Blue Nile
Strengths
- Free insured priority shipping & returns
- Price match
- Lifetime warranty
- Diamond upgrade program
- 1.5% discount with wire transfer payment
Weaknesses
- Not every diamond has high resolution photos
- Not as many setting options (~300) as other places
Would it surprise you to learn that many people are now buying engagement rings online these days? If you’re curious, read my review of Blue Nile engagement rings below.
I’m an independent shopper.
If I need something, I like going into the store, getting it, paying for it, and leaving. Online shopping is perfect for me because I don’t have to drive anywhere, wait in line to pay, and then drive home.
Which means one thing — I really do not like going into jewelry stores.
When my lovely wife and I were engaged in the mid-2000s, shopping on the internet wasn’t a novelty but people were not buying high dollar items and hoping it would arrive in the mail.
So when I started researching diamond engagement rings online, my options were limited. The company that had the best online experience, and also seemed to advertise the most, was Blue Nile.
If you’re looking to buy a diamond ring online, chances are you’ve heard of Blue Nile too. You’ve probably also heard that they can offer diamonds up to 40% lower – but can you trust them? Are they legitimate? Is it safe to buy something so expensive online?
Table of Contents
History of Blue Nile
Blue Nile was founded in 1999 by Mark Vadon after a less than stellar buying experience of his own. he thought that he could do better, bringing the ring buying experience online.
Blue Nile would IPO in May 2004, raising $76 million, and would soon find itself one of the largest online sellers of diamonds. Blue Nile would eventually go private again, on February 2017, and while we don’t have publicly know sales data, they still claim to be the world’s largest internet retailer of diamond jewelry.
They’re an experienced operation and quite large, which hopefully translates to better deals as a result of these economies of scale. They publicly state that 70% of their business is in engagement rings.
Despite their reputation as an online retailer, they have a handful of physical retail locations. One is located in the Roosevelt Field Mall in East Garden City, New York.
What Is It Like to Buy? A Diamond Shopping Experience Walkthrough
When it comes to the shopping experience, Blue Nile lets you build your ring, like many other jewelers.
Here’s their “Select Your Diamond” screen:
It has a tremendous amount of information on one page and what you want in a diamond selection table. The filters allow you to pick the shape of the stone, price range, size (carat range), cut, color, and clarity are the base set of filters. If you expand the filters, you can also select for Polish, Symmetry, Fluorescence, Depth %, Table %, and L/W Ratio (these are all getting into very technical aspects of the stone).
Here’s what I like about the diamond selection tool:
- The filters are fun to play with. Blue Nile has a lot of diamonds!
- The table includes delivery date, many of which are available within ten days!
- They don’t clutter the page with images of the diamonds. It’s a table with rows of the specifications, which saves space and lets you compare a lot quickly.
- You can select the diamonds you want to compare and it’ll show them to you on a table size by side. You can see an example below and on that page, they include a 360-degree view of the diamond (if they have one)
Here is the side by side (by side) comparison table:
When you click through to a specific diamond, you’ve given it’s actual specifications:
They share a tremendous amount of information about the diamond – probably more than you need to make a decision but it’s part of the process. You’ll know everything from the length and width of the face, table %, depth %, the culet, and girdle.
Pricing Tip – the price shown is for when you pay with a credit card. If you pay via a bank wire transfer, they give you a 1.5% discount on the order if it’s over $750. Your bank may charge you a fee to use a bank wire so you have to do the math on whether it’s a good deal. Credit cards charge a fee for processing transactions and Blue Nile shares some of that back with you if you pay with a bank wire.
Once you select a diamond, it’s time to add it to a ring or pendant:
The filters let you limit your choices by price, metal (platinum, rose gold, white gold, or yellow gold), 14k or 18k gold, plus other important ring filters like size, style, width of the band, etc.
Once you select it all, you just add it to your cart and it’ll be shipped by FedEx Priority Overnight for free.
By the way, if you mess up the ring size, Blue Nile offers complimentary ring sizing. 🙂
Blue Nile only collects sales tax on orders shipped to Washington State, New York, and Virginia.
How is Blue Nile’s Diamond Selection?
Blue Nile offers over a 100,000+ loose diamonds that are GIA-graded (see what does GIA graded means) so you can compare them with other diamonds they have as well as diamonds at other retailers.
At the time I looked up stones for this review, they had 168,524 loose diamonds. The largest shape category was Round but they still had thousands in the less common shapes, like Heart and Marquise.
Astor by Blue Nile / Blue Nile Signature Collection
Astor by Blue Nile is their top of the line diamond category with very exacting specifications. They not only are certified by GIA for quality (the four C’s and other common terms) but also examined by GemEx for light performance. They cite that only 1 in 1,000 diamonds qualify for the Astor by Blue Nile name.
Blue Nile Signature Collection is the former name of what has become Astor by Blue Nile.
The key difference is that Astor by Blue Nile diamonds has a brilliance above the rest due to exact proportions. The diamond may be cut in a way that up to 74% of the diamond is removed to achieve that level of brilliance.
The ones that exceed these high brilliance standards are deemed good enough to qualify for the Astor by Blue Nile label. If they do qualify, they are screened for and registered with Gemprint, which may result in a 10% discount with insurance companies (Gemprint is normally a single $50 lifetime fee per gem).
What Are Blue Nile Financing Options?
Borrowing money to buy a diamond, or any kind of jewelry, is not something we’d recommend. It’s best to buy things like this with cash but everyone’s situation is different. If you need financing, or you have the cash on hand and want to see if there are any low rate or zero rate options you can take advantage of, Blue Nile has some decent options.
Blue Nile offers two financing options:
- No interest if paid in full within 6, 12, or 18 months – This is deferred interest financing and the terms depends on the purchase. For purchases between $500 – $1499.99, the period is 6 months. 12 months for $1,500+ and 18 months for Astor by Blue Nile purchases of $2,000+.
- Equal payments and 9.99% APR if paid in full within promotional terms – The term of the loan depends on the purchase price. You get 24 months on purchases between $2,000 – $2999.99. 26 months on purchases $3,000 – $3,999.99. 48 months on purchases $4,000+ and 60 months on purchases $6,000+.
Benefits of Blue Nile
If you must call Blue Nile, it’s nice to know that they aren’t commission-based so you don’t have to be worried about a heavy sales pitch or pressure tactics. If you buy entirely online, you never deal with a person and thus never any heavy-handed sales tactics.
Blue Nile only sources diamonds from conflict-free areas and follows the Kimberley Process, which is a certification process that ensures certified diamonds did not come from conflict zones around the country. It’s been in existence since 2000 and supported by 81 nations as well as a United Nations mandate. I don’t know of a single online retailer that does not take steps to ensure their diamonds are sourced from conflict-free zones.
They offer free insured shipping via FedEx Priority Overnight as well as free 30-Day returns. You can return or exchange anything you buy in the first 30 days. Shipping is free, returns are shipped free, and everything is insured to the value of your purchase.
Blue Nile, like many other large jewelry websites, offers complimentary cleaning and inspection. You pay for shipping to Blue Nile and they pay for shipping it back. What’s nice is that you can send it in for cleaning, they will inspect it, and if there is a need for repair you can get it repaired at cost. They will still pay for the shipping back to you.
Blue Nile has a lifetime manufacturer warranty that they will repair or replace if they determine it was a manufacturing defect. If it isn’t a manufacturing defect, they’ll let you know how much it costs to repair.
Blue Nile has a diamond upgrade program where whatever you spend on a diamond (100%) can be used to trade up to a larger one, as long as the new diamond is twice the price of the original. It’s a nice little perk if you ever intend to use it but not something I’d bank on.
Finally, Blue Nile has a Diamond Price Match Guarantee. If you find a comparable diamond on another site that is lower than what Blue Nile would charge, you can request a price match. The system is pretty simple, you just call up their 888-565-7641 and walk through the diamond with a consultant. The only requirement is that the diamond is graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and not another certification.
Drawbacks of Blue Nile
Blue Nile’s images of photos are not as good as James Allen. Not every Blue Nile diamond gets the 360-degree treatment. If it worries you to buy a diamond with just a 360-degree high-resolution image that just rotates, then take a look at James Allen. They offer an HD 360 video of the diamond that’s huge. They also do it on the diamond table, which makes it easier to compare and contrast if you’re early on in your shopping journey and aren’t sure about the specifications and what you’ll want.
Blue Nile doesn’t have nearly as many settings as James Allen. Blue Nile has around 300, which sounds like a lot… but James Allen has 500+.
(read our entire review of James Allen if you want to learn more)
Finally, Blue Nile does not sell synthetic lab-grown diamonds.
Blue Nile is a reputable company and if you were to get an engagement ring there, you’ll probably be very happy. But like anything else, shop around.
Dr Linus says
Great review and breakdown!
As I commented on your earlier post of buying and engagement ring online, im a huge advocate for buying diamonds (and pretty much everything else) online.
I ended up going with a different website but I think they are all better than buying them in person. The beatnik combo isn’t buying a loose diamond online and take it to a jeweler to set. The money you save on the diamond can be used to buy a betterment ring with a custom design.
Lily | The Frugal Gene says
Some of my friends buy from Blue Nile but their sterling silver collection or something more in the price range of $100-$800. The resale isn’t bad if you get one of their diamonds, I think a friend of mine sold a BN solitaire ring on eBay and it was $1-2k and she got almost $800 back.
Marc says
Back in 2006 I bought the diamond for my wife’s engagement ring from Blue Nile. It was by far the best price I could find. We had a friend that ran a jewelry business for many years and she inspected the diamond after we got it and she said it was definitely up to the standards and grades listed. The local jeweler who sold us the ring wasn’t too happy to not be able to sell a diamond as well, but when he looked at it he said he would never have been able to match the price we got. So we definitely had a great experience with Blue Nile.
Nathan says
I was furloughed for 6 months this year. I asked to extend my promotional balance during the summer. I was still making payments and was approaching payoff. At no point did I receive a ‘payoff statement’ with date I needed to pay the engagement ring I purchased. I made double payments in October to pay off the ring as my fiancee and I called off the engagement and parted ways. I wanted her to be able to sell if she wanted to, free and clear. Therefore, I thought I was completed paid up before November 1st. My statement said $0.00, and just this past week, I received an e-mail stating my “promotional APR had expired, and I owed $1077 (and change)”. I wrote Blue Nile asking for an explanation; they said there was still $200 left on the promotional balance and the rest was finance charges backloaded from Day 1. I said there was no way I would pay all of it off with the exception of $200 to garner those additional charges when I had been up to date on all payments and even paid extra at the end. Back and forth, a customer service rep and I wrote through their e-mail system. Then, finally, they asked me to call in due to “extenuating circumstances”. I asked to speak to a supervisor after explaining my situation to this service rep. She said she didn’t have one and that “there was nothing they could do”. I showed I had already paid the final $200. They said it was “too late to do anything about it and no exceptions are made ever”. So, in a pandemic, when a person was furloughed for half the year, who had their engagement called off and is now typing this at home as a positive COVID carrier now, Blue Nile can’t even negotiate the total amount of finance charges assessed to someone who hadn’t been late on any payments despite all of the aforementioned? Ridiculous cheats.
Dyanne says
My husband just bought me a ring guard and I am very disappointed. The stones are grey. I just returned a ring to jcpenney for the same reason. You can see this with the naked eye. Each side is 1/8 carat. Both grey.
Very disappointed!
Daria says
Does blue Nile ship to Canada and what are the duties and taxes upon arrival ?
They do ship to Canada and they say that the duties and taxes will be assessed during the checkout process, so you’ll know exactly what you pay (link):