Jewelery Stores on Blackfriday

[artie852]

I was wondering if jewelery stroes will have any type of sales during blackfriday. I am thinking about buying an engagement ring for the love of my life. Does anyone know?

[samisma]

They normally will have sales, but unfortunately for items like engagement rings, solitaires, and diamond stud earrings those sales aren't hugely discounted.

 

In fact, inside tip. I worked at Zales - the max we were allowed to discount engagement rings were 10% at any given time of the year. HOWEVER, if the ring is $2k plus, and you are paying CASH you can bargain a bit more - you just need the employee to get their district manager's approval. (zales & gordons = same company same policy)

 

hth and congrats!

[artie852]

thanks, now i have to figure out how much i have to spend. is there some special jewelry saleafter christmas or christmas day?

[freesia39]

do you know what she wants in a ring? have you started looking at settings? have you investigated the 4 c's yet?

 

<-- resident engagement/wedding nut

[artie852]

do you know what she wants in a ring? have you started looking at settings? have you investigated the 4 c's yet?

 

<-- resident engagement/wedding nut

what are the 4 c's? i dont know nothing abbout rings s i'll have to do some research. I kinda hate to buy a diamond because i've seen the movie blood diamond.

[samisma]

cut, carat weight, color, clarity.

 

lol you might want to go here first:

 

http://www.diasource.com/fourcs.htm

 

alot of women are very particular to cuts and it's a personal thing. some love the princess cut, others prefer round, a select few really like the emerald & marquis too.

 

clarity refers to inclusions and blemishes and those are usually carbon spots - sometimes they're black in appearance and really noticeable (put it down. don't buy it) sometimes it's just a whisp of white or you really need to stare crosseyed through the view to see any imperfections.

 

color and carat weight are pretty obvious. but go to the above site before you start shopping.

[jenirvt]

I would definitely recommend getting an idea of what she likes before you guy a ring. There are SO many types and settings out there. What metal type does she like? I'm partial to the silver/white color but I'm allergic to nickel (which is in white gold) so my DH bought me a platinum ring which is hypoallergenic.

 

Also figure out what diamond size you think she'd like. We all tend to think "bigger is better" but if she's really petite, has little hands, is very outdoorsy/sporty, a smaller solitaire might be a better choice, or something non-traditional like a channel-set diamond band instead of a solitaire setting. My center diamond is rather large (2ct) and is set high up off the band...which gets stuck in my hair ALL the time and really hurts!!!

 

Also research different cuts...there are round, princess, emerald, marquis, cushion-cut, Ascher, etc.

 

Then of course you need to set a budget, and you need to make sure the diamond you are purchasing is of the clarity and color you desire. Make sure there are no obvious inclusions, etc...I have a friend who has a huge diamond solitaire...with a big black carbon deposit right in the middle of it Make sure you are getting a quality diamond. You can buy a lesser quality 1 carat diamond for the same price that you can buy a flawless 1/4 carat diamond. So size isn't all that matters when it comes to diamond-buying.

 

But most of all make sure it's something that is special between you and her..tailor it to what you think she would like.

 

And...as far as sales go...I know that many chain jewelry stores (Kay, Osterman, etc) will have "holiday cash" that you get on purchases that you make at various times during the holiday season...if you bought the ring at that time, you would get X amount of dollars in holiday cash (vouchers) for every X amount you spend. These holiday dollars are usually redeemable after Christmas. If you got her the ring now, you could go back and get her a really nice pair of earrings or a gift of jewelry for mother's day, etc with the holiday cash at a later time.

[freesia39]

the basicness of diamonds:

 

WITH THE NAKED EYE, many of the flaws that drive down the price of diamonds will not be seen. for example, my engagement ring is an SI1 bordering an SI2. (the jewelry store sold it as an SI 1, my appraiser said it was an SI2 but it was borderline.) if i stare at it dead on, i can't see any of the flaws, but during the appraisal process they magnified it for me and i could see all the little flecks in it. i looked at a ring at walmart once for fun once and i saw a big black dot in the middle of it - BAD! as long as you can't see it with the naked eye, you are good. this is CLARITY.

 

CUT: these are the cuts of the diamond. the most expensive but exquisite is the round cut. another popular cut is a princess cut, which looks like a square. you definitely want to find out which she prefers. i told my fiance flat out i only wanted a round cut, because i don't like any of the other cuts and they look strange on my hand.

 

COLOR: diamonds are given a color rating from D to Z. you want to avoid Z. D will be the most expensive because that means the diamond is colorless (and is nice and shiny... really.) however, a G or an H is pretty nice also. you should go in person to a jewelry store and see if they have any stones you can look at. mall stores like zales or kay or jared might not have loose diamonds available. the further towards Z you go, the more yellow the diamond will be.

 

CARAT: another important thing to consider and a place many people start. i will tell you my ring is .75 carats. i have tried on a one carat ring and frankly, it was too large. i have very small hands and it was too much on me. (added bonus: because of my small hands, it makes my ring look bigger.) (i also tried on a 3 carat ring, WOOEE. hugeeeee. but the diamond was SO gross - completely yellow, cloudy and spotted.) my ring size is only 4.5, so as you can imagine, anything too large will seem out of place. this is also where her tastes will come into play, and also think, "does she work with her hands?" you don't want a large diamond on a setting that can easily snag.

 

my personal preference is diamond quality over size. i knew someone with a 20 carat engagement ring. (i'm not kidding, that thing was a skating rink.) it just looked GAUDY. i had another friend with a larger diamond and she thought it was too heavy - it kept sliding around all day and bothered her.

 

or you can do what my fiance did, and try to trick me into telling him if this diamond would be acceptable or not, by saying he was helping his friend pick out a ring for his long time girlfriend.

 

a great place to buy diamonds is bluenile.com. they have great prices and they are very trustworthy with their diamonds. even my appraiser said they had great diamonds.

 

oh, and after you guys get engaged, do consider getting the ring appraised. for one, if you don't go to a huge jewelry chain, you will know if the diamond is real or not. plus you get documentation about the ring and it's qualities and approximate replacement value, which is what i needed to add the ring to my renter's insurance policy. i did feel relieved once i added it to my insurance policy because in case i lose it or the diamond pops off and i can't find it, i can put a claim into my insurance. the crappy part is that they're charging me an extra 200 a year for that insurance!

[noehlp]

Appears Zales is having a BF sale, fyi

 

http://www.zales.com/

 

$50 Off Your Purchase of $200 Or More

 

Code: 2NDBTENOV233

*Offer expires November 30, 2007. Offer excludes clearance items, Brilliant Buys ®, specially priced items, buy one get one offers, special orders, loose stones, prior purchases and special events. One coupon per customer, may not be combined with any other offer, not redeemable for cash and cannot be used as credit towards your Zales Diamond Card ® account. Discount cannot be applied to prior purchases. Offer only available online at Zales.com, it is not available in Zales stores.