Blue Nile Review
Blue Nile is the largest online retailer of diamonds and engagement rings, and for good reason! They have an enormous selection (81,783 diamonds at the time of this writing!), have won numerous awards, and has lower prices than brick-and-mortar stores.
Here are some of the awards they have won:
- “Best E-Tailer” from Kiplinger’s
- “Forbes Favorite” online jeweler
- “Circle of Excellence Platinum Award” from BizRate.com
They have also received an A+ rating from the BBB, a 4.5 out of 5 stars at iVouch, and an “Outstanding” rating at Bizrate.
What makes them good?
- Like I stated above, they have a huge selection of diamonds.
- They have diamond certificates for all of their diamonds.
- They don’t carry any “junk” quality diamonds.
- They have some beautiful engagement ring settings.
Looking for an engagement ring? They are an excellent place to purchase an engagement ring – check out their Top Ten Engagement Rings.
Click here to shop for your engagement ring or diamond ring at Blue Nile.
The Engagement Ring Guide Is Up!
Finally the engagement ring buying guide is done! I’ve been working on this for a while now, and I finally finished it. I think it’s a pretty good, comprehensive guide and it should answer most of the questions that someone might have.
Feedback is welcome! Please leave a comment if you have any questions or feedback about the guide.
Check it out:
How to Buy Diamond Ring – GIA Diamond Certificates
A diamond certificate, or a Diamond Grading Report, tells you more detailed information about a diamond’s unique attributes. This information is pretty important when you’re buying a diamond ring. You can usually find on the website when you choose a diamond for your ring.
There are a couple different diamond certifications, including GIA, AGS, IGI, and EGL. In this post, I will tell you what you need to know about the GIA certification, especially for when you buy diamond rings.
GIA stands for Gemological Institute Of America. They inspect diamonds and issue a Diamond Grading Report that gives an unbiased report about the diamond’s quality.
GIA reports give detailed information about the diamond’s:
- Weight in carats
- Measurements – the length, width, and depth of the diamond.
- Color – a scale from D-Z. D is the most colorless, and Z is the least colorless. The closer to D, the better.
- Fluorescence – The diamond’s fluorescence color when exposed to UV light, if any.
- Proportions
- Depth percentage
- Table percentage
- Clarity – the clarity grade (look back at my 4 C’s article for more information)
- Cut – the cut grade (again, look at the 4 C’s article for more info)
- Polish – a grade of the polish of the diamond’s finish
- Symmetry – a grade of the symmetry of the diamond’s finish
Here’s a sample GIA report:
Sample GIA report (click for larger image)
So, when you buy diamond rings, make sure you look at the Diamond Grading Report. It will give you additional information about the diamond’s quality, which you will want to know. Of course, when you buy a diamond ring online, this is invaluable information because you can’t see the diamond in person.
I will go over the IGI certification next. Look out for it!
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