Engagement Ring

[Los Feliz Slim]

If you're spending a lot of money, going to Tiffany or any place retail is insanity. You're in the OC, I've got a private jeweler in LA that will get you better/equal quality for less money because no blue box markup. Granted, getting an engagement ring from a guy recommended from a random person on the internet sounds sketchy to me as well, but I thought I'd offer.

[neuroman]

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Are you taking your gf with you to shop for rings? If not I would recommend doing so. My now fiancee agreed that any loss in "surprise factor" was more than made up for by getting exactly what she wanted in a ring.

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If you do this, be prepared to have your bargaining power reduced to 50% or less of what it would otherwise be. Good luck with the salesman after she squeals "OOOH, I just LOVE that ring!"

If you are smooth, you get her to tell you which one(s) she liked out of earshot, and then come back later by yourself. This will allow you to better bargain AND if you get her to point more than one ring that she liked, you still get the suprise factor (for whatever that's worth.)

[smk67]

Just an aside, note that in the diamond price sheet (forget the name) the price jumps between something like .48 to .49 carat and .49 to .50 are interesting. Any jump in diamond size to a "round figure" is a much larger jump in price. So .48-.49 might be $20 whereas .49-.50 might be more like $80. In other words, if you want a 3/4 carat, either get a .74 carat or be prepared to haggle. Also, check online diamond wholesalers for a price - this should coincide with the best deal you should expect in a B&M diamond store. Hopefully then you will know if you are getting ripped off.

[pokerstudAA]

Shop at the stores. Look/ learn about diamonds. Find one for 40% of the store price online. Order diamond - add to 90$ basic ring.

I found the same type of diamond much cheap online. Order from out-of-state and avoid the hefty sales tax.

[bigbootch]

After reading through past engagement ring threads, it seems like a bunch of people ordered their diamonds from bluenile.com (or similar) and then had it attached to a ring at a local jeweler.

1. I might be old fashioned here, but is there anything not kosher about this? Ordering a diamond online just SEEMS a little sketchy (although I cannot think of a good reason why it would be).

2. When I take the diamond to be attached to a ring at a local dealer, how "good" is this? Can they do it so my gf wouldn't know that I got it done, or will it look "sloppy" or some such? I've never gotten this process done before, so I have no idea how good the results look.

[SamIAm]

My plan is to print-out the BlueNile prices and bring that to the store. I'll insist they match BlueNile prices (at least on the stone. The setting will harder to compare.) or I'll walk.

I figure they still get their retail amount of markup on the setting and an internet amount of markup on the stone. I'd be surprised if they didn't find that acceptable.
-Sam

[SamIAm]

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Just an aside, note that in the diamond price sheet (forget the name) the price jumps between something like .48 to .49 carat and .49 to .50 are interesting. Any jump in diamond size to a "round figure" is a much larger jump in price.

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Interesting. I'm definitely willing to lie to my girlfriend about 0.01 carats.

It'll be a nice start to building a marriage based on trust & honesty. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
-Sam

[tedtodd]

Ebay.

They have some ridiculous deals...just find someone with good feedback. The best deals on diamonds are in NYC, that's where most of the ebay diamond dealers are from.

I just got this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/3-25-tcw-CLASSY-CUSH...1QQcmdZViewItem

[Yads]

If you want to save some money, buy a used ring. Give it to your girlfriend, then she and you can design a new ring and put that stone into it. You get the surprise factor and she gets the ring she wants.

[wadea]

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Sort of off topic but I felt it's worth mentioning...

Are you taking your gf with you to shop for rings? If not I would recommend doing so. My now fiancee agreed that any loss in "surprise factor" was more than made up for by getting exactly what she wanted in a ring.

This also has the added advantage of being able to hang on to the ring for a few weeks or months and get treated better than you ever have before (and probably ever will) as she's in constant anticipation of the proposal.

I only held out for a few weeks but definitely you should hold out longer and milk it for all it's worth.

KoW

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QFT - I can't recommend this strongly enough.