James Allen Review : Is Legit or Scam? 2024

James Allen says that the jewellery store was created to “offer consumers online the highest quality diamonds and the largest selection of diamonds at the best price”.

Largest selection; Highest quality; Best price. That sounds like the go-to online diamond/jewellery store. However, it’s one thing to promise; but it’s another to deliver. When it comes to diamonds and other jewellery, does James Allen actually provide “highest quality, largest selection, best price”? What about their service (is ordering painless, is delivery fast, is returns easy, is customer service responsive, etc)? In the first place, is James Allen genuine?

Yes, James Allen is a legit jewellery store. It is not a scam because they will never steal your money or credit card info. And you will receive any piece of jewellery you purchased from the store without a problem.

But does James Allen offer quality and genuine jewellery?

This James Allen review will examine James Allen in order to provide the information that will help you answer those questions and more.

James Allen Review at a glance

• An online diamond and jewellery store started in 2006
• Has over 200,000 loose diamonds and over 500 settings
• Has 360⁰ video viewer for all their diamonds
• Ships to only 23 destinations worldwide; but offers free shipping for all orders to every destination
• Offers a 30 days returns window; and will process and issue refunds in 2 weeks

What is James Allen?

James Allen is a jewelry store that was started in 2006, which gives them over 12 years’ experience in the industry as a company. It started with a purchase of a diamond engagement ring. James Schultz bought an engagement ring from an online auction site, and realized that diamonds can be provided online for far less than they would cost in brick and mortar stores. His wife (Michele Sigler), who the engagement ring was meant for, brought her retail experience on board. Oded Edelman, who is reputable for having a discerning eye in the diamond business, was determined to marry his rich heritage with online shopping, and he also joined the venture. Lastly, Dean Lederman, who had two decades of experience in overseeing the manufacturing and international distribution of diamonds, was drafted in to provide expert operational and financial guidance.

James Allen soared, and is easily one of the best online diamond retailers in the business. They provide over 200,000 diamonds (all conflict free). James Allen is reputable for pioneering 360⁰ video display technology; and they are the online diamond retailer whose every diamond can be viewed this technology.

James Allen operates strictly as an online business. They follow the “Virtual listing” model which means that they do not own their own diamonds. All the diamonds shown on their site is owned by their suppliers. However, the diamonds have been individually inspected and photographed to make it into James Allen listing. If you order any diamond, it will be delivered to James Allen who will then inspect it, and only when the diamond passes their inspection will it be shipped to you.

James Allen has their office in New York which host their operations and fulfillment center from where they ship orders to all over the world. They also have a showroom in New York where customers can receive personalized service by appointment.

Is James Allen legit or scam?

James Allen is legit, not a scam. And also one of the most popular online stores to get quality jewelries. They have been online for a very long time doing business without issues. Although there may be complaints here and there. This is normal for a popular online store such as this. You can never satisfy millions of customers without have having a few dissatisfied ones. We have listed some of the customers complaints and feedback below so you can go through them and decide whether to buy from James Allen or not.

            Features

Display technology

The biggest issue with online purchase is “blind purchase” – meaning you’ll be buying something that you’ve not physically seen and examined. That comes with the risk that you may not like the item when it’s finally delivered to you and you’re holding it in your hand. Online retailers try to       reduce this risk using different resources such as detailed product descriptions, certificates, and product images. James Allen is a clear leader in this regard (bridging the gap between virtual and physical). They have the best diamond display technology in the industry. In addition to having product descriptions, certificates and images, every diamond listed in James Allen can be viewed with a 360⁰ video viewer which gives you a magnified view of the diamond from all possible angles.

James Allen refers to themselves as “a diamond bridal jewelry company with a technology soul”. They cannot be more apt. They pioneered the 360⁰ video viewer technology. Though some of the other online diamond retailers have started using this technology as well; you’ll find that in these other stores only a few of the listed diamonds have the feature. However, in James Allen, every diamond can be examined with this 360⁰ video viewer technology that’s even better than a jeweler’s loupe.

Education

James Allen says that they aim to propitiate the challenges that come with buying a ring. That starts with educating shoppers on what they should really look out for when about ordering a diamond. Thus, they should have a robust education page as well as other educational resources.

James Allen provides a good educational center which holds pages where you can learn about the different products in the store – loose diamonds, engagement rings, natural gemstones, wedding rings, and fine jewelry. When it comes to information about the product; like every online jeweler in the business, James Allen provides grading reports for every of their diamond. Also, when you request it, they’ll provide other light performance reports such as ASET analysis, and H&A (Hearts and Arrows) patterning data.

Such light performance data are very important in determining the brilliance, fire etc of the diamond, and can be used to easily discern between a well cut diamond and a poorly cut diamond. Thus, we’ll like that such light performance reports be ordinarily provided and not have to be requested before being made available.

Conflict-free diamonds

If you are “human”, you’ll not only be concerned about that sparkling piece but where it came from and how it was obtained. In this regard, you’ll want a jeweler that list only conflict free diamonds. The name is self explanatory; conflict free diamonds are gems that are not obtained due to violence or human right abuses. Most recently the definition has expanded to include gems not obtained due to child labour or environmental degradation.

James Allen has strict internal guidelines to ensure that even exceed government guidelines in this regard. They use only reputable suppliers; and their deals with these suppliers ensure that diamonds are conflict-free. That said; you can be rest assured that diamonds in the store are conflict free.

Product

Product Range

You want a store to have a wide product range so that you can get all your related products in one place; and even so for a specialized store like a jewelry store. For example, it will not be best to get your ring setting in one store and go to another for the loose diamond. Getting your items in one place is, first of all, convenient. It will save and effort of checking out and dealing with multiple stores. Also, it offers cost savings. Your order amount will be high, and you may qualify for big order price discounts. Lastly, there’ll be cost savings from shipping, because the associated shipping cost will be lower when shipping one order from one store than when shipping different orders from different stores. Thus, the ideal jewelry store will have a wide jewelry product range.

James Allen ticks the box in this regard. The different product categories in the store (and the items you’ll expect to get in each category) are as follows:

• Engagement Rings

James Allen offers more ring types than you’ll find in most stores. For simplicity, there’s the Solitaire engagement ring where you’ll have a central stone with a plain mounting (usually four or six prongs). They have the side-stone engagement rings that feature two or more smaller sized diamonds flanking the center diamond. There’s the popular three stones engagement rings that also features two side stones flanking the center diamond, but this time the side stones accentuate the size and brilliance of the center piece. They also hold Halo engagement rings which features small micro-pave diamonds framing the center diamond. For more sparkling brilliance, there’re the Pave engagement rings which are encrusted with very small diamonds all along the band. For a more modern engagement ring setting, James Allen offers tension engagement rings where the center diamond is held in place by the physical force of the setting without any prong, to give the appearance of a floating diamond. Other ring styles you’ll find are Channels set engagement rings and Vintage engagement rings

• Diamonds

James Allen offers all the popular loose diamond shapes. This includes Round, Princess, Cushion, Emerald, Oval, Radiant, Asscher, Marquise, Heart and Pear. If you also want fancy colour diamonds, James Allen collections include Yellow, Purple, Blue, Orange, Black, Pink, Red, Green, Brown, and Gray.

• Gemstones

If you’ll rather have another precious stone other than diamonds, James Allen holds a collection of rubies, emeralds and sapphire. You’ll find Blue Sapphire, Pink Sapphire, Yellow Sapphire, Green Emerald, and Red Ruby

• Wedding Rings

There are different wedding bands for both women and men. They have men and women classic rings in Yellow Gold, White Gold and Platinum. For those who want more than the plain classics, James Allen women wedding ring collection includes carved rings (that feature some sort of carvings), eternity rings (encrusted with diamonds), and diamond rings. They also have women Anniversary rings and stackable rings. Apart from classics and carved rings, men can also go with alternative metal.

• Fine Jewelry

James Allen is not all about engagement and wedding jewelry. They have a collection of non-bridal/ wedding jewelry. You’ll find studs and earrings (diamonds studs, diamond earrings, gemstone earrings, and pearl earrings), necklaces (diamond necklaces, gemstone necklaces, and pearl necklaces), bracelets (diamond bracelets, gemstones bracelets and pearl bracelets), and rings (diamond rings, gemstones rings, and pearl rings).

Inventory Size

One of the things that James Allen promises is to provide the largest selection of diamonds. A huge inventory size is a no-brainer because it gives you opportunity to choose from a large pool, and you’ll be more likely to find a piece that takes your breath away.

In this regards, James Allen also ticks the box. For many years, the undisputed champion of diamond inventory size was Blue Nile; while James Allen had a relatively lower inventory and focused more on imaging technology. However, most recently, James Allen is no longer playing second fiddle when it comes to the size of their inventory. They have expanded their inventory over the years, and now have a massive inventory of over 200,000 that equals (and even chal lenges) the widely regarded inventory-champion (Blue Nile). James Allen is able to do this because they have increased their suppliers around the world, and have exclusivity deals signed with many of them, such that the diamonds listed in James Allen will not be listed in any other jewelry retailer’s store.

Apart from the size of the loose diamonds; James Allen also has a wide selection of ring settings. They have over 500 settings in different styles. Apart from the popular ring styles, they even have some that you’ll not find in many jewelry stores, even the top ones.  This includes the tension engagement ring setting.

Most top-end jewelry stores tend to focus on non-bridal jewelry (engagement rings and wedding rings) to the detriment of non-bridal jewelry. To be honest, James Allen used to have the issue; because their non-bridal range was limited. However, they have also expanded this line, and they now boast wide options in this range.

Product Quality

As you will agree, while a massive inventory is necessary, having products of high quality is even more important. In this regard, James Allen also shines. If you pick up a James Allen product you’ll be nothing but impressed with the craftsmanship. This goes for ring settings and even non-bridal jewelry such as bracelets. You’ll find some of the most detailed and breathtaking craftsmanship which are hallmark of top-drawer quality.

When it comes to the quality of the stones, James Allen leaves you well served. James Allen only sells diamonds that are 100% natural and untreated; which means that you’ll never find pieces laser-treated, clarity enhance o modified in anyway. All diamonds in their collection are GIA (Gemological Institute of America), AGS (American Gem Society), or IGI (International Gemological Institute) certified. These are gold-standards in the diamond grading industry; and their certificates assure the quality and value of the diamond. Their super ideal collection (True Hearts) consists of some of the best cut diamonds you’ll find anywhere. The best part of buying stones from James Allen is that they not only provide quality stones, but they make it easy for you to tell stones apart. The 360⁰ HD video available for each diamond in their collection helps you to find eye-clean diamonds in the store.

Price and Related Policies

Price

The price of an item is one of the most important considerations when making purchases. Even for high end items like diamonds, you will not want to pay prices that you perceive as a rip-off. Thus, the prices in an ideal shop should be competitive. In this regard, one of the three promises of James Allen is to offer diamonds (and other jewelry) at the best price. Thus, we’ll expect their prices to be among the lowest in the industry.

Checking the prices of James Allen with others, we found that James Allen offer better prices than every traditional jeweler. There was no surprise there as the overheads of retail outlets makes it impossible for traditional stores to come close to challenging their online competitors. Comparing James Allen with other online jewelers; we find that James Allen prices are really competitive. Pieces in James Allen with similar specifications with pieces in other stores are found, in most cases, to be equally or lower-priced.

Promotions

Promotions mean cost savings to customers. Thus, the ideal online store should run a lot of promotions that gives customers the opportunity to save a little on their purchases.

In this regard, it’s safe to say that James Allen is not very generous with promotions. We did not find any price slashing promotional offer at the time of writing this reviews. However, we did find an offer to join the mailing list and get $100 off your first purchase (valid for orders above $1,000).

Payment Method

You’ll want a retailer with easy payment process. Thus, the ideal online jewelry retailer should provide a good range of payment methods which are convenient to use.

In this regard, James Allen is no different from the other big jewelry retailers. They accept PayPal and all the major credit cards which include Visa, Master card, American Express, and Discover card. They also accept bank wire; and advice that the option should be used for every order valued over $1,000. To encourage this, they incentivize bank wire with a 1.5% discount.

It should be noted that James Allen says at their sole discretion, they may require bank wire payments for certain high international orders. This has been a source of frustration to certain customers who having transferred money to their PayPal account, are told to use bank wire.

Financing Option

It’s advised that you only buy a piece of jewelry that you can afford at the time. However, if you’ll want to get a piece now and pay overtime, James Allen has two financing plans that are worth looking at.

• Interest free 6 months plan – Qualifying orders must be over $1,000. You’ll pay up in 6 months via monthly equal installments.
• 90% APR 24 months plan – Qualifying orders must be over $2,000. You’ll pay up in 24 months, via monthly equal installments with the interest factored in.

Shipping

When you walk into a brick and mortar store and make a purchase, you’ll simply walk out with your package. However, it’s not that simple with online purchases. The items have to be shipped to you. Thus, it’s important to examine the shipping policy of any online store. Three important shipping considerations are: shipping destination, shipping cost, and shipping (delivery) times.

Shipping Destinations

Online diamond/ jewelry stores do not ship to every location on the planet; and James Allen is not different. Thus, you’ll want to find out whether the online jeweler ships to where you’ll want to receive delivery of the package. If they don’t, you’ll have to arrange to get the package from any of the locations that they ship to. Knowing that will be cost prohibitive, the more realistic option is to look for an online jeweler that ship to your location. Thus, the ideal online diamond/ jewelry retailer should ship to many locations across the globe, so that your location is more likely to be served.

Unfortunately, James Allen does not come out strong in this regard because they ship to relatively few countries. James Allen ships to only the following countries: Australia, Austria, Bermuda, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, the United States, and United Arab Emirates.

If you’ve checked reviews of other online jewelry retailers, you’ll find many stores that ship to many more countries. With James Allen serving only the 23 above-mentioned countries, you’ll find that people from many locations who’ll want their packages delivered to their home will be unable to purchase from the store.

Shipping Cost

The shipping costs add up to the total expenditure on an item; so when the shipping costs are high, the total expenditure increases considerably. Thus, you’ll want shipping costs that are as low as possible. The lowest possible shipping cost is zero (that is free shipping); and the ideal online retailer should offer that.

Thankfully, James Allen offers free shipping. It will cost you nothing to get your James Allen order delivered to you no matter the amount of the order or the destination it is going (as long as it’s one of the 23 locations that James Allen ships to).However, it should be noted that for international orders, the customer will be responsible for all duties, VAT, taxes, and any such charges levied by the country. Interestingly, James Allen does not leave you in the dark about how much you might have to pay. They have a tax calculator which accurately predicts import duties.

It should be said that a lot of non US customers have negative reviews of James Allen in customers’ review platforms because of these extra charges. While, customers generally know that international shipping attract extra charges, they do not know that those “extras” could be as high as 25% of the purchase cost. Now you know; you might have to pay as much as 25% to clear your orders if you are shipping outside the US. For a $2,000 piece, that’s over $500 in duties.

Another good thing is that James Allen delivers to your door. For all credit card orders, they’ll deliver to the address on file; and it can even be arranged for them to deliver to an alternate address. This might not look like much, but it is because some of the top jewelry retailers only do “Hold for Pickup”. That is, your package will be delivered to a carrier’s (usually FedEx) office and you’ll go there to pick it up. This is usually done for security reasons since diamonds are high end purchases; however, it’s largely inconvenient. That said; if you want the convenience of getting your product at your door; James Allen is one store you’ll be interested in. However, they do not deliver to P.O.Box addresses.

Shipping Times

You don’t want a store that will take forever to deliver your package. Diamond and most are bought with a special date in mind. You don’t want the special day botched because your package did not arrive in time. That said; the ideal diamond and jewelry store should have short delivery estimates; and most importantly, they will deliver within their advertised estimated delivery times.

In this regards, James Allen ticks the box. Their loose diamonds are shipped immediately after passing inspection. For other jewelry and engagement rings, they are shipped immediately after production. Generally, you’ll get all such jewelry in one to three weeks.

We examined independent online platforms to know what customers who have bought from James Allen have to say about the delivery service of the company. To be honest, the reviews were back and forth. You’ll find negative reviews sandwiched between positive ones. They were many customers who were satisfied with the delivery time. Thus, while there were also a few who reported that their package came a little later than expected; in our opinion, late delivery is not a generic problem plaguing James Allen.

Returns

Most of the time, a piece of jewelry is a symbol of love (think of engagement rings, wedding bands, special occasion gift of jewelry etc). Thus, every piece should always have that wow factor. Unfortunately, sometimes when the jewelry piece is delivered to you, it will not have that wow factor that it did when you were looking at it from your device. Thus, you’ll want to be able to return it to the store. In any case, there are a lot of reasons you’ll want to return a piece of jewelry to a jewelry retailer; thus, the ideal retailer should allow returns.

Fortunately, like almost every online jewelry retailer in the business, James Allen allows returns. They allow a returns window of 30 days for a full refund or exchange, meaning that within 30 days of receiving delivery of the jewelry piece, you may return any item in your order back to James Allen (and get another jewelry piece in its place or get a refund of your initial payment). In terms of the returns window, James Allen does okay. 30 days is like the industry average because most of the competing online jewelry retailers offer 30 days. It is reasonable time, and you’ll not have to race against time to get in the returns.

If you’re resident in the US, you’ll love the returns policy of James Allen because they offer free returns for all US orders and the process is super easy. If you opt to return any item, all you need do is contact their customer service about it. In under 24 hours they’ll email you a pre-paid and fully insured returns label along with instructions on how to proceed. You simply need to package the item appropriately, attach the returns label, and take the package to the nearest FedEx location for mailing.

However, for returned items to be accepted, they must be “undamaged and in new and unused condition”. Thus, items that show signs of wear or that have been altered by another jeweler will not be accepted. Also, loose diamonds must be returned with the grading certificates, else a charge of $150 will be deducted from your refund to replace the certificate. However, there are certain items that cannot be returned such as special items.

James Allen pledges that returns will be processed within two weeks. Thus, in just a little over two weeks after your returns gets back to James Allen, you’ll get your money in your account. Refunds are issued through the original payment method; except bank wires, where you’ll get your refund via check. If James Allen actually process returns and refunds within two weeks as advertised, they will be one of the companies with the fastest refund processing time.

Other Services

Lifetime Warranty

If you want a provider that stands behind their product, James Allen is one, and they show it by their lifetime warranty. They warrant that, at the time of delivery, all their items will be free of manufacturing defects. They also warrant to repair and maintain your jewelry for a lifetime. This warranty covers prong tightening, re-polishing, rhodium plating, and cleaning services.

If your James Allen jewelry is in need of a repair or servicing, you can send it to them. They’ll examine it, and if the repair/ servicing need is covered by the warranty, it will be done free of charge no matter how long you’ve used the ring. If the repair need is not covered by the warranty, you’ll be advised, and may have to pay for the service. You’ll also have to bear the shipping cost to send James Allen the ring. However, after evaluation and/ or servicing, James Allen will bear the outbound shipping cost and ship the ring to you free of charge.

Lifetime Upgrade

One thing that makes James Allen attractive is their lifetime diamond upgrade. If you happen to need a bigger diamond from James Allen, you don’t need to cover its full price if you already have a loose diamond from the store.  As long as your first James Allen loose diamond is in its original condition, you can return it to James Allen for 100% credits towards getting the bigger stone. The only condition is that the stone you’ll be getting must be twice as expensive as the one you are returning. You also need to send the original lab grading documents of the first stone.

Free Ring Resizing

Rings are sized products; thus, no matter how dashing a ring may be, you’ll need it to be the right size if it’s to be worn with grace. There are various ring sizing kits that you can get to make sure that the ring you order will fit. However, if you happen to order your ring from James Allen and discover that it’s too small or too big for the finger; you need not beat yourself because James Allen offers free ring sizing.

The offer is for the first 60 days of the delivery date; and applies to all engagement rings and wedding bands. However, eternity rings and alternative metals bands cannot be resized. It should also be noted that free ring resizing is done only once for a customers. So after getting one complimentary resizing, you’ll have to make sure you get the size right for subsequent orders.

Note that you’ll have to take care of inbound shipping. However, James Allen will ship the resized ring to you free of charge (if you’re in the US), and charge you $50 for shipping if you’re outside the US.

Free Engraving

Will you like to have special characters on your engagement ring and wedding bands? If yes, you don’t have to pay extra for engraving James Allen jewelry because they offers free engraving on most of their engagement rings and wedding rings.

If engraving is available for your selection, you’ll see it as an option during checkout, and you can choose to have personal engravings (of alpha-numeric combination of up to 20 characters) on the ring.

Reserving diamonds

Sometimes, the search to get a diamond that is to your liking may not be as easy as it seem, especially when the retailer has a large inventory as James Allen does. Thus, after you have arrived at a diamond after doing extensive research, it will be disappointing to lose it because you did not get your purchase in on time. To avoid this, some diamond retailers allow customers to reserve diamonds for some time while they sort out their money issues to complete the purchase; in that time the diamond will not be sold to another person.

Unfortunately, James Allen does not allow you to reserve diamonds. They used to allow reserving any diamonds, until a recent policy change that allow reserving only of fancy shaped diamonds. But before even being able to reserve the fancy shape diamond, in your research, you must have requested an ASET analysis for up to three diamonds.

Some customers may cry that this new policy change is not customer friendly; but in reality, it’s not difficult to see why James Allen will come up with that kind of policy change – many times than should be, reserved diamonds are finally not purchased by those who reserved them, after the diamonds had been held back from those who enquired about them, leading to lost sales.

That said, if you’re searching for a diamond in James Allen, you’d better have your wallet/ purse ready and be willing to commit financially immediately.

Customer Service

When buying from any online store, you should want to know about the customer service of the store. Especially where it’s a purchase that involves significant financial commitment; you want to make sure that if there happens to be issues with your purchase, you’ll not be left out to dry. In this regard, the ideal legit store will provide different channels for contacting them; and they’ll also promptly provide needed assistance when contacted.

The first step to getting help from James Allen is an FAQ page on their website. The FAQ page is very detailed and you’ll find answers to most of the questions you may have. To directly contact a support rep; James Allen has a 24/ 7 customer service team that can be contacted via email, live chat, Skype, or telephone call. This scores James Allen a lot of points because we like an online Jeweler with a good range of contact options.

More importantly, James Allen responds when contacted; and their response is usually prompt and generally helpful. When you contact the store using their email address (service@JamesAllen.com), you can expect to get a response in a few hours; this is miles ahead of stores that’ll keep you waiting for days. We were particularly impressed with the live chat feature. In some stores, your submissions will be put in a queue, and you’ll have to wait for an agent to come online. Live chat in James Allen was actually “live”. When we tested the service, we were silent for just about 10 seconds, and the agent prompted us for our enquiry. It was super fast and efficient. If you’ll rather call; the phone number to use is 8778269866.

Summary

There’s no doubt that James Allen is a legit online jewelry store. In every almost list of top online jewelry retailers, James Allen comes first or second. They promise to provide high quality diamonds, the largest selection of diamonds, and at the best prices; and they deliver on all counts.

They hold high quality pieces; their “True Hearts” collections are super ideal cut diamonds with excellent beauty and optical performance. With a massive inventory of over 200,000 loose diamonds, theirs is one of the largest selections of diamond; and their prices are truly competitive.

Paying for orders is generally easy; except the few occasions they decide to veto payment option. On the whole, delivery is fast; except that they deliver to relatively few countries. There’s a 30 days returns window, so you won’t be stuck with a purchase you don’t like. There are many things to like about James Allen (but as always there are a few knacks) as outlined below:

Pros:

• Provides high quality diamonds and other jewelry, and has one of the largest selection of diamonds
• Provides 360⁰ HD video viewer for all diamonds in their collection
• Offer home delivery
• Offers free shipping worldwide, no matter the order amount or shipping destination
• Relatively fast refunds processing time (two weeks)
• Offers good financing plans
• Offers a lifetime diamond upgrade program which allows you to trade your first stone at anytime for a bigger stone
• Offers free ring sizing, free engraving, and lifetime warranty that covers cleaning services and others
• Customer service is efficient; there are good number of options to contact them, and responses are prompt and helpful

Cons:

• They no longer allow reserving diamonds (that is, to hold a diamond you choose for you while you sort your finances to complete the purchase)
• Ships to only 23 countries
• Additional charges for international orders (handling fees, taxes, duties etc) can be unsuspectingly high; sometimes over 25% of the order amount
• Very few price slashing promotions

Do you have an experience with James Allen? If yes, you may use the review section below to give us a true James Allen review.