Amazon has sold jewelry, including diamond rings, directly to consumers for a few years now, but they've done something pretty nifty; they have a "Create your own diamond engagement ring" program. And it's actually very well done. You'll want to set aside a few hours to read the background information first, about what makes a diamond look good, and why some cost so much more—all about what gemologists and jewelers call the "3 Cs": Cut, Clarity, and Color. It's accurate information presented interestingly. In fact, Amazon's "Create the ring of your dreams" site really is a model site.

The educational material is superlative. There's a side bar with really smart instructions pages about precious metals, diamond, and how and why diamond are certified and graded. The actual design part of the site has a set of series of sliders for Shape, Price, Carat, Cut, Color, Clarity. The sliders let you see what a particular quality will cost you; you can check out pretty much any aspect of your "dream ring." There's a running counter showing you how many stones match your particular choices. Change one of the sliders, and the price immediately reflects that change, as does the running counter of matching stones. When you think you've isolated the characteristics, and the price, that's right for you, you can see images of the stone that match. You're shown a chart that lists the shape, cut, quality of cut, carat weight, clarity, color and price, and an option to compare any two or more stones.

Once you've selected "the one," you're offered an opportunity to choose a setting. There's a wide variety of setting types, including some quite unusual ones, as well multiple stone settings, and every conceivable metal and weight, including platinum, white gold, yellow gold, and 18K variations. Once you've chosen a setting you're given a price for the package.

Would I buy for a ring this way? No, heck no—but it's a great way to learn about diamonds, and could be a lot of fun to play with as you and your SO figure out what's important to you. Deciding on the ring—not only how much to spend, but what to get, can be difficult for couples. This is an easy way to learn about what you need to known, and offers an great opportunity to communicate about what's important to each of you before you're sitting in front of a jeweler who will try, very hard, to convince you that spending four month's salary on an engagement ring is "standard." Speaking as a jewelry magpie with some knowledge about gems, if it were me, I'd suggest going with an older ring that's been in the family, and choosing a new setting. Or think about a vintage diamond from an estate jewelry sale, or, best of all, instead of spending thousands on a ring, get a ring set with something other than a diamond (perhaps your two birthstones) that means something because you picked it out together, and save the money you might spend on a diamond to buy a house together.