Honest Review Of Rare Carat 2025

Updated: July 5, 2025 by Michael Kahn. Published: July 5, 2025.

For certain events, gifts that are meant to mean a lot, or simply to add some truly luxurious quality to your look, there’s nothing that quite competes with diamonds. These stones carry more cultural weight than just about any, and being able to source those of quality is important when choosing a stone or especially a ring.

The quality of product you can expect is largely going to come down to where you get it, as well. To that end, here, we’re going to take a closer look at the offerings of Rare Carat, an online diamond marketplace that has been getting a little more attention lately, and what it’s like to shop for diamonds from them.

Who Are Rare Carat?

One of the leading US-based online diamond and jewelry platforms, Rare Carat was founded in 2016 by Ajay Anand, who built the site after having a tough time trying to buy an engagement ring online. 

As a marketplace, rather than a retailer, is pulls together listings from hosts of vetted wholesales and brands, combining access to a broad inventory with a focus on quality control. The site uses AI tools like the IBM Watson-based tools to assess diamond pricing and grade validity, as well as human-led advice from GIA-certified gemologists ,aiming to help shoppers find the perfect stones.

Why People Use Online Diamond Marketplaces

When shopping for a diamond, your options tend to be going directly to one of the retailers or, as is becoming increasingly popular, looking at a marketplace first. These marketplaces aggregate listings from multiple vendors, allowing buyers to compare their diamonds based on quality, cut, carat, clarity, and price. This competition helps to ensure that the market doesn’t drive prices up, as is often seen with standalone retailers.

Diamond marketplace like Rare Carat often offer a vast inventory from sellers across the globe, making it easier to find stones that fit the direct specifications of the buyer. They also tend to offer a level of independent certification and consumer protection. These marketplaces have to vouch for the retailers they sell from, to some degree, so they often rely on vetting procedures to maintain a certain level of quality.

Lastly, they’re often relied on as a convenient and educational means of buying diamonds, offering a transparent way to assess the market.

What Do Rare Carat Offer?

As mentioned, Rare Carat is an online marketplace but also a full-service platform, focusing on both natural and lab-grown diamonds, as well as moissanite. Their marketplace also includes categories for engagement and wedding rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings, besides their loose stones.

The marketplace is drive by an AI-powered search and comparison engine that aggregates over a million diamonds, allowing users to filter their search to be more specific in what they’re looking for. They provide a Rare Carat Report and Deal Score using both this AI and real gemologist input to offer a more comprehensive look at both pricing and stone quality.

Rare Carat also offers free expert consultations from GIA-trained gemologists via live chat and phone, as well as a Diamond Concierge Service for those who prefer a more personalized diamond shopping experience beyond what AI can offer alone. 

The Pros Of Rare Carat

Shopping on Rare Carat offers a range of benefits, one of the most immediate being the experience of immediately getting helpful and detailed comparisons and ratings thanks to its AI-driven price and quality check. For every diamond and product, it estimates fair pricing and quality, offering a “Deal Score” so that you can directly see whether a listing represents good value, while at the same time comparing it with other vendors.

Beyond it’s AI tools that quickly help you avoid overpaying or being misled, it also offers free consultations with non‑commissioned, GIA‑trained gemologists. These experts review diamonds objectively, looking at the 4 Cs of quality, as well as any evidence of treatments, damage, or problematic fluorescence.

There are a lot of things that make the shopping experience more convenient, too, like a 30-day money-back guarantee, which makes sure you’re not locked into a purchase if it ends up not meeting expectations. This is alongside a 90-day resizing option for those who might not get their ring size right the first time.

Deliveries are made a lot easier with free insured shipping and returned, ensuring that every order is securely packaged and delivered with tracking and signature requirements. Shipping is quick, too, with their elegant packaging being the cherry on top.

The Cons of Safety Training Seminars

Every store has their disadvantages, of course, and Rare Carat is no exception. For one, the experience is entirely online, with no physical showrooms. While they do offer 360-degree views of products, you can’t get hands on with the jewelry before you buy it.

As a marketplace, Rare Carat is always dependent on its partner inventory, as well. While they offer a wide selection from third-party vendors, this can potentially lead to changes in availability, shipping timelines and the like.

Although Rare Carat does offer tools to try and making the diamond-purchasing experience much more informed, offering education resources and expert support, navigating the diamond specs and certification reports can be a little daunting for those who don’t know their diamonds. As such, it’s worth taking a little time getting used to using the tools and filters and understanding what they do.

Many of the benefits offered by Rare Carat, such as free shipping, resizing, and returns, are also aimed specifically at US customers.

The Final Verdict

If you’re looking for a place to shop for diamonds and jewelry where you can get a much more detailed look at the quality of what you’re buying, and specifically if the deal is a good value, then Rare Carat is one of the more valuable tools you can use to do just that.

With a huge range of pieces on offer, great tools to choose those that fit your needs, and a ton of customer-friendly policies, it’s an accessible way to find the stones you want.