When Jared has a sale during a run up to Valentine’s Day, you might think you’re lucky. You swoon. You want. You see. You buy. Not so fast. You got taken. You overspent! You didn’t get a certified diamond. You got bad color. You got bad clarity. You got “total diamond weight” instead of solid diamonds. You could have done better. Could have bought a certified, objectively better diamond earring set for almost half as much. Here’s how:
It’s not too good to be true. Rather, Jared’s “sale” is overpriced in my opinion. And I think I prove it beyond doubt with easy to see facts, figures, and screen shots.
Plus, I’ll show you exactly how to get the great deals I mention:
Here’s how I found these incredible values in diamond rings…
If you want me to find a bargain on any size diamond engagement ring, or a nice set of diamond earrings, then message me from my Facebook page: (https://www.facebook.com/Howtoshopforadiamond)
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The Jared offer: $2,400 for “total carat weight” (lots of little diamonds) diamond earrings.
The price is $2,400. The item? Two round diamond earrings. But each one is also accented by some more tiny diamonds.
This is a trick, in my opinion. It’s not 100% a trick. Jared tells you that these are two diamonds, each with accent diamonds. And they tell you that the accent diamonds bring the total carat weight to .5 each, or 1.0 carats total including both earrings.
But that’s not nearly as good as two solid, singular, solitaire round diamonds. One on each earring. Jared offers you the several-diamonds-to-an-earring version. Ugh, for the price. But James Allen offers you two solid, solitaire diamonds — one on each earring. That’s classy. It’s classy because it’s much more beautiful in terms of diamond light performance. More on that below.
Click over an look at Jared’s offer: It’s item number 182381501 at Jared, but that link should take you to it. (Unless it’s been discontinued.)
Notice about the Jared offer:
- Each “big” diamond in this earring set has a few accents around it.
- The whole cluster in each earring is surrounded by some metalwork. (Not just prongs.) (This is not good, because the metalwork interferes with light striking the diamonds. That makes them less sparkly. ALSO the fact that three or so accent diamonds surround the center diamond on each earring? That also interferes in a huge way with light performance. No single diamond in that arrangement is open to the light on all sides. So the flow of light into the diamonds is impeded. This means less light enters through the sides of the diamonds. And less light flows out through the tops of the diamonds. They’ll be quite dull, compared to a single diamond mounted via prongs. With a single diamond mounted via prongs (as in the James Allen offer, below), light hits all sides of the diamond, and flows right out through the top. That’s how a round diamond is designed to work.)
The James Allen MUCH better prices on GIA- or IGI-certified, better diamond earrings:
Earth-created diamond earrings offer at James Allen: $1,527
Lab-created diamond earrings offer at James Allen: $1,297
Specs compared directly
Carats
The Jared diamond earring set has a total of 1 carat. But the weight is split up among not just two diamonds (one in each earring). Nope. It’s split among several diamonds. Several in each earring. That’s terrible for light performance. See above under the Jared Offer to know why.
The earth created diamond earrings at James Allen total 1 carat. HOWEVER it’s SO much better than Jared’s offer. Here’s why: this earring set consists of exactly two diamonds. Two 1/2 carat diamonds. Not several in each earring. That’s immensely better light performance. (There are no accent diamonds, or metalwork holding them, to obscure the light. That’s hugely important.)
And the lab-created diamond earring set at James Allen is 1.15 carats. EVEN better, it has only two diamonds. One diamond in each earring. All the advantages of light performance make this so much better. And it’s even 10% larger, taken altogether.
Even more important, James Allen offers BETTER diamonds for LOWER prices. It’s true, and here comes the proof:
Clarity
Jared diamonds in this Jared earring set are of I1-Clarity:
That’s not great clarity, especially at this very high price point, in my opinion, and as you can see from the chart, the flaws (black marks, specs, clouds, etc.) will be quite obvious in this diamond:
James Allen earth-created diamond example is also I1-Clarity:
That’s also not stellar clarity. But at least you’re not overpaying for it. ALSO, the light performance in the James Allen diamonds will be MUCH better. The light isn’t blocked by accent diamonds. Or by metalwork holding in the accent diamonds.
THAT means: the brilliant play of light streaming through these GIA certified diamonds? It will obscure many of the flaws inherent in I1-Clarity diamonds. So it’s as if you’re getting better clarity for less money, for all your eye can tell when the diamonds are in bright light.
James Allen lab-created diamond example is SI1 Clarity:
That’s much better clarity. It’s 3 grades better!
Color (Note that the perfectly colorless grade is “D”. There are no grades of A, B, or C.)
Jared diamond color in this ring. The center stone is said to have color “I”:
(A huge drawback, in fact a dealbreaker in my opinion, is that we don’t know who graded it as such. Was it the GIA? IGI? AGS?
Jared doesn’t seem to say. I haven’t been able to find that they say who is the grading entity. It seem not to be even certified! And that’s strange. And that’s a huge dealbreaker in fact, at this price point, since certifications in high end diamonds are totally expected, necessary, and valuable. People in the know just never buy an expensive diamond without a certificate from a major diamond-grading lab. )
So, we just don’t know who graded it. It could have been someone on the Jared staff.
The James Allen earth-created diamond in this example has a GIA-certified Color I.
That’s much better, just because we know who graded it! The GIA, the most respected diamond grading lab in the country, in my opinion.
Yep, it’s GIA-certified (unlike the Jared diamond earring offer which seems to be not certified at all?). It’s a much more trustworthy grade, coming from the GIA.
The James Allen lab-created diamonds in this example have the color E:
That’s four whole color grades better than the Jared diamond! It’s only one color grade from being PERFECT. (D is the top color grade of a diamond. It’s perfectly colorless. There is no A, B, or C grade on this scale.)
Cut quality
Jared diamond
No cut quality is stated, so far as I have been able to find. That’s a dealbreaker for a Round Brilliant Cut. Cut quality is so important that it’s usually made quite obvious for an expensive diamond purchase. The fact that Jared seems to overlook it for this $2,400 diamond earring pair is … a major red flag! Especially when we have already seen that the color is poor, the clarity is poor, and no certification lab is listed.
James Allen earth-created diamond
The James Allen earth-created diamonds in this comparison are of “Excellent” cut quality. You can see that in the listing for the diamonds. That’s from the GIA, too. So it’s a judgment made by a qualified gemologist, working without bias. You can count on it. It’s at the top of the cut quality scale! For hundreds of dollars less than the Jared offer!
James Allen lab-created diamond
The James Allen lab-created diamond in this comparison is of “Ideal” cut quality. This is the top of the chart of cut quality for the IGI, so it’s also excellent.
Certification
To restate a point of importance: I’m just finding no mention anywhere at Jared of any certification on the diamond ring at Jared. Possibly I’m missing it, but I’m pretty sure I’m not. I have shopped for diamonds for years and I’m used to seeing offers at Jared without certification. Sometimes they have it. More often, they don’t — so far as I can tell.
Why is this a deal breaker, even without James Allen blowing away Jared for quality and certification AND price? Because we just can’t know for sure anything about the diamond. We just have to trust Jared to grade their own diamonds? And we also have to trust that whoever actually graded the diamond (I mean whichever human individual) was competent.
On the other hand, the diamonds at James Allen are certified by the GIA (for the earth created set), and by the IGI (for the lab-created set).
So you can trust the color and clarity scores there. That’s real. They were graded by qualified gemologists working for 3rd party labs.
How to get the James Allen deals
At James Allen, you don’t just add an earring set to your cart and check out. It’s slightly more interesting (and gives you more control and choice). Instead, you do this:
- You choose your diamond earring settings (the metal structures of earrings of course).
- Then you choose loose diamonds to add to these. The diamonds for earrings come in paired sets. These paired sets generally match in color, size, clarity, and cut quality.
But it’s not as hard as it may seem. In fact it’s easy.
At least, it’s easy if you have someone walking you through it for the first time.
Here’s exactly how to get these deals (or very similar deals) at James Allen:
1. Select these 14K white gold earring settings. (They’re available on the same page in 14K, 18K as well, also in yellow gold and rose gold, or even in Platinum. Just choose them from the drop down on the setting product page.)
2. For the diamond, go to these pre-set James Allen diamond pair search results and select a diamond pair from the first 2 or 3 in the list.
(James Allen diamonds are unique, so I can’t send you straight to a specific matched diamond pair. It would sell out quickly. But there are many many others in the inventory. The price will be close to what you see here.
Also, of course the inventory is always changing, so you may see slightly different prices when you search.)
3. For even greater savings, click the “Lab-Created Diamond Pairs” filter. (Use my pre-set James Allen Lab-Created Diamond Pairs search results.)
Conclusion: So definitely do NOT buy that “deal” at Jared for $2,400. Get the much better earrings set at James Allen for $1,527. (Or even better, and less, for $1,297.)
There’s no catch. Don’t be fooled by the mall presence and big advertisement buys on television. The James Allen earring sets are much better. They’re certified. They’re much less expensive. I’ve spelled it out for you, with proof in the screen shots.
What will you do with the extra $900 or so (or even the extra $1,100 or so, if you opt for lab-created)?
It’s easy to get great deals on better diamond jewelry — for less money! Here’s how:
- Scroll up to the section on “How to Get the James Allen Deals.”
- Follow the easy directions there.
- Feel 100% confident that you bought the best diamond for the money
How to search this site to save up to tens of thousands of dollars at trusted diamond retailers, vs most any Costco, Kay, Jared, or Zales ring you’re considering
Search and save. You could save enough for a new compact car. Or a honeymoon. Or several expensive dinner dates. Or that guitar you’ve been wanting.
Read this very short note on how easy it is.
