Buying pearl jewelry online doesn’t have to be intimidating. We’ll teach you how to spot the best deals and give you a pearl expert’s opinion on where and how to find the best pearls.

Finding your first pearl necklace online can be an overwhelming experience. The sheer amount of choices and information available can make almost anyone want to give up before they even begin.

Don’t worry, we’re here to help.

At Pearls of Joy, we have nearly 20 years of experience buying and selling pearls all over the world, and can walk you through the ins and outs of purchasing pearl jewelry. From understanding pearl grading systems to knowing which brands are the most reputable and which stores you’ll want to steer clear of, the experts at Pearls of Joy have got you covered - no matter where you choose to buy pearls.

For those looking to just get the facts quick and easy, here's our Top 8 Best Places To Buy Pearls

• Pearls of Joy - Online Pearl Specialty Retailer

Buy luxury quality pearl necklaces, earrings, pendants and more in every pearl type available with helpful pearl experts available to answer any questions about pearls you might have.

• Tiffany & Co. - Luxury Retailer

Luxury retailer with luxury price points (that little blue box though!).

• Mikimoto Pearl Company - Luxury Brand Name

Historic pearl jewelry brand that spans the world. Incredible quality and brand name pricing.

• Blue Nile - Online Big Box E-Commerce

Large warehouse-style drop-shipping; fast delivery with no customization.

• James Allen Jewelers - Online Engagement Ring Retailer

Diamond specialists with a limited selection of mid-range pearl jewelry.

• Costco - Warehouse Retailer

Not jewelry specialists, but decent deals on a very limited selection of mid-range pearls.

• Zales - Big Box Retail Jeweler

Diamond specialists with low to mid-range Akoya and Freshwater pearl jewelry. Small selection to choose from.

• eBay - Online Auction and e-Commerce Site

Filled with unknown overseas dealers with poor return policies - tons of scams to be found here, but some good deals can be found if you know what you're looking at.

For the rest of you wanting to take a deeper dive into all these options and explore the pro's and con's of buying pearl jewelry from each of these vendors and finding out where the very best place to buy a pearl necklace is, then read on!

With our combination of incredible pricing, personalized customer service and a worry-free return policy, Pearls of Joy is the absolute best place to buy pearls online.

Our extensive selection of luxury pearls priced up to 75% below retail, 100 Day Return and Exchange Policy, personalized customer service and extremely competitive prices on all pearl jewelry styles are all major reasons why Pearls of Joy is the best place to buy pearls online.

We source our pearls direct from the pearl farms and overseas auctions, cutting out any middleman and passing savings on to you. That allows us to offer our extensive selection of luxury pearls at up to 75% below retail prices.

With one-on-one customer service from in-house experts, our pearl jewelry is made to order and tailored to your exact specifications. We also offer a 100-day Return and Exchange Policy, so your satisfaction is always 100% guaranteed.

From our "Top Range" Certified Hanadama Akoya pearls, to colorful and affordable Freshwater pearls and exotic black Tahitians, our pearl jewelry collections have something for every pearl lover to enjoy, at a fraction of the price of big box and specialty retailers.

Tiffany is a legendary jewelry company, specializing in diamonds, precious gemstones and yes, pearls! They are known for their unique designs, iconic retail outlets and of course, that famous little blue box.

Tiffany's offers pearl jewelry ranging from the low hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the pearl type and design. Many of their collections, such as their Paloma Freshwater Pearl Collection, or their Signature Collection featuring cultured Akoya pearls, fall into these higher price tiers.

At Pearls of Joy, we focus on quality rather than branding and retail presence, which is why we can easily match (and even beat!) brands like Tiffany’s on quality and on price. For example, Tiffany's Signature Collection Akoya pearl necklace measuring 7.5-8.0mm sells for around $2,900.00. The same necklace at Pearls of Joy retails for just $1,489.00!

This world-famous jewelry house specializes in luxury pearl jewelry and exclusive couture designs. Founded in 1893, Mikimoto maintains retail locations in the biggest cities all over the world. You can visit a Mikimoto jewelry store in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, London and Tokyo among other places.

While Mikimoto is known for their Akoya pearl jewelry, they also specialize in all types of pearls including South Sea pearls and black Tahitian pearls, along with the high-end couture collections they release each year.

Mikimoto's Akoya pearls are some of the finest quality pearls in the world, bar none. But they come with major luxury price points.

For example, a 7.0-7.5mm Akoya Pearl Necklace in their A+ quality rating (our "Top Range" Hanadama Akoya Pearl Necklace would be the equivalent) retails for $7,200.00! Will the pearls be absolutely stunningly beautiful? You bet. And if you are set on owning a Mikimoto-brand pearl necklace, then the price can be worth it.

On the other hand, if owning a brand name isn't that big of a deal for you, then you can easily buy a pearl necklace that matches the quality and craftsmanship of Mikimoto pearls for a fraction of the price.

This large online retailer has a good selection of mass-manufactured, mid-range quality pearl jewelry. Blue Nile offers competitive prices and a decent selection of Akoya and Freshwater pearl jewelry to choose from, consisting of mostly white Freshwater and Akoya pearl necklaces and pearl pendants.

With big box retail jewelers like Blue Nile, it is important to note that the jewelry is ordered from outside jewelry manufacturers and shipped directly from large warehouses. While the speed of delivery is a plus, you sacrifice the ability to tailor the pearls to your tastes. Customers who want to upgrade, customize a necklace’s length or select a particular pearl overtone will be out of luck.

One other important thing to note about Blue Nile is that they do not grade their pearls on the industry-standard A-AAAA scale. Pearl quality is evaluated with nebulous terms like "High Quality Luster" or "Lightly Spotted Surfaces", which leaves a lot of wiggle room for buyers to receive pearl jewelry that may be of lower quality than the pricing would suggest.

This online jewelry retailer specializes in diamond engagement rings, but does offer a limited selection of pearl jewelry, consisting mostly of pearl pendants and some classic single-strand pearl necklaces.

James Allen Jewelers are notable for their 360 degree photos of their diamonds and "real time" inspection of their jewelry during an online video conference - which is pretty unique! Their pearl pendant collections feature a variety of unique pearl and diamond or pearl and gemstone designs to choose from, all priced competitively for the pearl industry.

Like Blue Nile, James Allen Jewelers are not pearl specialists, and they don’t use industry-standard grading. The single page they host on the topic has a very bare-bones description of each pearl type, which could leave novice pearl buyers in the dark about what quality of pearl they are actually purchasing.

A big box retailer, Costco offers a small selection of mid to high-end pearl jewelry with fairly competitive prices. While Costco offers pearls of all types like South Sea, Tahitian, Freshwater and Akoya, the selection is limited to only what is offered in-store, with no options to customize the jewelry to your needs. With Costco, what you see is what you get.

On the plus side, having inspected the pearls for ourselves, we can tell you that the jewelry is good quality and decently priced. But because Costco is not a traditional jewelry store, their jewelry offerings are pretty small. In addition, Costco provides little to no supplemental pearl education from jewelry experts. This potentially leaves pearl jewelry buyers in the dark about what they're actually getting, and whether their purchases are actually good deals.

This big box retail chain features mid to low-end pearl jewelry with mid-level price points. With Zales, you can expect to find mass-produced pearl jewelry with mainly saltwater Akoya and Freshwater pearls to choose from.

Often the mountings like clasps and pendant chains are cast in 10K gold, and the pearls will range in the A to AA+ quality zone. Zales purchases pre-fabricated jewelry from overseas, and has no ability to customize your pearls.

Zales is staffed with jewelry sales professionals educated in diamonds and diamond engagement rings for the most part, with little to no focus on pearls, which is typical for most traditional jewelry stores.

While some good deals can be found at Zales from time to time, we recommend sticking with dedicated pearl experts when purchasing pearls online. That will ensure you're getting the highest quality pearl jewelry for the best price.

eBay is a large online retailer with hundreds of vendors to choose from, with variable price points and a wide variety of pearl types and design styles.

We urge caution dealing with sellers on eBay. There are countless examples of counterfeit or fake pearl listings, such as dyed black Freshwater pearls being passed off as Tahitians, or cheap Freshwater pearls being advertised as saltwater Akoya.

Many sellers also reside overseas and have return policies that make it almost impossible to get your money back if you aren't happy with your purchase. Buyer beware!

As you can see, each one of these retailers has their pro’s and con’s. Whether you're choosing to splurge on a luxury brand name like Mikimoto, or shopping for the best deal you can find, there are plenty of options to choose from out there!

At Pearls of Joy we recommend finding an online pearl dealer that can not only offer you a wide array of pearl types and design styles to choose from, but one that also focuses on educating their customers. The right retailer will help you make well-informed decisions before you take the plunge and buy pearls online.

Pearls of Joy is easily the best place to buy beautiful pearls online for an amazing price.

A trusted online vendor for nearly 20 years, PearlsofJoy.com has been the “Go-To” place to buy cultured pearls for thousands of our valued customers. Yes, we’re a bit biased, but hear us out.

Owner and founder Kevin Canning travels the world each year to pearl farms and auctions to purchase pearls directly from the source. The result? The best possible prices on the best possible pearls. Pearls of Joy carries every cultured pearl type and hundreds of different design styles to suit every taste, budget and style.

Other things that set us apart:

• Our extensive cultured pearl selection, including saltwater Akoya pearls from Japan, colorful and budget friendly Freshwater pearls from China, exotic Tahitian pearls from French Polynesia, and luxurious White and Golden South Sea pearls from Australia and the Philippine Islands.
  
  

• We buy our pearls direct from the pearl farms and overseas auctions, knocking out the middleman and saving you up to 300% in markups.

• Traditional jewelry stores often add large markups to their jewelry in order to cover overhead like rent, insurance, staff and advertising expenses. Pearls of Joy skips all that, passing those savings directly to you.

• All of our pearls are hand-crafted using the finest materials and made to order, just for you. Choose from classic pearl necklaces, pearl earrings, bracelets, matched jewelry sets, pearl rings and more!
  
  

• Get direct communication with our pearl experts dedicated to answering all your pearl-related questions, and friendly assistance when it comes time to customize your pearl jewelry.
  
  

• As pearl specialists, our focus is on educating the customer so you can make the best decisions possible. Our extensive focus on Pearl Education will have you ready to buy pearls like a pro!
  
  

• Our 100-Day Return and Exchange Guarantee is the best return policy found anywhere online (and offline too!) You can buy with confidence from Pearls of Joy.

Besides offering great prices and excellent customer service for our pearl jewelry, Pearls of Joy is committed to presenting you with comprehensive Pearl Education resources. We believe clients should be well-informed and comfortable with these niche gemstones so you can make an educated choice when buying pearls.

From detailing the four main types of pearls, to pearl grading guides, luster analysis, necklace length guides and pearl buying guides, Pearls of Joy will teach you how to buy pearls like an expert!

To get started on your pearl buying journey, we recommend visiting our most popular pearl education articles below:

• Hanadama Pearls 101: The Ferrari of the Pearl World

• Pearl Grading Made Simple - The Pearl Grading Guide

• How Much Are Pearls Worth? A Pearl Pricing Guide

• Akoya versus Freshwater Pearls: Which Pearl Type Should You Buy?

There's SO much to learn here at Pearls of Joy. With our friendly pearl experts ready to walk you through the purchasing process step-by-step, you'll find yourself wearing your new pearls in no time, confident that you found the absolute best deal online anywhere.

When you compare the best places to buy pearls, between eBay, luxury establishments like Tiffany & Co., traditional retail jewelry stores and PearlsOfJoy.com, we like to think you will come to the same conclusion we have: we are simply the best place to buy pearls.

We believe in what we do, and we think it shows. Try us (backed by our unparalleled 100 Day Return and Exchange Guarantee!) and you'll agree.

To get started shopping, visit our Best Selling Pearl Jewelry Collection here.