Advice on pricing and bargaining

[sleepyeyed]

Hey everyone!

I'm about to embark on the greatest adventure of my life, but I know nothing about diamonds (other than my obsessive research online) so I come humbly to ask the opinions of those wiser than I.

I found a local jeweler in St Louis, MO called Simons and I've been impressed with them so far (I've visited a few other local jewelers). He presented GIA certs on all the loose diamonds and was able to get a few diamonds in my price range that fit my search criteria. What I've settled upon is the following diamond with these stats from GIA:

Cut: Excellent
Clarity: VS2
Color: F
Carats: 0.72
No fluorescence
Dimensions: 5.80-5.89-3.59
Price: $4,250

The ring is 18k white gold with 0.27 ctw with $1500.

Opinions? How much should I try to bargain?

 

[nfowife]

I don't think you are getting a very good deal. Here are 2 comparable stones- I don't know HOW comparable they are (meaning they could be just as good, or they could be quite a bit nicer in terms of cut/performance), because we don't have all the info from your stone's GIA report to calculate the HCA. These are both AGS Ideal stones:
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2632187.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2656299.htm

Here's 2 that are a bit larger but might still be in budget- not knowing what that is:
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2680228.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2645107.htm

I have no idea what the setting you are looking at style-wise, but here's a setting with .25 ctw and it's 18K white gold and it's also less $$ than your jeweler (though settings vary widely for many reasons, and like I said I have no idea what your chosen one looks like).
http://www.whiteflash.com/engagement-rings/diamond-settings/petite-diamond-engagement-ring-773.htm

Plus, I'm assuming you are going to pay tax on this purchase if you do it locally- you won't from an online vendor. WF has a very good reputation. Brick and mortar stores have higher overhead and costs. You might be able to get him to lower the pricing to what you find online. We don't even know if we are comparing great stones to great stones unless we have the other information from the GIA report. Do you have that info to share with us?

 

[sleepyeyed]

I wish I had the GIA report in front of me. I asked for a copy of the GIA report and he wouldn't give me one so I don't have all the dimensions and percentages... Sorry I wished I did...

 

[centralsquare]

There may be an opportunity to do better on the setting...do you have a photo or better description of it?

 

[sleepyeyed]

I've attached the photo that I took with my phone of the setting.

Thanks so much for all the help and advice! Maybe I should buy a loose online and ask him to set it.

Do you think I could ask them to engrave the setting while I wait for a stone from online and then ask him to set it after I get it all by next Friday?

 

[nfowife]

why wouldn't he give you a copy of the GIA? That is fishy to me. Can you call him tomorrow and ask him for all the info from the report- angles and percentages (table, depth, crown angle, pavillion angle). At least then you know if it's a good stone from the numbers in terms of performance.

The setting looks pretty much like what I posted above. I'd just buy the whole shebang online and livechat with them tomorrow and see if they can rush the whole thing for you. They can possibly give you further discounts online if you ask, on the whole shebang. There are other similar settings as well on whiteflash, I just picked that one because it had a similar ctw count to what you were looking at. Here are others under $1500:
http://www.whiteflash.com/engagement-rings/diamond-settings/petite-open-cathedral-diamond-engagement-ring-1539.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/engagement-rings/diamond-settings/cathedral-pave-diamond-engagement-ring-1421.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/engagement-rings/diamond-settings/legato-micro-pave-diamond-engagement-ring-1011.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/engagement-rings/diamond-settings/knife-edge-pave-diamond-engagement-ring-712.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/engagement-rings/diamond-settings/diamonds-for-an-eternity-1-2-diamond-engagement-ring-1386.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/engagement-rings/diamond-settings/legato-shared-prong-diamond-engagement-ring-1008.htm

I'd be hesitant to take a loose stone to be set by a local jeweler only because you will have to go through the hassle of insuring the stone for the setting process- not terribly difficult, but an extra step that you can avoid by getting it all done by the same vendor and then you only have to insure it once completed and in your hands.