So this Saturday I was at the mall doing a little shopping and decided to go on one of my "mystery shopper" adventures.

For those of you unfamiliar with what this, I like to go into different jewelry stores and pretend I am in the market for an engagement ring. I do this so I can get a guage on how honest jewelry stores are and see what lines the salespeople are using these days.

Of course I have no need for an engagement ring. That exciting time in my life is behind me, but I am in the business of helping others in their purchase, so I consider these occasional "visits" part of the job.

I walked in, looked in a few display cases and then was approached by Tina - a fairly young, attractive saleslady with quite a nice smile (I'm sure this alone has helped close a few sales!). I told her I was starting to look for an engagement ring and that this was the first store I had gone to.

She whipped out a brochure, pulled me out a chair and started to go over the 4 C's. This is when I have to be patient. It's all old news to me of course but I can't blow my cover by going into a fit and yelling "I know, I know already!"

After she went through her blurb (which, she actually did a decent job of explaining) she asked what my budget was and I told her $8000.

Before she started to drool too much over the prospect of a fat commission, I asked her what I should go for when it came to clarity. I wanted to see what clarity grade she would recommend to me.

She told me that I needed to stick with stones that are at least VS1 or above. She said that going lower would get me a less brilliant diamond but that I really didn't need to go higher. Of course she delivered this news in a way that made it seem like she was doing me a favor by not having to pay for the highest clarity grade.

Now of course she wasn't exactly being truthful with me. For those that have read The Ultimate Diamond Buying Guide (http://www.engagementrings101.com) you know why I fell this way.

She then decided to show me some diamonds in my price range that I could consider. Of course, they were all VS1 diamonds (with one VVS2 diamond). I decided to ask her if she has anything in a lower clarity grade she could show me so I could compare them, but she said they really didn't have anything in stock at this time.

Well that explains that! Of course she is going to recommend VS1 if that is really all she has in stock for my pricerange. It became pretty obvious why she decided to tell me the information she did.

I won't bore you with moer of the details, but this was a perfect example of a salesperson telling you what they needed to tell you to make a sale.

Notice how she asked for my budget right away? This let her think about what diamonds she had in stock in that pricerange and then give me advice that would align with what was available to her to sell.

Pretty sneaky! But very common. Fortunately for me, I'm not going to fall for her lines, but I'm sure a bunch of guys fall victim to it. Those nice smiles will get ya!

For more info about saving money on your engagement ring, check out my site at http://www.engagementrings101.com

I hear a lot of guys say that they want to get their lady a "unique engagement ring". They don't want it to be just an ordinary ring, but something truly special.

Let me blunt with you - unless you have specifically heard her say she wants a unique engagement ring, I woudn't go for anything too far out or the ordinary.

Girls aren't like guys. They have been picturing their wedding, their proposal, their engagement ring since they were a little girl. She probably has something in mind - you don't want to venture far outside of this.

I always suggest trying to find out what she wants when it comes to the style of the ring. If the two of you haven't been openly talking about getting engaged or the ring and you want to keep it hush-hush, then get her friend to ask her and fill you in. Just make sure you can trust her not to say anything!

Remember that her engagement ring is going to be worn forever. You don't want to get her something that is fashionable today but loses it's appeal in five years. There is a good reason why the solitaire ring has been the most popular choice for a long time now - it never goes out of style.

I'm not saying never to seek out a unique engagement ring. But try to get an idea of what she wants and whether this is something she would be looking for.

I will look at a couple of settings that I find to be "unique" in the next couple of days.

Take care, and feel free to email me any questions about this lens or my Diamond Buying Guide. You can find my site at http://www.engagementrings101.com.