Scribblette
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2008
- Messages
- 15
Hi all. I'm looking to buy a ring here in Australia for my fiancee to make it official. I'm in Adelaide, SA, but will likely be in Melbourne come September.
Going anywhere else isn't an option (cost).
Buying online seems not much of an option either - the 30 day guarantees of all these sites based overseas aren't reassuring when it can take anywhere up to that long before the item actually passes through customs, let alone be appraised, insured and returned within that time frame. [Edited - there are sites that show actual pictures of the diamonds, too, such as JamesAllen.]
I've been browsing the site and researching everything I can on diamonds and engagement rings online. Gone through many of the FAQs on here, to the point of me no longer retaining much of what I read for there being too darn much of it!
Does anyone have any suggestions of where it'd be best to buy an engagement ring or diamond down under? Know any good, trustworthy wholesalers?
My budget is much lower than most of what I've seen on here - the absolute tops I can go (and the highest she'll let me) would be about $1,800 USD, and I'm hoping for something closer to $900 USD.
I've gone to various stores around Adelaide, and they don't match up whatsoever with the prices suggested by sites like UnionDiamond (900-1800 range) and JamesAllen.com. I was shown diamonds ranging from 25 points to 36 points on plain bands which sold for as much as diamonds up to 81 points in size on which were sold for about as much as this 81 point diamond on the UD site. :/
And that's after their supposed discount - he offered me 15% off on the initial ask. I don't know how much lower I'm supposed to push for.
Any advice would be welcome.
Going anywhere else isn't an option (cost).
Buying online seems not much of an option either - the 30 day guarantees of all these sites based overseas aren't reassuring when it can take anywhere up to that long before the item actually passes through customs, let alone be appraised, insured and returned within that time frame. [Edited - there are sites that show actual pictures of the diamonds, too, such as JamesAllen.]
I've been browsing the site and researching everything I can on diamonds and engagement rings online. Gone through many of the FAQs on here, to the point of me no longer retaining much of what I read for there being too darn much of it!
Does anyone have any suggestions of where it'd be best to buy an engagement ring or diamond down under? Know any good, trustworthy wholesalers?
My budget is much lower than most of what I've seen on here - the absolute tops I can go (and the highest she'll let me) would be about $1,800 USD, and I'm hoping for something closer to $900 USD.
I've gone to various stores around Adelaide, and they don't match up whatsoever with the prices suggested by sites like UnionDiamond (900-1800 range) and JamesAllen.com. I was shown diamonds ranging from 25 points to 36 points on plain bands which sold for as much as diamonds up to 81 points in size on which were sold for about as much as this 81 point diamond on the UD site. :/
And that's after their supposed discount - he offered me 15% off on the initial ask. I don't know how much lower I'm supposed to push for.
Any advice would be welcome.