Engagement Rings on eBay?

XmasProposal

Would I be mad to risk it? Seems to be some very nice antique rings on there that would fit my pitiful budget. With the way things are €1,000 would be the absolute max end but there seems to be some lovely old art-deco style rings in the 6 to 8 hundred range?

Has anyone gone down this route before? Any success or horror stories?

Dolbert

PMd you!

Eerie

Mine is from ebay! Was valued at almost three times what we paid for it. It's a 1ct asscher cut diamond with white gold band. Make sure the seller has been in business for a while with plenty of customers (our seller had numbers in the thousands) with 99+% positive feedback. The second you get it, go and have it seen by a jeweller to ensure you got the cut/quality/size advertised and get a valuation.

XmasProposal

Thanks for the PM Dolorous (Edd from ASOIAF?)

I know rings don't hold their value when second-hand but the other half loves antique jewellry so I'm quite hopeful I can get something decent for my price range this way. I'm hoping it'll also help that she'd prefer a non-diamond ring... just don't know if that means no diamond accents or no diamonds at all and not sure how to ask such a detailed question without giving the game away!

XmasProposal

Well, managed a sneaky chat about antique jewellery with the other half last night: diamonds as accents are ok but she prefers jewellery to have colour and silver over gold or platinum. Thinking it could be quite tough to get a silver engagement ring without going bespoke!?

On the eBay front: does anyone know what percentage duty is put on antique jewellery?

catwoman28

Why don't you ask her out straight? It might ruin the surprise but that's better than seeing her disappointed when she's presented with a ring she doesn't like. I got engaged last xmas and I picked the ring but didn't know when I was getting it. I was still surprised and I LOVE my engagement ring. If ye are dating a while she might expect it will happen soon anyway. Best of luck!!

XmasProposal

Well, I thought she'd caught me last week and ended up coming clean so got her involved in choosing the ring. She found a beautiful antique art-deco ring (diamonds with a solitaire pearl on a yellow gold band - something she'd always said she didn't want!) which we just won on eBay

Lord Trollington

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/1-28-CT-Princess-Cut-Certified-Diamond-Unique-Engagement-Ring-14k-White-Gold-/220901445423?pt=Diamond_Solitaire_with_Accents&hash=item336ec08f2f#ht_2350wt_1037

I too am looking at buying an engagement ring in the coming weeks. Woud I be mad to even consider looking at ebay? what is peoples opinions on the ring above?

Gatica

I love ebay, but you have to be careful in picking sellers. Make sure to send them questions first, at least you'll know if they reply to questions quick and are at all contactable.

Dunno if you saw this thread:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056457127
someone selling off their ring.
Between you two, if you liked the ring, both could get a better deal than in the shops!

XmasProposal

The seller we ended up going with was chosen for (a) having a beautiful vintage ring for sale and (b) having 100% feedback with hundreds of previous happy customers making comments about valuations they'd subsequently gotten on their rings or other jewellry etc.

Hasn't arrived yet but it was dispatched within 24hrs and cost me a fraction of what I'd expected to pay.

Moonbeam

Lord Trollington wrote: »

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/1-28-CT-Princess-Cut-Certified-Diamond-Unique-Engagement-Ring-14k-White-Gold-/220901445423?pt=Diamond_Solitaire_with_Accents&hash=item336ec08f2f#ht_2350wt_1037

I too am looking at buying an engagement ring in the coming weeks. Woud I be mad to even consider looking at ebay? what is peoples opinions on the ring above?

It looks nice...but what does si1 enhanced mean?
I would go with good diamonds over high carats.

XmasProposal

SI1 - Slightly Included with inclusions invisible to the naked eye.

Gatica

yes, but I think the query is more about the "enhanced" part. I've never heard of that myself TBH.

XmasProposal

Diamonds can be enhanced by removing inclusions, chemical treatments etc. A treated diamond is worth significantly less than a natural one.

XmasProposal

Just to report back on our own experience, the ring (vintage art-deco piece from the 1920's) arrived last week and the bride to be is absolutely delighted with it. Got it cleaned and it's being re-sized at the moment. Asked the jeweller to give us a ballpark for it as it had been acquired at auction... he valued it at 6/7 times what we paid for it and said that list price in any of the jewellers in the Powerscourt Centre where he's based would be 9 times what I paid.

He judged from my reaction that I was delighted with the valuation and asked if I'd gotten it for about 1/2 what he'd valued it at, and when I told him what I'd paid he was shocked: said we'd paid "band price" i.e. the value of the gold in the ring!!!

So, thoroughly happy with my experience on eBay, be careful who you shop with and read the listings with a fine-tooth comb but there's bargains to be had!

Sleepy

I can come clean now... XmasProposal was an alternate account I created so people in real life wouldn't find out we were engaged yet.

Will be spending plenty of time in this forum looking for tips etc. over the next few months.