Diamond Markup Variations Between Sites

[mixit]

After doing a lot of research, I am noticing that a lot of diamond prices can vary quite a bit. Saw the same diamond on BN and then on Yadav and the Yadav price was about 10% less. I've seen a few cases of this while use the Pricescope search. Are the lower priced sites just playing a game of bait and switch or am I missing something?

 

[flyingpig]

I have no experience with Yadav, so have nothing to comment about this particular vendor, or what you will be potentially missing.
BN has gotten expensive in recent years. They have been going thru many changes such as introducing new signature Astor line, and offering more 360 degree videos for their diamonds.
10% difference is nothing unusual between two vendors for the same diamond.
Difference vendors offer different customer service, settings, upgrade policy, and selections of diamonds, and of course, prices.

 

[SimoneDi]

BN also does price match, so you can always get an adjustment if you find a particular stone cheaper elsewhere. But to your question, yes there can be expected a price diff between the various retailers.

 

[tyty333]

It is normal to see price difference between different vendors on the same virtual stone. Just check vendors for things that may be important to you
like returns and upgrades.

 

[WinkHPD]

Interesting topic, Internet diamond prices.

The more services offered, even by virtual inventory listers, the more it costs to do business. While it may seem logical to just buy the diamond from the cheapest lister, sometimes that can be a big mistake.

I am going to just make up an example here, it has no reflection on either of the two vendors mentioned here, as that would be against forum rules.

Let's say you do a web search and find the same diamond on fifteen sights. On some of them, there will be no videos of the diamonds available for easy viewing, even if you ask to have them done. But hey, you went to one of the sights and they had videos on every diamond, regardless of whether or not they had them in house to make the videos as the suppliers had them made for their clients. So having seen the diamond on sight A for the lowest price and having seen the video on sight B, you knew it would be better for you to buy from sight A, hey you saved $200 bucks.

Now, you get the diamond in, you HATE it and want to return it.

Oops, sight A does not do returns. In fact Sight A never even saw your diamond, they had it drop shipped from the manufacturer, and the manufacturer does not accept returns either. Now you have only invested $200 less than you would have invested at sight B, and oh, site B would have taken your return and you would only have been out the shipping expenses.

Still, let's say you loved it. Now five to ten years later, you have paid off your college debt, have a job that allows you to pay your mortgage on the house you and your wife bought, and your kids are healthy and years away from starting college. Time for an upgrade, right?

Site A returns your inquiry, if they are still in business, with something along the lines of, "Upgrade? We don't do no stinking upgrades!" Oops, Sight B would have done an upgrade, provided you met their requirements, which can range from $1 more, to $1 more and one or two higher color, carat and clarity grades, to fifty to one hundred percent increase in value.

Who knew that "saving" that $200 bucks could cost you so much money.

Oh, and now one of your kids is sick, or you lost your job, or got divorced and after an expensive haircut from your lawyer, her lawyer and the courts, you need to get your money back from your diamond.

Good luck.

If you try to sell it yourself, you might get from twenty to fifty percent of what you paid back. If you had bought a branded diamond, you would most likely do better. Some of the branded diamonds even offer one year buy backs at much higher percentages than you are likely to get selling the diamond yourself, and one I know of is the only one to offer a lifetime buy back at an even higher percentage.

So, to answer your earlier question, I do not believe that any of the online sellers are engaging in bait and switch, they would quickly be caught and exposure would be instant and massive and they would lose their investment in becoming an online seller, so bait and switch is just a really bad idea.

Offering lower levels of service in order to offer lower prices, now that is an idea that will appeal to many. It is still a really bad idea for their potential clients, who do not realize what they might be giving up down the road to save those few dollars up front.

Please realize also, that there are millions and millions of diamonds available today that are on virtual listings that are really cut to maximize the profits of the seller not the beauty for the buyer. Those of us in the trade often refer to them as swindle cut diamonds, as they swindle good money from buyers who do not know what to look for and end up with diamonds that hardly sparkle, and even then only if under bright lights and freshly cleaned. (Even the best cut diamonds in the world will not "strut their stuff" if they are dirty.)

If you but ask, there are many people on this forum who will help you analyze the diamonds you find during your search, and even find stones you may have missed that are actually better than what you found by yourself. You are highly likely to be directed to the diamonds listed with trusted retailers. There is a reason they are trusted by those here, but you may well be able to find many of those diamonds in several locations. Whether you buy from the trusted retailer, or site A is entirely up to you. Just be sure you have checked out the small print and their policies, which may be not in your favor for the long term.

Oh, and when it gets to some of the top respected and most trusted of retailers, you will not find their diamonds available on other sites, as these are diamonds that are owned and not footballed around the world for nickels and dimes shaved off the price due to no service. No, these are diamonds that are worthy of being owned by the retailer, who was willing to invest in them so that they could sell you diamonds that are actually beautiful on a consistent basis, so that you can buy from them with confidence.

Wink