A little knowledge can go a long way in purchasing the ideal engagement ring at the best possible price. See, you’ve finally decided: you’re going to pop the question. You’re going to buy that engagement ring, make reservations for that dream dinner, buy flowers, get on one knee and propose. But wait a second - have you thought this out? Have you done your research? The first step is often the most crucial one, and in this case, you should definitely pay attention to the words of the more knowledgeable.

Many engagement rings are made of diamond. What kind of diamond do you think you can afford? All the engagement ring buying tips online say that a diamond is forever, but even with a limited budget, forever need not be beyond your reach! Shop around for good bargains, don’t settle with the first shop that catches your eye.

When buying diamonds, you should first and foremost be aware of the 4 c’s: carat, clarity, color and cut. Any gemstone expert worth his or her salt can tell you more about these c’s. It doesn’t follow that the largest diamond is the best or the most expensive: the cost of a diamond depends on its value, which in turn depends on how well the requirements of the 4 c’s are fulfilled.

The most popular choice for engagement ring style is the solitaire diamond in white gold, and depending on the cut, small solitaire diamonds could look rather classy. Avoid the standard, often cheaper yellow gold metal base - it doesn’t speak of “class” at all! First-time gem buyers often find themselves lost in all the strange gemstone-related terminologies; should this happen, consider securing the assistance of a person with a trained eye for selecting gemstones.

You also need to think about the kind of metal that will be used for the ring. Of course it’s not just the jewel that needs attention. Does she prefer white gold or platinum? Pay close attention to the kind of jewelry she is already wearing. The ring you will buy, as all the engagement ring buying tips will tell you, need to be made of a metal that will look good on your bride-to-be and at the same time not be bad for her sensitive skin.

But above all, consider buying a loose diamond to show her when you propose. Then you and your bride-to-be can shop around for the right ring shape together. This might well be the wisest decision you’ll ever make in this matter.

The Internet is there to guide you and be your friend throughout this fussy selection process. Don’t just go with your gut: look up those engagement ring buying tips! The big night is not the right time to throw caution to the wind!

Sam Serio is an Internet Marketer, musician, and writer on the subject of jewelry and gemstones. For more information on jewelry and gemstones, we cordially invite you to visit http://www.morninglightjewelry.com to pick up your FREE copy of “How To Buy Jewelry And Gemstones Without Being Ripped Off.” This concise, informative special report reveals almost everything you ever wanted to know about jewelry and gemstones, but were afraid to ask. Get your FREE report at http://www.morninglightjewelry.com Also includes informative articles, comparison shopping, rare book excerpts, & link directory.

Gold has soared recently to levels not seen since the 1980s. From $430 per ounce in April 2005 to approx. $550 an ounce towards 2005 years’ end, to the much anticipated $600 per ounce in April 2006.

Many analysts expect a rise in raw gold to $800 per ounce within the next 1-2 years, and some have even ventured as far as predicting gold to reach $1,000 or more per ounce within the next 2-3 years.

Both wholesale and retail jewelry prices are on the rise, as gold jewelry retailers update their prices to reflect this great increase. The question is, how soon and how hard will higher gold prices hit the jewelry consumer?

This will greatly depend on the type of jewelry store and how quickly they have systems in place to change their jewelry prices. A change in gold from $550 an ounce to $600 will not dramatically change things in the retail world.

But for a discount jeweler who charges by the gram, a different of $50 per ounce can make a decent difference. This will translate to almost $1.50 per gram for 14k gold. A gold chain weighing 20.0 grams for example will now cost the retailer an additional $30.00 to purchase. And this is assuming that the same jeweler does not mark-up this new increase to say, $45 instead of $30! Retailers who base their prices on keystone pricing, for example (doubling the price that they pay to their supplier), can be expected to see a $60 rise on that same chain, instead of $30, if they maintain keystone pricing. Some jewelers even charge double or triple keystone (marking up a piece of jewelry 2 to 3 times its wholesale value).

This translates to an approx. 10% increase in the cost of raw gold, and therefore a minimum of 10% for finished retail jewelry. Assuming keystone pricing, this could translate to a 20% increase in finished jewelry, when gold changes from $550 per ounce (December 2005), to $600 per ounce (April 2006).

If gold were to reach $800 per ounce, the consumer could expect an additional 33.3% increase in the price of raw gold, assuming a price shift from $600 per ounce to $800, or a 45% increase in the price of raw gold if assuming a price shift from $550 per ounce to $800 per ounce. This could mean a price increase in the retail jewelry world of anywhere from 33.3% if no additional mark up is made by jewelers on the increase in the price of gold, or an over 65% increase in retail jewelry if jewelers maintain keystone pricing (which is a standard minimum for most traditional, brick and mortar and some online jewelry retailers).

How will this effect online jewelers?

Online jewelers are often selling their gold jewelry at discount prices, and so this price shift will be played out differently for online merchants.

Although online jewelers will feel a price increase from their suppliers, many do not charge keystone pricing, and so the price shifts may not be as dramatic as they will be at brick and mortar jewelry stores. Most online jewelers also do not have to contend with stocking merchandise and so they will not have to anticipate the realities of rising costs into their current pricing structures. Traditional jewelry stores may have to sell their gold jewelry at a slight premium in order to anticipate rising gold costs in the near future, in order to cover themselves when restocking items. This will much depend on how traditional jewelry stores choose to face the challenge of rising gold prices.

Since an online jewelry store has lower overhead, they will be most readily able to maintain lower, discount jewelry prices and since they often do not stock jewelry, but drop-ship from suppliers, they will not have to anticipate rising costs, but can more easily sell in “real-time”.

The online stores that will be hit the hardest are the smaller, mom and pop jewelry stores who do not have the technology and work force in place to change their items’ prices quickly enough to meet the rapidly changing price of gold.

In the past, gold may have stayed at $500 per ounce, or near it, for many months at a time, giving online jewelers ample time to go into their websites and change their hundreds–or sometimes thousands of items. Now, with weekly and sometimes dramatic daily changes in the price of gold, it may be more difficult for online jewelers to change their prices fast enough to meet customer demand.

This may serve as an advantage to jewelry shoppers when gold is on the rise, and they may be able to find bargains before a website owner has time to go in and change their prices. It may prove a disadvantage to consumers when gold prices fall back and jewelry website owners do not have enough time to go back in and lower their prices in order to remain competitive.

One such example is Apples of Gold Jewelry, http://www.applesofgold.com, which anticipating dramatic changes in gold prices had custom programs built for their jewelry website of over 1,500 jewelry items. Their programs (scripts) allow their administrators to rapidly change prices on over 15,000 published web pages at the click of a button through an algorithm that tracks the price of gold and updates prices based on current gold prices.

Websites like these will have current and up-to-date gold jewelry prices, compared to smaller stores who have to go in and manually update thousands of pageswhich can take weeksor more likely months for stores with more items.

Online jewelry stores still remain the most cost effective form of jewelry buying, especially now that gold prices have soared and are expected to soar. This may mean increased business for online jewelry stores, if traditional shoppers are willing to cross the threshold into online sales.

Afshin Yaghtin, graduated as an English Major from UCLA before earning his Master’s Degree at the University of Wales, in Aberystwyth. He now runs Apples of Gold Jewelry. http://applesofgold.com