Just a little story for those of you that have been looking online and at B&M stores...
I started my search going to a local store so I could see some diamonds first hand to see what I liked. The sales associate was very helpful and very attentive to my needs. After looking there and onine, I emailed back and forth with the associate telling her I was trying to choose between buying from her and online. She answered many of my questions and ultimately said I should do what I think is best. She said she would do a search for me based on my criteria to find good values.
When she sent me the finalists, I found the exact stones online and pointed out that they were $2000-3000 less expensive online. She said they could go down $500 and that was it. I told her thanks, but informed her that I would be buying online due to the price difference.
Anyhow, after a day and a half, I received a call from her telling me they could drop their prices to the range of the online stones with a few stipulations (no credit card payment, etc).
I go in tomorrow to see the stones. Being able to examine a few stones next to each other and still pay an online price is great. Of course, they will still have to be excellent quality for me to buy them.
I''m not saying all stores will do this. I had to tell them I wasn''t going to buy to get their "best deal". But it does show that these stores do have a large mark-up and that you can find equivalent (and often better) diamonds online at a great price.
Just found this interesting and wanted to share.
I started my search going to a local store so I could see some diamonds first hand to see what I liked. The sales associate was very helpful and very attentive to my needs. After looking there and onine, I emailed back and forth with the associate telling her I was trying to choose between buying from her and online. She answered many of my questions and ultimately said I should do what I think is best. She said she would do a search for me based on my criteria to find good values.
When she sent me the finalists, I found the exact stones online and pointed out that they were $2000-3000 less expensive online. She said they could go down $500 and that was it. I told her thanks, but informed her that I would be buying online due to the price difference.
Anyhow, after a day and a half, I received a call from her telling me they could drop their prices to the range of the online stones with a few stipulations (no credit card payment, etc).
I go in tomorrow to see the stones. Being able to examine a few stones next to each other and still pay an online price is great. Of course, they will still have to be excellent quality for me to buy them.
I''m not saying all stores will do this. I had to tell them I wasn''t going to buy to get their "best deal". But it does show that these stores do have a large mark-up and that you can find equivalent (and often better) diamonds online at a great price.
Just found this interesting and wanted to share.
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