for me, it's not about how much you spend, but getting value for your money.

Spence will tell you they will beat any price for any grade diamond, then you go onto bluenile etc. and see a diamond that was $5000 at Spence for $2500 on bluenile, probably better quality and a higher grade as well.

i never went into Spence when i was looking, but if they spewed some bullshit to me about price matching and i knew what was available elsewhere, i'd go out of my way to say your fucking lieing to me and i'm going to be telling everyone i know never to step foot in here.

shopping locally the best thing you can do is educate yourself on diamonds. In 5-6 hours of good research you probably know as much if not more about diamonds than the people at Spence and the mall stores.

At rihmond Costco right now, 3.02 carat solitaire, $63,999

$63! Wow! :lol

Who buys a 64k ring from Costco?

It's not a bad choice, their diamonds are actually quite highly rated.

However yea..you gonna drop 70+ at Costco? Lol

no hassle returns, just in case
:troll:

7 years ago i purchased a ring/diamond from spence diamonds. I returned it 3 days later. I was young and pressured by the salesman and unhappy with how it went. Ive never set foot inside that place again.

Someone who wants a huge rebate cheque back at the end of the year lol. and it most likely is 80+k anywhere else due to the name of where you're buying from. Who cares where you got it Unless you want to brag that you spent more than you had to lol

I'm sure it is good quality I just find it funny that you have 60k+ to spend on a ring and you go to Costco.

"Yeah it was awesome, got a ring and and all my groceries for the week in one stop. Boom."

Time is money after all :troll:

EDIT: Sure, we're all laughing, but I'm seriously considering this ring from Costco - Three-Stone-Round-Brilliant-Diamond-Ring--(1.00-ctw) Any thoughts?

one negative thing about buying a ring at costco would be where i purchased my wifes ring you can drop it off at anytime to have it professionally cleaned free. The place is downtown so whenever she is in the neighborhood she drops it off and it looks amazing. One time one of the encrusted diamonds came loose. They emailed her a picture and told us to pick it up in 1 week. Pretty damn good service if you ask me.
i'm sure alot of places do this but i don't think costco would

that looks really nice. Will definitely look good on her finger

There's a few downsides with Costco.

- when people ask where you got it... You gotta say Costco...
- almost every ring is a size 7
- no fitting or cleaning on site. Yes the ridiculous return policy applies but other than that, there is no post-sales support
- somewhat generic. Not a huge selection and couldn't potential run into someone with the same ring (and you thought same shoes were bad)

highly doubt anyone would ever take note of wearing the identicle ring lol

Can others confirm this?

I know they will charge the duty(if applicable) within the purchase of the ring, but will Fedex charge brokerage fees or send you a bill after the fact?

Thanks

don't buy from brand name stores like tiffany, cartier, spence, etc. If you know someone who's a diamond dealer get it from them, will save half the price. I bought my wife's 1 carat from a friend who's a diamond dealer and he showed me about 10 different stones while in India before I settled on one, then got him to put it in a white gold Tiffany setting. Same quality/sized stone and setting at Tiffany cost 3x what I paid for mine. He buys diamonds wholesale in bulk and sells them to big brands.

Of course you'll need to find someone you can trust that's a diamond dealer though. Also always get one with a GIA certificate, don't buy a stone without one. There's a bunch of other certs out there but GIA's the most trustworthy I was told.

edit: realized this thread was from years ago, OP's probably found one by now lol. Anyway, above advice could be useful for others looking to buy a ring

Bluenile takes care of all costs. The final price you pay at checkout is final, you don't pay a cent more.

Edit* at least in my experience and understanding of their practices

Just curious about Bluenile. Is this basically the best price for the Average Joe in Canada?

I didn't shop around too much, as a family friend is a diamond dealer. I believe I scored a deal looking at Blue Nile.

Bluenile or JamesAllen from what I've seen.

Bump - anyone have any other recommendations?

yep

I got it the next day.

went to spence and got fed enough bullshit to avoid any other retail jewellers.

Proposed on Saturday, and I'm engaged now!

Spent nearly a month before finally purchasing on James Allen - would recommend hands down. Every single piece of inventory has 20x magnification to see if they're eye-clean, selection is huge, and customer service is incredible. The 24/7 online chat is extremely helpful, and they're actual people who care about their job, not some guy in a call center in the middle of buttfuck.

They offer $100 (USD) off any first purchase over $1K, all their diamonds are graded, the packaging is phenomenal, free engraving, very fast shipping, all around just an excellent experience. Shipped around 6 days after placing order, received it 1.5 days after shipping.

I guess the only thing is that taxes/brokerage fees are paid to fedex over the phone, but that's about the only "inconvenience."

It also helps to know her ring size before ordering, to avoid sending it back for resizing, etc.

^congrats!

Anyone on here or their friends/family dealt with Brilliant Earth? Looking at buying a cultured diamond ring, and the reviews online all seem to be pretty good. They offer free shipping to Canada and 30 day free resizing.

Seems that James Allen only offers mined diamonds?

I had a choice of 3.00 Carat and 2.7 Carat. I went totally off board and dropped to a 2.00 Carat

You have to look at the difference in person and see what you and or her wants out of the diamond. I involved my fiance in the process and the ring turned out beautiful and all the girls are jocking on her nob.

Little tips I got from shopping around. All the girls want D color but D E F you can't tell the difference with the naked eye and different lighting scenerios. Each color jump is about 10% in price.

Flaws even up ti Si2 and Si1 you can't see the flaws with naked eye. each letter jump is about 20% upgrade in price.

Most important thing is CUT if you want your diamond to sparkle that is the KEY.

And for fuck sakes go to the store and take a look. Each diamond is different De Beers even sells a J color Si2 for 2 carat for almost 40k, purely for its cut.

Also diamond is 1 thing, the setting choice is really important. This is why i decided to involve the fiance when choosing, her setting cost more than most peoples engagement diamonds.

End result the price of the 2 carat costed similar to the 2.7 carat. chose the smaller diamond because it was a better diamond to the eye and she can't walk around everyday with a gigantic rock on her hand.