Moissanite can provide a gorgeous ring, at an incredible price—but where can you buy with confidence, knowing that you won’t end up paying too much or regretting the purchase? This article will help you avoid wasting time and money on this really important purchase.
Where should I buy Moissanite? It’s best to purchase Moissanite online if you can find a trustworthy site. It’s often difficult to find local jewelers that carry Moissanite because it detracts from more lucrative diamond sales. Even if you find it locally, prices, selection, and return policies will likely be much better online.
The popularity of Moissanite engagement and wedding rings is exploding, so more retailers than ever offering it. In the paragraphs that follow, I’ll guide you through important considerations that will help you find the right ring and your best overall value.
Buying Moissanite Online is Your Best Option
Not all online retailers are not created equal, but you’re generally going to be much better off buying online. I’ll help you find the ideal online retailer a little later, so you can avoid the pain of a poor purchase.
Online beats the in-store experience for the following six reasons:
- Selection
- Flexibility
- Cost
- Reviews
- Return Policy
- Convenience
I’ll provide more information on each of those benefits below, but I first wanted to mention that I’ve done extensive research to find the best online source for Moissanite. Click here to find out specifically who we trust to deliver the very best value and why we chose them. This is the group that I buy my Moissanite from. Hopefully, this saves you many hours of research time.
Selection:
When you find the right ring, you know it! The ring just feels perfect—like it matches their personality. With something as special, and long-lasting, as an engagement ring or wedding ring, you don’t want to just ‘settle.’ This is why the amount of selection available is SO important.
You want the shape and color of your Moissanite stone to be perfect. You also want a band design and material that will be durable, but that also feels like a perfect styling for the person that’s going to be wearing it.
Even local jewelers that carry some Moissanite, typically don’t have much variety on hand. When you’re choosing from a selection of 5 or 10 rings, you probably won’t find a ring that feels like THE perfect one. The online retailers that carry Moissanite vary wildly in terms of selection, but Moissanite is a side business for most—just ONE of the things that they offer. Yes, their selection might be better than your local jeweler, but they’re FAR more limited than some retailers that focus EXCLUSIVELY on Moissanite.
Again, when I talk about the importance of selection, that relates to the size, cut, and color of the Moissanite stone—but also the band that the stone is mounted to. When you’re given the option to choose from materials like silver, gold, and platinum, you can match your style and durability preferences with your budget. Retailers that ONLY offer silver or gold, for example, may not have what you really need.
The actual styling of the ring is also a HUGE consideration for finding the RIGHT one. A robust selection means that whether you want something traditional or unique, you’re likely to find what you’re looking for.
Flexibility:
While some jewelers might carry a limited selection of pre-assembled Moissanite rings in their showroom, they’re unlikely to offer the loose Moissanite stones that you can buy without the ring that it’s normally set in. Loose stones provide the flexibility to set a new beautiful stone into a setting that might have been inherited or purchased separately elsewhere. Buying your stone and mounting separately can sometimes provide additional savings. I posted an article about buying loose lab-created diamonds. It’s worth reading because loose Moissanite really works the same way. You’ll learn the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of buying a loose stone instead of a pre-finished ring.
Buying online can also provide a lot of additional flexibility to customize the look of your ring. Instead of choosing among finished rings, you can pair the stone that you like with the metal type and color that you prefer. You can then choose the color of the side-stones and other accent stones that adorn other parts of the ring. If you want a colorless center stone with pink side-stones, for example, you can have it! These customizations leave you with a very affordable ring that feels completely unique and stylized by the time you’re done designing it online.
Cost:
Local jewelers have to pay for spacious showrooms, displays, local advertising, and sales staff. They sell to a local crowd. Online retailers can benefit from economies of scale. That essentially means, that since they can sell to buyers around the globe, and therefore deal in higher volumes, their cost can be driven down. They also don’t need showrooms or sales staff. The savings that online retailers realize can be passed on to their buyers in the form of lower prices.
In some cases, buying online can also save you from having to pay the sales tax that you would normally need to pay if you purchased a ring locally. The sales tax rate where I live is around 6.85%, so if I purchased a $1200 Moissanite ring, my taxes would end up costing me an extra $82.20. That’s a big deal if all your wedding-related expenses are adding up and you’re on a tight budget. It might be nice to put that $82 toward the cost of your cake or invitations, right?! Buying your ring online could allow you to realize those tax savings (depending on the laws where you live).
For those that live in really rural areas, buying online allow you to avoid excessively high prices at local establishments. Because some of these stores in very small areas serve a fairly captive audience (people without many local businesses to choose from), They can sometimes get away with inflated prices. Shopping online gives you much more affordable options and a great deal more choice.
Reviews:
Product reviews from past customers can give you insight into common problems that have surfaced over-time with a particular ring. Positive reviews might touch on what they love most about the ring and offer reassurance. Negative reviews might point out issues that you weren’t aware of and never considered.
Not all online retailers collect and display reviews for individual products. While I wouldn’t necessarily avoid shopping with an online retailer that didn’t have them, I’d certainly favor buying from one that did. Even the sites that collect and display reviews may not have them for every ring style. A relatively small percentage of buyers tend to leave reviews. It’s typically only buyers that are extremely happy or very angry. Lack of reviews on a particular ring isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I tend to feel like no news is good news. In other words, if there are no reviews on a particular ring, at least I know that none of their buyers have been so disappointed in their purchase that they felt compelled to leave a review about it.
Reviews are less commonly available through a local retailer. They just aren’t as important when clients come into your store to buy. Couples try on rings until they feel comfortable with a particular ring style and then buy it. It’s far more common for the online buyer to want to take time to read about the thoughts and experiences of past purchasers before buying. Local retailers often serve a much smaller audience, and also have different dynamics. If someone buys in their store, that customer is unlikely to take time to go online to find and review the same product later.
Return Policy:
Have you ever purchased some clothing item off the rack that you LOVED in the store, but hated once you got it home and actually tried it on? The same thing often happens with rings. Whether you purchase online or in a store, you might have second thoughts in the days following your purchase—maybe the ring your picked ISN’T the right one. It’s in these moments that return policies are important.
Did you know that jewelry stores often use special lighting in their showrooms to make their rings look more appealing and sparkly? Knowing that, is it any wonder that your feelings about a particular ring might change once you get it home (under normal lighting conditions)?
Policies definitely vary by store, but oftentimes, local jewelers won’t accept returns on their rings once you leave the store. Online retailers, on the other hand, almost always allow returns if you aren’t satisfied. That only makes sense, when you make your buying decision based on the pictures. You may need to SEE the ring in person, or try it on, to see if you really love it as much as you thought you would.
The return policy protects you in case you (or your sweetheart) doesn’t love the style of the ring after all, but it also could protect your money in the unlikely event that things don’t work out and you no longer need the ring.
TIP: Pay for your ring with a credit card…even if you can afford to pay cash. Paying with the card, and then using your cash to pay off the card gives you some added protections. If you later find that there’s a serious quality issue with the ring, that the ring isn’t made of what they told you it was made of, or the ring breaks in some way, you might be able to force a refund by disputing the transaction through your credit card company. It’s not a certain route to a refund, but it’s a great back up plan, and helpful added protection.
Convenience:
Driving from store-to-store shopping a thin selection of Moissanite rings can be nerve-racking and time-consuming. Buying online allows you to shop and compare several reputable online retailers before choosing your ring. Once chosen, your ring is shipped straight to your door—you literally never have to leave your home to access to the largest inventories, and best values, available anywhere.
If you make a mistake on the size, returns and replacements are also incredibly easy and efficient! Even if you just end up wanting something like a different stone color, shape, or type of metal you can return the ring you have to get the ring that you want.
Avoid Risky Sellers Online
The larger and more established the retailer that you’re buying from online, the better. Ok, you’re not necessarily safer with a company that’s been open 7 years over a company that’s been open 5 years, but you may be taking a risk if you purchase from a fairly new or unknown organization.
I would also STRONGLY recommend NOT buying from individuals online (rings being shipped from other locations after you pay an individual for them). There are a few platforms that act as intermediaries for private sellers (verifying that the product is what the seller claims it is), I’d be much more comfortable in that type of transaction. I wouldn’t want to buy a ring off an auction or crafting site though—I’ve heard too many horror stories! Sometimes sellers on those platforms intentionally deceive their buyers, delivering a different stone or material in the ring they deliver than what they advertised. The problem is that few people are going to have a Moissanite ring graded…so they may never learn that their ‘Moissanite’ stone is actually made from thick glass or CZ for example. Buyers might think they scored the deal of a lifetime, but they may have actually been taken advantage of.
Some sellers on these platforms accidentally sell something that isn’t a genuine product. They source their rings through China just believe that they received the product that they purchased (high-quality Moissanite rings). I’ve seen this happen a lot actually. Individual resellers don’t always do the due diligence that they should on the inventory that they buy. There are two victims when this kind of scam surfaces, but that’s little consolation because you’re still out whatever you spent on the ring.
Warranties for Moissanite Rings
When you purchase from small or independent sellers, the item that you get may not look like the images on their site. If you aren’t happy with the look, you might find yourself stuck with a ring that the seller refuses to exchange. If it breaks or you discover a manufacturing defect, you may find it difficult to get help and support to resolve the issue.
You’ve heard the expression, a warranty is only as strong as the company that issues it, right? Well, small independent sellers generally aren’t strong or stable, so it’s very much a roll of the dice when you purchase from them. Again, I’d suggest that you stick to buying from larger, more well known, and reputable sellers.
The Disadvantages of Buying Online
While there are MANY advantages to purchasing online, there are a few inconveniences too. For example, you can’t go down to a local business location to deal with a problem in-person if an issue arises when you buy from an online-only retailer. You probably wouldn’t want to do that anyway—but when you buy online, you typically don’t have a choice other than email (and possibly phone) communication.
For those that are either spontaneous…or major procrastinators, a shipping delay of even a day or two can be an issue. In those cases, you might be willing to pay more or choose from a more limited selection in order to have immediate access to your ring.
The inability to see and feel the ring on your hand immediately might also be considered a disadvantage of buying online. While the images, and sometimes even videos, of rings that you’re interested in, are incredibly helpful, nothing beats seeing and feeling the ring in person. The compensating factor for online buyers is the fact that they can easily return a ring if they don’t love the way it looks or feels, but that requires a little shipping time. If you’re planning to propose in a day or two, you might not have time for returns and replacements (unless you present the ring you have when you propose and exchange for the more ideal ring afterward possibly).
In Summary
You can probably find something RIGHT NOW at the mall or a local jeweler, but you’re more likely to find something RIGHT when you shop the much larger selections and lower prices available online. You’ll also have greater peace of mind when you purchase online because return policies are typically much more generous than you’ll find with a local retailer. You can find info on the online Moissanite retailer that we trust most here. I purchase rings from them. They offer the highest quality Moissanite that you can find anywhere, a great selection of loose stones and beautiful settings, really fair prices, and the most solid reputation in the industry!
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