How To Buy Loose Diamonds
Cheap Loose Diamonds or Expensive Ones... A Diamond is a Diamond

You need to understand how to buy loose diamonds if you're buying a quality engagement ring. That's because better quality diamond rings don't come pre-packaged—you have to choose a setting AND the diamond separately.

This doesn't necessarily mean that they're more expensive, because any diamond ring's price is mostly determined by the value of the diamond itself. So an equal quality diamond that is bought separately from the setting will end up costing about the same as a pre-packaged one BUT in this case you get to pick exactly the diamond you want and determine what sacrifices in terms of diamond quality that you are willing to make.
 

Because they have huge inventories.  Because they sell worldwide they have massive inventories compared to any local jeweler which means that you can find the perfect loose diamond that meets all your requirements. Our go-to-guy for loose diamonds, JamesAllen, presently has over 20,000 loose diamonds in their inventory and you're not going to find anywhere close to that number at your average jeweler.

They offer great savings. Online retailers don't have the overhead of regular stores and they pass those savings on to their customers. And because they sell worldwide, their customer base is huge which means they buy and trade loose diamonds in much larger quantities than regular jewelry stores which means they get volume discounts. Think Costco ;-)

Even if you don't end up buying from them why not get your diamond education from them so that you can be an educated consumer?
 

But first things first! You need to know what to look for and how to compare loose diamonds.

If you stick to these 4 basic guidelines when looking to buy loose diamonds, you should do fine. And as we said before, even if you don't buy from an online retailer, why not take advantage and learn about loose diamonds from the comfort of your laptop?

We particularly like JamesAllen for this because of their virtual loupe and pictures of the actual diamonds they have in their inventory. You search for loose diamonds pretty much the same way as you shop for an airline ticket online then you can select however many loose diamonds you want from a list and compare them in a chart.

Below is the type of chart you'll see once you select which loose diamonds you want to compare. Look at the difference in price between two diamonds that have the same carat weight and are of the same color and depth.

The chart breaks down the diamond ratings and specs and you can click on "photo" to see an actual picture of each loose diamond. You can view its GIA certification and see how that translates into the actual stone in the picture.

Check out the pictures below of the two diamonds we picked. Guess which one costs $8770? The diamond on the right has perfect clarity while the one on the left has visible inclusions. It also has a better cut which means that light will reflect through it better which you can see in the brightness.

It's easy to see the all differences and you can drag the virtual loupe and inspect every inclusion. See the inclusion below, when we dragged the loupe over the loose diamond on the left?
 

It's the same diamond but now with the magnification we can see that the inclusion is quite large and may be visible to the naked eye. You get the point... You can go on and on with this tool and learn so much.

Even if you don't buy loose diamonds from them (and we think you should seriously consider it) ... you should visit their site anyway, see for yourself what the differences are between diamonds, and learn how the 4Cs affects a diamond's value.

Unless you have an inside contact in the jewelry business or diamond-trade, the best way to buy loose diamonds is to buy online because you get much more selection and way more bling for your diamond buck!

Return from How to Buy Loose Diamonds to Know Your Diamonds

Or, go to to The Engagement Experts Home Page