Jewelers'' trade-up policies

[lizz]

A question those of you in the diamond biz may be able to answer:

When a consumer chooses to upgrade a stone at the jeweler''s (provided the jeweler has a trade-up policy), what percentage of the value of the stone does the jeweler really give the consumer?

For instance, many jewelers will say they will apply 100% of what the consumer paid toward the upgraded stone, but it seems the consumer will end up taking a loss.

For those of you in the know, could you let us in on this secret? Thanks in advance . . .

 

[oldminer]

Some do give you as much as 100% of WHAT YOU ORIGINALLY PAID. This might be years later when prices have risen, as generally has happened over historical time. SO, you don't get the buying power of the current price, but of the old, original price. This is still an excellent policy because you would lose far more without such a guarantee.

One must remembersuch guarantees are only as durable as the company you bought from. If they are out of business, so is their promise. The other thing you must remember is that you are ocked into a single source for your new stone years after the priginal purchase. WHo knows if the original firm is going to have what you want, be under the same management, or be cooperative or difficult.

A trade up plicy is great on its merits, but like many promises, their may be shortcomings that arise over time which diminish its value to nothing. The reality of diamond purchasing is that diamond is a luxury item and is not worth all the money you just paid for it. There was a non-refundable profit extracted after the coolong off period. Very few people ever recover the profit portion without a struggle. How else can a vendor provide their services if they cannot lock in a profit and overhead costs? Rarely is there a truly free lunch.

 

[lizz]

Oldminer, thanks for your response. Just to clarify, did you mean 100% rather than 10%? Because 10% would be a really horrible deal if you''re trying to trade up.

 

[oldminer]

OOPS! I corrected that. THANKS