Ebay Engagement Ring Purchase Guide

When purchasing an ebay engagement ring there are a few things you should check before you bid or click that Buy It Now button. You might be getting a ring for far less than the regular retail price but you want to make sure you are getting exactly what you want at a bargain price.

A few things you should know…

Ring Size
If you have a specific ring in mind you may find it on ebay for a bargain price but in the wrong size. The majority of big high street stores will resize engagement rings up or down two sizes. For example if the ring is a size N they would resize up to a P or down to a L. They will tell you that to resize any bigger or smaller will make the ring unstable and the stones might pop out.

This is untrue. The high street stores like to air on the side of caution. A good goldsmith can resize a ring up or down 4 sizes. If the stones are going to pop out they will do so while being resized and the goldsmith will simply set them back into place and you won’t be able to tell the difference. The ring my fiancé purchased for me was a size J and I am a size N so it had to be made 4 sizes bigger. The ring is perfect and you wouldn’t know it had been resized.

If you do need to have a ring resized I would visit the smaller jewellers that have been around for years rather than the larger high street chains. You will probably be able to speak to the owner of the shop who has been in the business for years and knows his stuff instead of a high street employee who knows little more than you. The smaller shops also tend to charge less for resizing. You should be paying between £25 and £40 for an 18 carat gold (white or yellow) resize and they will polish the ring up for you too.

Perfect Condition
If you choose a pre-owned ring and are concerned that it won’t look brand new if it has been worn a couple of times, that is easily fixed. If you take it along to a Jewellers, I would suggest one of the smaller stores again, they can clean the ring up for about £5 or re-plate it for around £20.

White gold is actually plated anyway and is known to lose its shine with age. If the ring was originally purchased a year or so ago it may look a little dull. If you take it along to a jeweller they will have it re-plated and it will look brand new again. If you are having the ring resized they will do this anyway when they resize it.

High Street Rings
Many of the rings that you see on the high street end up on ebay. If you see an engagement ring in H Samuel it is very likely that you will see that exact ring or a very similar model from H Samuel on ebay within a week. If you are looking for a specific ring keep an eye on the ebay engagement ring pages for a week to 10 days and I am sure you will find it there.

Most of these rings have never been worn or hove been worn for a very short period of time. They could be the result of some poor guy buying the ring and his girlfriend saying ‘No’ when he proposed or even more likely his girlfriend not liking that particular ring. We girls are very fussy after all.

Ebay Sellers
When purchasing an ebay engagement ring check the seller’s feedback rating. Anything under 50 feedbacks and 98% isn’t good and I would be cautious. Of course if you want an unbelievable bargain sellers with lower ratings items always sell for less but you have to weigh this up against the risk.

Big Jewellery sellers – If you don’t have a specific ring in mind then take a look at one of the big jewellery sellers. Their items are brand new and can be picked up for much less than the regular retail price. Their feedback ratings are very high because they sell hundreds of items so you can be sure that you will get just what you paid for.

Here are some of the Big Sellers I recommend:

• Nuttals Of Chester Ltd
• Allure Diamonds
• No1 Rock Avenue