These days more and more businesses are offering online orders and more and more people are taking advantage and shopping online. Not only is this more convenient in many ways, but it’s also safer in these uncertain times.
There are many advantages to shopping online. You can do it from the convenience of your home, you can shop at any time of the day or night, and it’s much more convenient to comparison shop since flipping between websites is much faster and easier than traveling to different stores.
However, it’s important to take care when you’re shopping online. While it’s certainly possible to get an incredible engagement ring online, it can be harder to judge quality when shopping on the internet. Here are some tips for how you can safely buy an engagement ring online.
Learn About Diamonds
Understanding diamonds when you’re buying an engagement ring is always important, especially when you’re buying an engagement ring online. Since you can’t see the diamond up close, you’ll need to truly understand the various factors that can be used to classify and compare diamonds.
The best place to start is with the 4 Cs of diamond quality.
Cut
The cut of a diamond best determines its sparkle and beauty. When a stone is well cut, it disperses light into various colors of the spectrum and these appear as beautiful flares of color. The white light reflecting from the surface, as well as the sparkle that occurs when the light source is shifted, create a brilliance and scintillation that make a diamond look wonderful.
Color
Diamonds with the least color are preferable, with the complete absence of color being the most desirable.
Clarity
Almost all diamonds contain tiny imperfections or inclusions. Many of these cannot be seen with the naked eye. Stones that contain inclusions that are only visible through magnification often appear to be flawless, but are much less costly than true flawless diamonds.
Carat Weight
Diamonds are weighed in carats. Larger diamonds tend to be scarcer, and thus also tend to be more expensive. Merely looking at a diamond cannot accurately determine its carat weight.
Shop Around
One of the biggest advantages to buying an engagement ring online is that it’s easy to shop around. You don’t need to spend time and effort physically moving from store to store. You can easily open up several websites in different windows or tabs and compare their diamond selections. It’s also important to know that different retailers will offer different services and different collections, so be sure to choose a retailer that has what you’re looking for.
Use Reputable Retailers
You may be tempted to try to get a deal by shopping at an online auction or classified site, but this isn’t usually a good idea. It’s difficult to verify any factors of a diamond when you don’t know much about the seller and it’s very easy to get scammed when shopping from someone without a proven track record.
Reputable retailers will give you detailed information on their diamonds, have policies in place to protect buyers, and have prices that make sense. If something seems too good to be true, there’s a very good chance that it is.
Read Reviews
Reading reviews is a big part of shopping online. Reputable jewelers will have reviews written about them on Google and on various other online review websites. Make sure to read these reviews and to also look at the profiles of those who wrote the reviews. Look for people who have similar needs to yours, as they will give you reviews that are the most relevant to your situation.
Understand the Policies
A retailer’s return policy and their other policies are very important when you’re buying an engagement ring online. You want to know what you can do if the ring that arrives is different from how you pictured it, for instance, or if it doesn’t fit properly. It’s also important to make sure your transaction is secure.
Damasci’s refund policy includes the return of your online purchase within 30 days of shipment for a full refund or exchange. Also, all Damasci customers receive one complimentary ring resizing, within 60 days of purchase. Find out more about our policies by clicking here.
