The Finest Engagement Ring Brands
Choosing an engagement ring is a significant milestone in one’s life journey, and finding the perfect brand can make this experience even more memorable. Some brands stand out among the…
Shane Co Review: These pages may reference products from companies that help to support PriceScope.
Shane Co Review
As an established, family-run company in the diamond jewelry industry, Shane Co has a solid reputation. A sleek branding strategy, catchy radio ads by founder Tom Shane, and an overall ‘luxury’ feel have helped them continue to update their business model as trends evolve.
In the ever-competitive diamond market, does Shane Co and their expensive diamonds still have a place, or have they outlived their appeal?
1. What is Shane Co’s story?
Shane Company is a well-known family jeweler that has been operating for over forty years. The family-run jewelry store first opened in the 1920s, and they have come a long way to growing their business and becoming one of the largest privately-owned chain stores in the US.
Shane Company has since expanded with 20 stores currently providing services in 13 states. Pitching themselves as “committed to quality, value, and customer service, as well as offering customers a unique educational opportunity”, the brand’s vision is to ensure that their customers have enough knowledge about their jewelry options to make truly informed purchasing decisions.
Although Shane Co has a lot of stores across the country, they seem dedicated to maintaining their image as a family-run company, with smiley photos of their CEO and a promise to treat their customers like family.
2. What is most appealing about Shane Co?
Grading Authority
Both in-store and online, Shane Co offers a wide range of diamonds covering all the main shapes. It is, however, well known that quality is more important than quantity, and Shane Co’s diamonds do not always step up to the challenge.
Diamonds certified by Shane Co are evaluated by the GIA, (The Gemological Institute of America), AGS (American Gem Society), Gemological Science International (GSI), and most interestingly, ‘Shane Co Lab’. A store that pushes stones that they have certified is one to be wary of.
Diamonds of this type typically carry inflated gradings that do not accurately reflect the stone’s quality, allowing Shane Co to charge a higher price and make a profit. In essence, you will pay more for a lesser-quality stone that does not carry a respected, recognized certification.
While the store does have a small selection of GIA-certified diamonds, none of them were cut for light performance and are mediocre at best. Based on these diamonds, it is clear that cut quality is not something that they care about.
Buying a diamond should be easy with the right information, images, and certifications. Diamonds sold by our vetted vendors, Blue Nile, Whiteflash, Brilliant Earth and James Allen, are graded by top-tier laboratories. They also employ in-house gemologists to guarantee the accuracy of their diamonds.
Variety
They sell a variety of jewelry ranging from bridal jewelry to gemstone accessories. Currently, Shane Company has over 1000 different types of ring setting designs, and browsing their catalog is relatively simple. They have a wide selection of ring designs that are very similar to what you can find elsewhere, and their settings are relatively competitive.
As far as diamond selection goes, Shane Co has a pretty limited selection of roughly 10,000 diamonds, including some we recommend avoiding, especially those certified by themselves.
A larger collection does not matter most, but it greatly increases your chances of finding a diamond that meets your needs. Ultimately, making a better purchase depends on the quality of the inventory and the availability of tangible data. In this case, Shane Co is unsatisfactory.
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Ease of Use
In this new era of e-commerce and digital technology, having an online presence is a must for any business that wants to reach out to more customers. Shane Co’s website is fairly minimalist and offers easy navigation to different types of products you will typically expect from a big chain store.
When it comes to creating your ring, you have a lot of freedom. You can start with a diamond, emerald, sapphire, ruby, or a setting by choosing from a section on the website devoted to custom orders. A variety of stones and settings can then be mixed and matched to create the engagement ring of your dreams.
The ‘Budget Buddy’ tool is quite fun to experiment with, even if just to see diamond shapes on different settings and metals. It’s a nice way to give consumers an idea of what is possible and is super easy to use.
Here’s where it all falls apart. The Shane Co website does offer imaging for some loose diamonds, however, there is no additional light performance data to support the image, so you are only getting half of the story.
This is where Shane Company falls short. The screenshot below shows that there’s no consistency, with some listings having photos with poor lighting, whereas others only have a generic stock photo.
Further, Shane Co does not offer advanced search criteria for narrowing down options. Filtering out diamonds with or without fluorescence is not possible, nor is there an option to weed out diamonds with poorly proportioned table/depth ratios.
You only have to take a look at Whiteflash or James Allen to see the difference in caliber. They have outstanding imaging, even 360 views, videos and fantastic filtering to find exactly the diamond you desire.
The Selection
Despite Shane Co’s large selection of jewelry, there’s nothing really noteworthy about it. It’s not unpleasant or offensive in any way, just very run-of-the-mill and mediocre, especially compared to some of our other reviewed sites.
It seems they tend to veer heavily towards the ‘safe zone’. There isn’t much that stands out about them, but they’re well made.
The Shane Co collections will nevertheless provide traditional brides with a well-finished, classic ring. In terms of style and standard, it’s what you’d expect from an established jeweler, although the price isn’t.
Take a look at Astor by Blue Nile, Whiteflash A CUT ABOVE, and James Allen True Hearts – these premium vendors guarantee diamonds with superior cut quality and exquisite ring settings to suit every style.
The Experience
Shane Co is in every sense a traditional jewelry store. To remain competitive in today’s information age, retailers must modernize and digitalize.
As a result, Shane Company is slowly by surely reinventing itself and improving its e-commerce website. However, they still trail their competitors when it comes to technology adoption and customer service.
In terms of the bricks-and-mortar store, the staff tend to lean on the somewhat ‘salesy’ side and are firmly focused on product selling in contrast to customer education as their company ethos suggests.
Whilst there’s plenty of educational information on the brand’s website, in fact, there’s a comprehensive section dedicated purely to Education, in-store, the staff didn’t get the memo. As with other jewelry stores, Shane Co is not alone in this defect, but with uncertified diamond issues, you can’t rely on an honest answer from a Shane Co representative.
A comprehensive education section is also available on the site, which offers easy-to-digest materials covering topics such as Diamond Shape, the 4C’s: Cut, Color, Clarity, and Carat, as well as guides on setting types and metals. But back to what we mentioned previously, conveniently certification information is a little more hidden to easily find.
If you choose to buy, all packages are fully insured against loss or damage, at no additional cost to you. Shane Co. ships internationally, including to the United Kingdom, Canada, and Puerto Rico. International customers, however, are responsible for paying all duties and fees.
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3. What diamond and jewelry products does Shane Co offer?
Shane Co offers a decent variety of supplementary items that can complement your engagement. They’re fully equipped with all the adornments one would expect from a typical jeweler.
Here are some details about their general offering:
It is a fairly standard selection, as we mentioned earlier. Even so, it doesn’t hurt to get the basics right.
4. What sets Shane Co apart from others?
Free Lifetime Warranty: A policy that sets Shane Co apart from many other jewelers is that resizing is free for the lifetime of the item instead of charging a modest fee. Moreover, they offer a free lost stone replacement if a diamond is accidentally dropped out of its setting.
For this “lifetime” warranty to remain active, you need to visit a Shane Co store every six months. A little bit of a pain, but definitely worth it if you’re already paying a premium for a diamond from them.
Family Business Values and Work Culture: As the fourth generation to run the company, Rordan Shane is widely considered a hands-on leader who prioritizes relationships with his team and customers.
As the company’s cultural champion, he encourages an open-door work environment which has resulted in continual growth. Shane Co. stands out from its competitors due to its people, culture, and values, according to Jordan.
In the sometimes corrupt world of diamonds, it’s refreshing to purchase vendors that prioritize their staff.
To learn more about the many diamonds we have available online and in stock, visit our large collection of loose diamonds, which contains all the information you need to be confident in your purchase.
5. What does Shane Co’s packaging look like?
It would be reasonable to assume that a premium price would be accompanied by beautiful packaging. However, even with those markups, Shane Co’s packaging falls flat.
Its octagonal shape is its most interesting feature, and it fits quite snugly in your hand. There are a couple of standard color options; silver, white and a satiny black.
While we weren’t sure what we expected, we think it just lacks the wow factor. No ornate ribbon, or light inside. An ordinary ring box.
If you’re willing to fork out the extortionate price, you might as well purchase from Tiffany’s instead – at least you’ll get a well-known brand name and a pretty box too.
6. Are you the ideal Shane Co customer?
In addition to offering a wide range of jewelry products, Shane Co. has a rich history in the jewelry industry. There’s no way around it; Shane Co diamonds are overpriced. For an average to low-quality diamond, you’ll likely pay a huge premium, whether you shop online or in one of their stores.
It’s unfortunate that there’s nothing unique about this company that justifies the huge price hike. Spend your money at Tiffany & Co. if you’re OK with swallowing a premium like this.
However, if purchasing from a store that continues to maintain a welcoming, family-first front is important to you; the price might not always be a factor for you. Regardless of marketing tactics, we always prioritize value, and you can’t disguise poor value for money with a marketing strategy.
For us, it all ultimately falls down for Shane Co with the education. If you do not make the buyer aware of how important certification is, it is impossible to promise them an educational opportunity. In the diamond business, we all have an element of accountability to ensure consumers have access to the insights they need to make informed buying decisions.
You can explore diamond education extensively with PriceScope before you purchase one. When you have a resource like ours on hand, you’re more informed and confident.
At a fraction of the cost with significantly better imaging and education, our vetted vendors like Whiteflash, Blue Nile, and James Allen offer high-quality diamonds with all the bells, whistles and certifications you would need.
Get fast answers to any question: Ask our community of unbiased independent helpers or use our diamond search to find your ideal diamond.
The information in this review is current, to the best of our knowledge, as of July, 2022.
