Updated on September 2021 to show up-to-date product comparison.

Costco Engagement Rings vs James Allen

Recently I’ve had a couple of questions come across regarding Engagement Ring offerings from Costco. First, in the spirit of open disclosure, I love Costco. In fact, I love both Costco and BJ Wholesale. People tend to bookmark them solely as warehouse stores, but they truly offer a lot of value beyond ungodly amounts of food. From gas stations to gift cards, you’ll be surprised at the type of things and savings found at each of these respective wholesale clubs.

But does this extend to Engagement Rings? Well, maybe there’s a line to be drawn.

Don’t just take our word for it, though. Let’s go ahead and pull one of Costco’s better-selling engagement rings and see how it stacks up.

Costco Engagement Ring

We went ahead and pulled up Costco’s Engagement Rings from their website and filtered them by customer reviews. Needless to say, there are a lot of four and five-star reviews showing that people are generally pleased with their purchases. We narrowed things down a bit by looking solely at 5-Star reviews and started to notice a few things:

• Their Most Popular Rings: Tend to all be Halo mounts. We can see this logic since it is safe to assume that the individual purchasing this ring is probably price-conscious. A Halo setting will provide a more dramatic presentation while utilizing smaller diamonds and thus be more affordable.

• Diamond Certifications: I was rather disappointed in this because Costco uses some verbal gymnastics to give the appearance that all their rings are GIA Certified. So much so that we wrote a separate article (The Truth Behind Costco Engagement Rings) to detail this in-depth. In the meantime, note that only diamonds with an individual weight of 1.0ct and larger are GIA Certified (as detailed on their site). Any smaller, then it is simply not. Remember, the individual weight of the diamond must be 1.0ct, not the total carat weight of the ring.

• Few Cut Rating: Possibly the most glaring omission from the Costco rating is that of Cut. As we’ve said before, Cut is perhaps the most significant indicator of a Diamond’s quality and will have an extreme effect on its pricing. Only their most expensive rings will have a Cut rating, making a comparison for most people almost impossible.

Realizing this 1.0ct barrier is essential for a proper apples-to-apples comparison, we pulled their highest-reviewed solitaire ring, which at this time had a 5.0-star rating from 6 reviews.

Costco’s Round Brilliant 1.0 ct VS2 Clarity, I Color Diamond Platinum Solitaire Ring

Costco’s Engagement Ring retails for $5,899.99 and features the following specifications:

• Shape: Round

• Carat: 1.0 ct

• Clarity: Very Slightly Included (VS2)

• Color: Near Colorless (I)

• Cut: Very Good or Better

Since this is a simple Platinum solitaire setting, it should be easy to duplicate at James Allen.

James Allen Engagement Ring

We started by choosing a solitaire setting that closely mimics Costco’s. From there, it’s just a matter of filtering out our needs. Hitting all the exact qualities as the Costco diamond, James Allen has a wide selection of Round Diamonds with a Cut rating of Very Good to Ideal. Prices for these range from $3,380 to $7,270.

Factoring the mounting, an equivalent engagement ring from James Allen can cost anywhere from $4,400 to $8,300. That range, which is equal to $3,900 between Very Good and Ideal, is why it is important to know all the specifications of a diamond. Clearly, in one instance, you are saving nearly $1,500 compared to Costco, and in the other instance, Costco is significantly cheaper. But why? The lack of clear information from the Costco website will leave you to roll the dice that perhaps… Perhaps! the ring you chose was of equal quality to the one you are comparing to.

More often than not, we’ve seen that Costco diamonds have shown to be less than Ideal Cut diamonds, so there is a chance you are overpaying.

In summary, by purchasing your engagement ring at Costco, we’re left with a situation where you don’t know if you’re getting a good deal and saving a couple of thousand dollars or if you’re overpaying by $1,500. Unfortunately, Costco does not provide any additional information on their website because their pricing does seem competitive at first sight.

For the time being, we’re going to have to leave this as-is. Our next step will be to choose a far more expensive diamond with a Cut, Polish and Symmetry rating. While we basically know how this will end, it would be an injustice not to follow through with our assessment. You can also see our more thorough explanation of Costco’s grading system (The Truth Behind Costco Engagement Rings) and how you can navigate through it and feel safe that you’re making equitable comparisons.

Until then, would you like us to help you with your diamond ring search? Contact us, and we will provide you with a one-on-one service that will get you the best diamond available!