Liori Diamonds: two return windows, three grading labs

Liori Diamonds publishes two different return windows on its own website. The refund policy, the shipping policy and the FAQ all state 14 days. A badge on the product pages and one landing-page heading both state 30 — and the body text of that same landing page then states 14. On a catalogue whose sampled median price is $2,480, the distance between those figures is sixteen days of the right to change your mind, and the brand's own documents do not settle which applies.

What they actually sell

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York, Liori is an online and by-appointment diamond retailer in the Diamond District. Our sample of the live catalogue on 4–5 September 2026 returned 1,500 SKUs: engagement rings at the core, plus wedding and eternity bands, studs, tennis bracelets and necklaces, solitaire pendants, hoops, men's pavé bands and loose certified stones. Custom design, free virtual consultations and home try-on on 487 styles are listed services.

The stone mix matters more than the SKU count. By product tag the sample holds 802 natural diamonds, 357 lab-grown diamonds and 195 moissanite pieces, plus fancy-colour diamonds and coloured gemstones. Treated stones are a real part of the assortment too — the site runs dedicated explainer pages on clarity enhancement. Metals run 10k, 14k and 18k gold, plus platinum on higher-end settings.

Who makes it, and where

Not disclosed. No country of manufacture, workshop, atelier or manufacturing partner is named anywhere on the site. The FAQ describes in-house custom capability and a lifetime craftsmanship warranty on watch customising, which implies bench work at the Diamond District address — but the site never states it, and we will not state it on the brand's behalf. Sales are direct only: the website plus showrooms at 580 5th Avenue #3110 in New York and in Sunny Isles, Florida.

What it costs

Prices as recorded on 4–5 September 2026:

Across the 1,500 sampled SKUs: minimum $475, 10th percentile $1,325, median $2,480, 90th percentile $6,075, maximum $14,075. Of 1,505 variants, 231 carried a compare-at price at a median markdown of about 18%.

The $899 studs and the $1,300 loose stone are both lab-grown; the $14,075 setting is a natural diamond piece and the $1,280 ring a fancy-colour diamond. Our file records no natural-versus-lab-grown label for the $499 studs or the $1,199 bracelet — a question to settle on the listing rather than assume.

The labs are not interchangeable

Both one-carat lab-grown listings above were graded, and by different laboratories. The $899 studs are 1.00ctw, D-VS1, certified by AGI. The $1,300 loose stone is 1.00 carat, D-SI1, certified by GIA. The certification page states the retailer works with GIA, AGI and IGI.

Those grades look like one scale. They are not. AGI grading is materially less stringent than GIA, so a D-VS1 on an AGI report and a D-VS1 on a GIA report are not the same claim about the same stone. "Certified" alone tells you nothing. Nor are the two listings comparable on price: $899 buys 1.00ctw across a pair of stones, $1,300 a single 1.00 carat stone.

Treated stones need the same care. The site's clarity-enhancement page states that a treated stone can be damaged by open heat above 1500°C, by strong acid, by strong alkali, or by re-cutting. The hazard with a fracture-filled stone, though, is routine bench work — a torch at a resizing or a repair. The brand's page covers laboratory-scale hazards; our reading is that it understates the everyday one. Ask in writing what happens to the stone at resizing, and keep the answer.

Signature pieces

• Vintage and Art Deco-style halo and filigree engagement settings, which the site calls its specialty
• Fancy-colour diamond engagement rings, with around 20 colour-education pages behind them
• Buttercup-set tennis bracelets, from $1,199 at 1.00ctw up through 15-carat collections
• Basket-set studs from 0.50ctw to 4ct and above; men's pavé bands from around $2,950
• Custom commissions and diamond watch-bezel customising

The terms

There are no affiliate links on this page. Every term below is the brand's own published statement, recorded 4–5 September 2026, not ours.

Returns. Liori publishes two windows and we cannot reconcile them for you. The refund policy, the shipping policy and the FAQ all state 14 days from receipt, with money back in full, no restocking fee, certain restrictions on custom orders, and store credit or exchange after 14 days. A product-page badge and one landing-page heading state 30 days; the body of that same landing page then states 14. Our return-window reference sheet records the brand at 14, with the 30-day figure flagged as a badge its own policy pages contradict. Get the window in writing before you order.

Sizing. Sized rings carry a 15% restocking fee, and the site asks customers to speak to a representative before ordering a custom size. Against the sampled median of $2,480, 15% is $372.

Shipping and tax. The brand states free FedEx shipping and free returns within the continental USA; no delivery timeframe, signature term or in-transit insurance term is published. The site states it collects sales tax only in New York State — the merchant's position on collection, not a statement about what you owe.

Warranty and trade-in. The brand states a limited lifetime warranty against manufacturing and workmanship defects, excluding wear, abuse and physical damage; and a lifetime trade-in of up to 100% of purchase price toward another item, void on sale and promotional items. Note what those do together: 231 of 1,505 variants carried a markdown, and buying one removes the trade-in.

The record, and one claim that does not match it

Our brand file holds no press citations for Liori Diamonds, so there is nothing to render here. Two other public records stand in for it.

Trustpilot shows 4.9 out of 5 from 159 reviews — with no reviews at all in the last 12 months. That is a historical score, not a current one.

And the brand's own FAQ describes the business as "BETTER BBB ACCREDITED with an A- rating". The Better Business Bureau's own record for the company says it is not accredited, and rates it A+. Those statements do not agree, and the direction of the mismatch is worth being precise about: the FAQ claims a status the BBB record does not show, while stating a lower letter grade than the one the BBB record does show. We report both. We restate neither as ours.

Comparable brands

Blue Nile, James Allen, Brilliant Earth, With Clarity and Ritani occupy the same lane, and what separates them is not price per carat but what each publishes: which laboratories grade the stones, whether stone type is labelled at listing level, and whether one return window appears on every surface of the site.

THE PENNYWEIGHT VERDICT

Skip — until you have the return window in writing.

The number is sixteen: the gap between the 14 days three of Liori's own policy documents state and the 30 days its product-page badge states, on a catalogue whose sampled median is $2,480. A retailer can have traded in the Diamond District since 2006 and still be one whose site does not tell you how long you have to send a $2,480 ring back.

If the window comes back confirmed, the entry tier is where the arithmetic works: $499 for 0.50ctw basket-set studs, $899 for 1.00ctw lab-grown studs graded D-VS1 by AGI, $1,199 for a 1.00ctw buttercup bracelet. It is the sized-ring end where the terms bite: 15% to restock is $372 at the catalogue median.

Prices, catalogue counts, policy terms, grading-lab attributions and review figures are drawn from Liori Diamonds' own pages and product data, and from the Better Business Bureau's and Trustpilot's own records, as recorded in our brand files on 4–5 September 2026. Terms change without notice. The Pennyweight buys nothing, accepts no gifted product, and is not affiliated with any brand named here.