Unbiased 8 Hacks To Get Best Bargain On Engagement Ring

Planning to pop the question this season? Question in mind about how much to spend on engagement ring? Although, many online sources speak about spending minimum of one month or two month’s salary, we recommend that restrict to a budget that you can afford to.

To help you get a best value engagement ring within your budget, here are some hacks from our diamond experts.

Hack#1 Mind the critical carat weight

As carat weight is most important factor that determines price of engagement ring, here is hack from our jewellery experts. Instead of choosing 1.00 carat diamond, try to find a stone slightly smaller as critical weights like 1.00 are often too expensive compared to 0.95 or 0.90. Technically although there is difference, but visually 0.95 and 1.00 doesn’t look much different in size unless viewed from jewellers loop. So choose diamond carat weight slightly less than critical weights like 1.00 to get best bargain on engagement ring.

Hack#2. Oval cut – Bargain on engagement ring

Consider oval cut diamond ring which gives elongated look over traditional brilliant (round), princess (square) and emerald cut diamonds. Most often the shape of diamond will have impact on how big the ring looks. Oval cut diamond engagement rings are trending now as they are effectively cheaper compared to brilliant cut and also offer elongated loo. Take a look at our Oval cut engagement ring collection now!

Hack#3 Try trendy trilogy engagement rings

Solitaire diamond ring are the most classic engagement rings. With millennials now preferring to buy alternatives to solitaire rings, three stone and halo trend is taking off. Choosing trilogy diamond rings over a solitaire ring bring the cost of ring effectively down. As diamonds cost increase exponentially with increase in size i.e 0.75 carat solitaire diamond is lot more expensive than 3 X 0.25 carat cumulatively. So choose a three stone ring over traditional solitaires for a bargain on engagement ring and stay in trend.

Hack#4.  Consider the colour

It can be lot confusing about choosing diamond colour within your budget. As you may have already learnt about importance and how to choose colour from diamond buying guide from different jewellers, our experts are talking to point about saving money. Select a colour rating between H and F instead of choosing E and above especially if carat size is less than 0.60 as it is hardly noticeable difference with naked eye. If you are not constrained by budget or can compromise on size of carat, we recommend to choose minimum F and above for colour.

Hack#5. Diamond Clarity 

Clarity of diamond deals with how many inclusions can be seen in a diamond. Across the industry, clarity is categorized from flawless (FL) to included (I) and price varies a lot based on what you choose. We strongly recommend to choose SI2 or SI1 if carat size is less than 0.60 or VS2 or VS1 for carat sizes more than 0.60 over choosing VVS2 and VVS1 as within any clarity point from SI2-VS1, inclusions are hardly visible with naked eye unless seen through jeweller’s loop. 

Hack#6. Buy Diamonds Online

You might have already heard or experienced that buying diamond jewellery online is cheaper. As high street brands and independent local street jewellers have high overhead costs, their jewellery will be marked up including these overheads whereas most of online retailers minimise these overhead costs and pass on savings to customers bringing the overall cost of engagement ring to you effectively down.  At Shining Diamonds, we’ve opened our flagship Hatton Garden store to welcome customers who would love online prices but still like to view in person.

Hack#7. Summers are a good time to buy.

As lot of engagement proposals happen over christmas and the festive period, lot of retailers especially jewellers trading in street often increase the prices due to demand, gold price volatility and other market factors. In summer, when the engagement rings business is slow for most jewellers, they’ll be more flexible on price to push inventory. So think about buying an engagement ring during summer to save lot of money – good bargain on engagement ring.

Hack#8. Consider 9k Instead of 18k Gold

If you’re on budget why not choose 9k Gold instead of 18K Gold especially if your partner is not involved much in manual work, sports and similar activities. It is very obvious that 18k is stronger than 9k, however 9K gold is durable unless the wearer uses it during sports activities and manual works. The price difference between 9K and 18K is significant so choose between them within your budget.

Let us know in your comments if you know any other hacks to get best bargain on engagement ring. For unbiased advice, contact our diamond experts or visit our hatton garden store.