Am I getting ripped off on my trade-in?

[beauthao]

Aloha everyone!!

First of all, I just wanted to say that this site & all your postings have been incredibly helpful in my quest for the perfect e-ring diamond. I just got engaged and my fiance and I found a gorgeous .71 ct ideal cut, J (w/ medium blue flourescence), VS2, EX symm, and EX polish diamond for $1875 (w/ GIA cert). We are very happy with the diamond, especially since we got a great deal on it (thanks to this forum I knew what kind fo price ranges and diamond qualities to look out for

).

But now, after wearing it for a little over 6 months, I''ve decided that I want to upgrade to a 1ct. diamond. Am I a guy''s worst nightmare or what? But my loving fiance agreed to my upgrade as long as we can find a great deal on it. So I''ve been shopping locally since trade-ins online are scarce, especially if I didn''t buy it from the site. I came across a couple of jewelers that pulled out the Rapaport price list & wanting to buy my diamond for below the price listed!! I know I got a really good deal on my diamond so I shouldn''t expect phenomenal buy prices, but I was also hoping to get a really good trade-in price and below Rapaport prices seems a little low. Am I expecting too high of a price for a trade-in?

What is the price range that I should expect my diamond to be traded in for and how do I go about dealing with jewelers so that I don''t feel like I''m trying to wheel & deal at a car dealer. The last jeweler didn''t even give me a definite trade-in price and told me that it all depends on what I buy! I was also looking at a HOF diamond, and the sales lady told me that in addition to the trade-in, I''d have to pay $7000 more for a 1.08 ct, E SI1. That sounds absurd, right? Sigh, so I''m starting to feel like I am going to be ripped off in the end no matter what.

I''d love to hear any suggestions or advice from all of you. Thanks in advance!

Mahalo,
Cinthia

 

[dancingmelimel]

Pardon me, but what does HOF stand for?

-Melissa

 

[Giangi]

Hearts on Fire.

It's a brand of H&A diamonds.

 

[dimonbob]

Aloha beauthao and welcome to the forum,

If you go to the top of this page and click on Pricescope, next click on Search for Cut Quality and put in 1.00-1.10,
D-E, VS1-SI1 AGS/GIA only, H&A only you will get a list of diamonds as good or better than HOF and you can see the selling price without any trade-in.

You did say you learned from this site before you purchased your diamond but you did not say where you got it. I know at least one, and maybe more, vendor here on Pricescope will take a diamond they sold in trade for an upgrade. And you can get exactly what you paid for the first diamond as a trade-in. It is not an option that most people think about when they are buying their first diamond but it is an option.
Mahalo,

 

[DancinGirl]

I agree with Diamondbob - check with who your fiance bought the ring with FIRST - they may take full value of your ring towards the stone you want. Otherwise a regular jeweler will make you pay double the value of your ring to upgrade. It's sad but true.

I traded in my old ring (the whole thing) for a loose stone. I had an .80ct, I, VS1 and got a 1.07ct, H, SI2. My first was an AGS cert, and the one I got was GIA. I traded AT Rapaport costs and paid another $1700 for my stone. Only way that happened was by working with a vendor online who's brother was a wholesaler in a city nearby me. I got lucky. Wholesalers do not like to do business with the public at ALL (ruins their repuation with retailers) - but every once and awhile for trade only, they may as long as it doesn't get around. They are still making a profit since they get their stones below RAP prices, but it's more fair than a retailer will do who you didn't buy the stone from.

The vendors will hate me when I say this - BUT - Go to your local jewelry district (major city like NYC, Boston, Chicago etc) and look around for the wholesalers you see in the building. Most will not see anyone except by appt. See if you can find their phone number and contact them directly and tell them what you have and what you want - you never know, some may bite.

GOOD LUCK...

 

[DiamondExpert]

Another option you might consider is to try to sell it on consignment, either with the jeweler where it was originally purchased or someone else - even someone on the net who sells on consignment who can move it for you at a higher price than what you would get from an outright sale to a jeweler.

The trade off is time - it will take time to sell on consignment.

Regards,

 

[Mara]

Most people don't realize that trading in a stone or re-selling can be a huge pain if your jeweler does not have a trade in program (and even if they do, you may not want to work with them again!). People (myself included in the past) tend to think that diamonds are very valuable and that their price goes up or at least that their re-sell value is better than a 1 week old car!

As Giangi pointed out, jewelers buy well beneath Rapp so don't expect to get anywhere near your purchase price for your stone as they can buy their own stones for less. Plus diamonds are dime a dozen and why should they buy/trade-in yours unless you make it worthwhile for them? This means spending about double what the trade-in amount is, or at least somehow making the deal very sweet for them. Remember they have to re-sell your stone (depending on the type of stone it may be harder to sell etc) so they need to really have an incentive to want to deal with a trade-in that was not theirs to begin with.

The HOF price you were quoted does not sound inflated to me as we were quoted about $10k on a 1c H SI1 HOF stone at their retailers and their prices don't move around much...so $7k extra cash on top of a $1800 trade-in stone sounds pretty good for me for a 1.08 E SI1! Marked up yes, but not ridiculous in the HOF world.

Best of luck, try the other avenues discussed but also try your original jeweler as someone noted. They are the best chance you have IMO to get the best trade-in deal. Some jewelers do trade-ins for the original purchase amount, including alot of the online vendors frequently mentioned in this forum. Whoever you work with this time around, be sure they have a trade-in program and that it works to your advantage in the future!

 

[trichrome]

Here are my suggestions :

1) keep your diamond and put in a pendant then buy another
bigger one later in the future to satisfy your taste.

2) or simply stop looking at other womens hands .... of course
there are bigger diamonds out there...but there are also smaller ones..

a diamond is a diamond..a piece of carbon.

Trichrome.