✦Aisle & After
Rings
before you payRing buying checklist
Buy the ring you can inspect, return and live with.
Ring shopping is one of the few purchases where the room is designed to make you decide quickly, and the object is designed to be worn every day for fifty years. Those two facts are not friends. Take this page in with you and fill it in before anything is wrapped.
Seller
Date
Item / reference
- Total budget — the number you decided on before you walked in, written down Write it here now. It is much harder to move a number that is already on paper.
- Metal, and why that metal for this hand and this life
- Ring size, taken properly, plus the seller’s resize policy in writing
- Stone type, if there is one
- Grading or certification where relevant — who issued it, and does the paperwork match this stone
- Cut and setting, seen under ordinary light as well as shop light
- Wedding-band fit — does the band you will wear beside it actually sit flat
- Daily-wear considerations: height of the setting, catching on fabric, what the wearer does with their hands all day
- Ethical and sourcing questions that matter to you, asked out loud, with the answer written down
Budget decided
Price quoted
Difference, and why
- Independent verification — can you have it appraised or assessed by someone who is not selling it
- Return window, in days, and what voids it
- Warranty: what it covers, for how long, and what invalidates it
- Maintenance: cleaning, re-tipping, prong checks, and who pays
- Insurance and appraisal — the valuation document you need before you can insure it
- Customization approved in writing, with a drawing or photograph attached
- Production and delivery date, in writing, against the date you actually need it
- Taxes, duties and import charges, if it is crossing a border
- Secure receipt on collection, and photographs of the ring taken the day it arrives
Dates that have to line up
| What | Promised date | Date we need it | Slack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Production complete | |||
| Delivery / collection | |||
| Resize returned | |||
| Engraving returned | |||
| Insured from |
Resizing and engraving happen after delivery and take the ring away again. Both are where a comfortable timeline turns into a phone call in the final week.
The single most useful question in the shop. “If I come back in three weeks and I have changed my mind, what happens?” The answer tells you more about the seller than any grading report.