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Today, of course, is Valentine's Day, and for the lucky few, that means diamonds.

Now, most people still buy things like engagement rings and fine gems in stores, but a growing number are now buying diamonds online. They're spending thousands, even tens of thousands, on gems they've never even seen.

From Seattle, NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports.

WENDY KAUFMAN: Last December, Alok Kapur(ph) proposed to his fiancee. There was champagne, chocolate and a diamond ring. It was classic and romantic, but where he bought the ring was anything but.

Ms. JEANNIE(ph) (Blue Nile): Thank you for calling Blue Nile. This is Jeannie.

KAUFMAN: Blue Nile is the nation's largest online seller of diamond engagement rings.

Mr. ALOK KAPUR: I was skeptical, and so I called their 800 number.

KAUFMAN: And Kapur began asking questions.

Mr. KAPUR: Questions about the diamonds, what their process of selling was, how they got their GIA certification, where they got their diamond from...

KAUFMAN: He quizzed them for nearly an hour and came away impressed. At Blue Nile, there is no romancing the stone, as the industry calls it. Instead, the company provides detailed information, including grading certificates, for all of its conflict-free diamonds. The philosophy is make the transaction transparent, have a liberal return policy, and shoppers will feel comfortable buying sight unseen.

There's an industry-wide system for grading diamonds for quality. So a certified, one-carat princess diamond of a specific cut, clarity and color should be almost identical in appearance no matter where you buy it.

Ms. DIANE IRVINE (Chief Executive Officer, Blue Nile): So now, these are diamonds in the diamond paper. Each one of these little pouches is an individual diamond, and the specs of the diamond are listed here. This is a...

KAUFMAN: Diane Irvine, the CEO of Blue Nile, has ushered me inside a nondescript, unmarked building in the Seattle area where the company's jewelers set loose stones into gold or platinum.

Traditional jewelry retailers often sell from the inventory on hand. Blue Nile works differently. Its Web site lists about 55,000 stones offered by different suppliers. Once the consumer selects a diamond, it's sent to Blue Nile and turned into an engagement ring.

Ms. IRVINE: That little pouch that you saw, it will be delivered to the appropriate jeweler, depending on, you know, the skill needed, and so all of these jewelers are creating customized pieces of jewelry.

KAUFMAN: Americans typically spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,500 on an engagement ring. Blue Nile customers typically spend more than twice that.

Because of the way their business is structured, Blue Nile's operating costs are significantly less than traditional retail jewelers, and its prices are often lower for comparable quality. Alok Kapur says the stones he was considering costs between 15 and 30 percent less at Blue Nile.

Online diamond sellers represent just a tiny sliver of the overall market for diamonds, but they're exerting enormous downward price pressure on traditional retail jewelers.

Rob Bates, a senior editor at JCK, a jewelry industry publication, says to remain competitive, retailers have to demonstrate that buying a diamond is about more than price.

Mr. ROB BATES (Senior Editor, Jewelers' Circular Keystone): What they basically have to do is say: Here's why it's better to buy from us than to buy, basically, from a machine on your desktop. We offer the ability to see the stone close up, the ability perhaps to customize so you can see what the ring looks like.

KAUFMAN: And, he says, there are still lots of people who aren't comfortable buying a big, high-priced item off the Internet.

Wendy Kaufman, NPR News, Seattle.

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