BN worth it for a significant discount?

[ATLMikey]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum (first post yesterday) and in the last week, have been rethinking EVERYTHING I thought I *knew* about purchasing an engagement ring. One subject I haven't seen approached here is parlaying cashback sites for significant discounts. I'm not an affiliate, a shill, or anything and I've read the forum rules and think that this post doesn't break any. Also, it contains some information that I don't think has been discussed here that can be very beneficial to consumers.

I've been very impressed from browsing sites like GoG, WF, and JA. A week ago, I didn't even know these sites existed and am impressed by their selection, analysis tools, and the glowing service reviews from the forums. The only site I knew about before reading here was bn. While the prices seem comparable and people aren't *against* bn here, there seem to be several advantages to purchasing from the forum recommended sites with their trade-up policies and quality guarantees. since the prices seem basically, even, I'd def go for one of those vendors except that bn has a presence on several online shopping malls.

For example, if you were to enter bn through topcashback.com, you could earn 5.5% cashback which is a pretty nice discount. Even stronger is Chase Bank's "Ultimate Rewards" mall which offers 6 pts per $1 spent at bn. I travel quite a bit and, since these points can be traded at 1:1 for United miles, an $8500 purchase at bn would earn enough points for a RT ticket in coach to Europe.

Apologies in advance if this post is too off the topic of diamond valuation or somehow breaks the forum rules. I hope it is helpful information.

- Michael

 

[warheadwl]

I'm new to PS here too, so take what I have to say w/ a grain of salt.

If you click to JA via a PriceScope link, the JA site will show you an up-front pricescope discount (around 5% i think on the whole purchase price, not just the first $12500 like most rebate sites), and you don't have to worry about affiliate sites screwing up your rebate), and you can combine it w/ an additional bank wire/cash discount too (1.5% i think?).

If you call some of the vendors, they will give you a PS discount too.

 

[JulieN]

Perhaps it would be better to post the stones you are considering or about what you are looking for.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Do I understand you to mean that you have to use a credit card for the purchase to get those benefits? If so, then (aside from the PriceScope discount) it is partially counteracted by the fact that vendors such as Good Old Gold, WhiteFlash, etc. give you a lower price when you pay cash by wire than if you pay by credit card. It won't equal 5-6%, but it will provide some discount over a credit card price. The reason I haven't bought from Blue Nile is that I am particular about cut and just have to have magnified images of the stone and an idealscope image to feel confident in spending thousands of dollars on something I can't physically see. Plus, both GOG and WF offer better lifetime trade-in policies than Blue Nile.