waity-katie
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2013
- Messages
- 21
waity-katie|1371262061|3466237 said:That's right, Kenny! Thanks for stalking my diamond!![]()
CharmyPoo|1371298675|3466395 said:Are you willing to share the price you paid? I am sure folks will chime in if they think you actually over paid.
waity-katie|1371244281|3466019 said:he still quoted us 43% under what my BF paid from Leibish (and Leibish was running a 15% off sale
for Memorial Day at the time as well). Again, that was a wholesale price, and I don't expect that value to equal what we paid at retail, but a 43% delta seems super high, especially since Leibish is not my local jeweler with a high premium. He also quoted us a retail price, but that was just the wholesale price x 1.35, for a 35% mark-up.
CharmyPoo|1371328914|3466584 said:<Snip> I got my AVC appraised and it came back much lower than what I paid <Snip>
kenny|1371328510|3466582 said:waity-katie|1371244281|3466019 said:he still quoted us 43% under what my BF paid from Leibish (and Leibish was running a 15% off sale
for Memorial Day at the time as well). Again, that was a wholesale price, and I don't expect that value to equal what we paid at retail, but a 43% delta seems super high, especially since Leibish is not my local jeweler with a high premium. He also quoted us a retail price, but that was just the wholesale price x 1.35, for a 35% mark-up.
So 43%-35% is 8%
So, you paid 8% higher than what this appraiser suggested for retail, not "nearly 50%" as you wrote in your OP.
waity-katie|1371340936|3466694 said:What I would like to understand is how consumers or jewelers or appraisers value colored or scarce diamonds before they purchase them and how they ascertain that they are paying a reasonable price. OR, are these items scarce enough that you just don't get the luxury of doing such an evaluation and therefore must decide personally whether you want it for a given price or not? How do I, as a consumer, do my due diligence at making a well-informed purchase when there is little data to substantiate a specific price or value?
Hopefully that makes sense...!
heididdl|1371415988|3466997 said:yes Kenny I agree (and Neil made me feel better) when I bought my studs two appraisers bashed my EGL certified stones which I love and it took me months to get over it.)
waity-katie|1371252955|3466116 said:Okay this has been really helpful! Since the BF and I spend all day estimating for clients how much oil and natural gas they have 15,000 ft underground, we can appreciate the nuances of this sort of complex assessment. The impression that I am getting is that it seems like accurately evaluating this sort of stone takes a little bit more than perhaps the standard technique, and might require some more time. Even with due diligence, it may be difficult to place a "true" value on the stone, and there may be a significant range of error.
You guys are correct, I believe it was Gem Guide that he showed us. There was no price information for diamonds outside the "fancy" range, so he gave us the range for 5+ carat, IF-VVS, Fancy Light Brown. He essentially just took the low value of that range (which I won't post specifically, but I'm sure you all can figure it out...) and multiplied it by 5 and there was our wholesale price. It struck me as a slightly underwhelming process, considering we paid ~$200 for a "consultation." I mean, theoretically, I could subscribe to this Gem Guide and price the diamond myself and skip this whole process! To be fair, we did only ask for what they called a consultation which meant they merely reported their findings on the 4C's, measurements, fluorescence, and $$ value, and didn't actually give us a documented report. The idea is that once we have it set we would go back and they would credit us the value of our consultation towards the written appraisal for the stone and setting. Now perhaps that part of the appraisal will involve a little more actual appraising... I'm not sure.
Based on all this, I'm curious if you guys think we should look for a different appraiser or if we should just voice our concerns to this one. As was pointed out before, it's not particularly helpful just to say, "Hey this didn't match what I paid for it... Try again!" Do insurance companies typically just accept a receipt from a purchase as the documentation for insurance? Seems like that's the most accurate picture of what it would cost to replace it anyways.
Once again, thanks for all the insightful comments! We are clearly new to the world of diamonds, but I think we might have been okay in the colorless world because there are just so many data points out there. With the FCD's we are just crossing our fingers that the seller represents it reasonably!
part gypsy|1371569617|3468049 said:waity-katie|1371252955|3466116 said:Okay this has been really helpful! Since the BF and I spend all day estimating for clients how much oil and natural gas they have 15,000 ft underground, we can appreciate the nuances of this sort of complex assessment. The impression that I am getting is that it seems like accurately evaluating this sort of stone takes a little bit more than perhaps the standard technique, and might require some more time. Even with due diligence, it may be difficult to place a "true" value on the stone, and there may be a significant range of error.
You guys are correct, I believe it was Gem Guide that he showed us. There was no price information for diamonds outside the "fancy" range, so he gave us the range for 5+ carat, IF-VVS, Fancy Light Brown. He essentially just took the low value of that range (which I won't post specifically, but I'm sure you all can figure it out...) and multiplied it by 5 and there was our wholesale price. It struck me as a slightly underwhelming process, considering we paid ~$200 for a "consultation." I mean, theoretically, I could subscribe to this Gem Guide and price the diamond myself and skip this whole process! To be fair, we did only ask for what they called a consultation which meant they merely reported their findings on the 4C's, measurements, fluorescence, and $$ value, and didn't actually give us a documented report. The idea is that once we have it set we would go back and they would credit us the value of our consultation towards the written appraisal for the stone and setting. Now perhaps that part of the appraisal will involve a little more actual appraising... I'm not sure.
Based on all this, I'm curious if you guys think we should look for a different appraiser or if we should just voice our concerns to this one. As was pointed out before, it's not particularly helpful just to say, "Hey this didn't match what I paid for it... Try again!" Do insurance companies typically just accept a receipt from a purchase as the documentation for insurance? Seems like that's the most accurate picture of what it would cost to replace it anyways.
Once again, thanks for all the insightful comments! We are clearly new to the world of diamonds, but I think we might have been okay in the colorless world because there are just so many data points out there. With the FCD's we are just crossing our fingers that the seller represents it reasonably!
Really? I would think that the price per carat would be higher for a 5 carat stone than a .20 carat stone. Any comments?
waity-katie|1371560397|3467958 said:I want to post a follow-up so we can put this thread to rest.
As I mentioned in my original post, our appraiser was going to do some additional research due to the limited amount of data available for the initial assessment. We received a call from him yesterday informing us that his original estimate was low, and his revised number makes a lot more sense to both of us (we really appreciate the extra lengths he took to make sure his answer was accurate).
Leibish & Co. has been phenomenal throughout the entire buying process, and I can't recommend them highly enough for unique diamonds such as ours.
For those considering colored diamonds, keep in mind that these are very unique stones when compared to colorless diamonds, so it's very possible that your first appraisal (or even your first ring setting) may be different than your expectations. Now that this is behind us, I can certainly say that we would work with Leibish & Co. in the future.