Help me understand this pricing...

[northstar_78]

I found this lovely three stone diamond ring set in platinum. The company that makes these said that this design can be used for just about any size of diamond. I was thinking of a 0.50 carat center with side diamonds around 0.25 and the representative on the phone told me that for a 3-stone ring set in platinum the stones I could get within my budget of $5000 were all J-color and "russian cut" If I wanted "Ideal Cut" stones it would cost me more...

I called later in the day again and asked them about setting my own stones. The price of the ring was now $1800 in platinum plus the cost of my stones...but they would have to see all the specs first to see if my stones would make a good ring. Plus the ring would have to be custom-made.

What???? So the "cost" of three J-color stones not even ideal cut was $3000?? The ring was $1800??

After doing a little snooping on pricescope.com I talked to a vendor here and they found me 3 lovely stones all H color AGS A Cut Above Hearts and Arrows...the total weight of the stones was over a carat and the cost was under $3000. Great vendor and I''ve worked with them before...

So...I''m at a loss. I will call the company back on Monday to see if they can "explain" the discrepancies. Under no circumstances will I pay that much money for stones that I don''t feel merit their cost. But it seems like they are trying to charge me the "cost" of the ring anyway because I''m not using their stones.

I did attach a file of the ring design. Tell me what you think.

 

[pearcrazy]

Did you send the PS vendor with the H colored diamonds a picture of the ring? Perhaps they can make that ring for you and set the stones that you purchase from them.

 

[perry]

Different vendors and market segments have different pricing structures. Often actual company profits are about the same dispite seemingly huge differences in price. This relates to how much overhead the company has for stores, inventory, staff, advertising, etc.

The $1800 for the platinum setting may be well worth it - in any market segment - if it is a custom design with exquisit workmanship (heck that would probably go for $2500).

One advantage of the internet is it allows people to quickly compare the prices from several different pricing structures and make a choice.

On settings be sure you are really comparing apples to apples, and are not just in the fuit bowl.

Diamonds are somewhat easier to price compare here on Pricescope and by checking HCA, IdealScope Images, and other things.

Best of luck with your new ring.

Perry

 

[Kaleigh]

I love that setting and hope that the online vendor can do it for you!! Good luck!

 

[northstar_78]

I have thought of that...but how much would I be saving in relation to the original design?

 

[northstar_78]

And I''m probably opening up a whole can of worms by saying this but...

-Custom work (and this one is since it''s made around my stones) is expensive so as I said earlier just how much would I be saving?

-It is their design...

-The company would probably have more experience creating a ring like this

 

[Mara]

Its pretty easy to create a setting, I have seen some beautiful settings that were custom that were not expensive at all compared to designer settings. My own setting was custom and was about$400 less than a similar designer setting and mine had almost double the ctw in melee.

$1800 is alot for that setting in my opinion, it doesn''t look like anything that can''t be easily re-created. Now if it was something like a MM ring or a LM where the fine details of the ring come into huge play, that may be different, but that looks like some basics compiled into a more unique style.

I would definitely have your online vendor and/or a local vendor and/or online designer see if they can make a setting similar to that for less.

As far as how much you''d be saving, well you''d probably have to get a few various quotes to find out, right?

Good luck.

 

[strmrdr]

First that setting isnt anything unusual.
There are several similar designs flying around so dont worry about having another vendor create something like it.
$1800 sounds high to me for the average custom but for a high grade custom with a ton of polishing and finish work it would be cheap.

When it comes to custom designs going from one quality step to the next costs a lot of money because the difference is all in the expensive skilled labor applied to it.