The New Way of Jewelry Shopping!. Review on Bluestone

I first came across Bluestone when I was looking for design ideas for a diamond ring I was looking to purchase. And once I found them, I have been hooked on! In a nutshell, they are the best new way of shopping for jewelry and I guess I will be moving a large part of my off-the-shelf jewelry online, because of my experience with them.

Website usability: Product range, navigation use, transparency-

While searching on the internet, I came across many new online jewelry sites which I browsed in detail keeping an eye on various aspects like product range available, prices, website usability etc. And among all the sites - including dedicated websites like caratlane, titan and multi-brand online stores like myntra, flipkart etc. In terms of usability, transparency of product pricing(breakup of various elements, options for customization) product range, they are easily the best.

Pricing: Affordability, transparency, comparison with other options-

Firstly, Bluestone's comparison with other websites - they are more competitive than other sites for the really good jewelry. If you are looking at simple, inexpensive stuff for casual occasions, you might find a few good ones on Myntra, flipkart etc. but if you are looking for serious and expensive stuff, you will only find them at such sites, and among them Bluestone is on the lower side - not to mention the transparency they give.

Comparing Bluestone with retail stores - Especially with diamond jewelry, hardly any retailer is transparent at all. They never educate a customer with regards to the diamond quality, size (carat) etc. which is a huge determinant in pricing. Due to this non-transparency, they tend to charge much more. On an average, I have tried all the big names in retail jewelry in Bangalore and Singapore - Joyalukkas, Malabar, Shoppers stop, Reliance Jewels etc. - for the same type of jewelry available on Bluestone, retail shops charge anywhere from 50 - 150% more! Case closed. I don't think I'll ever go back to retail jewelry again, unless it is with our family jeweler!

Customer service: Ordering experience, home try-on, delivery and returns-

Excellent again! I really liked one design but which was not available in the specification that I wanted, so I called Bluestone to request for a customization. They agreed and promptly gave me a drawing and quotation for it. And at the same making charges - only charged for the difference in material(gold / diamond) used. Turnaround time is good, they do home delivery and you can pay Cash on Delivery even with a credit card!

Before buying you can also ask for a home try on of few of your shortlisted jewelry(this is available in Bangalore), so no worries of buying something without trying on.

Returns - I have returned one of the items I first bought(a ring) because of sizing issues and also I felt I liked something else more after that. Bluestone took back the item, no questions asked, and they picked it from my house. That's when I became their fan!

This is not a paid review, just a personal experience, and I will definitely recommend bluestone to all my friends and family. My mum spends a lot of time on their site these days! ;-)