Ritani is one of the biggest players selling diamonds online and they practically need no introduction. But we wanted to tell you more about them in our Ritani review nonetheless.
For starters, it’s possible to get their jewelry from partner stores that were carefully selected and chosen by the company. You can also buy their jewelry in many jewelry stores and they also sell their products online.
Most important of all, it’s the online experience that we are planning on looking at today more than anything else. They have an incredible reputation that we hope they live up to. In fact, many people say there are a number of benefits to buying from them online that include:
- trade-ins and upgrades
- they provide their customers with a lifetime warranty
- each one of their diamonds as certified by GIA or AGS
- they provide free shipping in the United States and Canada with FedEx
- buy a Ritani engagement ring with Brilliant Rewards
- obtain their credit card and receive interest-free financing
These benefits seem tremendous at the start. But will the company live up to these promises? Continue reading to discover the truth.
Pricing The Ritani Products
If you’re going to fairly price your products, you have to do so by providing pricing comparisons with your competitors. Ritani seems to feel the same way as we do because they chose Whiteflash as a selected partner, which means we will use them for our comparison.
Using Whiteflash’s Loose Diamond Search and Ritani’s Diamond Inventory Section, we were able to compare two very similar diamonds.
The price of the Ritani diamond was $6250 and the price of the Whiteflash diamond was $6175. And once we chose our diamonds, we began comparing them and noticed some big differences.
For starters, Whiteflash provided a bigger discount to their customers – and the discount was nearly $300. We also noticed that the diamond cut was far superior with Whiteflash based on information gathered using an ASET Map. Obviously, if you’re thinking about buying a diamond from Ritani you need to keep these two factors in mind.
When a diamond is well cut, you’ll notice very little leakage in the colors. And that’s exactly what we see when looking at the Whiteflash diamond. The Ritani on the other hand lacks symmetry and definitely presents leakage.
Additionally, there is an extra facet in the Ritani diamond which you wouldn’t get with Whiteflash. This extra facet means the cut wasn’t perfect and some people might not like that.
Overall, you’d end up saving money buying an engagement ring from Ritani. But the quality will suffer and the cut will not be perfection at all.
The History of Ritani
This company was originally founded in 1999. It was founded by HaroutAghjayan, who happens to be the brother of the world-renowned jewelry designer VatcheAghjayan. But the founder no longer runs the company, and a former executive from Blue Nile named Brian Watkins is currently heading up operations.
With more than 16 years under their belt, this company has operated mainly out of Seattle and New York, and has worked hard to establish a name for themselves and become a big time player in this business.
The biggest area to set them apart from the competition is how they integrate their online and off-line operation seamlessly. And the backbone to their retail approach is working with a network of nationwide partners that they’ve curated over the years.
Another interesting option is a customer can place their order online, and if they want to immediately go and see their ring they can do so at an authorized store. The company is based throughout the entirety of the United States so there is definitely going to be an authorized partner near you no matter where you happen to live in the US.
This company is on the rise and it doesn’t seem like they will slow down anytime soon. In fact, Forbes named them one of the top 40 most promising companies in 2014. So obviously they are doing something right if they found their way onto Forbes’ radar.
Designer Items and Custom Options
You’ll never be able to buy anyone else’s diamond at Ritani because they only sell their own. All of their diamonds are ethically sourced and they would never sell anything to the public until they’ve been inspected thoroughly with certification by AGS or GIA. Since both of these laboratories are the most respected throughout the world, this certification assures their customers that their diamonds are of the highest quality.
Another thing to mention is the Ritani Reserve Diamonds. These diamonds are of the highest quality and precision cut and they are only available in round cut or princess cut. In truth, these diamonds will truly sparkle and shine and they look absolutely amazing.
This company also has their own feature where you can create your own ring. It’s an astounding feature and out of the many I’ve tried on different diamond sellers websites, this one is clearly the best. Their settings fall under the most popular and sought after styles, the process is user-friendly, it’s easy to understand and quick to do. You’ll have no trouble finding the ideal setting and the perfect stone to match.
Diamond Quality
As far as quality goes, each diamond is fully inspected and certified by GIA or AGS. This certification lets customers purchase with confidence. The company goes out of its way to make sure that they deliver quality every time and that’s definitely a huge plus when buying from an online or physical diamond retailer.
Ritani’s Website
The website layout is very easy to understand, it’s informative, and it isn’t particularly gaudy which makes it worthwhile to look at. They have a good balance of imagery and text on their site which helps succinctly get their message across without hammering you over the head with a hard sell. In fact, the entirety of the website only has five tabs on the homepage. This makes it look aesthetically appealing and very easy to navigate to boot.
When visiting the diamonds tab, you’ll immediately see many popular cuts and fine choices of diamonds. They look very appealing and really stand out so much that you’ll want to buy them immediately.
They also have a section where you can create your own ring. This is an incredible feature that lets you choose the stone first and the setting afterwards which makes it very easy and convenient to use as you will learn once you give it a try.
They also have an education section on their website as well. You can learn just about anything you’d ever want to know about diamonds and so much more in this section. They have content including “how to choose the perfect engagement ring” to “the latest trends in metals” and “the all-conquering 4C’s”.
After you read through this section, you may not be able to call yourself a diamond expert but you will have received an excellent education. And your education will help you make an informed and excellent choice when buying an engagement ring or a diamond for any other matter. And that’s what you want when shopping for a diamond online.
Unlike other websites, Ritani does not offer any ready-made diamond engagement rings. Every ring is unique and it’s based on the specifications of the buyer when they expertly and effectively design and create their own ring. You can click on the engagement ring tab and this will also take you to the area where you can create your own ring, but in this case you choose the setting first.
Finally, the last two sections are wedding rings and jewelry. These sections are remarkable and you’ll get just as excited as you do when you look at the engagement rings. They showcase exclusive Ritani collections and so much more.
At the end of the day, this website is very impressive to say the least. It offers so much information, yet it is clean and easy to use and very underwhelming which is exactly what you want when shopping for diamonds online.
Ritani Online Imagery
Their online imagery is our first minor complaint. Some of the images on their site pop so brightly that they look truly marvelous. Other images are very dull, lackluster, and very difficult to view.
Also, they use some of the same images over and over on different pages of their website and the homepage. This is tiring to see over and over again, but overall the website is high quality and the images are mostly very respectable.
Shopping Online at Ritani
Using Ritani’s website was easy and quite enjoyable. It was easy to find everything on the site and simple and seamless to navigate. They had a simple ring selection process, it’s easy to check out, and once they tell you the price of the ring you know you’ll never pay anything more. What more could you ask for?
Educational Information
The information is solid and they provide everything you need to know about the essentials of buying a diamond. But they also go a step above and provide additional information that none of the other websites provide.
In fact, one very informative section is known as the latest diamond trends. So if you do not know too much about diamonds and the various cuts, colors, and clarity, this section is going to come in very handy for you because it will help you make an excellent choice whether you know anything or not.
Plus, it’s not like they’re trying to force you to buy a particular stone or another. There’s lots of information available for you to read to help you make an informed choice.
They also provide information about the finer details that make diamonds such a special gemstone. You can learn about the ethical sourcing methods of the company, the certification process and what it means, and so much more.
Diamond Packaging
If you’re going to buy a high quality engagement ring or another top-quality piece of jewelry, the packaging itself better be classy. The great thing is Ritani understands this and their packaging is definitely wonderful to say the least. The gift boxes are leather and they open up and have gray satin inside to provide a brilliant home for your beautiful diamond ring, necklace, or whatever else you’ve purchased.
The Ritani Return Policy
Just like every other good online diamond retailer, Ritani has a rock solid 30 day return policy in place. As long as your return falls within the 30 day deadline, you’ll be able to send it back completely free of charge.
Even better, your diamond is going to get picked up at your door and brought back to the retailer. Once the retailer receives the diamond and checks it over, you will get a full refund and you’ll never have to pay any type of restocking fee whatsoever.
Final Thoughts
All in all, we think Ritani is great and consider them a four star company. To get a perfect five stars, you need all of your diamonds to be complete perfection and as we learned Ritani comes very close but doesn’t make the grade.
So, if you’re looking for top-notch diamond buying experience, you’ll definitely get that at the Ritani website but if you’re looking to take things even a step further with an even higher quality experience, we highly recommend visiting the Whiteflash and James Allen websites for a five-star experience.
