RARE CARAT
Diamond Score: 3.9
WHAT WE FOUND:
We immediately hit the blue tab on the left "Start with a diamond". Very simple and easy-to-understand slider functionality. What we did not like when we went to the page was that there were pictures of diamonds below the slider and seemed a bit confusing as we had not filtered parameters yet.
We went ahead and selected a round I color SI1 clarity "Rare Carat Ideal", 1.00-1.08 carats. As we scrolled, we saw INCREDIBLE PRICING and wondered how could this be!? So we went ahead and clicked on an option. In very small print we found our answer. It took us to a lab that created diamonds. Yikes! We went backward and tried to figure out what we had done wrong. Lo and behold the default is automatically set to search for LAB CREATED diamonds. We believe that this was done intentionally to provide best-in-class pricing. We felt this was very deceiving. As per our experience, if you have read our other reviews, the default is ALWAYS set to Natural.
Once we identified the issue, we clicked on natural and we were taken to our previously filtered selection.
1st Impressions:
4.5
User-Friendliness:
4.5
Inventory Selection:
5
Customer Service:
4.5
Price:
4.7
Bells & Whistles:
4.5
Immediately we notice that the photography is inconsistent. Diamonds were all of course round stones per our request, but different sizes on the screen and different color backgrounds (show picture labeled rare carat image). This inconsistent background affected our ability to compare fairly. What appears to be the material of the diamonds ranges from hazy to brown.
Let us stop here for a moment. This is not a good site. This is a low-cost provider that is using AI to try and offload undesirable inventory for the trade.
Upon reviewing page one of the offering, it was easy for us to decide to look no further. This was not a site that we would recommend be used to help memorialize such a wondrous occasion as an engagement. You are much better served by heading to a JamesAllen, BlueNile, WhiteFlash type site where you are able to better qualify your purchase.
It appears that Rare Carat offers a worthy platform for a multitude of manufacturers/retailers to list diamonds they wish to sell regardless of actual quality.
Live Chat Feature:
Because we needed to have a review for our fans, we did use the chat a few times. The representatives were all very nice, but we took their answers with a grain of salt considering what we were seeing with our own eyes.
Back To Shopping:
Well...we didn't...It was obviously time to go... ok...we did go back after cooling our jets for a bit😊 Something we did find that was pretty cool (although you would really have to know to scroll) , was a bell curve chart identifying where our selected diamond fell in price comparison to others. They also had a checklist with "TARGET" in comparison to the "ACTUAL" diamond you selected. So in layman's terms it was a checklist of what to have and what to avoid....we would think.
However are not fans of strong blue or very strong blue fluorescence and it appears that Rare Carat is suggesting these two are ok?
After reviewing this, we decided to pack it in for this site. As we believe many errors in judgement could be made, unintentionally.
Unbiased REVIEW
RARECARAT
PROS:
- Appears on it's face to have a massive selection
- Financing
- 30 day Hassle Free Return Policy
- Lifetime Warranty
- Gemologist was immediately available to chat
- Upgrade Policy for natural stones
- Free Shipping
- Free ring sizing
CONS:
- The Rare Carat Ideal has parameters that are way too loose when searching for a fine diamond
- Automatically defaults to lab created diamonds
- Inconsistent visuals
- Hard to get to what Logo would recommend
- Massive range in their listings of selected category - have to work hard to find a nice diamond
- WhiteFlash, Brian Gavin are automatically getting you closer to where you want to be
Overall grade 3.9/5
1st IMPRESSIONS 4.7
At first glance, it is clean and simple and gets you to the point....you think...
USER-FRIENDLINESS 2.75
We felt very deceiving to start. The site on our computers kept defaulting to lab grown without us realizing it. That could be an extremely costly mistake for the consumer as it is in very small writing on the page when looking at the diamond specifications. Once we got past this, overall it was user friendly with the slider scales, but the pictures were very inconsistent. It was obviously a mishmash of virtual uploads from a number of companies. This is more a tech platform than a real diamond house in our opinion. Hopefully they can get better.
INVENTORY SELECTION 3
Extremely large, but again, a mishmash of everything and anything. Very confusing to look at with images not being consistent. Different backgrounds, image sizes etc. It's just a lot thrown up there in the hopes of a click. If you are not a diamond person, we really don't believe this site is for you.
LIVE CHAT CUSTOMER SERVICE 4.5
Easily available and friendly. Unfortunately we already had a bad taste, so we took everything with a grain of salt.
Price 4.5
Pricing is highly competitive in most categories when comparing to other sites. The problem comes in when most people don't want to scroll and search a crazy long list. So most likely the consumer is going to click on something subpar and purchase a diamond with issues rather than being gently led to a quality diamond like the other major sites.
BELLS AND WHISTLES 4
Some cool features with diamond charts on world pricing and have a solid education center. It's simplified and easy to read. They do have a cool 8 steps to get it right page that helps you manage your search process. If you really dig deep, you can find some quality information that is easy to understand. But we really had to dig to find it. So once we found it, we decided to up the Bells and Whistles ratings due to the amount of information.
- 30 day Hassle Free Return Policy
- Lifetime Warranty
- Gemologist was immediately available to chat
- Upgrade Policy for natural stones
- Free Shipping
- 90 day free ring sizing
THE RARE CARAT IDEAL
The Rare Carat Ideal is a very loose parameters offering and does not appear to screen for clarity issues. In other words, as long as the diamonds hit the specifications on paper, it appears that it automatically is ok to be within their finest offering, the Rare Carat Ideal. Logo do not believe this is the finest available...actually not even close.
RARE CARAT
With a similar story to Mark Vadon, founder of Blue Nile, Ajay Anand was a frustrated consumer who felt the engagement ring buying process was overwhelming and confusing. Ajay set out to create a marketplace that was accessible to all. He and his team continue to focus heavily on incorporating artificial Intelligence along with a good supporting team of geologists and friendly staff. They source from many of the second level wholesalers and manufacturers in the market.