More grooms-to-be are pointing and clicking to find their honeys the perfect wedding ring

Future dentist David Ung wore out a lot of shoe leather shopping for a diamond engagement ring for his fiancée, Ynhi Nguyen.


"I went from 47th St. to Chinatown," said Ung, 29, who visited more than 10 stores in a month. But when it came to actually buying the bling, he went online to jewelry Web site diamond.com.
Ung, who's studying at New York University College of Dentistry, plunked down $5,000 for a 1.15-carat, round, colorless diamond ring, even though he first saw it when it arrived in a box at his home.


"I love it, it's shiny, it's sparkling," said Nguyen, a 33-year-old accountant from Vancouver.
Ung loves it too - for a different reason. A comparable ring "would have been $7,000 to $8,000 in a store," he said.


For many men, there are few things more daunting than buying an engagement ring. Not only are they expected to fork over a huge sum - etiquette experts have long recommended spending two months of salary - assessing the quality and value of diamonds can be as angst-ridden as meeting the in-laws.


But jewelry Web sites such as diamond.com, ice.com, whiteflash.com, diamondsonfifth.com, mondera.com, ross-simons.com, abazias.com and industry leader bluenile.com are taking the guesswork out of the hunt, and offering a growing number of grooms a less expensive alternative to traditional and often intimidating stores.


Prices for diamond rings purchased online can be 20% to 40% less than comparable stones behind the glass shelves. The reason: jewelry Web sites, which have far lower expenses, will often take a much lower markup on their merchandise.


"A $1,000 diamond at Zales will be $650 at Blue Nile," said Ken Gassman, president of the Jewelry Industry Research Institute, an independent research firm. "Zales' profit margin is 50%," he said, while "Blue Nile's is 20%."


For Gabriel Weaver, a 29-year-old lawyer from Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, scoring what he considered a good price on a ring - $4,000 for a 1.1-carat, near colorless Asscher-cut rock - wasn't the only reason he bought from bluenile.com.


Weaver said the Web site had great information that helped him choose among Blue Nile's vast selection - 50,000 stones and 100 settings. The catalog ranges from a .23-carat diamond of medium clarity for $277 to a 12.23-carat piece of ice for $1.369 million.


Blue Nile and others are making jittery grooms more comfortable with 30-day return policies and certificates from independent diamond-grading labs backing up their diamonds. Place an order and the ring will arrive at your doorstep in three business days.


The sites demystify the buying process by detailing what's universally known as the four c's - cut, clarity, color and carat weight - that factor into each diamond's value. Knowing those attributes for any given stone makes it much easier to compare prices.


For now, online sales are still just a fraction of the diamond engagement ring business. But the numbers are growing along with online jewelry sales - the fastest-growing Web retail category overall.


Gassman estimates that, of the $6.2 billion worth of engagement rings sold last year, $500 million, or 8%, were bought online. Five years ago, Net sales accounted for only 1%. The average price of an engagement ring online or off was $3,200 last year, according to the Diamond Information Center.


Jewelry stores aren't going away any time soon, though many are hurting because of the Web. There will always be people who insist on actually seeing a stone and comparing it to others.
Buying a diamond is "a touch-me, feel-me kind of thing," insisted Harvey Nagin, president of the 47th St. Business Improvement District, which represents 3,000 Diamond District retailers and wholesalers. He added that wise shoppers will find 47th St. prices competitive with the Web.
If you choose to buy a diamond online, make sure you are buying from a reputable store. Read shoppers' reviews on comparison shopping sites such as shopzilla.com or shopping.com, said ice.com marketing chief Pinny Gniwisch.


Only shop at a retailer that has a liberal return policy and provides certification from the Gemological Institute of America or the American Gem Society.


And once you buy, have an independent appraiser grade your diamond, said gem expert Antoinette Matlins, author of "Diamonds." Given the investment, she said, "It is money well spent."


$500M - Value of engagement rings bought on jewelry Web sites in 2006$3,200 - Average price of an engagement ring bought in 2006 on or offline