Buying an engagement ring

manwithaplan15 · 07-09-2015 10:51pm #1

So I'm currently looking for engagement rings and was thinking about buying one online. I was thinking of using bluenile.ie. Does anybody have any experience with this site?

Also I know the girlfriend likes the Tiffany's harmony setting. I would love pointers towards similar styles on Blue Nile or any other website.

manwithaplan15 · 09-09-2015 12:03pm

I'm surprised nobody has any experience with this. Is it a terrible idea to buy online?

Luke92 · 09-09-2015 12:43pm

I've browsed blue nike before. They're not all that cheap. I've never seen a difference between their prices and in store prices.

manwithaplan15 · 09-09-2015 3:44pm

Luke92 wrote: »

I've browsed blue nike before. They're not all that cheap. I've never seen a difference between their prices and in store prices.

Really, for the same spec of diamond your not seeing a difference in price?

Jasper79 · 09-09-2015 3:51pm

manwithaplan15 wrote: »

Really, for the same spec of diamond your not seeing a difference in price?

I didn't either, ended up going to view in bespoke diamonds and voltaire in Dublin. Added security of Bricks and Mortar.

Ending up buying in voltaire in Feb, 2 trips back, 1 resizing and 1 cleaning all hassle free and good value on the ring to start.

Looked at online, london and antwerp, but couldn't see any value to either, for my requirements anyways.

scrimshanker · 09-09-2015 8:18pm

Would you not just get a token ring and pick the real thing together?

Adoolan85 · 10-09-2015 4:20pm

scrimshanker wrote: »

Would you not just get a token ring and pick the real thing together?

Excellent advice.......

The chances of you getting exactly what she likes are slim to none. Makes sense for her to choose the ring that will be on her finger for the rest of her life, no?

schemingbohemia · 11-09-2015 4:06pm

scrimshanker wrote: »

Would you not just get a token ring and pick the real thing together?

That's what I did recently, worked a treat.

We got the actual ring in Applebys, really nice experience, went in expecting a hard sell or over our budget but the guy was great, picked out exactly the type of ring we were looking for (based on slightly vague "art deco" style instructions) and we were done and dusted in a half hour.

Páid · 11-09-2015 4:09pm

+1 on the Proposal Ring.

manwithaplan15 · 13-09-2015 11:48am

Adoolan85 wrote: »

Excellent advice.......

The chances of you getting exactly what she likes are slim to none. Makes sense for her to choose the ring that will be on her finger for the rest of her life, no?

I know that she wants me to choose the ring, so I'd like to do it. I also have a pretty good idea of what she wants.

pooch90 · 13-09-2015 11:58am

I had a good idea of what I wanted too before I went shopping and ended up getting something different!!

manwithaplan15 · 13-09-2015 1:00pm

pooch90 wrote: »

I had a good idea of what I wanted too before I went shopping and ended up getting something different!!

We have looked at rings before so not going into it blind.

I have seen a few people on here say that they have liked having the ring chosen for them so I suppose everyone is different.

pooch90 · 13-09-2015 3:54pm

Once you're confident then go for it but I would be very wary buying online.
I knew what cut of stone I wanted but was insistent I wanted it on a plain band,I ended up with a blinged out, twisted band. We ended up taking two rings and blending them so have a one off design, not an option if buying online really. Plus you have more haggle potential in store.

Adoolan85 · 14-09-2015 2:16pm

manwithaplan15 wrote: »

I know that she wants me to choose the ring, so I'd like to do it. I also have a pretty good idea of what she wants.

Before you buy online, look up Voltaire diamonds in Harcourt St.

Could be a good option for you. Similar price discount to buying online but with the personal experience as well and much safer.

Best of luck

cat123456 · 15-09-2015 2:52pm

I have done a good bit of research on blue Nile and they seem to be ok. There is also a money back guarantee so it is safe. The thing I like about blue Nile is that the diamonds are GIA certified. This is known to be the most reliable cert in terms of accuracy of colour. Not all shops supply certs so you are basically taking their word for it when it comes to colour etc. I found a big price difference on blue Nile. What is the spec of the stone you are looking for?

cat123456 · 15-09-2015 2:55pm

I forgot to say, if you get the ring made by blue Nile you can't return it. You would be better buying then stone and getting it set locally. Denis in Abana Jewellers is very nice. I bought a ring from him last year.

manwithaplan15 · 15-09-2015 11:52pm

cat123456 wrote: »

I have done a good bit of research on blue Nile and they seem to be ok. There is also a money back guarantee so it is safe. The thing I like about blue Nile is that the diamonds are GIA certified. This is known to be the most reliable cert in terms of accuracy of colour. Not all shops supply certs so you are basically taking their word for it when it comes to colour etc. I found a big price difference on blue Nile. What is the spec of the stone you are looking for?

Ya from what I have seen they seem pretty ok too. I have also seen a pretty significant difference between what I have seen in the high street stores (their websites anyway) and Blue Nile.

cat123456 wrote: »

I forgot to say, if you get the ring made by blue Nile you can't return it. You would be better buying then stone and getting it set locally. Denis in Abana Jewellers is very nice. I bought a ring from him last year.

According to their returns page you can return any item within 30 days? bluenile.com/ie/policies/returns

cat123456 · 16-09-2015 11:35am

Ask them does this policy apply to custom made rings? You can ring them. If so then I think you are safe enough. Yes, I thought there was a huge saving. I'm buying some diamonds on blue Nile over the next 6 months and what I have done is tried on the ring in want in one of the high st jewellers, selected better stones (they were H/I coloured and I'm getting E) on blue Nile and I will get a jeweller here to make the ring part. The stones are the most important part to me.

cat123456 · 16-09-2015 11:39am

Just checked and it doesn't apply to a custom made ring. No return at all.

manwithaplan15 · 18-09-2015 11:12am

cat123456 wrote: »

Just checked and it doesn't apply to a custom made ring. No return at all.

That's not great. I probably would be best to just buy the diamond then. My problem then is trying to track down somebody good to make the ring on the west coast!

pooch90 · 18-09-2015 6:07pm

Depending on where in the west you are, Topaz in Limerick are great and very reasonable

manwithaplan15 · 20-09-2015 11:49pm

pooch90 wrote: »

Depending on where in the west you are, Topaz in Limerick are great and very reasonable

Thanks for the tip. Limerick (or maybe Galway) would work for me. Ill check Topaz out. If anybody has any other suggestions in those cities please let me know!

Get In There · 29-09-2015 10:38pm

I recently ordered from Blue Nile and proposed in August. Found that I was getting more value for my budget in comparison to brick and mortar shops when it came to the diamond. Obviously the fact their diamonds are GIA certified was a big factor otherwise I wouldn't have took the risk. And then there's the 30 day return policy so that was assuring in case she didn't like it. (She absolutely loved it thankfully!)

As it happened the ring was slightly too big for her (I got the size wrong, eek!); I had to send it off to be re-sized and we got it back within 4 days. It helps that their EU HQ is based in Blanchardstown, Dublin.

All in all, they were communicative in emails and online chat so it was a positive experience dealing with Blue Nile and I'd have no hesitation in getting our wedding rings off them.

cat123456 · 01-10-2015 2:01pm

I looked in Galway for rings too. Hartmanns are very popular and meant to be really nice. They didn't have the type of rings I like so I am not sure of their prices. There is a really nice guy in tempo antiques. Not sure if he makes rings. He might be able to advise you of someone in Galway, cobwebs are nice too but highly overpriced (in my opinion)

Good luck with the ring!!

davidrowe · 03-10-2015 1:36pm

Myself and my girlfriend considered purchasing online too, when we were buying her engagement ring recently. But in the end we decided to go with the so-called "bricks and mortar" option, because we both felt more comfortable talking to someone face-to-face about the purchase.

I think we still managed to get great value though, as we shopped around the "appointment-only" jewellers as opposed to those on the high-street. The appointment-only guys can charge lower prices because they have fewer overheads. And the place that we gave our custom to in the end, Bespoke Diamonds on Kildare St (www.bespokediamonds.ie), had better value on offer than anywhere else.

Visiting Bespoke was also the most enjoyable experience when we were shopping around, which was an important factor too. We had visited other stores and found that we were only offered 5 or 6 rings to try on at a time which would be near or higher than the budget that we had stated.

However when we went into Bespoke they only showed us rings within our budget, and ones which were a good bit under budget. We got to look at hundreds of rings and didn't feel any pressure to pick quickly. The valuation is also much higher than the amount we paid so that's how I know that we got a great deal.

Overall, I loved how laid back the experience was in Bespoke, and I really appreciated that they were not focused on pushing a sale. So it was as easy as purchasing online, but definitely much more helpful, and I think just as good value.

westernlass · 04-10-2015 11:49am

I would recommend luisa verling. We are getting rings made with her and she can do anything you want.

manwithaplan15 · 11-01-2016 1:13am

I decided to report back on my experience to help people who might stumble across this thread in the future. The feedback on the thread has been pretty mixed about the idea of buying online (although I did get a couple of PMs telling me that they had great experiences). It worked out really well for me though and would highly recommend it!

In the end I did buy online. I ended up buying the diamond online and getting a ring made for it in a jewelers (I looked at a few places but went with Topaz in Limerick in the end, highly recommended). I think for couples looking to buy together this is a good option as you save money on the stone but you still get the bricks-and-mortar choosing a ring experience.

I had help from the website diamonds.pro I found those guys really helpful and the website gave me loads of reading material! You give them an idea of the size of stone you're looking for and your budget and they will sort through the diamonds on jamesallen.com (as well as other websites)and recommend stones to you. They do this free of charge but get a commission from James Allen for referring you. The advantage of James Allen over Blue Nile is that they have videos of all their diamonds on the website so you can see them (and any inclusions they might have!) before you buy. It allows you to buy a stone of lower clarity confidently as you can see if the inclusions are visible to the naked eye or not. One watch out with this site is that its based in the US, there is free delivery to Ireland but you will have to account for customs charges. Comparing the prices of James Allen plus customs charges and Blue Nile (which have already paid the customs duty as they are based in Europe) the prices seem broadly similar.

You can get really into the specs of a diamond and choosing the best of all the "Excellent" cut grade diamonds using some of the info on beyond4cs.com. This isn't strictly necessary to get a good diamond but you can go into great detail using this site if you want to squeeze every last bit of sparkle out of your diamond!

Just to give an idea of what I spent. I spent a little over €3k on everything, the diamond, the customs charges and the ring. I had a valuation done on the ring and it was valued at a little over €8k. That is some significant savings! From what I have seen there are definitely savings to be made whatever your budget.

manwithaplan15 · 11-01-2016 7:01pm

One thing I forgot to mention is the cost of the import taxes. On a loose stone you only pay vat at 23% (on value of stone plus shipping). On an entire ring you also have to pay duty of a couple percent as well.

Buying an engagement ring

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