Ritani Lab-Grown Diamond Review – The Cheapest Lab Diamond in 2023
Ritani
USD 750
Pros
- Free offline diamond preview
- Support by certified gemologists
- Very competitive diamond prices
- Transparent pricing and market data
- Great buying experience
Cons
- Return and exchange period shorter than what Clean Origin
- Not as detailed and feature-rich online experience as James Allen
- The buying experience leaves a few details out
Last Updated on March 16, 2023 by LabGrownCarats
SALES ALERT! : Tax-free sale! Save up to 10% and 20% on lab diamonds at Ritani!
Summary of Ritani Lab-Grown Diamond Review
Ritani may be best known for marrying online and offline diamond shopping. They do this by offering the benefits of shopping online on their website and offering to send the jewelry order to a local jeweler, where you can preview the final product. If you like it, you can purchase it right there and then. If not, you can “walk away” and not buy it. No strings attached.
But you may not know that Ritani has the best prices for high-quality lab-grown diamonds. As you can read in our comparison of 1-carat lab diamond prices (and 2-carat, 3-carat, and 4-carat), Ritani almost always offers the lowest prices. In addition, Ritani’s price transparency is remarkable. Ritani tells you the exact composition of the diamond cost, from gross purchase price to their margin on the particular stone!
Lastly, Ritani offers the largest selection of lab-grown diamonds that we have found. They have lab diamonds in all shapes and the most popular fancy lab diamond colors. And if the choices are overwhelming, they recommend the best quality and best-prices diamonds for you, including better alternatives, even when they are lower-priced!
In summary, in our review of Ritani lab-grown diamonds, we have found that Ritani is one of the best places to buy lab-grown diamonds, as well as one of the top places for lab-grown diamond engagement rings. That’s why our Ritani review rewards them with our top rating of 5 out of 5 stars for their excellent service, including the ability to see your diamond in a store, exceptional prices, and a massive selection of lab-grown diamonds!
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Keep reading to learn why we recommend them in our Ritani lab-grown diamond review.
- Ritani company history (the full story)
- Ritani bridges online and offline shopping
- Ritani's factory and leaner supply chains
- The Ritani lab-grown diamond buying experience
- Transparent buying and price comparison
- Live-chatting with trained gemologists
- Ritani lab-grown diamond inspection
- Ritani lab-grown diamond selection
- Ritani lab-grown diamond prices
- Ritani diamond shipping
- Ritani return policy
- Ritani post-purchase services
- Summary of Ritani Review and Ritani Lab-Grown Diamonds
- Don't just take our word for it
- Frequently asked questions about Ritani
Ritani company history (the full story)
The history of Ritani is a little messy. Ritani was founded in 1996 by Harout Aghjayan. Some years later, Ritani partnered with the jewelry magnates of the Julius Klein family, taking investments to develop the company further. The Julius Klein Group is a massive player in wholesale diamonds and jewelry.
Harout stayed as CEO until 2008/9 when he was ousted, and the Klein family fully took over the Ritani company. From 2009 to this day, the CEO has been Joel Klein.
Oddly, this history seems to have been buried, and most accounts of the Ritani story omit either the first or the second half of the story. Nevertheless, it did require a bit of investigation to get to the bottom of it, including reading through the legal files of a case between Harout and the Klein family (it was not a pretty breakup).
In 2012, Ritani entered the e-commerce market with a fresh capital injection. In 2014, the Julius Klein Group sold its remaining stake to Cantor Ventures ($15M) to further develop the online and offline business. Brian Watkins was brought in as CEO (coming from BlueNile) and led the move to partner with jewelry stores (more on that). He left the company in 2016, and from what we can gather, Joel Klein came back (or took over).
However, all this does not matter. In the past little over a decade, Brian Watkins and Joel Klein have managed to turn Ritani into the company it is today, with excellent customer service, diamond selection, a transparent buying approach, and great prices.
As a result, Ritani has developed into becoming one of the leading online diamond and jewelry sellers, even bridging the gap to the brick-and-mortar world of jewelry stores (more on that below).
Ritani bridges online and offline shopping
What has set Ritani apart from most other online jewelers is its innovative approach to partnering with offline jewelers. Ritani offers you to pick up, view and inspect your ring at a local jewelry store that they have a partnership with (or several participating WeWork offices).
In addition to the benefits of picking up some free-flowing kombucha at your local WeWork along with your diamonds, it makes a lot of sense to partner with jewelry stores. That allows you, as a consumer, to inspect the diamonds and your purchase while being able to ask questions (and, perhaps, borrow a loupe).
You can decide then and there if you want to keep your diamond or return it. Of course, it does remove some of the convenience of shopping from your couch, but it’s a reasonable compromise.
Of course, you still have to invest time researching if you want to find the perfect diamond (before they’re sent to the local jeweler), so consider reading our guide to finding the perfect lab-grown diamond online.
Taken together, Ritani is the perfect jeweler if you value the physical jeweler experience and in-person customer service but also want the convenience and broad selection of shopping online. Or if you just want the best-priced lab-grown diamonds on the market! Keep reading our Ritani review to learn how they are able to offer some of the absolute best prices on lab diamonds.
Ritani’s factory and leaner supply chains
Ritani is headquartered in White Plains, NY, close enough to the diamond district of NYC but with space to build its own factory. Through well-established (family) connections in the diamond world, Ritani is able to lower its supply chain costs and keep most of its jewelry production in-house (diamond cutting is usually handled overseas). All to the benefit of the customer through competitive pricing.
This also means that Ritani has better control of the production process and the quality of its products. And the quality of their products, such as settings and craftsmanship, is indeed superior to most competitors.
The Ritani lab-grown diamond buying experience
Like James Allen and Brillant Earth, Ritani sells both mined and lab-created diamonds. And while they’re not specialized in lab-grown diamonds, they offer both the largest and lowest-priced selection of lab-grown diamonds. The customer service at Ritani is fantastic and very friendly. It’s clear that Ritani cares about its customers. Even after you have made your purchase through their excellent post-purchase services. These include free diamond tightening, ring cleaning, and annual precious metal preservation!
To compare with our two other recommended jewelers who carry both mined and lab diamonds, read our Ritani vs. James Allen comparison review and our comparison between Ritani and Brilliant Earth.
The buying experience is incredibly transparent and informative. Ritani not only suggests better diamonds, but they are often lower-priced alternatives! They even tell you the profit they are making, as we’ll note later.
The lab-grown diamond inspection features fall slightly short of what James Allen offers but are similar to what you see at our other top-rated diamond sellers such as Brilliant Earth and Clean Origin.
Ritani makes the buying process very easy. They go to great lengths to make the process less daunting and scary and make information easily accessible and digestible. As a result, the buying experience is especially well-suited for a first-time buyer or someone who is not able (or willing) to invest too much time in the purchase (you should).
As can be seen above, the lab-grown diamond characteristics (the famous diamond 4Cs) are explained in a very approachable manner, which other diamond sellers could learn a lot from. Therefore, everyone should be able to make a relatively informed decision based on the above.
However, the ease of the buying process is somewhat deceiving. Because as you will have learned from our lab-grown diamond educational articles, buying the perfect diamond requires a bit more. And it is a bit daunting but buying a diamond, even if lab-grown, is a significant investment. So don’t despair; we walk you through the process and make it easy in our lab-grown diamond buying guide.
Transparent buying and price comparison
Ritani offers a transparent diamond pricing tool showing you the wholesale diamond price, their operational costs (shipping, packaging, and processing), and even the profit made by Ritani. That’s price transparency on a whole other level!
And it doesn’t stop there. Ritani also compares the diamond you are browsing with a vast database of other diamonds to find you better alternatives. We found that their suggestions were pretty good almost every time, and their recommendations will undoubtedly be very valuable to any first-time diamond buyers (and even pros).
We’re pretty excited about these features, which make the buying process easier, safer, and more enjoyable. And faster too. Generally speaking, you would want to invest enough time in the purchase process to educate yourself and ensure you end up with just the right diamond.
The process at Ritani is almost deceivingly easy, and you must dedicate enough time to critically assess any diamond purchase (it’s a significant investment after all, even with lab-grown diamonds).
Live-chatting with trained gemologists
Though far from as advanced a feature as what we found in our James Allen review offers, the live chat option (together with excellent phone and email support) works really well. You can chat with trained gemologists who are (supposedly) impartial. In our experience, that holds true – the experience is as good as what we saw in our Clean Origin review and the aforementioned James Allen. And miles and miles ahead of the lackluster support that LightBox Jewelry offers through Facebook messenger.
Of course, this is in addition to seeing the diamonds in person at any of the participating jewelers. However, you would want to make sure that the diamonds you will see in person are the best possible pick.
Ritani lab-grown diamond inspection
The research and inspection features of Ritani are the only areas where we find them a bit lacking, behind James Allen (compare James Allen vs. Ritani), but on par with With Clarity, Clean Origin, and Brilliant Earth.
Ritani only offers HD video for a limited number of their lab-grown diamonds. So for a large part of their selection, especially smaller diamonds, you have to contend with low-resolution images like the below example.
Ritani can do better here and should take inspiration from some of the leading lab-grown diamond sellers. HD video and images should be standard for all diamonds so you can perform your own inspection, not just for some.
Ritani does offer to create HD images for your inspection as part of the gemologist support. Still, there is an up to 48-hour turnaround time, and they will only be made for the specific diamonds you’re interested in (they should be readily available for the entire catalog).
Ritani does provide the grading report, and it’s readily available for download on their website (good). This is more than other lab-grown sellers offer. Their diamonds are graded by reputable grading institutes such as IGI, the leading lab-grown diamond grader.
Ritani lab-grown diamond selection
Ritani sells both mined and lab-grown diamonds but features lab-created diamonds almost as prominently as their mined inventory. They also feature a learning section on lab-grown diamonds, which is informative and, unlike other places, very honest.
We would have liked Ritani to offer sustainably rated diamonds such as we saw in our Brilliant Earth review. However, lab-grown diamonds in themselves are already the much more environmentally friendly diamond choice compared to mined diamonds.
Some of their offerings, such as their trade-in program, do not extend to lab-grown diamonds. Unfortunately, this is pretty common in the diamond industry since the price of lab-created diamonds is not as well-understood as for mined (which actually fluctuate a lot). It’s s shame, but it does not set Ritani apart from its competitors.
Ritani currently has over 113,000 mined diamonds and over 82,000 lab-grown available. Compared to most other mixed-diamond sellers, that’s a pretty good ratio (42% of their available inventory is lab-grown). Prices for lab-grown diamonds start as low as $75, but you would want to go higher than that to ensure you get a sparkling and clear diamond (more on that in the following section).
In all our reviews, only GemsNY gets close to boasting such an extensive inventory of lab-grown diamonds. And with more than 82,000 lab-grown diamonds to choose from, you can be sure to find a diamond that fits your needs.
We looked up our reference diamond (0.93-1.07ct, I-J color, VS1-VS2 clarity, and ideal cut) and got 472 matches. Not all of these live up to our standards, but we were impressed with their high-quality inventory (read more on how to evaluate and find the perfect lab-grown diamond in our buying guide).
Ritani lab-grown diamond prices
Lab-grown diamond prices are typically 30-40% lower than mined diamonds (of the same quality and size). So expect to save money or be able to go up in size and quality when you shop lab-grown diamonds at Ritani.
Ritani’s prices are comparable to those of online and lab-grown-only sellers such as Clean Origin, which offers the best prices on the market. We’re very impressed with their price levels, considering they also have a semi-offline setup through the jeweler partnerships.
Given that you have the ability to preview the diamonds in person and their excellent post-purchase services, it’s very impressive that Ritani is able to offer so competitive prices. In addition, they are extremely transparent with their pricing, so you can even see their margins on each lab-grown diamond!
And even more importantly, Ritani’s prices are far better than any you can find at a traditional jeweler and the lowest you’ll find online (even with the ability to see your diamond in a physical store).
Ritani diamond shipping
Ritani offers free overnight shipping with FedEx on every order and free return shipping (currently US only). Orders are shipped securely after a 3-14 day production time, and they offer both discreet and flexible delivery to avoid making anyone suspicious (of an impending proposal, for example).
Shipping is fully insured, and upon delivery, a signature is required (so if delivered somewhere else, make sure it can be signed off). So you do not have to worry about shipping or your expensive order getting lost.
Ritani return policy
Ritani offers risk-free 30 days returns and free exchanges. The process is straightforward, and they’ll guide you through the process, send you a return label and even arrange a pickup if you can’t be bothered to go to the local FedEx office. Returns are also overnighted and fully insured. That said, we would prefer the 100-day free return policy of Clean Origin (more on that later).
Ritani post-purchase services
Ritani excels when it comes to their post-purchase experience – which in the eternal lifespan of a diamond is fairly important.
They even offer the following services free of charge to any diamond customer:
- Free center or side stone tightening
- One free ring resizing within the first year of purchase (US only)
- Annual complimentary ring cleanings for life
- Complimentary rhodium plating once a year
You only have to pay for shipping! That’s a pretty good deal and will extend the life and quality of your diamond purchase. This level of service puts them at the top of the current diamond seller offerings, and we’re very impressed. In full transparency, we have not availed of the services yet but look forward to our annual rhodium (re)plating.
Summary of Ritani Review and Ritani Lab-Grown Diamonds
We fully recommend Ritani based on their excellent customer service, radical and unparalleled pricing transparency, (almost too) easy buying experience, and recommendations. Lastly, they get plusses for the option to preview your chosen diamonds at a local jeweler (just make sure you’ve done your homework).
Ritani’s prices are very competitive, and we’re surprised as low as the market-leading low prices of Clean Origin, considering that they offer store pickup and post-purchase services.
In our Ritani lab-grown diamond review, we give Ritani 5 very impressive and shining stars out of 5 possible and only note the limited inspection features and a less generous return policy than some competitors.
Don’t just take our word for it
Ritani’s customers are overwhelmingly positive, and while their consumer review scores don’t quite match Clean Origin, James Allen, or Brilliant Earth, they’re pretty impressive and well-aligned with our Ritani lab-grown diamond review score. Most negative reviews are about the return period that we have also mentioned (be sure to return within 30 days!)
Frequently asked questions about Ritani
Why are diamonds from Ritani so cheap?
The reason why Ritani is able to offer lower prices than most other diamond sellers is that Ritani has its own factory. Ritani can therefore reduce the cost of its supply chain and continue to produce the majority of its jewelry internally (diamond cutting is usually handled overseas). Ritani’s lower costs are passed on to the customers who benefit from ultra-low diamond prices.
Does Ritani sell lab-grown diamonds?
Ritani sells both mined diamonds and the more environmentally-friendly diamond choice of lab-grown diamonds. Ritani has one of the largest selections of lab-grown diamonds of any diamond jewelers we have reviewed. In addition, Ritani has some of the lowest prices for lab-grown diamonds due to the vertical integration of its supply chain. Read more about why we recommend Ritani in our in-depth Ritani review.
