What would you do? - somewhat long

[Traeki]

Hi everyone! I have been in the market for an engagement ring for several weeks now and after looking over the selections at local sole proprieter jewelry stores, I found a setting I really like. It is a white gold ring with 3 invisible set princess cut stones and one marquise on either side of the center mount (.70 TW). The first thing I noticed about this dealer was that everything in his display cases were marked with a "regular" and a "sale" price. I''m familiar with this type of pricing scheme and am not to excited about it. But seeing as I really liked this setting, I was willing to do some business. I have decided that I would like an Oval center stone and had the dealer memo in some stones using some specs I gave him. I told him I''d only be interested in GIA cert stones. Three days later I received a call and headed in to check out the stones. None of them were particularly impressive, only one was GIA cert''d, and ALL seemed WAY overpriced. I found this site later that day and confirmed my suspicions as comparable stones found though the search were between 1,900 and 2,900. The "sale" price he quoted me was $4,100 and "regular" price just over 6k.

I told him none of those stones caught my eye and asked if he could get any others in on memo. Two days later I went in to see another stone he got in.
This time I thought to write down ALL the GIA stats to be able to comparison price on here a little more accurately. Here are the stats:

.90 Carat Oval
E color VS2
7.28x5.29x3.54
66.9% depth
54% table
med-thk girdle
VG polish
GD sym
7.28x5.29x3.54

Well to wrap this up, his "sale" price for this stone was $4,377 with a regular price around 7k. I could tell right away that this stone was cut too deep as it looked small for its weight. The kicker to this whole story is that THIS VERY SAME STONE can be found through search here!!! Its a DCD listing and the link for the stone is not there as it''s probably still not back from memo, but from the stats, this is the very stone I looked at here. It is priced on PriceScope search at $3,090.

I feel this jeweler is attempting to rip me off. There is no other way I can see to justify his pricing practices. However, I am not that experienced with jeweler''s pricing practices and would appreciate your comments.

I have told the jeweler that I will find a center stone elsewhere and have him set it, but now that I consider it more, I''m not sure I want to do business with this person. The setting has a "sale" price of $1787, down from $2600. And I''m really unsure what price to shoot for on the setting as I''m sure this is also about %40-%50 more than I could get it for on the net. I''m all for doing business locally, *IF* they have what I''m after AND I can get a fair deal.

So .... what would you do?

 

[Traeki]

Bah! Should I have posted this to "DIAMOND HANGOUT" forum instead? If so, please excuse my mistake.

 

[Brian Knox]

Hi,


You asked:

. I'm all for doing business locally, *IF* they have what I'm after AND I can get a fair deal.

So .... what would you do?


I would tell the jeweler that you found the same stone listed for less and ask what he can do on the price?

It is to your advantage to have the same person supply and set the diamond and ring.

But of course, you have to feel good about the price.

 

[valeria101]

Are you sure that the setting is not to be found anywhere else?

The convenience to shop locally (if attractive to you) does not come free of charge - usually. Also, since settings are not (most likely) made by the seller, they can be ordered online too.

 

[pqcollectibles]

Internet Vendors operate on much lower profit margins than your local B&M. Most internet Vendors are not shops with a "store front" as it were. With a few exceptions like Good Old Gold and Nice Ice, most are not B&M's. You can visit some internet Vendors, like White Flash and Dirt Cheap Diamonds, by arranging an appointment in advance. Generally speaking, Internet Vendors are not "open" to the public.

Your local guy has expenses that the Internet Vendors don't have. Mainly interest on the inventory in the cases and rent for a prime, higher traffic area retail location. Internet Vendors don't own lots of little baubbles to appeal to various tastes and price points. Internet Vendors are very target market oriented. Engagement rings, earrings, and the like. You won't find them hawking cufflinks, high school class rings, watches, or even gold dipped roses like I've seen in one local B&M. Some Internet Vendors maintain an inventory of diamonds on hand, but many advertise "virtual" diamonds off the list. Internet Vendors also don't pay a premium for space in prime retail locations either. They don't need a highly visible store front on Main Street, USA, to attract locals who walk or drive by. Internet Vendors have World Wide Web store fronts to attract people at the click of mouse, 24/7, in the comfort of their own homes.

B&M's are also members of their communities. Their business taxes help support your local police/fire departments and other municipal needs, they sponsor Little League teams, donate tiaras for the local High School HomeComing Queens, things too numerous to list. Local businesses reinvest in their communities in ways most people don't even know or think of.

Just a little food for thought. You didn't say exactly how many diamonds the jeweler has brought in for you. But for the sake of discussion, let's say 4. The jeweler may have easily spent $50-$100 or so just bringing in diamonds for you to consider. Yes, it's a cost of doing buisness, but it's also a part of the B&M's overhead for being there, for you to visit and view diamonds "live and in person". You have to decide if the customer service you receive and the quality of workmanship they offer is worth spending a bit more to invest in an ongoing future business relationship with this B&M.

 

[Traeki]

First off, thanks for the great replies Brian, Valeria, and pqcollectibles!

Brian, you said it is to my advantage to have the same person supply and set the diamond and ring. What are all the reasons for this? I can think of a few, but not enough to justify paying more than 500 or so extra for the complete ring - certainly not the 1300 plus this B&M wanted for the stone alone. If there is previous discussion on this, please direct me to a good thread?

Valeria, I have indeed been trying to find the setting online, but the closest I could find was this one http://www.uniteddiamonds.com/ud-ri-142gaa.html ...the main differences are that the one I am considering is white gold, and has only one row of princess diamonds on each side (6 total). Other than that, it's almost a prefect match. Perhaps I could enlist some readers of this forum to assist me in my search?

I wasn't familiar with whowhat Julia is/was on this piece.

pqcollectibles, some of your points I had not considered before, thank you. For the most part, the fact that the business is local and they reinvest in the community is the MAJOR reason why I would be willing to pay more for a comparable item. However, I don't like to have to haggle with price too much and ALSO be made to feel like they are doing ME a favor for charging $500 or so too much for a 3k stone.

Also, having everything listed as "sale price" when it is expected that the customer will haggle over the price seems shady at best to me. Thoughts like, "Hmm, this ring is already on sale, I don't want to seem like a tight wad." come to mind. This is ESPECIALLY true when dealing with an item with such emotional weight attached to it as there is with an E-ring!

Overhead I can understand and am willing to help pay for it - I don't want to pay his entire months rent

 

[Brian Knox]

Hi Traeki,

There is a laundry list of things that can and do go wrong in the diamond setting process, here are a few:

Chipping a diamond
crooked prongs
crooked diamond
loose prongs
incorrectly set diamond
improper crown
crown improperly attached
and more.

This is why I feel the consumer is better served by having the same jeweler supply and set the diamond and ring.

It makes the chain of responsibility very clear if there is a problem.

 

[phoenixgirl]

In the setting you like, is the first stone on either side at an angle like that? Settings with channel set princess stones aren't hard to find, but this adds complication.

 

[Traeki]

no, they are not set on an angle so I shouldn't have too much trouble finding a similar setting I hope.

 

[Diamondsbybree]

I would definatley consider shopping around for your mounting.