Engagement rings are very important pieces of jewelry, so many people have reservations when it comes to buying them online. However, you’d be missing out on a lot of great engagement ring designs if you decided to not even take a look at what online jewelry stores have to offer.
For this list, we have rounded up the best online diamond sellers, most of which also offer matching engagement ring settings for their stones. You can take your quest for the ultimate engagement ring to any of these stores without having to worry about getting a low-quality product or being scammed.
The Best Place to Buy an Engagement Ring
James Allen
James Allen is one of the best known online diamond stores, and we were very impressed by how convenient and almost effortless it is to choose an engagement ring at James Allen. If you’re a little intimidated by the prospect of getting your engagement ring from an online retailer, you should probably start your search at James Allen. The store’s excellent customer support and extensive use of advanced technologies will convince you that there’s nothing wrong with getting a diamond online in no time.
James Allen is a brand that was created out of the desire to help other people choose their engagement rings online without going through the trouble and frustration the brand owner experienced. This store was the first one to use 360 degree videos to help its customers see what they were buying. Before James Allen, shoppers had to rely on photos, some of which weren’t even high-resolution ones to begin with. At James Allen, every diamond available can be viewed from any angle you like, so you can see exactly what you’re paying for. If you create a free account, you’ll also be able to zoom in and inspect every diamond like a professional jewelr would. Even now, after many online diamond shops have put a lot of effort into catching up with James Allen, most of them can’t compete with the store’s unique Diamond Display technology.
Apart from giving you ample opportunities to examine the diamonds you’re interested in, James Allen also offers a lot of customization options. You can choose from dozens of diamonds available on the website at any given time and combine them with over 500 settings in different materials and styles. As a result, you can create a unique engagement ring that will reflect the essence of your relationship and help you express your feelings to the person you love.
Whiteflash
While the diamonds offered by James Allen are invariably of the highest quality and mostly quite affordable, they probably aren’t the way to go if you’re looking for something sophisticated and elite. Whiteflash is one of the fanciest online stores that offer engagement rings, and it’s where the most sparkling, amazing-looking diamonds can be found.
As soon as you start researching diamonds, particularly the colorless ones, you’re bound to notice that the cut matters a lot. In fact, with colorless diamonds, the cut can be a gamechanger, transforming a seemingly bland stone into a shining masterpiece. On the other hand, a poorly cut high-quality diamond will lose a lot of its clarity, vibrance, and simply won’t shine on the ring wearer’s finger the way it could have. This is why it is so important to pay a lot of attention to the cut, and Whiteflash employs extremely skilled jewelers who can create a masterpiece out of just about every stone.
Another advantage of getting your diamond engagement ring from Whiteflash is the company’s huge in-store inventory. This may not seem very important, but the fact that Whiteflash owns and stores most diamonds they offer allows for a very accurate 3D representation of every diamond on the website. Stores that work with third-party diamond suppliers often only provide poor-quality shots of the diamonds they’re trying to sell because they are unable to enforce a quality standard among all their partners. This is not a problem for Whiteflash, so you can examine your preferred diamonds almost as if you were standing right in front of them.
Overstock
Diamonds are a pricey purchase, and not everyone has the funds to get an engagement ring with a shiny expensive diamond. However, that doesn’t mean that you should just give up on your quest to find a beautiful engagement ring if you’re on a tight budget. While many online diamond stores resort to selling low-quality diamonds in the lower price segments, some of them do offer great stones at a fraction of what you’d expect to pay for a diamond. Our experience with Overstock has shown that it definitely belongs to those rare budget-friendly online diamond stores.
At Overstock, you won’t be able to customize your chosen settings and stones, but they compensate for this by offering plenty of different styles and designs to choose from. Some people may see the inability to personalize the engagement ring as a dealbreaker, but we were quite impressed by the variety of the available settings, so we think that most people will be able to find something they like on the Overstock website. If you go looking for an engagement ring at your local jewelry stores and happen to like a certain ring, chances are you’ll be able to find a very similar design at a much more attractive price at Overstock.
Since Overstock specializes in affordable jewelry, their engagement rings mostly come with lab-grown diamonds. Many people are reluctant to go for them, claiming that they lack the clarity and shine of a genuine diamond. This may be true, but we found that in most cases, it is better to go for a good lab-grown stone rather than settle for a low-quality genuine diamond if you’re on a budget. If you’re absolutely convinced that you only want the real deal in your engagement ring, you can find genuine diamonds at Overstock as well, but be prepared to pay considerably more for one of those. Also, if your timing is right, you can get a pretty good discount at Overstock and be able to purchase a more expensive diamond than you intended to.
Mejuri
If you’re looking for a minimalist engagement ring, you probably won’t have much luck with our previous picks. Granted, all those stores do offer simpler designs along with the sophisticated, fancy ones, but we found that many of them look like stripped-down versions of more expensive rings. We continued our search for beautiful minimalist engagement rings until we hit the jackpot with Mejuri, an innovative online jewelry seller that is bound to appeal to millennials.
One of the first things you notice about Mejuri is that they take pride in every single product they offer. Diamonds, gemstones, and precious metals used for their engagement rings are ethically sourced, which could be an important factor for some people. Even if you don’t really care about where the materials for your engagement ring came from, you’ll still appreciate Mejuri’s commitment to sustainable living, as they offer high-quality products that will last. That being said, if something does go wrong with your engagement ring, you can always count on the friendly, helpful Mejuri customer support team to take care of it for you.
As far as the designs go, Mejuri is a great store for people who like fine jewelry. Their engagement rings are often unlike anything you’d find at your local department store, so you’ll get a ring that feels unique and tailored to your taste if you go with Mejuri. Mejuri engagement rings look fun and stylish, and they’re also robust enough that you can wear them on a daily basis without having to constantly worry about accidentally damaging them.
Blue Nile
Along with James Allen, Blue Nile is one of the oldest and most established online jewelry shops out there. Blue Nile also offers a huge variety of diamonds and engagement ring settings to choose from, so the website is worth checking out if you’re looking for a nice engagement ring. Over the years, Blue Nile has built lots of direct partnerships with diamond suppliers, eliminating the middleman and achieving remarkably low prices for high-quality diamonds and rings.
Blue Nile always has hundreds of diamonds in stock, so you’ll always have plenty of options to choose from. While their diamond presentation technologies may not be as refined as those used by James Allen, Blue Nile does its best to keep up and offer customers very detailed views of the products on sale. Blue Nile engagement rings come in lots of different settings and designs, so you’ll probably be able to find something you like even if you have very unique tastes and preferences when it comes to jewelry.
While there are lots of advantages that speak for getting an engagement ring at Blue Nile, there are some caveats for you to look out for. For instance, the return window is only 30 days as compared to 90 days offered by most other online jewelry stores. This means that you need to purchase the ring as close to your expected proposal date as possible, because otherwise, you won’t have the option of returning it if you need to. Also, we found that many people were dissatisfied with their financing options, claiming that they were charged with extra payments along the way. However, as long as you stay away from the financing and the Blue Nile credit card, your experience with the store should be seamless, and they do offer great diamonds at very reasonable prices.
Brian Gavin Diamonds
Depending on what you’re looking for in a diamond, you may be able to find the stone of your dreams at Brian Gavin Diamonds. Brian Gavin is one of the world’s leading experts on cutting diamonds, and you can be sure that you’re not going to find more finely cut diamonds at most (if not all) other online jewelry stores. If all you want for your engagement ring is a smaller diamond with remarkabe clarity and shine, you’ll probably be very happy shopping at BGD.
Brian Gavin Diamonds is not a company that keeps a lot of diamonds listed and ready to go to their new owner at any moment. If having a wide array of ready-made options is what you want, you’ll probably be better off with James Allen or Blue Nile. With BGD, you’ll likely have to choose a diamond from their ample inventory and wait for them to work on your stone. This may seem a little too complicated and time-consuming, but it’s the way to go for those who want a truly unique diamond with lots of brilliance and clarity.
At Brian Gavin Diamonds, you can also choose from a number of engagement ring settings to get “the whole package” at one place. We found the selection to be quite limited, but it does feature some innovative designs that match the luxury of their diamonds. Since BGD diamonds are handpicked by Brian Gavin himself and cut according to multiple unique technologies developed by him, their engagement rings are premium products and they cost significantly more than most rings offered by other online jewelry shops on this list. However, if you have the budget and desire to go into the premium segment, BGD won’t disappoint you.
Vrai
Getting an engagement ring at Vrai may not be an easy decision for some people because this company happens to only use lab-grown diamonds for all its products. Vrai sees this as the only way to avoid using unethically sourced stones, so if that’s a concern you can relate to, Vrai is your best place to get an engagement ring. While all companies listed here do commit to the Kimberly Process to avoid using diamonds that were mined in inhumane conditions, Vrai goes one step further and completely eliminates the risk of getting an unethically sourced stone for your engagement ring.
As a matter of fact, Vrai is so committed to sustainability and being eco-friendly that they only get their diamonds at The Diamond Foundry. If you’re a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio, you may have heard of this company, as it is backed by him. The Diamond Foundry uses solar energy to grow their diamonds, so their stones are as eco-friendly as it gets. Your engagement ring doesn’t have to come at a cost to other people or our planet, and if that’s what you’re after, you can’t go wrong with Vrai.
Vrai engagement ring designs are in line with their overall ethics and principles. Made of ethically sourced and recycled materials, they are mostly minimalist and ready to be worn on a daily basis. Admittedly, the selection of the ring settings could be better, but if you see one you like, Vrai will make an amazing ring with a conflict-free, eco-friendly diamond in it, and we seriously doubt there’s a better way to celebrate love.
Leibish
Colorless diamonds do look great in many jewelry designs, but what if you want a fancy colorful diamond for your engagement ring? Since it is crucial that you are able to inspect the diamond before you buy it, your options for purchasing color diamonds online are pretty much limited to James Allen and Leibish. Admittedly, we did find James Allen an excellent place to do your online engagement ring shopping, but there are a few reasons why we’d recommend sticking to Leibish for color diamonds.
First of all, Leibish Polnauer is a world-renowned expert on color diamonds. Having over 30 years of experience with diamonds, he is able to handpick the best ones for his company. A color diamond you get from Leibish is bound to be a premium stone and is also very likely going to be unique due to the amount of attention Leibish pays to the smallest details when it comes to cutting the diamonds.
What’s more, Leibish also offers amazing engagement ring settings that really accentuate the beauty of their color diamonds. You can choose from different setting types, ranging from simple rings with just one stone to really elaborate ones featuring multiple stones in sophisticated arrangements. With all those fancy designs and materials, it goes without saying that Leibish engagement rings are quite pricey, but the quality of their products (not to mention the excellent customer service) justifies the price tag.
With Clarity
With so many options available on the market, it is sometimes pretty difficult to make the right choice. When it comes to serious purchases, such as engagement rings, indecisive people can spend weeks staring at their computer screens trying to figure out which ring is going to work best for them. If this sounds like you, you’ll probably appreciate the unique service offered by With Clarity.
If you are interested in several ring designs from With Clarity, the company will manufacture a replica of the two rings you like most and send these to you. You’ll be able to wear them around for up to three days and then get the real deal once you’ve made up your mind. For an additional fee, you can keep the rings for longer than three days, but be sure to discuss this arrangement with With Clarity beforehand; otherwise, the company will assume you’re keeping the rings, and you will be charged $100 for each unreturned one. The replicas look astonishingly good, and you probably won’t even be able to tell the difference from the actual ring with genuine diamonds at first glance.
The selection of ring settings at With Clarity probably won’t amaze you, as it is rather limited compared to stores such as Blue Nile or James Allen. However, the designs at With Clarity do feel more curated and hand-picked, so you’ll be choosing from the best options available. After all, a limited selection of designs may be better than a wide array if you already feel overwhelmed with the whole prospect of choosing an engagement ring anyway.
Etsy
Our final pick might seem a little adventurous to some people, but Etsy is actually an amazing place to find talented people who don’t want or aren’t able to set up a website to promote their crafts. You’d be surprised by how many great engagement ring designs are available on Etsy, and most of them are very reasonably priced. So, it comes as no surprise that more and more people turn to Etsy when looking for a unique engagement ring.
Of course, there is a certain degree of risk involved when buying things off Etsy. To minimize this risk, be sure to always pay by credit card to have the best buyer’s protection available. In addition, it is always a good idea to carefully read the reviews of the seller from whom you’re about to purchase your ring. If the reviews are mixed, you probably don’t want to buy from this seller, no matter how amazing their designs are. Admittedly, sometimes reviewers fail to be objective and base their negative ratings on claims that border on absurdity, so you need to take the reviews with a grain of salt. Still, consistent mentions of a certain negative aspect are almost always clear warning signs.
Once you’ve found a design you like and made sure that the seller has mostly positive reviews, it is time to contact them and see how they might react to your future requests to provide more information or modify the ring design. You’ll also want to ask the seller for an authenticity certificate if the engagement ring you’re considering has diamonds in it. If the responses are prompt and polite, you’re most likely dealing with a reliable seller who will do their best to create a unique engagement ring for you.