Ritani vs Whiteflash Comparative Review (Which Is Better?)

Ritani and Whiteflash are both highly recommended online diamond retailers to shop from. We consider them both specialty diamond retailers. Ritani sells high end designer ring settings to go with their loose diamonds and Whiteflash specializes in precision cut super ideal cut diamonds.

Both of these retailers are conflict-free and safe to purchase from. But which one of these high end dealers is more superior? You be the judge! 

Shopping Experience

The overall shopping experience between Ritani and Whiteflash are similar, as they both sell loose diamonds and ring settings. There are some distinct differences though. 

Ritani

Ritani has been known for the longest time, but not as a loose diamond seller. Ritani has been associated with other brands like Tiffany and are most famous for their designer engagement rings. Whiteflash even offers some of Ritani's ring settings to go with their diamonds. 

They carry over 80,000 loose diamonds of varying diamond grades. For 1 carat minimum, they carry about 16,000 in different grades and shapes. You can also purchase lab created diamonds and yellow fancy color diamonds. I don't recommend their diamond jewelry or gemstone selection because it's pretty boring, in my opinion. 

Ritani offers 360˚ viewing on only some of their diamonds. I think the viewing is really inconsistent because some of the diamonds have HD photos and 360 video and some don't have either.

The viewer is pretty awful too because the diamond isn't even centered here below and it's pretty fuzzy. It also shows it as a video clip rather than a controllable view. 

If you decide that Ritani's engagement rings or wedding bands aren't for you, they give a 30 day return policy. 

Whiteflash

Whiteflash is an online diamond retailer that specializes in high quality ideal cut and super ideal cut diamonds. But they still sell over 28,000 loose diamonds in varying diamond grades. For 1 carat minimums, they have about 18,000.

Because they specialize in cut quality and light performance, you won't see any colored diamonds or gemstones here. They don't sell lab diamonds either. All of their diamonds are AGS or GIA certified. 

I don't like Whiteflash's 360˚ video much either. Recently I've discovered they offer two kinds of diamond views, the sparkle view and the brilliance view. The sparkle view is what you see off the bat. It has a black background and the reflection of the diamond is so bright you can't even tell if there's blemishes.

But the brilliance view has a regular background that allows you to see the diamond and spot any characteristics you don't want. Also, it's very sensitive when trying to view the back of the diamond and keeps jumping forward. 

Unfortunately, when you scroll through the catalog, you've got to hover for about 5 seconds to see a quick view of the diamond and can only see it in sparkle view. You have to click in each individual diamond to see the useful video.  

If you don't like your diamond engagement ring from Whiteflash, they have a 30 day return policy. Make sure you're not choosing a diamond from the Virtual Selection (these don't have video) and they only have a 10 day return policy. 

Customer Service

One of the biggest reasons companies lose customers is because of the service. Both Ritani and Whiteflash have bias-free advice for their guests as they are not making commission or needing a sales goal like a mega jewelry retailer. 

Ritani

Ritani's customer service is open Mon-Thurs 9am EST to 10pm EST. Fridays they close at 9. They are closed on Saturday and open again on Monday from 11 to 6pm. They're available through email, chat, or by phone. 

If for some reason you can't make those times, you can actually book a private appointment outside of this time frame. So they may not be open 24/7 but they will adjust to a customers need, should it arise. They also have gemologists you can hav

If you'd like to speak to a GIA certified gemologist at Ritani, you can book at appointment with their Concierge services. They can help you find an affordably priced diamond for your budget, help you compare loose diamonds, or even help you choose between white gold or yellow gold.

This is a free service and it's unbiased advice because they don't make any commission from sales. 

In my full review of Ritani, you'll see one thing I really admire is all the different ways they try to offer customers transparency. When you check out a diamond online, they provide you a Market Analysis.

It shows you how much the vendor is selling the diamond for, the costs it takes for Ritani to obtain the diamond via shipping and customs, and finally their markup costs so they make some money. The final price is what you pay. I think this is a great effort in showing today's customers where the money is going. 

Ritani's one of the few online retailers to buy online, pick up in-store. Even though they are headquartered in New York, they are partnered with various jewelers around the US. You just have to click "find my store" during checkout. 

When you buy from Ritani, it is free and FedEx overnighted. In some cases, overnight is not available. A signature is required upon delivery. Free shipping is only for USA and Canada customers only. There's a return limit of 2 per year. 

They have a 30 day money back guarantee and will even schedule a pick up for you so you don't have to leave your house. They offer a diamond buyback and upgrade program to all their customers. 

Lastly, if you find a comparable diamond on a different site to one at Ritani, they offer price matching as well. 

Whiteflash

Whiteflash's customer service is available 24/7 via chat now, email, or phone number. They have both a US number and international number for customers. You can also go to their Houston, Texas showroom, which is available from Mon-Fri 10am-5pm. You can book appointments for the Houston store online too. 

You can request to speak to a gemologist at any time. All of the gemologists at Whiteflash are certified by either the GIA or AGS. Most of the operations staff also have credentials like these, which is pretty rare. A lot of online jewelers' chat associates don't actually know about diamonds. 

Because Whiteflash specializes in superior cut quality diamonds, they give customers some choices that a place like Ritani doesn't offer. They have a "Cut to Order" which allows you to get a custom cut diamond.

The service is only limited to Hearts and Arrows round diamonds though. But a jeweler will take a rough diamond and custom cut it into an ideal cut for your engagement ring. 

Like James Allen, Whiteflash has also partnered up with the best online jewelry insurance provider, Jewelers Mutual. 

Whiteflash offers diamond upgrade services for trade-in. I really like that they have a comprehensive education and FAQ section for customers detailing all the information need to know about Whiteflash diamonds. 

One of these services is their ASET and Idealscope images, which are unique to Whiteflash diamonds only. These images show a customer exactly how much light goes into the diamond and how much is being reflected back and how much isn't.

While Idealscope and ASET images measure light performance, they're not essential when purchasing you perfect diamond. 

I think it's cool that Whiteflash separates i-house diamonds from their virtual selection. In-house diamonds are diamonds that only Whiteflash owns. These diamonds aren't being looked at on other website like most online diamond inventories today.

Warranty

Lots of people don't think they need a warranty with their engagement and wedding rings, but I'm telling you that you should. Engagement rings are made of natural metals and they aren't impervious.

Most rings are made out of real gold and it's a soft metal, vulnerable to nicks, scratching, and even fading. This has nothing to do with the actual craftsmanship of ring, but the daily wear and tear of natural materials. 

Ritani

Like James Allen, Ritani is the only other online retailer to offer a free lifetime warranty to their customers. Most of the competing online retailers like Blue Nile or Clean Origin only offer manufacturer's warranties. Manufacturer's warranties (lifetime or otherwise) only cover design flaws and defects, not wear and tear. 

Ritani's warranty will allow you to get your white gold rhodium plated, tightening any prongs that might be snagging, or even tightening your diamonds. They also give you one free resizing within the first year. There's a $35 shipping fee and Ritani pays return shipping. 

You'll need to activate the warranty by signing up online before using. They want you do it within 45 days of purchasing it, but it's not actually required. The warranty only applies to Ritani engagement and wedding rings, not fine jewelry.

Whiteflash

Whiteflash's warranty isn't near as generous as Ritani's, but better than nothing. They offer a 1 year service warranty. It gives you one free resizing, rhodium plating, retipping prongs, and tightening them. 

Their warranty is also in addition to any outside brand warranties that might cover any of their designer engagement ring settings. 

The problem with a one year warranty is that the most important repair is usually needed right around a 1 year time frame. That's rhodium plating. It's only for white gold, but that's also the most popular ring metal for engagement rings and bridal jewelry. 

Over time the metal loses its silvery look and may appear yellowish. This can be due to chemicals, dirt, lifestyle, and even oils in your skin. On average, it takes about a year to start becoming noticeable. For some it's even earlier, due to the acidity in their skin. 

Since the warranty is only one year, I definitely recommend taking advantage of it close to before it ends, that way your ring is in tip top shape until you have to pay for its upkeep from a jeweler. 

The shipping policy for warranties is also a little strange, with domestic shipping being $35 + 0.3% of the price of the item. 

Price vs Value

For most people, how much a ring is going to cost them is at the forefront of their mind. 

Often before features and added benefits. But sometimes you can get an excellent priced diamond with no benefits, or you could find yourself paying a little more on your debit or credit card, but saving money in the long run. Sometimes it's not about the price tag, but the overall value of said price tag years down the road. 

A 1 carat natural diamond at Ritani with an Ideal cut grade, H color, and SI1 clarity is going to run you around $4694. This round cut diamond has a GIA certificate, no fluorescence, with excellent polish and very good symmetry. 

Ritani doesn't carry any special line of ideal cut or hearts and arrows diamonds, nor do they have an expert selection. This is a positive for many because branded diamonds like James Allen's True Hearts and Whiteflash's A Cut Above selection come with premiums. 

If I choose a diamond with the same grades as Ritani's from their general selection, my price is not as expensive as the A Cut Above collection, coming in at $6,603. It also has a GIA certificate. Whiteflash didn't carry an exact 1.0, so this diamond is 1.04 carats. 

Even though Whiteflash's diamond has .04 carat more than Ritani's and excellent symmetry instead of very good, that shouldn't account for $2000 more.  

Does Whiteflash's diamond have better brilliance? I'm sure it does, but you can't tell that because all of the SI1 ideal cut H color 1 carat diamonds are all from the virtual selection. The virtual selection has no 360˚ video. 

We know that Ritani offers a lifetime warranty to include rhodium and other upkeep. Whiteflash only has a 1 year service plan. I said that on average most white gold jewelry wearers need rhodium plating once a year. Rhodium can generally cost from $40-$120 depending on if your rings are soldered, more than one, etc. 

Just say over the next 49 years you need to get your Whiteflash solitaire engagement ring rhodium plated once a year at the price of $60. 49x$60 = $2940. And that's just for rhodium plating, on the low end, no less. Prong retipping and tightening will be additional costs. 

Tack on that to what you're paying for the diamond and we're at a total of $8768. And we still haven't chosen a ring setting. 

Both retailers carry designer ring settings. Whiteflash carries very few of its own, but has big brands like Tacori, Verragio, Simon G, and even Ritani settings. Both Ritani's and Whiteflash's settings on their sites will be more expensive than settings at James Allen or Blue Nile. 

Make sure to always look at what a company offers with their diamonds, not just the diamond price itself. Sometimes you'll find the benefits, features, and protections will overrule the number. 

On Reddit 

While there's a lot of customer reviews on the internet at places like the Better Business Bureau, Google Reviews, and Yelp, most people only file complaints about the retailer. This can be helpful, but we always take reviews with a grain of salt. 

Instead, we check out Reddit and many subreddits that speak of diamonds and engagement rings.

Ritani

Ritani reviews on Reddit are few, probably because they're not the most popular online diamond retailer. You find posts upon posts about James Allen and Blue Nile, but not as many from Ritani. 

Surprisingly, the ones I do find are mostly directed to their lab grown diamonds, not their natural ones. A couple people in the post below also speak of how Ritani seemed to have the best prices when they were comparing. 

In another Reddit post, people make mention of their expensive ring setting but affordable loose diamond prices. Another person also talks about how Ritani owns all of their settings and aren't outsourced like other online retailers. 

Whiteflash

Whiteflash has a slightly stronger presence than Ritani, but still relatively small in comparison to most of the other brands mentioned throughout the subreddits. 

When asked about, the general consensus in Whiteflash reviews is that they have the best cut quality for round brilliant diamonds. You also can't get far without hearing about their A Cut Above super ideal diamonds. But they almost always talk about how much more expensive they are than other diamond retailers.

The post below talks about how you'll be paying around 30% more than you would at another retailer. 

Another thing I noticed not only on Reddit, but on other sites as well, is that they have excellent customer service. Everyone seems to have really enjoyed their experience at Whiteflash and working side by side with their team.

There's also mention of their upgrade policy, which you only have to spend 1 dollar more to get a new ring. That's way better than double what you paid, which is how Zales, Kay, and Jared all do theirs. 

An example of this superior service would be this post. The customer has been taking their time choosing who to buy from and is impressed with Whiteflash's vigilance to have him buy from then, but not James Allen or Blue Nile. 

I imagine they give more of a personal touch since JA and BN have a much bigger customer audience. 

Read also: Whiteflash or Blue Nile: who is better?

Our Recommended Pick: Ritani for Cheaper Diamonds

In the battle of Ritani vs Whiteflash, we're going to have to go with Ritani. Why, you might ask?

Ritani is a better choice for the everyday customer with the average budget. They carry a range of different quality diamonds that allows the customer to choose one fit for their budget. Of course, the ring settings are different. 

Their transparency makes it easy for them to gain customer trust, as well as having direct affiliations with Blue Nile, the first online diamond retailer. The market analysis might not be essential when purchasing a diamond, but it definitely looks good to the those who mistrust diamond industry pricing. 

Even though Ritani doesn't have 24 hour customer service, I do like that you're able to make an appointment outside of their timeframes. I think that shows excellent customer service as well. 

They might not have the biggest presence on Reddit, but they are lesser known as diamond retailers and more as ring designers. Those who have had experiences with Ritani were pretty happy. 

Ritani's lifetime warranty is one of its biggest ring features because many companies don't offer one. They don't repair damaged jewelry for free, but will rhodium plate, tighten prongs, and tighten stones as long as you pay $35 shipping fee. You also get one free resizing as well as 30 day returns if you don't like it. 

I love that all of their diamonds are either GIA or AGS certified, which makes it super easy for the person who doesn't know about the importance of diamond grading reports to make sure they're picking out a high quality diamond. 

Whiteflash is no doubt an excellent online retailer. But on average, they are more expensive because they specialize in cut quality and light performance. Their A Cut Above collection of super ideal cut diamonds are beautiful, but not every customer wants to pay for all the extra bells and whistles. 

That's especially true when you have a budget friendly retailer like Ritani to choose from. Just make sure you account for the ring setting. But no matter which retailer you choose, both of these are exceptional choices to buy diamonds from and much better than any Kay or Zales in your area.