Engagement Season – Blue Nile Inc. Interview

I’m so excited and honored to be blogging today about Blue Nile Inc.  They are one of the largest diamond distributors on the planet and traded on the NASDAQ.  When I first decided to launch a blog series about engagement season, I had a gut feeling to get an interview with their company about diamonds.  On a whim I emailed Amanda, their Public Relations Manager for an interview.

Blue Nile is a massive company and I wasn’t 100 % sure if I would receive an email back.  I was over the moon when Amanda emailed back.  This says a lot about their dedication to customer service.

What makes this company so special to me is that I have a personal connection to the brand, as my engagement ring is from their company.

(Image supplied by Blue Nile Inc.)

Here are some things Blue Nile recommends for getting the best diamond ring possible for your future fiancé:

Do Your Homework. You don’t have to be an accomplished gemologist to buy a diamond, but you must take the time to do research. The No. 1 fear diamond buyers have is – will I get ripped off? With a little research on the education sections of sites like BlueNile.com, you can quickly become knowledgeable. In fact, you’ll end up knowing more than any behind-the-counter jeweler.

Of The “Four C’s,” Don’t Sacrifice Cut. A diamond has four major characteristics – Cut, Color, Clarity, and Carat weight, known as the Four C’s. Taken together, they determine a diamond’s quality and price. All are important, but cut is the most critical because it determines a diamond’s brilliance (sparkle). Even if a diamond has perfect color and clarity, if it has a poor cut, it will appear dull. And a more sparkly diamond = a bigger-looking diamond.

Buy Shy to Save Big. Diamond prices increase disproportionally at the carat and half-carat marks, so shoppers should try to buy just shy of these levels. For example, instead of a one carat diamond, look for a .95. That will save a significant amount of money, and the slight size difference will never be noticed – especially if it has a high-quality cut.

Find the “Sweet Spot.” As a diamond’s color and clarity grade improves, its price increases. But at a certain point the human eye cannot detect the difference in grades. That makes paying for perfect color and clarity like paying someone to paint the bottom of your house. For the best value choose a near-colorless (graded G-H) instead of a colorless diamond (graded D-F), or an eye-clean VS2 clarity grade as opposed to a Flawless clarity grade diamond.

Make Sure It’s Legit. Guess what? Diamonds are not created equal. Insist that the diamond have an independent grading report from the GIA (Gemological Institute of America). The quality of diamonds accompanied by these grading reports is considered guaranteed. Independent grading is important. If the grading report comes from the jeweler itself, it’s a bit like the fox guarding the hen house.

And of course, pay attention to return policies and whatever you do don’t put it in the dessert! No one wants to wear a sticky ring.