Why are there several dealers offering the exact same stone?

[pricescope]

Many thanks to Neil (aka Denverappraiser) for the new article: Why are there several dealers offering the exact same stone?

 

[Maxine]

Neil, this article is helpful, informative and very clearly written....I''m sure many others will appreciate it also!!!!

 

[Regular Guy]

Denver Appraiser, and Leonid,

Thanks for being responsive to a querry that''s come up a lot recently. Very well written.

 

[jaysonsmom]

I’ve read the article, and I have another question. Say I see a stone listed on PS by 4 different vendors, and I want to buy it…..but I have a life-time trade in policy with my family jeweler so that they let me put in 100% of what I paid for my current e-ring into an upgrade. Would my family jeweler be able to get a hold of the exact same stone listed by these vendors?

 

[denverappraiser]

Possibly. Ask them.

Someone owns that stone and has offered it for sale to the 4 online vendors that you mention and they may be willing to offer it to your local jeweler as well. Not every dealer buys from every wholesaler and not everyone who owns stones does business with every dealer. It is entirely up to the two of them to decide if they can and will work together.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ISA NAJA
Independent Appraisals in Denver

 

[niceice]

Date: 1/24/2005 2:29:47 PM
Author: jaysonsmom
I’ve read the article, and I have another question. Say I see a stone listed on PS by 4 different vendors, and I want to buy it…..but I have a life-time trade in policy with my family jeweler so that they let me put in 100% of what I paid for my current e-ring into an upgrade. Would my family jeweler be able to get a hold of the exact same stone listed by these vendors?

You can ask your local jeweler to source the diamond for you because it is likely that they have access to the same multiple listing service used by the rest of us... Perhaps your local jeweler will be willing to match the price advertised by the multiple online dealers who are listing the stone... But if they''re not, many of the online dealers provide in-depth evaluation beyond the basic listing service provided by the virtual only dealers and most of us offer reasonable trade-in policies... The policies vary by dealer so be sure to read the offerings and guarantees of each dealer individually.

 

[lostdog]

Date: 1/24/2005 2:29:47 PM
Author: jaysonsmom
I’ve read the article, and I have another question. Say I see a stone listed on PS by 4 different vendors, and I want to buy it…..but I have a life-time trade in policy with my family jeweler so that they let me put in 100% of what I paid for my current e-ring into an upgrade. Would my family jeweler be able to get a hold of the exact same stone listed by these vendors?

I wonder if the family jeweler will be attending this seesion, and even more so I wonder what they will learn?
http://jckphoenix2005.expoplanner.com/session10.asp

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

The retailer willl also need a good credit rating or trading history with the wholesaler

 

[pricescope]

Date: 1/25/2005 3:19:55 AM
Author: lostdog

I wonder if the family jeweler will be attending this seesion, and even more so I wonder what they will learn?
http://jckphoenix2005.expoplanner.com/session10.asp

I've been on one of those session in Vegas last year. Different jewelers have different approach. See this thread: Advice to B&M Stores on Battling Online Competition.

Check this page for example: CAUGHT IN THE NET. (I like #3 the most: "You have no idea how to read a gemological lab report or that the diamond you have matches it.")

Celia Feder was on that panel in Vegas (Pricescope: Friend or Foe?)

"At a forum held during The JCK Show ~ Las Vegas, Celia Feder of Jay Feder Jewelers in Denver touted jewelersnetwork.net , a site that lists wholesalers that do business with sites like Pricescope.
"We are going to boycott wholesalers that are doing this," she said."

So getting the same stone locally might depend on how antagonistic your jeweler feels about the internet.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 1/25/2005 6:49:58 AM
Author: leonid

So getting the same stone locally might depend on how antagonistic your jeweler feels about the internet.

This is one strange thing... but understandable, I guess: there''s some appeal to playing around with several diamonds in a shop as opposed to reading eye-crossing pages of numbers. Anyone with me ?

The article spells out very clearly what "memo" is (congratulation to the writer - I could not put it down as straight ! ). How about part two: how it works from the other side of the counter

 

[denverappraiser]

It takes two people to make a deal: there must be both a buyer and seller. The problems of the retailers has been discussed at length in the above articles and many more like them in the various trade magazines for the better part of a decade. The sellers have a whole different set of issues.

The wholesalers who own stones are welcome, of course, to offer them for sale to whomsoever they choose and the dealers make similar choices about where they wish to buy. Since retailer margins on diamonds are shrinking, they are putting pressure on their suppliers to offer better deals. Better, in this case, includes things like faster delivery, easier returns, longer payment terms, more and better electronic information, more advertising support and more exclusive distribution deals, in addition to tighter profit margins. Some have agreed to sell only to certain stores or types of stores while others are modifying their businesses to be very friendly to the high volume internet drop-ship style dealers with the full understanding that there are potential customers who will choose to avoid them for this very reason. They simply can't have it all. Some have become internet dealers themselves and given up entirely on the memo business. There are major changes happening in this part of the industry and it is far from clear who has the best plan. It’s a hot topic at every industry gathering and on every forum. Everyone knows that business isn’t going to just go on the same way it has for years but there is serious debate about what is the best way for companies to evolve. There’s big money at stake.

Neil Beaty
GG (GIA) ISA NAJA
Independent Appraisals in Denver