If you're curious about buying an engagement ring, then first: Congratulations on being in love. We're happy for you. Now, on to the important stuff. If you like to save lots of money (seriously, as much as 50%) and find old fashioned customer service — i.e. face-to-face interactions — to be slightly grating (we see you, millennials), you might want to buy an engagement ring online.
Here's how to do that without accidentally wiring your money to a scam artist or buying a hunk of cubic zirconia instead of an actual diamond ring.
SEE ALSO: Go inside America's largest diamond factory, which is leading a revolution in the jewelry industry
Go in with a game plan.
If you think all engagement rings look the same in real life, try figuring out what separates one from another on a computer screen. It's hard. It's going to put you to sleep faster than Law & Order played at a low, almost muted volume. Combat this by doing some field work in advance. Determining your budget is your first step. Then, from there, you want to know a little bit about the type of ring you’re looking for. If you're going for a traditional solitaire, the weight and cut of the diamond is a good place to start. If not, what the hell are you looking for?
Make a decision between a gold or silver setting while you're at it — or rose gold, which is what all the kids are doing these days.
When in doubt, go to the trusted sources.
Blue Nile and James Allen are two trusted e-commerce sites for serious engagement rings while out-of-country e-commerce sites and independent seller platforms like eBay and Etsy can be trickier to navigate. Bottom line: Sites that sell rings with a lifetime warranty, offer free, insured shipping and returns, have 24/7 customer service, and will refund your money in full when you return something are going to be a safer bet. If the site has at least some of those services, you're in much better shape than going with one that has none.
Always have the ring independently appraised.
Once you buy the ring, you should have it appraised by an independent jeweler (within your return window) to make sure what you bought is exactly as advertised — bring the paperwork that came with the ring. This is also needed if you want to get the ring insured, which you should do if you spent some serious money on it.
Know that the grading report you may have received on the diamond is not the same as an appraisal. The grading report assesses the value and qualities of the diamond, where the appraisal covers the whole ring.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider