Save money: buy an engagement ring online!
By glblguy
As many of you that have read this blog for a while know, November of 2006 was a devastating month for my family and I. For the first time in our lives, we visited a pawn shop and sold many of the items we valued, including my most of my wife’s jewelry, my banjo that she had purchased me for our anniversary a few years earlier, our video camera, and my wife’s first digital SLR camera I purchased for her as a gift to get her started in photography. Selling these items taught us a valuable lesson that some things are far more valuable than the stuff we have, but it was hard to do, and a very low point in our life. It’s amazing how when faced with not being able to pay your mortgage or put food on the table how quickly your priorities can change.
The real tragedy came as we realized once we were home that my wife had accidentally placed her engagement ring in with the jewelry we had pawned! She was heart broken and completely devastated. Just talking about it this weekend brought tears to her eyes.
The first ring
See, when we got married I was still in college, poor as any other college student but taking a full class load and working 30-40 hours a week. I saved everything I could to buy her that $900.00 ring. It was my entire savings at the time, and while not a big ring, it was beautiful. I went back to the pawn shop to try to get it back, but it had already sold (or at least so he said). Since then, my wife has been wearing only her wedding band for over a year now. One of the main reasons I decided to monetize this blog last year was to begin saving some portion of my proceeds towards getting her a new engagement ring someday.
I am happy to let you know that on Sunday that someday came. We purchased her a new engagement ring. Nothing crazy, nothing to elaborate, but what we hope will be a beautiful ring. While it won’t replace the original I gave her more than 15 years ago, it will be something she can be proud of, and something she can give to our daughter one day. That is really what has been so upsetting to my wife is that she had planned to give the first ring to our daughter, and now couldn’t.
Amazon.com sells rings?
You probably noticed I said “what we hope will be a beautiful ring“. I say that because we have purchased it, but haven’t received it yet. We bought the ring from Amazon.com. I had read about this from a few other bloggers sometime back, but in the past few months have really researched it and did a little price comparing. We actually visited one more jewelry store in our area yesterday afternoon before making the final purchase decision and found that in generally, by purchasing the ring through Amazon.com, we would save anywhere from $500-$1,000 depending on the size and quality of the diamond we choose.
The ring we finalized on cost $1,500. The diamond is a .54 carat, round, very good cut, F color, VS2 clarity, with a 14k Yellow Gold 3.5mm ring setting. This same exact ring at the local jewelry store would have priced at around $2,500 excluding tax. We can’t wait to see it, as it should be beautiful.
But he’s in debt!
Now, for those of you gasping right now and thinking he’s in debt how in the world can he buy a diamond ring! Let me explain. We filed our taxes about a month ago and expected a very minor return if any at all. That was intentional; as I had adjusted my withholdings to the maximum amount without having to file special paperwork (remember I have 6 kids). I also sold about $6,000 in stock last year and had to pay capital gains tax. So with all of that factored in, we expected a total return of maybe $100.00 or so if that. Surprisingly, we received right at $2000.00, mostly due to a state refund. My wife and I discussed the unexpected windfall, and decided since it wasn’t planned, we would use it to buy the ring she had been so patiently waiting to replace and would continue to save my blogging income to continue to pay against our debt. I’m sure some of you may not agree, but given what the emotional roller coaster my wife and I have been on for the past year and a half, and considering how emotionally important the ring she accidentally gave up was to her, she deserved a new ring. She is an amazing person, always giving and seldom ever asking for anything in return.
The Amazon Experience
I found the shopping and research experience on Amazon to be excellent. They have a very simple 3 step process for purchasing your ring called Create your own ring. You first select the diamond, then the setting, then view and pay for your ring.
The selection process is really slick. Here’s a screen shot of the diamond selection screen (click on the thumbnail for the full size screen):
The screen allows you to use the slider controls to narrow down the diamond you are interested in based on Shape, Price, Carat, Cut, Color, and Clarity (Carat, Cut, Color and Clarity are commonly referred to as the 4 Cs). The Amazon screen also has complete help and definitions for all of the terms and dynamically shows you the number of diamonds available based on the criteria you have specified. For us, price, color and clarity were the primary drivers, so I adjusted the screen appropriately and ended up with more than 200 diamonds to choose from.
Once you click on “See results”, you are the presented with a screen that shows a summary of all of the available diamonds (click on the thumbnail for the full size screen):
This screen allows you to view all of the various diamonds within the ranges you specified, and allows you to sort by the various selections. We sorted from lowest to highest to find the best diamond for the money. One of the nicest features on this screen is the ability to compare up to 20 diamonds. Here is a sample screen shot of the comparison screen (click on the thumbnail for the full size screen):
As you can see, the comparison screen provides all of the detail for each selected diamond lined up side by side for easy comparison and selection. This made the whole process much easier as you could see exactly what was driving the various price differences.
Once you’ve selected your diamond, you are then presented with a number of setting options based on your precious metal preference and style. We went with a 14k yellow gold solitaire band. One of the advantages of going with a yellow gold setting is that you can go with a lower than F grade color, as the yellow from the gold is visible in the diamond anyway hiding the color that is in the diamond. This is a great way to save some money or get a larger diamond for the same money. I elected to stay with the F color though, as I wanted to leave the option open for a difference setting down the road.
Once the setting is selected, you are presented with an image of the ring with the size stone you selected so you can visualize what the final ring will look like along with standard Amazon.com order and payment options. The ring arrives in 3-5 days using standard shipping (only $6.99).
Impatiently waiting
Now we are just waiting. She is very excited as she’s been waiting for a long time. I am excited an anxious at the same time as while I trust Amazon.com, I’ll feel much better once I see that we get what we were told we would get. Once we receive it, we intend to take it out and get in appraised both for insurance purposes and to validate the quality and price savings we received by purchasing online.
I’ll write up a post later this week or early next week once we receive the ring and get it appraised to let you know how things turned out for us. So far though, I would highly recommend that you consider purchasing an engagement ring (or jewelry in general) from Amazon.com. The experience was simple, easy and provided us with considerable savings over the local jewelry store. I am not concerned about Amazon.com’s customer service, as my experience in the past with them has been excellent.
Ever buy an engagement ring or jewelry in general online? How was your experience? Share your perspective or story, add a comment!
February 25th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Good on ya!!! You guys definitely need to celebrate your life together and buying something like this, with an extra unaccounted for amount, is the perfect way.
You waited and God blessed… enjoy your blessing.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
This is a touching story! Rings are expensive, for sure, and it sounds like you’ve found a good way to cut the cost a little. Keep us posted!
Lisa
February 25th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
I bought mine through Blue Nile. It was a great experience. I felt like I got a great deal and enjoyed not having to deal with the typical brick and morter jewelry salesmen. My wife loved it and we ended up buying our wedding bands through them as well. Bling, bling! Great read.
February 25th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Thanks for sharing your honest story. I think it teaches us that in life, material things are not always eternal. Spend on experiences and save money on the material things – is how I try to live my life.
-Raymond
February 25th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Good decision! This is obviously something that is very important to your wife, and sometimes it’s worth it to take a detour on the debt repayment, especially when the money is unexpected.
I’ve never bought jewelry online. We have a local coin and jewelry shop that sells very reasonably priced stuff, plus our friend works there, so we always get a good deal.
February 25th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
I understand. Certain objects are extremely significant. And if it means that much to your wife and you’ve gotten the money, it makes sense to me.
February 25th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Pay off debt but have sad wife = bad
Delay paying debt with happy wife = good
I think what you did was show your wife that her happiness was more important to you than reaching your goal of debt reduction. That’s a sign of an understanding husband. Nothing, NOTHING is more important that the relationship we have with our spouse in my opinion.
You showed her that you can be trusted to keep her happiness a high priority.
Great post, though I’m DONE with jewelry purchases until the 25th anniversary (just a few years away).
February 25th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I want to start out by saying that I have been a lurker on the PF blogs for a while. In fact, it’s people like yourself that encouraged me to take a good look in the mirror and realize that it’s now or never for me and mine. I have been reading some excellent blogs and all of you are smart and encouraging people.
Well done on creating such an interesting, readworthy blog. The honesty that you and your wife seem to show for each other is something I aspire to. That very same thing is now, in fact, my number one priority wrt my partner in life and undoing some of the damage I have created. For some reason, it has become incredibly important to me to stop the destruction and turn it around. I hope the new engagement ring is a beautiful one :)
February 25th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
I think it’s wonderful that you bought your wife a new engagement ring. Some things are worth a delay in paying off debt simply because of their meaning and personal value. They’re priceless. :)
February 25th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
It is wonderful that eventhough life is not good to our side and sometime it has drag us down to our lowest point but the most important things is we should not give up.
In time to come and with planning we will get back what we has loss and better. Getting your wife a new diamond ring is a wonderful things you have done regardless of the price.
Regards
Michael Liew
February 25th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Awesome! You definitely made the right decision here. Not everything in life can or should be measured with dollar signs. Your relationship with your spouse is worth so much more than delaying debt payments. As the saying goes – “if mamma ain’t happy, ain’t no one happy!” ;)
February 25th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Thanks everyone, once again I really appreciate the support. Honestly, I can’t wait for it to come in. I think I am probably more excited about her getting it than she is!
February 25th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
I am glad you were able to replace the ring :) I would love to sell my two diamond rings but I feel weird going to a pawn shop. Did they give you good prices?
February 25th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
@Kim – No, don’t sell your stuff to a pawn shop, they will give you next to nothing. Better to sell them on eBay. At the time, we thought we needed some quick cash, turned out we didn’t which makes the whole situation even worse…
February 25th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Kim,
You might also be able to list your rings online…perhaps through half.com. Of course, you’d have to find people specifically interested in that cut. Emphasize it could be resized. And be careful to get the money…since I’m sure a diamond brings out the shady people.
February 26th, 2008 at 4:10 am
I am so happy for you.
Whilst the replacement may not be “the ring”, I am sure your wife will never ever forget this incident, and will treasure the new ring even more.
Thanks for spreading this good cheer!
Best regards
February 26th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Sounds like a wise decision.
For what it’s worth, I bought my wife’s engagement ring on BlueNile. Great experience, great value and a great ring. The only hassle was the shipping, since most shipping companies insist on a signature. I had to go pick it up from the FedEx shipping office, and was worried I would be late and not have a ring to propose with. But it worked out.
Good call buying online. I think it’s the best way to go.
February 26th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Nice… we bought all of our rings (engagement and two wedding bands) on BlueNile.com. We had a fantastic experience!
February 26th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
when mamma’s happy, everybody’s happy
February 28th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
This is a great story. I just purchased a ring for myself online from Etsy, it was my birthday present to myself, paid with cash Christmas gifts from relatives and saved money. It’s truly beautiful, probably the nicest jewelry I own. It’s unique and I bought it direct from the craftsperson, cutting out the store mark up, I’d highly recommend it.