August 18, 2011

Save 32% on a Diamond Engagement Ring at Costco.. only $1 million

On the front page of Costco.com I saw a featured item that caught my eye.

They have a 6.2 carat diamond ring for sale for a mere $1,000,000.*  

Even though its Costco they don't come in a volume pack of 12.  There is only one ring available for purchase.  The ring has an appraised value of $1,496,255 so with a price of just $1,000,000 its over 32% off!    I'd like to say its 1/3 off but 32.88% isn't quite 33%.  

The description of the ring:

  • IGI Value: $ 1,496,255
  • GIA #: 2135241967
  • Metal:  900 Platinum 
  • Diamond Shape:  Round Brilliant  
  • Minimum Diamond Weight:  6.20 ct
  • Diamond Clarity:  Internally Flawless ( IF )
  • Diamond Color: Colorless ( D )
  • Diamond Cut: Excellent
  • Ring Size:  6.5 - Sizeable to any size  (Costco does not provide this service)
  • Item available for purchase via wire transfer only
I like how Costco will actually sell you a $1,000,000 ring but they're not willing to have the ring sized for you.   I envision someone buying this $1,000,000 ring along with the 36 roll pack of of toilet paper and the jumbo 2 gallon container of mayonnaise, waiting in line at check out, piling the stuff all in a used card board box that was originally for cartons of Camels and then standing in line at the exit door to have your receipt checked by their receipt checker person.

If you're about to marry a Kardashian second cousin (a sister would require a larger rock) and you're in the market for a $1,000,000 diamond ring then this may be a great buy.   I haven't done much shopping for $1,000,000 rings though so I'm not really sure if this is a great bargain or not.  If you are in the market for a million dollar ring then you probably have a staff of assistants that could help you shop around.  


I assume that you'd also get 2% cash back on your Costco gold card so thats a nice bonus.  I didn't research this so its possible theres fine print somewhere that says you can't.  

If you're NOT a billionaire then I'd instead recommend you check out my older article discussing How Much You Should Spend on an Engagement Ring for more practical idea on what to spend.

Costco may be a decent choice for a reasonably priced ring but from what I've seen they don't have a large selection.    Their diamond solataire rings that they currently have for sale online start over $3,000 and go up.  So if you're not looking to spend that much then they won't have anything for you.   I found a 0.72 carat with a platinum band at Costco for about $3800.   I priced a similar 0.72 carat round VS1 with platinum band on Bluenile and it would be about $4,100 there.   But thats assuming you want that same specs as the Costco diamond.  Bluenile also has a 0.7 carat that is VS2 for $2500 and paired with a white gold band that would be around $2800 total. 

$3800 for a 0.72 carat VS1 platinum band at  Costco is better than $4100 for a 0.72 carat VS1 platinum band at Bluenile.    But is $3800 for a 0.72 carat VS2 platinum band at  Costco better than a 0.70 carat VS2 white gold band for $2800 at Bluenile?   Maybe it is and you really want platinum and having VS1 over VS2 is really important to you but for most folks I doubt you'd care that much to warrant spending $1000 extra.


*  I wanted to put in a commission link so that if one of you billionaires out there bought the $1M ring then I'd get a 1-2% referral commission but I sadly don't have any commission deals with Costco.  

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