baffled about price margins

[viscera912]

hello ps community,

since some of my last threads were rather lengthy, perhaps I can trim this one down. I was looking on whiteflash and I found a princess cut with these specs
.69c, I, VS1, depth-75.8, table 73, girdle=xtn-tk, polish/symmetry-vg/g, no cullet, no flourescence, 4.75x4.72x3.58, l/w=1.01, gia cert costs $1,551

what I am baffled about is that according to ps this stone should perform quite well due to depth and table under 80%, granted it could be lower, but the numbers aren''t bad at all. I and vs1 is nothing to complain about either, where I am getting confused is the carat weight. doing a search at other reputatble places, ie whiteflash, superbcert (thanks pq!), gog and some other places, .69 carat stones were a little more pricey than 1550. Thus, what is it about this stone that is driving the cost down? Specifically on whiteflash the majority of the stones that were not over 1600 dollars had lower carat weight, higher colors, but not as desirable depth-table percentages. So I guess I am just curious as to why is this stone a little larger than most I have seen at this price range (not >1600) but still have decent specs? Thanks everyone for your responses...did I keep it a little shorter

Jason

 

[pqcollectibles]

It's a "List" stone and that's the price WF has set for it. Vendors price "List Diamonds" according to the level of service they provide. If I understand correctly, WF typically brings "List" diamonds "in house" for evaluation prior to shipping to the buyer.

 

[viscera912]

hello pq and others

Your response went totally over my head. I have never heard about "list" diamonds, could you possible elaborate a little more please? Also, if it is a list diamond does that mean it is a good stone that the vendor, whiteflash, can afford to lose some money over by selling cheaper?

Jason

 

[strmrdr]

List diamonds are diamond that are owned and held by distributors they publish a list of what they have and the dealers apply their markup and list them for sale to you.
All of the dealers have the same lists so more than one site lists the diamond.
They then either compete on markup or service to get you to buy from them instead of the hundreds of other places listing the diamond.
When they have it sold or close to it they “call the diamond in” and the distributor sends them the diamond or in some cases directly to the client ie “drop ship”.
They can also “memo” the stone, which is basically a promise to either buy the diamond or send it back after an agreed upon amount of time.

It is better to deal with a vendor that actually has the diamonds in there stock or at least looks them over first and doesn’t have them “drop shipped” to you.

Most of the pricescope vendors sell both types, ones they have in stock and list diamonds.
If buying a list diamond make sure that they look it over first and don’t “drop ship” it.

 

[pqcollectibles]

I actually did a PS search for this diamond. Only 1 Vendor has it listed in the PS search engine and it's not WF. Mondera came up, with a higher price.

As Strm pointed out, there are "Lists" of all diamonds currently available for sale by wholesalers. Lots of perfectly good diamonds can be purchased off the "List". There are lots of less than sparkling performers as well. It is best to use a Vendor who will have the diamond shipped to them for a professional evalution. Get their opinion first and then decide if you want to see the diamond.

Robin and Todd took in a "List" diamond they would not sell due to multiple open feathers in one spot on the girdle. Bob Hoskins (WF) told about a buyer who refused the WF screening and had the diamond Drop/Shipped directly. The buyer was not satisfied with the diamond. Professional screening is the way to go. You can get pics, Ideal Scope, etc, before you purchase.

 

[valeria101]

This stone will look rather small 'cause of it's depth: "below 80%" is no badge of honor for either table of depth in a princess cut. Also, the very thin to extra thick girdle is no badge of honor. At this point, I would not be surprised is the (slight) discount is motivated by cut - the stone would deserve it

The cut proportions say abolutely nothing about what the optics of this stone could be : there is no formula relating the measurements of a princess cut to light return !

 

[viscera912]

thanks for the replies ya'll...whoa, my texas accent sorta popped out there

anyway, pq, I searched for the diamond on ps like 5 min ago and I actually found the stone for cheaper. ps returned the search and WF had it listed for 1426 as opposed to 1550 on their actual website? actually, the mondera one that you probably saw was backwards on the table and depth. you may have got your numbers backward

. the good thing is I understand list diamonds thanks to these replies. also, I am not too thrilled with the depth as valeria had mentioned. I noticed on the ps search I had to go above the "recommended" depth percentage on the search parameters...that should have raised a flag for me but I let it pass. I swear I am learning more and more stuff each day I am on this site!! At least I am not purchasing the diamond anytime soon. I'll be purchasing it in the fall of this year but I knew I had to "study" before I go and drop money. Thanks again for the replies!!

Jason

 

[oldminer]

Sometimes a diamond will be overpriced or underpriced for no particular reason or for some reason that makes little or no sense to outside observers. Pricing items at retail, regardless of how the very competitive market, is a sort of game that is played with very few rules.

Sometimes a person committed to only buying a used car will pay more for a lightly used car than for an identical new one sitting on the same dealer's lot. It is a dealer's "game" and the reasons for it happening make no sense to outsiders. It is the mentality of some buyers that they want what they want and don't want anyone to interfere. If it happens in cars, it alos happens now and then with diamonds and other jewelry.

A "price" is an unreliable source of the underlying "value " or quality of any given item. "Price" is dealer or seller determined, while "value" is driven by the market and the parameters of quality. I don't want to get too complex on this, but it is a good point to think about. Price and value may be vastly different.

 

[pqcollectibles]

I might have inverted the numbers like you said, Viscera.

Putting on glasses!

White Flash shows different pricing on Price Scope than on their website because they give PS folk a discount!