Mr Vadon believed that diamonds were a commodity and that by learning as much about them as he would then be able to source them and sell them on. He chanced upon an online site called internetdiamonds. They formed a partnership and Vadon championed his idea around the venture capital network. The rest is, a very successful, history that continues to go from strength to strength. Blue Nile are known for signing exclusively agreements with several diamond wholesalers across the globe.
These agreements stipulate that the wholesalers cannot list their stones on any of the other online retail sites, thus giving Blue Nile exclusivity to these diamonds.
There are pros and cons to this as yes you are getting an exclusive stone but on the other hand you cannot compare the price Blue Nile are charging with any other retailer.
Every online retailer knows that their reputation is boosted instantly by being chosen as an outlet by specialist designers. Each renowned for their beautiful and unique bridal jewelry, finding all 3 in one place is quite something.
They each bring something different to the table in terms of design and elegance but all have one thing in common; inspired design skills when it comes to their settings. Verdict: unimpressed. There are generic pictures of, for example, a round diamond down the left hand side then you are told their carat, cut, color and clarity and choose one.
A great first impression. The homepage is clean, crisp and very visually pleasing. The diamonds positively dazzle from their top quality images and you cannot wait to dig deeper and see them up close. Click on the engagement ring tab and you get the customary selection. Just as I was beginning to relax and start to forgive Blue Nile they throw me another curve ball.
I wanted to see what the ring I was looking at looked like on a hand so I clicked on the image below. Did my diamond dazzle against the soft skin of a maidens hand? Nope, it looked pretty disappointing considering it was a drawing! If I need to return it I will. I would say that the diamond is decently well cut and has good light return. I was recommending Blue Nile to a friend today because we had such a great experience. We got our diamond about 11 years ago when we got engaged.
My husband knew more about diamonds. I was able to read about what each of the Cs meant and make a good decision. I think we spent a little over on a nice quality one carat diamond.
We did have it set outside the website. And when it was appraised, it appraise for more than twice the cost of the diamond. I love buying it on the website and I love seeing the map of the diamond and everything about the diamond.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Amazing website!! The good thing is that Blue Nile offers video listings that allow you to bypass all these as the videos are sufficient to determine eyecleanliness and brilliance if you know how to analyze them. Very bad experience!! I just had to cancel my order and wanted to give some feedback and explain why in case you find it helpful.
I ordered a ring in Nov. I get an email a week later letting me know that my order cannot be fulfilled and my new ship date would be the end of November. So I replanned everything around that time-frame but today I got an email that said my new ship date would be Dec 15th without any other information or a heads up. In addition, I was told I would be charged more money to select an option that ships sooner!!
So in the end I had to cancel my order and get a refund. Thanks for leaving your feedback. They should have allowed you to expedite shipping at no extra cost as that is a better business sense for them.
That said, Blue Nile has clearly dropped the ball and I think this could have been managed better on their side. If you need help on other matters or reselecting a diamond, let me know again. I will go out of my way to help you out on this. Click here to cancel reply. The Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender. Diamond Prices — Are You Overpaying? White Flash. What Our Readers Say…. Gordon -. Hi Paul, I read your guide on diamond buying and first want to thank you for your help.
Paul Gian -. Hello Alex, Thanks for writing in. Sally -. Joe K -. George -. Sorry to hear about your awful experience with BlueNile. Leslie -.
Sombra -. Luck -. The customer service representative suggested i have to wear the wedding band on the other hand that is ridiculous I felt like blue nile sold us rings that do not go together. Jordan -. Minhky -. Robyn -. Shawn McKay -. I recently ordered two rings on Blue Nile, and I would not recommend the experience. Tino -. Darren UK -. Laurence -. Mohamed Moshrif -. Steve -. Am I ever glad that I did so after reading through the commentary at the end of this article.
I wanted the ring so I agreed to pay for the increased price of shipping. Thanks Again Paul!!! Hi Paul, My apologies for the delay in responding to your offer to assist me but it was on purpose. Thanks again Paul. Theodore -. Hey Paul, First off, wanted to thank you for you website and forum i.
Laura Novak -. Hi Paul, I have a question that I hope is all right for this thread: I am looking at pave bangles. Shannon -. You have done your homework While I have bought blind for all my purchases including an amazing asscher— yes, a fancy shape!
I will continue to buy from them. Irene -. You should only select diamonds with videos. Randall -. Ray -. Yiunam Leung -. Hi Paul, what do you think of this diamond? Offers good value for its pricepoint. Paul -. Thanks paul, And for the diamond size. Is the size difference noticeable compared to a 1 carat with the cut, color and clarity? Lucia S. Hi Paul, Im thinking of buying my ring from online, what do you think of this diamond?
Tony -. Can you let me know what you think? Kelly -. Manuel -. Salah -. Leave A Comment Click here to cancel reply. Join Us On Social Media! Visit The Gallery For Ideas! All rights reserved. Learn how to avoid getting ripped off by jewelers and get insider's tips to selecting the best possible diamond for any given budget. The box was simple, yet elegant with modern clean lines.
Some people may prefer the more minimalist approach that Blue Nile took. But what is most important is what was inside the package. This is where Blue Nile shines. The ring was gorgeous.
Despite the tapered pave not being one of their more expensive settings, the craftsmanship was fantastic and easily apparent. The diamond was eye-clean in person confirming my thoughts when I ordered it , the cut was stunning and the I color appeared white in ring.
I was actually visiting my old colleagues at one of the largest manufacturers in the world and opened the package there. I was able to show it to them before bringing it over to a photographer. They were very impressed with the ring, especially given the value.
As you can see if you nose around our site, we have compared Blue Nile to many different companies. The price is always at or near the most competitive you can get from anyone online.
Their business model has allowed them to continue to work on sharp margins which translates to the great prices for the consumer. As we explain in this article, no physical retailer can compete with Blue Nile when it comes to price. We have consistently stacked them up against physical retailers of all shapes and sizes. You can read a couple of examples we used in reviews such as Jared and Shane Co.
Blue Nile is also consistently the cheapest or within a few percent when it comes to their competition online. They, along with James Allen , consistently offer the best bang for your buck for the overwhelming majority of our readers. People often ask about sites like Blue Nile. Since James Allen and Blue Nile stand head and shoulders above the rest of the competition, we felt it might be useful to have a chart directly comparing the benefits of working with each company.
No review is complete without discussing the return process. After all, you never know. Well the service was just as quick and useful returning the ring.
My return was processed smoothly and my card was credited without a problem. Blue Nile offers a full money back return within 30 days of receiving the product.
If you are in the United States, you will receive an insured return label for hassle free returns. As I mentioned, this was not an issue at all when I secret shopped them. Blue Nile has a couple of finance options. Is Blue Nile a good place to buy a ring? Blue Nile is a fantastic option for the overwhelming majority of our readers. So how to go about purchasing a Blue Nile diamond? Buying a diamond can be confusing. The easiest way to find the right diamond is to contact us directly.
Otherwise, here is a quick guideline for finding the right diamond on Blue Nile. When buying a diamond, there are three questions to answer that will determine which diamond is best for you. You should spend whatever you are comfortable to spend. You also have to determine which shape diamond you prefer. There are objective values when it comes to comparing the shapes. For example an oval will usually look the biggest per carat weight and a round will be the most brilliant. The most important aspect though, the fashion and personal style, are far more important.
Finally you need to settle on a style of setting. It also lets you narrow down which color grades to focus on as we explain here. Be sure to follow our cut , certificate and fluorescence guidelines as a mistake here will negatively impact the look of your diamond. Once you have the search filters put in, the final step is pick out the cheapest eye-clean diamond in your range. This is the most difficult part of the process and is more of an art than a science. Each diamond is unique and diamonds with the same exact grades can vary in look, quality and price.
For instance, a diamond that has a good clarity grade e. Sometimes you can visibly see the inclusions with a naked eye while other times you can only see them under magnification. These two diamonds could have the same exact clarity grade but look completely different in person. Here's an example of two diamonds with the same clarity grade that look very different. The diamond on the right has very visible inclusions that make the ring look dirty while the other's flaws are not as obvious to the naked eye:.
Blue Nile is a marketplace that thrives on having a large listing of inventory on their website. By design, they want to have diamonds that are high quality and others that are at a lower quality to be at a lower price point. Although they have photos and videos in some cases, they put all of these diamonds in the same quality standard for a given set of 4Cs. Local jewelers like ours, on the other hand, inspect and hand pick every single diamond in our inventory. We believe in offering and selling only diamonds that are beautiful in the real world and not just in a photo or video.
Let me illustrate. In the Blue Nile report, they compare prices based on the average price of a 1 carat, round shape, GIA certified stone with an ideal cut, VS2 clarity and H color diamond.
Here is the range that they sell on their website for this exact stone:. How can that be? It's because the highlighted diamonds, that are identical in cut, clarity, color, and carat weight, are in fact very different and justify a big price gap.
If all of these diamonds were the same quality, they would all have the same price. Those cheaper stones look great on paper, but fail the eye test we place on every stone. So, when Blue Nile compares their average diamond prices against the average diamond prices of local jewelers, it is not comparing apples to apples. That's like factoring in McDonald's when determining the average price of a meal at an upscale restaurant.
We are more selective!
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