Online Diamond Jewellers

You can buy your own loupe quite cheaply and assess the diamonds yourself if you know what you're looking for. Personally, I wouldn't trust a general high street paper tag when investing so much money.

If you're buying diamonds then all you need is a general guide as to colour and quality so that they can pass you the ones you want to check yourself. For example, an I or P grade will have inclusions that are visible to the naked eye. S grades will have inclusions visible with a standard loupe.

Once you get used to looking at diamonds the ones that are well cut will stand out.

You can go to Holland and buy from there. I've only bought a loose diamond once and that was from Holland. When I look into that stone I can't see the bottom... it's like an illusion as if there is no bottom to it. I've compared every other diamond I have bought to that one because I never get tired of looking at it!

I've seen purely diamonds.co.uk well spoken of and they seem to have good prices, although I didn't use them personally. I did consider it but went to Hatton Garden instead.

I would really recommend getting down to Hatton Garden or I think there is a similar jewellery quarter in Birmingham if you can. The highstreet jewellers are a bit of a rip off in my opinion. They often ask a lot of money for poorer quality diamonds, which I suppose is why they aren't so keen to advertise their 4 C's.

Thanks AnnaMolly.

I'd love to go down to the B'ham Jewellery quarter, it's just finding the time! (I'm from West Yorks)

I'll have a look on Purely Diamonds and see if anything takes my fancy. I can't find any reviews on their websites which makes me skeptical...

My OH bought my ring from Purely Diamonds and it was about half the price he'd have paid in a high st jeweller. You can the clarity etc and which metal you want.

He said their service was brilliant.

My OH bought my engagement ring from diamondfactory.co.uk they are based in London and have been fantastic, they also re-sized it for free and have an online chat so you can ask them questions as you browse.

My hubby bought my engagement ring from 77diamonds and we got our wedding rings from Samara James - both worth a look xx

Thanks all, for the feedback.

I'm going to take a little look now. I was comparing prices from 77 Diamonds and goldsmiths, and the quality of the stone is so much better if you choose it.

My ONLY worry is, I won't have the chance to look at the stone BEFORE I buy. Can I trust what these websites say, and will the certificate be genuine?

I really don't want to ripped off so sorry for all the questions.

Hi

Used purely diamonds my h2b got my ER from there which I love.....

Then cos I'm a fuss pot I designed ... several times over. ... my own WR and bought that and my h2bs WR too.

Excellent customer service quality and price!

X

Thank you all for your help.

Think I may have cracked my dilemma! Going to sleep on it tonight and IF I still feel it, its getting bought! EEEEEEEEKKKK!!!!

I'm hoping it will come on my birthday, which will be exactly 3 years till the big day!!!

?

Have a look at bluenile, james allen and zoara. I was exactly the same and wanted to know all the details about my ring before we bought it. I ended up getting a good price from an indepenedent jeweller but online was going to be my top choice until then.

I think they're all American sites but they all have great reviews - many of them will be able to show you images of the diamond under a loupe if you really want. Just look if you'd need to pay import tax getting it shipped to the UK. I'm currently in Aus and it would be an extra 10% - still heaps cheaper than retails stores and if you go for 1 with a GIA certificate, you know you're going to have a well graded diamond.

I'm in Perth and Mr Ash bought his wedding ring from Blue Nile. Platinum band in size Z which was about $2000 - and we weren't charged duty. He received a statement of duty that FedEx sent but no invoice. Bizarre.

I've been looking at SaharaJames, but you don't have the option online of going .01 of a carat less or more.

Its hard work this ER hunting!!!

My OH got my ring from Blue Nile and it needed resizing after the proposal too, both times they've been great.

Have you thought about getting a custom made ring? Then you will end up with exactly what you want. I went to Louise Kruger Diamonds in London where I got my diamond ring specially made. Not as expensive as you would think either! Worth enquiring about.