How to Compare Online Jewelry Stores

A jewelry store used to be a brick-and-mortar building that specialized in gem and setting jewelry; it’s most obvious advantage was its proximity to a customer’s location, and the fact that it permitted the customer a good look and feel in the appraisal of the jewelry offered. 

But the economy is tanking many a business, and the small town (or large mall) jewelry stores has given way to the online model.

An online jewelry store has a distinct advantage, in that one never has to leave the computer screen to purchase a gem, necklace, ring or doodad.  One doesn’t have to seek out the online jeweler, either; one need only click a few times with a mouse, and find one anywhere in the world.  And one doesn’t need to worry about selection: with global and continual shipping, any gem in any cut or style is always available to the online shopper. 

The only disadvantage is—the buyer never sees the gem or piece up close; he/she never gets to admire or even feel it, weigh it in the hand or similarly appraises it.   There is simply nothing to an online jeweler except the screen picture.  

It therefore makes sense to buy only from the top online jewelry stores, since thousands of websites are in the gemology business, and one has only the reputation of an online sales gemologist to rely on for good gem and piece quality. 

So where does the buyer go? 

Truman Capote said it a long time ago, when he recommended breakfast at Tiffany’s. 

Tiffany Jewelers is the acme of the online jeweler, and probably enjoys better name recognition than any other store in the world for the best, the brightest and certainly the costliest jewelry in the world, which is nevertheless of superlative quality and created by fabulous designers.  To name only a few, Sorrelli, Misha of New York and the legendary Andrea Barna are some of the master jewelry designers under the Tiffany label, so, if one has the money and the moxie, they will not go wrong with a jewelry purchase online from that name.

Other fine online stores include the following:

It is not being unflattering to Stylism to call that website the “poor man’s Tiffany’s”; the aforementioned designers, along with Chamak, Extasia, Jane Diaz, Michal Golan, Sherzada and Wendy Mink all design for Stylism, but many create far less expensive pieces.  A touch gaudier and larger than the Tiffany’s jewelry line, the Stylism store is colorful and offers good gem quality on a budget, a very desirable element in today’s economic gem market.

The largest online diamond supplier in the world is the gorgeous website for Blue Nile, internationally famous for wedding rings and the finest cuts of gem quality, as well as featuring an excellent price range for nearly every budget.  They also have fine gemstones and pearls (in tropically elegant pieces), but it’s the diamonds that are the buyer’s best friends at Blue Nile, a site that has not only a superb selection but also numerous blog posts and articles about how to shop for the best diamonds available and affordable on any budget, and how to determine gem quality and valuation.

There are also, of course, the invaluable TV jewelry shows in QVC, most notable for its varied price ranges; the companion website is easily navigable, and yields some excellent choices for budget shoppers.  Angela Moore, to name one QVC veteran, deals in exotic and colorful gem pieces for prices starting around $25. 

And no brief online listing is complete without mentioning Super Jeweler, whose motto (“really nice jewelry; really low prices”) is borne out by its excellent quality and wonderfully inexpensive selections. 

These are the best jewelry stores one can visit online.

Category: Jewelry

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