Is It Worth It to Buy Diamonds and Jewelry from Costco?
You’ll have no trouble finding just about anything you could ever desire in Costco. But most people have no idea that they sell jewelry and diamond rings. Who would think about buying gems and precious metals from a big box retail store? But they do sell them and you might be wondering if this stuff is any good. If that’s the case, keep reading more to discover the truth.
Basic Information about Costco:
- they found the company in 1976
- they currently have 727 retail locations
- you can find Costco in countries all over the world including France, Japan, Spain, South Korea, Mexico, Australia, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
Costco Diamonds: Our First Impression
Remember that this is just the first impression that we’re talking about and nothing more. We aren’t talking about the entire sales process from top to bottom. Everybody seems to love Costco because they have reasonable prices and you could pretty much find whatever you happen to be looking for. But as far as jewelry is concerned, walking into a jewelry store owned by Costco isn’t the most impressive experience in the world.
For starters, after talking to members of the staff, it was very clear that they didn’t have the knowledge and insight about specific characteristics of diamonds. That’s obviously a blemish against them as you can imagine. They also failed to provide any value added services which is a definite no-no.
They expect you to pick out a diamond just like you’d pick out any other product from their warehouse floor. Just to officially be able to complete this review, we chose a specific diamond to look at and realized right away that they didn’t even have a certificate for the diamond.
The cut of the diamond was nice. That we’ll definitely admit. But they told me that the diamond was “I” as far as color goes. But the truth is that their specified color was off. The diamond was actually “J” which is a less valuable and less expensive color. But it was a nice diamond ring to say the least even if it wasn’t being sold correctly.
Selecting the Setting
Unfortunately, things took an even bigger turn for the worst when it was time to select the setting. A big issue in Costco is there setting selection is very minimal at best. If you were to shop online you’d have many more options to say the least.
But we walked into a Costco jewelry store and they only had 10 or 20 options to choose from. The quality and craftsmanship were certainly decent, but if you’re really looking for the perfect ring for your significant other, you may have a hard time finding it with so few and limited choices available to you.
Even if you look at Costco’s website you’ll see that their setting selection is even limited there. But the appearance is nice and the quality isn’t bad, so it’s not a total loss by any means necessary. But if you have a different preference or style you may have a tough time finding the right selection with so few options to choose from.
Does the Price Meet the Value?
The specific ring we looked at would have cost around $3500 if we were to purchase it. But we didn’t actually buy it for the purposes of this review because who’s going to spend $3500 on a ring for no reason. But what we discovered is that the price doesn’t justify the purchase.
The shortcomings of the diamond ring and setting definitely did not make it as valuable as they charged. You can find better diamonds, a much larger selection of settings, and even cheaper prices if you were to purchase online from different online jewelry and diamond retailers.
Because it’s a retail store, Costco also has to charge sales tax. When you buy online you can usually avoid paying this additional expense. I fully recommend this online diamond dealer.
Final Thoughts
We undoubtedly think that Costco is a great store and we love shopping there. But as far as their jewelry store is concerned, it can definitely benefit from a big overhaul. They need more options, staff members with more knowledge, and they need to understand the quality of diamonds better so they can sell their products accordingly. They aren’t the worst option in the world so it’s up to you whether or not you’d like to give them a try.
About Clark Walker
Clark Walker has been a diamond and rare jewelry savant for as long as he can remember. When retirement commenced and world travel became his new passion, he quickly realized that he needed a stimulating side hobby. Through this website he continues this passion for education, guidance, and keeping tabs on the industry.