a great looking diamond.
1. If you’re searching for a round diamond, try to stick to an ideal or excellent cut diamond (ideal and excellent mean the same thing). This is what gives a diamond its sparkle, and most jewelry stores don’t carry very many of these.
2. Make sure that the diamond is not only certified, but make sure that it’s certified by a respected diamond grading institute like GIA. You’ll often find uncertified diamonds, or diamonds certified by no-name institutes or even certified by the jeweler himself/herself, for less money than similar diamonds because they aren’t always truthful. They’ll report the features of the diamond often being far better than what they are (trying to trick the consumer). So be careful and asked for certified diamonds (GIA is always a good choice and a very common one for great diamonds).
3. Shopping online can often save you hundreds of dollars compared to picking up a similar stone, or even a lesser stone, at your local jeweler simply because online companies don’t have as much of an overhead cost and can afford to sell them at a cheaper price. Depending on the state that you’re in, you sometimes don’t even need to pay sales tax when you shop online.
4. Worry less about clarity and more about color and cut. Jewelers often try to talk buyers into paying tons more for a higher clarity (clarity is how easy it is to see inclusions – all diamonds have inclusions for the most part – it’s just a matter of how easy you can see them). What most consumers don’t know is that an SI1 or SI2 diamond can save you hundreds to thousands compared to higher clarities, but the trick here is to ask for an eye clean diamond. An eye clean diamond means that NO inclusions can be seen from looking at the diamond from the top down (the part that shows). Even VS1 and VS2 diamonds aren’t necessarily eye clean, and buying an SI1 or SI2 diamond that is eye clean can get you a wonderful diamond that is a lot less. Also worry about color. A “D,” “E,” or “F” diamond is in the colorless range, and you won’t be able to see any of a yellow tint to it. A “G” diamond is usually okay, but anything higher you might want to double think. Many diamonds at jeweler stores are in the G, H, and I range. Depending on the light, you’ll be able to see a yellow tint on an H or I (or higher) diamond. So to sum it up, look for an eye clean diamond (and to save some money, maybe try the SI1 or SI2 range) and try to get a diamond preferably in the D, E, or F range.
5. Watch out for jewelry stores/chains that claim to have their own “ideal” cut diamond that is better than any other ideal cut diamond. Some stores take a normal ideal or excellent cut diamond and either just rename it or add a few facets to it (not really making any difference). This is okay – it’s mainly just a publicity thing. The second part to this is more of a scheme. Some jewelry stores will rename an average cut to their “ideal” cut and try to play it off that way, which confuses and tricks many consumers. With any diamond, just be sure to check its grading report and see what the cut is labeled there.
I hope you found our tips useful here, and I hope that you don’t fall for some of the common tricks out there. Diamond buying can be a scary thing (I know, I’ve been there myself!), but if you go into it a bit educated, you can walk away with some great diamonds at great prices.
I’d like to offer anyone reading this article a FREE diamond search (we can also search for rings and settings either together or separately with or without your diamond). Please visit www.marriage-proposal-ideas.com/diamondsearch.html and let me know what your price range is and what type of diamond you’re looking for (as far as shape, size, etc.), and I’ll conduct a free search for you to find the lowest prices on the highest quality diamonds. We search our database of over 60,000 diamonds from dozens of the highest quality and most respected diamond/jewelry sites (we don’t accept them unless they have great return policies, no gimmicks, and the like), and then we offer our advice on each one we find for you. We’ll even call the jewelers on your behalf to ask some very important questions for you. And if you think this sounds too good to be true, follow the above link to find out how we do it for free (the jewelry sites pay us a tiny commission for pointing a potential buyer in their direction, but we only do it if they have the cheapest deals on high quality, respectably certified diamonds). If you already know what you'll be buying and from what site, feel free to e-mail us and provide us with the diamond(s) that you are looking at and we'll offer you our free advice on each one.
I’ve never done a single diamond search where I haven’t saved someone at least a few hundred (typically A LOT more). Feel free to also e-mail me at brian@marriage-proposal-ideas.com.
As always, visit www.marriage-proposal-ideas.com for free proposal ideas and advice or www.marriage-proposal-ideas.com/deals.html for current diamond deals and promotions. We always try to have the best deals on the internet and an exclusive deal directly through our site as well to beat any other deal out there.
Brian K.
brian@marriage-proposal-ideas.com
www.marriage-proposal-ideas.com
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