I live in Phoenix, AZ. I'm 35, my soon to be fiance is 32. I have approx 3k to spend, although I would like it to be around 2k :). I want to get her a half-carat to full carat diamond with a somewhat simple but elegant band. Nothing too crazy. I have priced Shane-Co and a couple others but I was hoping to see if anyone else had any good suggestions. Thanks!
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Shane Co was the cheapest and best quality for us. That free lifetime warranty rocks.
Zales sucks.
Morgans sucks.
Kays is eh.
Private jewelers and importers are best.
ADD: Dude, my 1st engagement ring from Zales not only fell apart multiple times, but was appraised for only half as much as I paid. And I still got it 50% off!!! They have low quality, overpriced crap.
No suggestion on locations, but I strongly, strongly suggest you buy an engagement/wedding ring set. Don’t buy them separately – you might end up with rings of different thicknesses that pinch the skin between them. A set will also look better.
Worry more about the overall look of the ring than about specifics like size of the diamond. Stay away from craigslist and ebay and anyone who significantly undercuts the going rate – cheap sellers aren’t “cutting out the middleman and passing on the savings”, they’re probably cheating.
I hate to sound terribly cheap but: the best place is a pawn shop. Seriously. They have people bringing in jewelery and other stuff all the time. It is just like a used car. It has already taken the “depreciation hit”. You will save tons of money and get a heck of a ring too. Check it out.
try bluenile.com
I wish we would have looked there first. Also, read into the color clarity and cut. And make sure you go to a jewlery store. Not Penny’s or Sears. Go somewhere where people know what they are selling. Small town jewelers are usually good too. Go to a couple places and look at the rings under a microscope there. You will see a lot about how the clarity and color can effect it. I learned the hard way bigger isn’t always better. the quailty is. All the feathering in a bad diamond can actually make it break if hit hard enough.
ADD and the girl below me is right! I just got my new ring from Zales and it is beautiful.
Jared’s is very expensive and the people there are stuffy. They’re way overbearing and try to talk you into things and when you don’t buy it they get pretty rude. We ended up buying my rings at JCPenney. It was $1200 total for the wedding ring and engagement ring. They also have a lifetime warranty, I think it was like $40.
my fiance got my engagement ring on ebay. If your on a budget. Its almost a full carat and white gold (total of 5 diamonds) and priced around $400. Obviously you dont get a warranty and wont b the original owner but its real.
Zales does NOT suck, it’s awesome! you should go there!
Why don’t you go online shopping for your engagement rings? There are a lot of website which offers good quality engagement rings in affordable prices.Try to visit this one: http://www.rokstok.com/…there, you can also design your own engagement ring if you want.
A quality 1/2 carat with 3,000 is doable. A quality full carat is not.
Might I suggest you look at http://www.bluenile.com? You can get an idea of prices there.
Ashfroddd store has some awesome collection. IF i were you i would gift something unique….
Here is a list of best stores to buy engagement rings
http://www.answerfinder.info/2009/03/where-to-buy-jewlery-online.html
Try Here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fhomepage.html&tag=tubeblog-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325
Or try searching ebay
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?type=1&campid=5336006644&toolid=10001&customid=
Good Luck
I bought a beautiful ring from; Designer Jewelry by Aya Azrielant at http://www.ayaonline.com/ You should try they have a great selection for affordable prices and free shipping over $75.00 orders.
Actually, $2,000 is more than enough for a very nice engagement ring in the size you described. I looked at a diamond search engine and plugged in what you said ($2,000 and between .5 and 1 full carat–I assumed round shape, and to be on the “safe side” I set a minimum of G color, very good cut grade, and VS2 quality grade). Almost 5,000 diamonds popped up. I used Diamond Price Guru’s search engine, but there are others out there, too. These diamond search engines check the inventory at a dozen different retailers, so you can compare the diamonds side-by-side. (This includes some of the retailers people mentioned in the other answers, by the way.)
And after you find the diamond you like, click on it, and the link takes you to the retailer’s store. Almost all of them have settings like you described–simple but elegant is always in style.
I hope this helps.
Check out Costco. Even if you aren’t a member, it would be worth the $50 membership for one year. Their diamonds are very good quality, you can see them in person, and they “guarantee that all diamonds supplied by Costco Wholesale are as follows: Clarity to be “VS2″ or better and color to be “I” or better as outlined on the industry grading guide.” Also, I have heard of people getting their Costco rings appraised at almost double what they paid. Take a look at a couple that I just found on their website…
1. $2500, 1.10 ctw – http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11313279&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|108|28447|56574&N=4017520&Mo=50&pos=0&No=4&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=56574&Ns=P_Price|0||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC10573-Cat28447&topnav=
2. $2500, 1.23 ctw – http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11273128&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|108|28447|56574&N=4017520&Mo=50&pos=0&No=5&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=56574&Ns=P_Price|0||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC10573-Cat28447&topnav=
3. $3000, .98 ctw – http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11270287&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|108|28447|56574&N=4017520&Mo=50&pos=0&No=8&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=56574&Ns=P_Price|0||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC10573-Cat28447&topnav=
Or something more simple…
4. $2700, .70 ct, VS2 Clarity, I Color, Platinum – http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11294844&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|108|28447|56574&N=4017520&Mo=50&pos=0&No=6&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=56574&Ns=P_Price|0||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC10573-Cat28447&topnav=#
Good luck!
Mine came from http://www.bluenile.com
Lately I’ve been seeing the best deals at http://www.adiamor.com
also I like http://www.brilliance.com
There is quite a range there 1/2 ct is .45-.58
5/8th’s is .59-.68
3/4 is .69-.82
7/8ths is .83-.94
1 ct is .95-1.05
A quality 3/4 carat is doable for around 2000
adiamor
6 princesses, all .69-.74 ct, all premium cut, colorless E-G, VS1-2 and 1731-1883 loose (1901-2053 total cost with setting in gold) In platinum total cost (2361-2513)
D-8308608
D-8294307
D-8294288
D-8255969
D-8241891
D-8141877
Also a radiant .71ct G/VS2
D-8291752
1817 + 170 = 1987 gold setting
platinum setting total cost 2447
and an asscher .71ct G/VS2
D-8305545
1903 + 170 = 2073 gold setting
platinum setting total cost 2533
All of these can be set in a trellis setting for 170 dollars
pear .74ct G/VS2
D-8296816
7.79×5.25×3.16
1973 (the least expensive setting for this one is 245) so 2218 in gold/platinum total cost-2603
round .71ct H/VS2
D-8237054
5.88×5.79×3.42
1936 + 170 = 2106 gold
platinum total cost 2566
round .69ct G/VS2
D-8282342
5.80×5.75×3.48
1797 + 170 = 1967 gold
platinum total cost 2427
the round trellis setting is also 170
Those were all white gold settings for platinum all the diamonds can be set in a trellis setting for 630, the pear in a cathedral for 675
much better than what costco can do, the color is better, its GIA, the cut is better, and taken into consideration the girdle, polish, symmetry, fluorescence, and length to width ratios costco is ripping people off terribly like most of the industry