Comparing various online jewelers

[mikester]

I am new to this ring gig and my head is spinning a little bit. In the beginning I just looked at the website Blue Nile. Then I gradually heard about the online sites of James Allen, Pearlmans Jewelers, and Whiteflash.

Their websites are slightly more flashy than Blue Nile but I am not really sure if one has "better" diamonds than another, or better settings, per se. The settings look pretty similar, and with similar prices, so - how come some people choose one online jeweler over another? Thoughts, thanks!

 

[Ellen]

Hi Mike,

Some jewelers give more info, and when buying sight unseen, that''s important, and cetainly played a part in who I bought from.
You want all the specs, IS images, Sarins, etc. They all work to give you the best picture of your stone.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I have purchased diamonds from both WhiteFlash and Good Old Gold. They both specialize in fine quality diamonds. I felt that they had the best selection of in-house diamonds to choose from, and they definitely provided the most information (pictures, idealscope images, and other tests) of all the vendors. I also felt the prices were better than some other vendors. I do like Pearlman''s for their excellent selection of designer settings, but I''d try to find a setting from the place you get the diamond from, if possible, just to make life easier!

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 1/24/2007 5:36:20 PM
Author: Ellen
Hi Mike,


Some jewelers give more info, and when buying sight unseen, that's important, and cetainly played a part in who I bought from.

You want all the specs, IS images, Sarins, etc. They all work to give you the best picture of your stone.

ditto. also, many settings may *look* the same but how they are made and the quality can still be very different and vary from vendors and designs.

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 1/24/2007 5:39:27 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
I have purchased diamonds from both WhiteFlash and Good Old Gold. They both specialize in fine quality diamonds. I felt that they had the best selection of in-house diamonds to choose from, and they definitely provided the most information (pictures, idealscope images, and other tests) of all the vendors. I also felt the prices were better than some other vendors. I do like Pearlman''s for their excellent selection of designer settings, but I''d try to find a setting from the place you get the diamond from, if possible, just to make life easier!

I agree with this too. I did however get my AGS0 stone from Pearlmans so there isn''t any reason you couldn''t find a quality stone from him as well. He just doesn''t list all of his stones on his site like the other vendors do.

 

[diamondsRforever]

maybe this will help, one of the PS members did a vendor comparison

here is the link