Your experiences with Blue Nile jewelry?

[tailes151]

Hey all. I've been on the hunt for an engagement ring recently and remember seeing BlueNile recommended more than once.

After looking at the prices of their diamonds and comparing them at some B&M places I'm seeing mark-ups of over 100%. Have any of you had experiences with diamond purchases from this location? I even had one jeweler tell me the prices I had looked up were better than he could purchase direct.

Thanks for all the help. Any and all comments welcome.

Sorry, no pics. /ban... I know, I know.

 

[thegimp03]

No personal experience myself, but a friend of mine bought his wife's engagement ring from BlueNile a few years ago and his experience was great and had no issues.

 

[Cuda1447]

I purchased my wife's engagement ring from it. Great experience and an excellent diamond.

 

[jaha2000]

I purchased from Blue nile from my wife 2 years ago. Great diamond, experience and good value for the money.

 

[Aharami]

nothing but good things to say about BN here. The eng ring is beautiful, and when I realized that I ordered a size too big, I had no problems sending it back to get it resized.

 

[JoPh]

i bought earrings 2 years ago. very smooth transaction.

 

[Sid59]

I bought her engagement ring through Blue Nile from a friend's recommendation. The ability to customize is awesome. When it came to ordering, someone from CS called to verify my order (at my request) and send me the paperwork for a wire transfer.

Last year, I bought a pair of earrings and google checkout had a promo with them. Called up CS to cancel my order and replace it. Easy stuff.

 

[monkey333]

Bought my wife's eng ring there,great experience. When we take to jewelers they are impressed with the quality of stone...

 

[QueBert]

hummm not a single "diamonds are stupid and a waste of money" post yet from a dude who has the latest Nvidia cards SLI'ed. I'm impressed

 

[Slew Foot]

Bought a diamond from them a few years ago, very good service.

 

[tailes151]

Replies sound really positive so far. Guess I may have to consider them more strongly.

Thanks!

 

[Wreckem]

Buying retail will have huge markups. They have significant overhead when compared to online companies. Markups can be as high as 500% in retail stores, in most cases its atleast a 100%. In retail don't get sucked into the line "if you buy today we will cut you a deal." It's not.

If buying online I strongly encourage you to go with a super ideal cut diamond, such as, blue nile signature cut, whiteflash a cut above, brian gavin signature cut, james allen true hearts, et. Comparable retail brands such as Solsafera and Hearts on Fire(as well as Leo, Peerless etc) are significantly more expensive for absolutely no difference in quality(ie: you are buying a brand name).

The reason I say go with a super ideal cut diamond is because its hard to tell a diamonds quality by its numbers so purchasing online sight unseen is hard to do if you aren't going with a super ideal cut. If you buy a super ideal cut you will end up with a fantastic diamond no matter what.

I would highly suggest looking at www.whiteflash.com and www.briangavindiamonds.com in addition to Blue Nile and James Allen. Whiteflash and Brian Gavin are HIGHLY reputable and have very very few negative reviews. Another good place to look at is www.goodoldgold.com but their website is not as easy to navigate as the rest.

Here is a general diamond information site that may help in making a decision. www.pricescope.com

One final thing I will mention is, diamond prices have been going up a lot this year. So far this year prices have gone up 20-25%. 10% of that spike came during two weeks in March. Prices are expected to continue to rise as demand for diamonds in India and China keeps going up(around 50% of DeBeers siteholders, ie: the people DeBeers sell rough diamonds to, will be based out of India starting in 2013). Still alot cheaper than prices in the 1980s, even without taking into account for inflation.

 

[Kyle]

bought some earings a few years ago- very positive experience

 

[Mo0o]

Echoing all the positive reviews here. No problems and they have a good exchange policy if you dont like what you get.

 

[dmoney1980]

I purchased a diamond for my wife's engagement ring. Got a great deal, much better than going to some mall jewelry shop where they have a 500% markup on diamonds. Diamond was GIA graded and the ring ended up being appraised at 40% more than what I paid.

 

[HomerSapien]

I bought the engagement ring from them and the wedding band. After the first kiddo, the rings needed to be resized. 4 years after the initial purchase, they resized them for free. Customer service has been spectacular with other purchases from them.

 

[amdskip]

Purchased both engagement ring and earrings from them and couldn't be happier.