Nobody ever wants to buy something that is subpar to what they feel they or someone they care about deserves. Diamond rings are no different. When it comes to rings you must always be careful because of the ability of people to fake the product. Some may use copper or tin or any other base metal and try to pass it off as a high end piece for a low end price. However, the golden rule of buying always applies; if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This doesn’t mean that you can’t find high quality diamond rings for a less than enormous price tag, simply that you must be careful when you are looking for them and keep an eye out for fakes.

Price is the easiest way to spot a scam. If it says that it’s a one and a half carat diamond in a platinum setting and it’s priced less than $5000 then it’s almost definitely a lie. An easy way to tell is to click on the stone with a metal pick, glass or Cubic Zirconia will scar from the metal, this can be seen under magnification. If it is a diamond, check the metal, look for indications of plating.

The quality of the metal can be a little harder to determine. The easiest things to look for are the stamp on the metal, the cut, color and clarity of the stone and also the setting prongs. Generally a stamp in the metal will tell you the type of metal. Anything like 10k is gold, .925 sterling silver and .995 or .950 is generally platinum. You must always look for runs and the like in the metal, but in general those will be pretty easy to spot. Everything should combine well enough to flow together and complement each other; gaudy for the sake of gaudiness is a good sign of a fake.