Rare Carat Review: The Kayak of Diamonds shakes things up by taking out the middle man

This guide aims to provide comprehensive information to assist consumers in making informed purchase decisions. We carefully analyze every diamond jewelry and diamond engagement ring retailer to deliver the best advice on how to optimize value and where to get the most for your money. Our goal is to organize and present all the things that consumers should know before buying. We writes these articles personally (never with AI) and we update them regularly based upon our understanding only an insider would know. Our Editor has spent four decades as a global leader in the diamond jewelry industry having led six wholesale and retail jewelry companies, been a select client of DeBeers and a pioneer in the birth of lab grown diamonds. His family has been in the diamond business for over a century.

Purchasing a diamond or diamond engagement ring is a significant investment and can be intimidating and even frightening. Consumers often worry about making informed decisions and finding trustworthy retailers. When purchasing a product with which one is unfamiliar, it is important to invest the time to get educated on both the product, and the sellers of that product. A diamond engagement ring will symbolize a lifetime commitment and is a permanent display to friends, family and colleagues. The diamond, ring design, quality and the craftsmanship must meet or exceed all expectations. All data referenced in these reviews are as of the date of the review, we are not responsible for updating information as prices change constantly. Also, we are not compensated to write these reviews as they are independent of any given retailer or brand.

Summary of Findings

Rare Carat was founded in 2016 by serial entrepreneur Ajay Anand, a Wharton Business School graduate of Indian heritage from Michigan. His heritage is important only because of the central role India plays in cutting most of the world’s diamonds, making the majority of its fine jewelry and coding and driving data analytics for much of the online economy. Ajay’s remarkable intelligence and vision drove the creation of the first true diamond and diamond engagement ring marketplace. But it was his unique ability to navigate the business worlds of both the United States and India with equal ease and dexterity that made and keeps Rare Carat so successful. Perhaps it is his prior training as an actor, however, that explains how intuitively Rare Carat understands its audience. There may be no easier or less expensive way to buy the diamond or diamond engagement ring of your dreams than on the Rare Carat marketplace.

Pros

• More diamonds than any other retail jewelers

• 1,275,000 lab grown diamonds

• 552,000 natural diamonds

• Best customer service by unbiased graduate gemologists

• Easy to use website filters and navigation

• Best pricing in our survey group

• Largest selection of engagement ring settings

• Focussed and aggressively priced diamond jewelry assortment

• Free 30-days returns

• Best resizing guaranty: no charge within 90 days of purchase

Cons

• The enormous number of diamonds and designs may be overwhelming

• Diamond images inconsistent and many diamonds have no image or video

Rare Carat Overview

Rare Carat Review 2025: THE Online Marketplace for Diamonds, Diamond Engagement Rings, Wedding Bands and Jewelry

This in-depth review of Rare Carat, examines and evaluates its history and uniqueness as a pure marketplace. We will discuss why they have the most diamonds of any online diamond jewelry brand and yet can offer the same guarantees and warranties often at far better prices. We will explore the investments in both AI technology and in the best trained gemologists anywhere that differentiate Rare Carat and make it a top choice for diamonds, jewelry and diamond engagement rings.

Introduction to the Rare Carat Brand

Our Editor first met Ajay in 2018, before his company would carry lab grown diamonds. We were immediately struck by his deep and thorough understanding of ecommerce and a little surprised that he came to the meeting in shorts. But you cannot separate Ajay from the easy approachability and friendly vibe of Rare Carat. And that is why we mention his attire. Because while all websites claim to be bringing transparency and ease of use in an unintimidating manner to the buying process, Rare Carat really does. Because they are not a brand but are a marketplace, modeled on websites like kayak and even amazon they are truly agnostic as to who sells what and are entirely focused on the customer. They also don’t have to make the massive investment in branding and sumptuous models in elegant jewelry like the brands with whom they compete. They don’t dress up the site any more than Ajay dresses up himself. The Rare Carat website has none of those distractions. It is simple and maybe even a bit ugly. But it is beautiful for users in simplicity, function and price. And the whole focus and intent of the website is how to make everything easier and better priced for the diamond customer.

Rare Carat Brand Heritage, Background and Evolution

Rare Carat made several pivots before Ajay refined the business model into the amazing marketplace it is today. He started by doing lead generation for several of the medium sized brands selling diamonds and jewelry on the internet and for some large retail jewelry stores. He soon came to realize he could eliminate these middle men and connect their suppliers, the diamond cutters and master jewelers, directly with the consumers who love and wear diamond jewelry. At the same time he spent weeks and months in Gurgaon, the technology hub of India for coding, machine learning and artificial intelligence. He retained the best of the best and even managed to get IBM involved. He built out his groundbreaking, data-driven, machine learning and AI enabled website that was the first designed to help customers get the most for their money. This is a very different approach than most brands who leverage their technology to get the most out of a customer for themselves. He then found, recruited and trained a customer service team that is the envy of the industry. The chat and phone lines of Rare Carat are not staffed by ‘consultants’ and former mall store salespeople, but by certified graduate gemologists some of whom were teachers at the best gemological laboratories or worked for DeBeers.

Rare Carat owns no inventory so they don’t need to invest in diamonds or jewelry. Rather, they invest in technology, people and the power of transparency to offer diamond, diamond engagement rings and diamond jewelry shoppers a top place to find the heirloom of their dreams.

Rare Carat Product Range and Quality

Rare Carat Diamonds

Rare Carat has as many as 250 vendors. They have every diamond you could ever want, from a .47ct lab grown diamond for $220 to a 34.75 ct. natural diamond for $2,028,042. Rare Carat only works with vendors who abide by

the Kimberley Process, the global protocol created by the diamond trade to help abet the mining and the sale of conflict diamonds. Each of their suppliers need to submit fully transparent lists of their diamonds along with conflict-free certificates before their diamonds are listed on Rare Carat. The full vetting to list diamonds on their site, which you can find here, is thorough and uncompromising. Their diamond supplier terms, which are transparently available to buyers on their website, give consumers added comfort when buying from Rare Carat. This is not a ‘drop ship’ model where the seller gets your name, address and your money and can then ship anything they want. Everything Rare Carat does is to protect diamond shoppers and get them the best price. They don’t just publish an online list of diamonds and walk away. For example, in their own contract with diamond vendors they clearly state: “You will ship any ordered diamonds to us for verification (no shipments will be permitted directly to the customer)”. And they actually inspect the diamond before shipping it or sending it to be set in the ring you have ordered. Our Co-Founder has been in one of the offices where they inspect diamonds and jewelry and personally confirms the rigor of the inspection. And none of your private details will be shared with the vendor. “Customers will pay on our secure gateway to protect their payment information, and we will pay you”.

What Rare Carat does so well for the diamond shopper is to set these 250 vendors into a highly competitive bidding war. They permit their vendors to lower prices anytime. This ensures consumers will always be getting the best possible price. If a vendor lowers a price, the savings are instantly passed on to the consumer. As they tell their vendors: “Rare Carat is a live marketplace, so you can compete in real time! Lowering your price will instantly lower the price for shoppers”. And the vendors compete with a vengeance like in The Hunger Games! This is why you might see 1 ct F VS2 diamonds going up in one dollar increments, like this one at $655, this one at $656 all the way up to this one at $696. They are probably all from different vendors competing for the diamond buyer Rare Carat brings. It’s like a reverse auction, where the diamond vendors bid lower and lower to get the customer to buy. Our Editor knows of vendors who monitor their inventory on Rare Carat virtually 24/7 so they can always be the best price. This is one of the ways in which Rare Carat serves diamond shoppers so well and brings them such amazing prices and values.

It is essential that a consumer come to understand the difference between price and value when buying a diamond. All four C’s (color, clarity, cut and carat size – see our section on certification below) impact the price of a diamond and must be considered before determining value. Quality of cutting and polishing are also critical. Integrity and trustworthiness of the jeweler, however, are of paramount concern when spending hundreds or thousands of dollars buying a diamond. As a buyer, you can be confident that any diamond you find on Rare Carat is carefully and thoroughly vetted and is also conflict free.

Rare Carat Natural Diamonds

Rare Carat offers more natural diamonds than any online diamond retailer we know of. On March 18, 2025 we observed 656,753 natural mined diamonds from which to choose. The breadth and depth of their selection is the largest among all online diamond retailers, featuring 374,545 round brilliant cut diamonds and 282,208 fancy cut diamonds. Nearly 90% of all the natural diamonds shown for sale on Rare Carat are certified by the Gemological Institute of America, the GIA. This is critically important because the GIA is the strictest gemological grading laboratory, which assures consumers of the quality and value of their diamond purchase. Here is an example of a GIA certificate from the Rare Carat website.

Purchasing a GIA certified diamond ensures that Rare Carat customers receive gems evaluated by the industry’s most respected grading authority–known for its strict standards in assessing the 4C’s, cut, color, clarity and carat weight. They do not prevent natural diamonds certified by other gemological laboratories from being sold on their site because they are a marketplace and only restrict the sale of conflict diamonds.

Our Editor and our team of experts have produced a detailed analysis of the different natural diamond cuts and shapes offered by Rare Carat in late March 2025, with round diamonds surpassing 400,000, representing over 66% of total available shapes. This more than ample selection covers all shapes, sizes and qualities any buyer of natural diamonds could imagine wanting.

But what makes shopping at Rare Carat such a uniquely wonderful and complete place to shop for the natural diamond of your dreams is that all qualities are well represented. The lowest quality offered is K color SI2 clarity of which they have 4,411 for sale. And in the top quality, D color FL-IF clarity they have 5,417. Few if any jewelers can match Rare Carat in breadth and depth of natural diamonds from which to choose for any budget.

Summary of Rare Carat Natural Diamonds

• Over 600,00 natural diamonds available

• 90% are GIA-certified

• 100% are conflict-free

• Any and all colors and qualities available in vast quantities.

• Great prices

• Wide variety of shapes and cuts, including

  • Round Brilliant cut: 415,516 diamonds

  • Fancy cuts: 212,481

Rare Carat Lab Grown Diamonds

Rare Carat has more lab grown diamonds for sale than any place we know of on earth and more than three times as many as the nearest competitor! This is over 1.2 million lab grown diamonds without accounting for overlap and duplicates across their many sellers. Brilliant Earth was the nearest competitor with almost 400,000 lab grown diamonds. But they also have the most diamonds in the range buyers should want. Our Editor and team were early pioneers in the validation and acceptance of lab grown diamonds in 2017. As the technology for growing gem quality diamonds has improved, accelerated and migrated to India, the price of lab grown diamonds have come down enormously. They are now at a low enough cost that our Editor strongly advise consumers to only consider buying the best, with 1 carat, F VS2, ideal cut as the minimum (more on this later). In this quality and better, the gap between the amount of diamonds Rare Carat offers consumers and all others widens even further!

We appreciate that Rare Carat does not clutter their site with smaller sizes of lab grown diamonds, which would only serve to confuse diamond shoppers. With a 1.06 carat, D VS2 lab grown diamond selling for $662 and a 3/4ct selling for $301, consumers should not consider anything less than a full 1 carat diamond when buying a lab grown diamond. Rare Carat’s marketplace serves customers well in that the vast majority of their lab grown diamonds are over 1 ct. Because of the much lower price of lab grown diamonds Rare Carat offers most certificates from the International Gemological Institute, IGI.

Drawing on over four decades of experience, our Co-Founder respects this decision because the cost for certification from the IGI is markedly less than the GIA. Using GIA could increase the cost of a lab grown diamond by a double digit percentage for diamond shoppers. Here is a sample IGI certificate from the Rare Carat website:

Our experts decided to take our comparative analysis one step further, based upon our reading of recent data reports ( we read them all). Leading independent diamond analyst Edahn Golan, writing in the January 9th 2025 TENORIS industry insights report, asserted that in 2024 the average price for a lab grown diamond was $2443 and the average diamond size was 2.03.

So our experts analyzed which of the online jewelers in our survey had the most diamonds and the most value in that range. Rare Carat serves diamond shoppers like no other source because they have so many more diamonds from which to choose:

Rare Carat has 50,000 more diamonds in this range from which to choose than the nearest competitor in our survey. As importantly they have a large number of diamond vendors in their marketplace competing for your business on price and quality. No other lab grown retailer creates such a huge and dynamic competitive sales environment where the consumer always wins.

Here is an example of a 2.00 ct F VS2 Excellent cut for only $1,985 from Rare Carat:

Summary of Rare Carat Lab Grown Diamonds

• Largest selection anywhere (1,403,494 on the day we completed this review)

• Overall best priced lab grown diamonds among survey group

• 96% are 1ct excellent or larger

• Most diamonds 2ct+ under $2500 in our survey group

• 93% are IGI certified

• 100% are conflict-free

Rare Carat has a lab grown diamond for everyone, no matter their budget. In fact they have thousands and even tens of thousands of diamonds to service nearly any budget. This may seem confusing or overwhelming at first, but it provides a critical dynamic that distinguishes Rare Carat and allows them to surprise and delight their customers unlike any other retailer can. They know that consumers do not need this many diamond options from which to choose. But Rare Carat needs this quantity to create the hyper-competitive marketplace in order to deliver to customers the very best prices for the very best diamonds. Later in this review we will explore and explain the technology by which they make this so simple. But next we will delve into the greatest deliverable of the Rare Carat marketplace: price.

Rare Carat Diamond Pricing and Value

Rare Carat Diamond Value

Whether buying a natural diamond or a lab grown diamond, the prices available at Rare Carat are best in class. They are the premier online diamond and diamond jewelry marketplace. Because they have no stores and own no inventory they can offer diamonds for a fraction of what a consumer would pay in a traditional store. Moreover, when our experts surveyed several other major online or digital first jewelers in a side by side comparison, we found many qualities and sizes where Rare Carat’s prices were the very lowest. And even though they are a marketplace and not a brand, their return policy, resizing, customer support, diamond expertise and warranties are equal to or better than our survey group ( see detailed analysis below). Most of all, they are led by a young and authentic entrepreneur whose unique heritage and training uniquely enable him to build and continue to grow as other brands and online jewelers come and go. Our Editor has met many young entrepreneurs and once, decades ago, qualified as one himself. He can give the founding and leadership team at Rare Carat his strongest endorsement as the company most likely to lead, thrive and be here for their customers for many years to come.

Rare Carat Natural Diamond Price Comparison

In our survey of the largest three online retailers of diamonds, we compared the prices of a 1ct I Si1 excellent cut natural diamond with no fluorescence certified by the GIA. Rare Carat offered the very best price and the nearest priced diamond was 10% more expensive (note many direct links to diamonds at the time of this review often get removed after those individual diamonds are purchased):

Rare Carat Lab Grown Diamond Price Comparison

In one survey of several of the most significant online retailers of diamonds, we compared the prices of 1, 1½ and 2 ct D VS2 excellent cut lab grown diamonds certified by the IGI. The results make a compelling case for why consumers will often choose Rare Carat and why their marketplace model serves diamond shoppers like no other (note many direct links to diamonds at the time of this review often get removed after those individual diamonds are purchased):

When it comes to pricing, Rare Carat regularly delivers to consumers the lowest price of those we surveyed. This alone makes Rare Carat a top destination to shop for diamonds, diamond engagement rings and jewelry. When you add to that the simplicity of their AI enabled website which we will review next, it is difficult to think of a better place to buy a diamond.

Rare Carat Diamond Buying Experience

Rare Carat Website Usability and User Experience

Navigating a website with nearly 2,000,000 diamonds and finding the ones a shopper wants to further explore requires fast, up to date technology that works on your phone as well as it does on your laptop. Rare Carat picks up where all other online jewelers leave off.

Whether in a store or online, a careful consumer will want to closely examine and compare many different diamonds. Rare Carat has 360 degree unique videos for most of their diamonds. Our Editor feels strongly that consumers are best served beginning their search for the perfect diamond online because they can view and compare many diamonds. This system is vastly superior to what is available in traditional jewelry stores. In a traditional store consumers would be lucky to have more than a few diamonds to compare and not the diamonds they select but the diamonds the store wants them to buy. In some stores a shopper might be given a 10x magnifying glass or loupe with which to view the diamond. Examining a diamond through a 10x loupe is a specialized skill. It can take weeks of training to begin to understand how to even hold and position the small, handheld magnifying glass. Moreover, understanding how and what to look for takes training and time and evolves over a lifetime. It isn’t right when a store salesperson puts a loupe in the customer’s left hand and a specialized, nearly 7 inch tweezer in the other hand and tells the customer to look at the diamond.

If a shopper should somehow manage a brief glimpse of a diamond this way–which is doubtful– they are only able to view one diamond at a time. This prevents customers from comparing diamonds side by side. On rare occasions a store might have a stereo microscope like this:

Under special LED white lighting meant to enhance the apparent color and sparkle, a buyer is shown one diamond at a time, and seldom at full magnification. Moreover, the prospective buyer is only able to view the top of the diamond and not the sides and bottom.

The video diamond images on Rare Carat magnify a diamond 10x-30x and allows a buyer to view every possible angle of the diamond. Through this technology a buyer is afforded a detailed inspection of all the diamond’s facets, top and bottom. This allows a diamond shopper to see much more of a diamond than possible with the 10x top only magnification you might get in a traditional store. On Rare Carat a buyer can carefully inspect every detail of the diamond–every facet, on the top and the bottom and even a side profile. Of equal importance, this reduces the risk of misrepresentation, a common concern in online purchases.

We like that on Rare Carat a diamond shopper can display any one of almost 2,000,000 actual diamonds because it gives the buyer control of how they prefer to shop. Rare Carat has built their website so that comparing many different diamonds is easy. In our test on an iPhone we were able to view four diamonds on our screen:

And we were able to compare six diamonds simultaneously on a 15 inch Apple MacBook:

We selected the diamond in the middle on the bottom:

This is when the unique AI features developed by Rare Carat began to help us understand our selection. In the “Learn About Your Diamond” on the bottom of the page above, the first thing Rare Carat did was to tell us what was not exactly right with our diamond – which 3 of the 18 Rare Carat quality measures were deficient.

The next page read our minds, when it had a box to click that read “ Can I get a better diamond for this price”.

What we liked most, is when we clicked it we did not get more technology or a robot. We instantly got a live chat with a trained gemologist. First she told us what our Editor already knew about this diamond – and the gemologist knew exactly what she was talking about:

She then continued by recommending a far better diamond that was only $8 more:

The seamless transition from AI to a live expert at just the right moment is one of the things consumers will come to appreciate most about Rare Carat. We will speak later about the gemologists at Rare Carat who offer the very best customer service we have encountered in all our surveys. What should be so important to shoppers is that Rare Carat deftly combines the best AI technology with the best people to make for an effortless shopping experience.

Rare Carat Customer Service and Support

Rare Carat Diamond Expert Services

Diamond shoppers will be well served by the technology and the gemological experts that are available 24/7 at Rare Carat. And our tests have shown that the quality is the same day and night; you don’t get the B team at 3am on the east coast of the United States.

Many first time buyers may not understand how to evaluate a diamond. The gemologists at Rare Carat were not trained by a mall store manager on their weekend job while at college. This should give consumers real confidence that they can trust what they are being told–and that they are being told and not sold. Rare Carat customer care are not commissioned salespeople. They are trained professionals. Rare Carat asserts they have 58 Graduate Gemologists on staff and we believe them.

The exceptional Rare Carat team of graduate gemologists is an important advantage for consumers for three primary reasons.

First, a diamond customer can take all the time he or she needs to get educated on diamonds by having this free teacher. In addition to cut, color, clarity and carat weight these experts can go deeply into the minutiae of diamond cutting like table and depth percentage. And the Rare Carat gemologists are armed with detailed information on every diamond. To make their online experience truly exceptional, Rare Carat AI analyzes every diamond for 50 data points. Their machines scan plot drawings and descriptions to render proprietary clarity scores and flag things like laser treatments, cavities, chips, feathers on the girdle, and a host of other better and worse things that often slip under the radar. This ensures the Rare Carat Gemologists know everything about your diamond. Though few if any one can detect these differences after a diamond is mounted and set, there are buyers who wish to explore this level of technical detail and Rare Carats experts are equipped and ready to do so.

Secondly, the gemologist will seek to understand a customer’s budget and preferences and can pull from any one of nearly 2,000,000 different diamonds. The gemologist can offer a customer myriad options of every kind and at every price point and explain the pros and cons of each. And this is the true magic of Rare Carat: blending technology, gemological experts and massive selection of diamonds.

Thirdly, the Rare Carat diamond experts are there to educate a customer and help him or her find the diamond that best fits their budget and desires. They are not commissioned salespeople. They use the word ‘unbiased’, but our experience actually suggests they have a bias to take care of the customer more than the company.

If all Rare Carat did was post 2,000,000 diamonds it could be overwhelming. But having their cutting edge AI that feeds you right into a graduate gemologist turns that into a competitive advantage. And, it is really a fascinating adventure to go through the diamond buying process with are Carat. None of this, the millions of diamonds nor the unbiased and non-commissioned graduate gemologists are something available in a store. And we have not encountered this level of expertise at any other online jeweler.

Rare Carat Diamond Certificates and the 4 C's

The diamond will be the most expensive part of any diamond engagement ring purchase so it is important to take the time to research and learn about the 4C’s. Our Co-Founder explains in detail how to understand the GIA 2.51 ct Emerald Cut certificate below:

Date

The date the diamond was examined and certified by the gemologists at GIA. This is important for consumers because if a diamond is old inventory, there is probably something undesirable or substandard about it.

Report Number

This is the individual GIA certificate number unique to this diamond. It has also been microscopically laser inscribed on the side of the diamond. It does not impact the refraction or shine and will not be visible without at least 10x magnification. This is important because it can protect buyers from diamond fraud or substitution, which, though rare, is a risk when repairing a ring at an unethical jeweler. The number is also logged on the global database of GIA certificates, providing a permanent record of your diamond. This can prove very important should a consumer need to make an insurance claim and cannot locate the printed certificate received when the purchase was made.

Shape

The outline of the diamond when viewed from the top down, while the cut is defined by the pattern of the facet arrangement. Most buyers prefer a round also known as a brilliant cut diamond. Other shapes are collectively referred to as fancies. The most popular of these today are oval, pear and emerald. Historically marquise and princess cuts were also popular,

Measurements

The diamond’s dimensions are in millimeters. For a round diamond it is the minimum and maximum diameter and the depth. Non round diamonds will use the length, width and depth. This is important information a buyer should learn and understand as these impact the brightness, fire or light of the diamond.

Carat Weight

The weight as measured in carats to the nearest 1/100th of a carat. A carat is equal to 0.2grams.

Color

Describes the degree to which a yellow hue is present. Color is graded on a scale from D-Z though most gem quality diamonds are within the D-J colors. D is the whitest and by K even an untrained eye can detect the yellow hue. This will be an important consideration for buyers as prices of a D color will be higher than a J, particularly for a natural diamond. The tradeoff a consumer will often have to make is between color and carat weight.

Clarity

Describes the degree to which natural inclusions or blemishes are visible under 10x magnification.

Cut

Determines the light reflecting properties, also known as the fire, scintillation or brilliance of the diamond’s appearance. In the opinion of our founder, cut is the most important of the 4C’s because even the finest diamond if poorly cut will not refract light optimally and thus will emit inferior fire and brilliance.

Polish

Polish describes the smoothness of a diamond's facets. A high-quality polish will leave little to no scratches and slightly optimizes for maximum brilliance.

Symmetry

Symmetry describes the degree to which a diamond's facets are mathematically aligned to emit maximum light. A symmetrical diamond emits high levels of fire and brilliance.

Fluorescence

Fluorescence causes diamonds to emit a soft, bluish glow when exposed to UV light. The Fluorescence grade describes the color, and strength of color when a diamond is graded under UV light. The founder prefers diamonds with no fluorescence.

Conclusion on Rare Carat Diamonds

Rare Carat has more diamonds for sale than any other jeweler we encountered in our survey. And they have the most bigger and better lab grown diamonds than all the other jewelers in our survey. They distinguish themselves from all other online jewelers by their use of machine learning and AI to simplify the buying process. Yet they seamlessly provide the best human to human expert service from their staff of graduate gemologists too. What could be a confusing and bewildering experience sorting through the millions of diamonds they offer for sale is made easy for diamond shoppers. And the pricing at Rare Carat is amazing. Rare Carat makes it easy to shop for the right diamond or diamond engagement ring in the very best quality and design at a price that fits any budget and probably exceeds all expectations. The Rare Carat marketplace has successfully disrupted the centuries-old way consumers shop for diamonds, diamond engagement rings and diamond jewelry.

Rare Carat Diamond Engagement Rings

When our Editor and team first met Ajay he was laser-focused on establishing the greatest marketplace for natural diamonds. His website carried neither lab grown diamonds nor any finished jewelry. His expansion into helping his customers secure the best values on diamond engagement rings, wedding rings and diamond jewelry, though organic, was not something he drifted into without a lot of study and consideration for what a customer wants and needs. What Ajay discovered was that the majority of diamond engagement ring shoppers are very traditional. More than half will want some variation of a solitaire or a halo ring. Our Co-Founders can attest to the accuracy of Ajay’s understanding from their own work and experience. Their experience has confirmed that @20% of all sales for online jewelers will be only the diamond. The fact that the next 50% are focused narrowly in two design categories, solitaires and halos, proved fortuitous for Rare Carat. Just as they had in diamonds, they could focus and deliver the largest selection and most amazing values of the designs and styles most shoppers wanted. Our analysts compared the number of available styles in the three largest categories. They searched the terms solitaires, halos and hidden-halos on the websites of five leading online jewelers. The results were astounding:

The breadth and range of designs and price points offered by Rare Carat includes everything the vast majority of diamond engagement ring shoppers might want.

Consumers should not be concerned that the focus of Rare Carat on the most popular design categories limits their offering to only basic traditional designs. Within each category there are timeless classic styles like this Estelle Classic Pave Cathedral Halo Engagement Ring:

But there are also cutting edge halo styles like this stunning masterpiece, The Luminaria Bezel Marquise Halo Ring:

Matching the 12 small marquise shaped diamonds and bezel setting them in this ring demands the skilled artisanship and experienced hand of a master jeweler. Rare Carat has attracted the interest of the very best jewelers world-wide and holds them to strict quality control standards. Our Editor is very familiar with one of the larger factories with whom they work in the New York City area. This third generation factory is among the most respected and trusted in the country. Knowing the high level of jewelers with whom Rare Carat connects its customers, our Editor can give Rare Carat our strongest recommendation for quality and integrity.

As importantly, Rare Carat offers diamond engagement ring shoppers tremendous value. For an entry level shopper, perhaps a young serviceman looking to get engaged before deploying, their classic solitaire setting is not only beautiful but can be customized to five types of gold colors or platinum. The pricing of this 14kt gold solitaire (on March 22, 2025), at $360, is among the very best priced solitaires we found:

Taken together with a diamond like this F VS2 1.00ct that costs $584

A Rare Carat diamond engagement ring customer needs to spend only $944 ( before sales tax) to get a scintillating, perfectly cut colorless certified diamond set in a beautifully manufactured custom made 14kt gold ring. This is a stunning engagement ring whose color, clarity and scintillating brilliance will make any bride the envy of her wedding party.

Our Editor considers this to be one of the best entry level diamond engagement ring values available anywhere. It checks all the boxes an informed and discerning consumer should want.

Rare Carat brings to diamond engagement ring shoppers the best jewelers in the world without the expense of brand building or operating stores. The huge range of designs they offer is three times the size of the nearest competitor we surveyed and more than six times that of the smallest. No store or competing website can come near to offering as much choice as Rare Carat. The quality control is notoriously strict, and with Rare Carat the customer is always right. Rare Carat must be atop the list of places for consumers to shop for the diamond engagement ring of dreams at a price never dreamed possible.

Rare Carat Fine Jewelry

Rare Carat is an amazing place to shop for jewelry for any occasion or special moment. Non-wedding diamond jewelry is highly concentrated in three timeless categories: stud earring, hoop earrings and tennis bracelets. No woman’s wardrobe is complete without these and really little more is needed beyond these for most people. As a high scoring husband for many decades, our Editor can assure any gift shopper that the stud and hoop earring will always fit out of the box and will always be a hit. Whether it is an anniversary, birthday, new baby or just out of love, these timeless symbols of love and devotion never go out of style. For the self-purchasing woman, these styles will compose the core of her jewelry wardrobe. It is for this reason that Rare Carat has laser focused on these three categories. The company seems on a mission to always have the best prices on the most popular styles.

The quality of the craftsmanship is outstanding, and is held to the same quality control standards of their diamond engagement rings. For years one of the most popular gifts, self purchases or bridal shower jewelry designs has been lab grown stud earrings like this 1ct from Rare Carat:

When we compared the pricing of this timeless classic to other online jewelers we discovered what a tremendous value Rare Carat was offering shoppers as evidenced by our March 23, 2025 survey:

We kept going and compared the 1 ½ ct studs as well. Here is how things graphed out:

Rare Carat is the price leader in the stud earrings most consumers will want.

We found the same to be true when we surveyed lab grown diamond 14kt F VS tennis bracelets:

For the shopper looking to buy the timeless essentials of any diamond jewelry wardrobe, Rare Carat is able to deliver the best price in superb quality. Consumers will notice we have only reviewed lab grown diamonds in our coverage of fine fashion jewelry. Our Co-Founders recommended only lab grown diamonds for fashion self purchases and gifting. At the writing of this review gold had reached an historical high of $3040 per ounce. That creates an even more compelling argument to choose the less expensive but equally beautiful lab grown diamond alternative for all your fashion jewelry purchases.

We appreciate the customer-first approach to pricing and quality that define the Rare Carat approach to fine jewelry. There is no way to create a sorting tool for fashion diamond jewelry that could simplify the shopping experience as they have done so remarkably with diamonds. We shudder at websites that overwhelm customers with thousands of very different fashion items. The more time a customer spends on them, the more everything can start to look the same. Many customers often leave more confused than when they arrived. Rare Carat has simplified the gifting process by narrowing their assortment to what customers want most. Still, they offer depth and choice within those categories for every budget and every one of life’s special moments of celebration. Their tennis bracelets, for example, run from 1ct to 10 cts in every color of gold and platinum. Their quality and pricing on classic, timeless designs is compelling and difficult to match. The superbly crafted and timeless diamond jewelry designs offered by Rare Carat simplify the experience for consumers at some of the very best prices we have surveyed. They receive our highest recommendation.

Rare Carat Aftercare

Shipping

Rare Carat offers free FedEx or UPS insured shipping in discreet packaging both ways on all orders regardless of the price of the order. A buyer has 30 days to return their purchase and Rare Carat will pay the return shipping. This is zero risk buying,

Returns

Rare Carat stands behind everything they sell with an industry standard 30 day return policy offering a 100% refund,. They extend this 30 day window to as much as 75 days in from November first for Christmas holiday shoppers. This is really important for buyers because you are buying your diamond ring or jewelry sight unseen. This takes the risk out of an online purchase from Rare Carat versus being in a store. More importantly a customer can wear, examine and show others her diamond engagement ring, wedding band or jewelry in their own home and under their natural light. Jewelry stores spend a fortune on the best, whitest ceiling lights. And most in-cabinet lighting is just 18 inches from the jewelry. This kind of light is entirely different from most people’s homes or normal outdoor daylight. Jewelry store lights are engineered to make all their diamonds explode with light. Better to select your diamond, diamond engagement ring or diamond jewelry in the lighting of your own home.

Warranty

Rare Carat offers an industry standard lifetime warranty against manufacturer's defects.

Ring Resizing

Rare Carat offers an industry best free ring resizing anytime within the first 90 days of your purchase. This is a really important feature for diamond engagement ring shoppers. First of all, most grooms will get delivery of the ring at least 30 days before they pop the question. And living with your ring at work, the gym or while showering can be very different than sitting on your couch. Also, it is not unusual for a woman’s finger size to fluctuate. Rare Carat really gets this right and it shows, yet again, their customer-first sensitivity to how we shop and live.

Customer Service

Rare Carat is absolutely the gold standard on customer service. Just having a person and not a robot on the other end of a phone call or a chat to discuss a diamond, jewelry style or the status of a purchase, repair or return distinguishes Rare Carat from most other jewelers. Having the most highly trained graduate gemologists dispensing unbiased advice sets them far above all others. On their website they assert that “We give more thumbs down on diamonds than thumbs up”. We experienced this to be absolutely true.

Rare Carat Review Conclusion

In conclusion, Rare Carat has the most diamonds from which to select the diamond of your dreams, but the customer experience is among the very best because it is designed from the customer’s viewpoint. The sight always seems to know what a consumer will need to know next and has it ready. We think this is where Ajay’s earlier training in acting taught him to “become” the customer, which he has combined with his deep understanding of technology and of course his Wharton MBA. Ajay was not just an actor, but studied in the most elite acting school in America if not the world, the Lee Strasberg Method Acting school. Others who have gained admissions and studied there include Lady Gaga, Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson, and too many other A list stars to name here. The core of “The Method” is that actors should immerse themselves in the character's circumstances and live the role as authentically as possible, both on and off-stage. Ajay became the customer as only a Method trained actor can. Our Editor and team give him the Academy Award for Rare Carat.