Can you

[anthony187]

buy a diamond directly from a broker or do you have to use a B&M or online vendor?

 

[JulieN]

I have never heard of anyone who billed themselves as "diamond brokers" who did not act as the seller to a consumer.

 

[dbsdiamonds]

Rarely does a consumer have industry trade access. And if that happens the manufacturer/supplier will tend to pop up the pricing as opposed to selling it at trade cost.

On another note margins for the most competitively priced online vendors are thin enough that it does not hurt you to go through them as opposed to paying the super markup of B and M.

Marty
CEO/Pres
Diamond Brokerage Service Inc
www.dbsdiamonds.com

 

[denverappraiser]

Date: 9/5/2008 4:41:11 PM
Author: dbsdiamonds
Rarely does a consumer have industry trade access. And if that happens the manufacturer/supplier will tend to pop up the pricing as opposed to selling it at trade cost.


On another note margins for the most competitively priced online vendors are thin enough that it does not hurt you to go through them as opposed to paying the super markup of B and M.


Marty

CEO/Pres

Diamond Brokerage Service Inc

www.dbsdiamonds.com

‘Super’ markup? It’s certainly true that stores sell different things at different prices and some charge more than others but you've offered a gross generalization of jewelry retailers. Not all stores rent space in the most expensive part of town, not all hire an army of experts to educate customers for ‘free’, offer clean comfortable showrooms, decades or centuries of history, valet parking or any of the other services that many stores provide but the ones who do are delivering more to their clients than the ones who don’t. Some people actually like these things. Summarily dismissing B&M's as the way to get soaked with a super markup is no more fair than summarily dismissing Internet merchants as fly-by-night scams. SOME of them are after all.

Back when I went to business school, selling things one at a time to the end consumer was called retailing. It didn’t matter what the sign out front said on the outside of the building and it wasn’t a function of the price charged. Retailers could charge low prices and ‘wholesalers’ could charge high prices if they wanted. Everyone gets to set their own pricing structure. As far as I can tell, this definition hasn’t changed but there do seem to be a lot of retailers who will describe themselves as almost anything but. I know lots of retailers who call themselves brokers as well as wholesalers, importers, cutters, manufacturers, siteholders, importers and even a few who stick with the traditional term ‘jeweler’. Not that any of this matters. Each deal and each dealer should be evaluated on it’s own merits. Just because they SAY it’s cheaper doesn’t mean that it’s true any more than just because they say it’s ‘certified’ makes it a particular grade. By all means, ask each dealer why you should be buying from them rather than their numerous competitors and listen carefully t the answer. If all they have to say is that they’re somehow special because they call themselves wholesalers, they’ve already started out with a lie and you should be watching out for the next one.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Jewelry Appraisals in Denver