Is Valentine's Day a bad time to buy?
- Thread starter baroque
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Well JA has a valentines day sale, 15% off everything, so that seems pretty good to me.
http://www.jamesallen.com/?utm_source=customer%20service&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=valentinesday2015
http://www.jamesallen.com/?utm_source=customer%20service&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=valentinesday2015
RockyRacoon
Brilliant_Rock
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BGD is offering 8% off their stones and 10% off settings right now, so I would say it is a great time to buy!
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/valentines-day-diamond-jewelry/
http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/valentines-day-diamond-jewelry/
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tobianah123|1422405249|3822960 said:
The price is on the low side compare to lets say BE (formerly ERD), usually pave stones that small are not sent to a lab for grading, I personally never heard of the lab called Gemscan (maybe its Gem-scam-ha ha). Also the picture they post of the side view has the center stone sitting very high, I never saw that before. Also the prongs look clunky. Besides all that, I love it--ha ha.
You get what you pay for, it works for diamonds.
Best of luck.
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As others have said, there are usually great sales around the holidays and Valentine's Day is an obvious choice for diamond and jewelry gifts, so promotions are everywhere. Diamond prices are determined based on a number of factors, as with any other precious item (gems, metals, etc.) and an upcoming holiday is not one of them. So to answer your question - a reputable brand/retailer will not hike up prices for V Day, so it's as good a time as any to shop!
It *might* be a bad time to buy, if you are looking for a killer diamond bargain on a budget. By that, I mean diamonds that a lot of buyers will be competing for because they are say, a great eyeclean SI2, or a popular anniversary upgrade size, like 1.5-1.6ct. *Might*, because the highly-sought stones won't sit around long and the timing may be critical to whether or not you get that stone. The narrower your parameters and the tighter your budget, the more problems you may have meeting your goal by a particular deadline like Valentine's Day or Christmas or a June anniversary. Stock tends to not fly off the shelves at off-peak times like August / September. or October. Fall is when I've had the best luck finding nice diamonds that are budget friendly. Vendors who stock up with in-house diamonds before the holidays seem to be bringing in some nice stones in the fall. That's just been my experience. I bought my last significant diamond back in 2009, and as they say, your mileage may vary. 
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Don't go by sales on diamonds, go by the bottom line price. Jewelers that offer sales often have higher prices to begin with. I do not think the diamond market adjusts prices due to Valentine's Day, but it is possible that some individual jewelers do. Buy when you find the right stone. Prices are relatively low now, so it is a good time to buy compared to 3-4 years ago.
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baroque|1422401532|3822912 said:
Hi Baroque,
Valentine's Day is a good time to purchase jewelry. Due to fierce competition many retailers will run discounts on their settings this time of year.
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Its never a bad time to buy a diamond
But, around holidays, you need to be able to make a fast and definitive decision as diamonds will move fast.
But, around holidays, you need to be able to make a fast and definitive decision as diamonds will move fast.
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Hi,
I am going to limit my answer to diamonds only.
Not truly related to the topic of Valentine's, although I agree that the holiday or festivity as such should not have an effect on price.
In a bigger perspective however, unrelated to Valentine's as such, we see diamond-production overall decreasing worldwide in the past months. This comes together with a revived optimism and high appetite for diamonds in the Far East. As a result, availability of diamonds in certain combinations of size, color and clarity is decreasing, and sellers are gradually trying to fetch higher prices.
If this situation persists, you can expect overall higher diamond prices later this year, possibly already soon.
Live long,
I am going to limit my answer to diamonds only.
Not truly related to the topic of Valentine's, although I agree that the holiday or festivity as such should not have an effect on price.
In a bigger perspective however, unrelated to Valentine's as such, we see diamond-production overall decreasing worldwide in the past months. This comes together with a revived optimism and high appetite for diamonds in the Far East. As a result, availability of diamonds in certain combinations of size, color and clarity is decreasing, and sellers are gradually trying to fetch higher prices.
If this situation persists, you can expect overall higher diamond prices later this year, possibly already soon.
Live long,
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The only thing is, the last time it was predicted here, it really didn’t happen. Prices declined after that last very high time of 2011-2012 and have been pretty low since prices finally corrected. I feel like I’ve been telling people “buy now while prices are low” for the last three years! The thing is, people buy diamonds no matter the market because they want to get engaged or have a special birthday or anniversary. If people specifically post they are planning to buy sometime this year, I would mention Paul’s admonition about prices possibly going up later this year. But I am also a little hesitant about it due to warning people before after vendor comments and it didn’t happen!
The funny thing is, I bought in 2013 when prices were on the decline, but they went down further after that. So it’s hard to buy at the bottom, but I do agree that now is still a really good time!
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Interesting. I read something similar in a news report about a month ago (that prices may increase in the second half of 2018 ) which is why I chose to buy now even though I'm proposing in July.
Prices are really low now if you look at historical numbers. Actually, they're stayed low since the recession, even though we're in a crazy bull market now! Even if it's only speculation, I didn't want to regret not purchasing now if they did suddenly jumped this summer.
Also, going back to the original point of this thread, diamonds don't really go up or down because of a holiday, but a lot of the vendors do discounts on their settings. JA just put out their 25% off settings discount again. Could be pretty significant savings if you're buying a higher-priced platinum setting and/or one with side stones.
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Interesting...I think I'm talking about the last time they really did go up 2011/12. I had not heard any predictions (until today) that prices were going back
up but I'm not always in the "current". Most people will buy due to an event but I can remember a few folks that bought several items when
prices came back down in an attempt to complete their suite (earrings, pendant, bracelet)...most dont tend to buy like that due to budget constraints though!
But...if someone's looking, there is no time like the present!
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As many remember I had a cut to order 2.21 F-SI1 CBI in 2014. By mid 2015 prices had dropped and there was a larger diamond I think 2.4 available for less money. I kidded Wink at the time whether Paul would take my diamond back for an upgrade and pay me the difference. But at the same time prices seem lower now than in 2014 which is why I was very happy to get my 2.79 F-VS1 CBI at a great price.
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@cflutist I agree. Prices seemed to decline over time. I did upgrade my studs last year for the last time (I hope!) since it really wasn’t going to cost me a huge amount to do so. In my case and likely yours, since I think the upgrade policies are the same, we could upgrade as long as the new stone cost more than what we paid for the ones we had. But you were very lucky to be able to keep your first stone and get a new one!
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A Notice to PS vendors...don't raise your prices till I get my RHR!!
Sorry, I am about a week late to this thread but I figured I’d leave my limited experience input in case it helps someone in the near future.
I feel that it isn’t a great time to be buying right now. Yes BGD and James Allen and even blue nile are offering promotions. The problem is that in talking with BGD when purchasing a ring in November, that they get bulk shipments of diamonds in every few months, not every couple of weeks. They had just gotten a shipment in and my question was if I waited would another shipment come in before Valentine’s Day? They weren’t sure and looking at their inventory it looks like they haven’t. They had a a couple diamonds priced around $6000 I was looking at, the closest diamond to those parameters left is now around $7000, so the discount of 8% isn’t taking into account the deceased amount of options.
My viewpoint is that I looked for about 3 months almost daily, and looking at blue nile, whiteflash, BGD, james allen, etc the choices started to become more limited around Christmas and are quite a bit more limited in the past week as diamonds are being bought up quickly for the holidays.
I ended up with a 1.03ct round H VS1 GIA 3X that also met the AGS0 criteria via OGI/sarin and had strong blue flourescence, it faces up like an F. The closest diamond with similar dimensions dimensions right now that I can find (<62% depth, <57% table, <41* pavilion, <34.8* crown angle and medium or strong blue flourescence) is about $1800 more than what I paid before any discounts. I have kept looking every once in a while to gauge if with the members help here I made the best decision and I am very grateful I bought in November. I think it would be hard to come by the same deal today. I was on a tight budget though and it helped greatly having so many choices to pick from when I purchased. With other parameters or in a different budget there may be plenty of great choices, my point is mainly that I feel what I was looking at in November is currently decreased in options and increased in price. Sorry for the essay, hope this helps.
I feel that it isn’t a great time to be buying right now. Yes BGD and James Allen and even blue nile are offering promotions. The problem is that in talking with BGD when purchasing a ring in November, that they get bulk shipments of diamonds in every few months, not every couple of weeks. They had just gotten a shipment in and my question was if I waited would another shipment come in before Valentine’s Day? They weren’t sure and looking at their inventory it looks like they haven’t. They had a a couple diamonds priced around $6000 I was looking at, the closest diamond to those parameters left is now around $7000, so the discount of 8% isn’t taking into account the deceased amount of options.
My viewpoint is that I looked for about 3 months almost daily, and looking at blue nile, whiteflash, BGD, james allen, etc the choices started to become more limited around Christmas and are quite a bit more limited in the past week as diamonds are being bought up quickly for the holidays.
I ended up with a 1.03ct round H VS1 GIA 3X that also met the AGS0 criteria via OGI/sarin and had strong blue flourescence, it faces up like an F. The closest diamond with similar dimensions dimensions right now that I can find (<62% depth, <57% table, <41* pavilion, <34.8* crown angle and medium or strong blue flourescence) is about $1800 more than what I paid before any discounts. I have kept looking every once in a while to gauge if with the members help here I made the best decision and I am very grateful I bought in November. I think it would be hard to come by the same deal today. I was on a tight budget though and it helped greatly having so many choices to pick from when I purchased. With other parameters or in a different budget there may be plenty of great choices, my point is mainly that I feel what I was looking at in November is currently decreased in options and increased in price. Sorry for the essay, hope this helps.
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I somewhat agree with you, although I think the bigger retailers like James Allen and Blue Nile re-stock a bit more frequently. I finalized the purchase of my diamond on January 19th, right before James Allen began their 25% off sale (can read more about my selection in this thread https://www.pricescope.com/communit...iamond-new-to-this.237030/page-3#post-4276259). Just looking at the GIA and AGS report dates while I was shopping, it looks like they had been stocking up since Christmas for this V-day sale, as there were a ton of diamonds graded between mid December and mid January.
When I was looking in mid January, there were a plethora of good diamonds in my price range and I was able to find a great stone at a great price. Like you, I've been checking the inventories every few days since my purchase, and it looks like all of the good stones at reasonable prices were snatched up in the first week of their V-day sale, especially in the popular 0.75-1.25 size range. Seems like the only good stones left are outrageously priced, so I'm definitely glad I made the purchase when I did (actually, James Allen was nice enough to give me the 25% off my ring retroactively since I purchased 2 days before their sale started, so I got a double bonus of having a nice selection to choose from and getting the sale on the setting.
).Moral of the story, the best time to buy is right before the big holiday rushes, so mid November before the Christmas rush/Black Friday sales and mid-January before the V-day rush. This is when the inventory is highest and you have the best chance of finding something you like in your price range. Or, if you're insistent on waiting until the start of the sale, you'd better have a few stones picked out and purchase right when the sale starts (like, 12:01am the first day of the sale
) or else the good inventory is going to vanish in a week.I would completely agree with your statement, it seems like you had a great scenario where you got the diamond you wanted and then the discount once it was offered, you didn’t have to fight the crowds. I guess my comment would apply then to trying to purchase right before the holidays or rather a couple weeks before Valentine’s Day as it seems prices have really gone up. Congrats on getting that deal through JA!
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Definitely agree, and I think we both got a great deal.
I just happened to luck out with the sale starting so soon after I purchased. It only gave me an extra $150 off the setting ($250 discount vs the $100 coupon for new customers I originally used), but even if I hadn't been able to get the additional discount I would've been OK with my purchase. Paying an extra $150 for the setting is definitely better than paying $700-800 more for a comparable diamond! (which is about how much a diamond with comparable specs to the one I purchased is going for in JA's thinned inventory right now).
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