Do you negotiate price when purchasing diamonds?

[Enerchi]

Just curious about this. Do you negotiate? Are you successful? If the vendor is a well recommended PS favourite - do you consider their price fair and just pay what is asked?

What are your thoughts on this and is there a particular "right way" to negotiate -if you do - or is it all a 'no go' and inappropriate?

I know that local B&M stores here, will often lower their prices somewhat just because people have asked!

 

[zephyr]

I haven't done that but I see no reason why not! You can try.

 

[Enerchi]

Was at a new B&M store in my area to have a stone set, and tried on a few trinkets. When he gave me prices, right away, he said "we discount that price a further 20%, when you make a purchase". Wow. I just took the info on his card when he wrote down the details, I asked for no further questions, then he tells me right away about a 20% discount!

If only that happened everywhere!!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

This was the very first question I asked when I joined a zillion years ago.....

cheers--Sharon

 

[Enerchi]

LOL!! A "zillion" years ago??? hahaha!
so... what was the answer? do you? do others? is it a possibility? I realize online has no over head, where as B&M does, but if an online vendor ALSO has a B&M location... will they discount pricing? Or is it that the quality you receive when mentioning PS, enough?

Hoping to get a few suggestions....

 

[oranges]

I am really really curious about this as well. For example, I have loved Octavia asschers since they have come out. I believe that the stone on their website that is 1.57 carats started off around 13K , went up to like 17K and recently rose to almost 21K. I think that negotiations in this case are absolutely fair considering the fact that they would have been happy to sell the stone for so so much less not too long ago. However, I have no idea whether or not GOG would negotiate on something like this. The stone has been in the inventory for a long time! If anyone has insight on this I would love to hear it!

 

[chupiechow]

I always negotiate. It doesn't hurt

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

I think the answer was "well....you can try..." I always ask for discounts--whether I receive them or not is another question....

cheers--Sharon

 

[Dancing Fire]

i try but it didn't do me any good..

 

[PintoBean]

If it is a virtual stone on PS, and one vendor has it for a lower price than another, you can negotiate the price.

I will negotiate if I'm buying more than one item, e.g., ring + earrings, and/or i'm a repeat customer.

 

[Rockdiamond]

It always makes sense to ask for any applicable discount.
You've got nothing to loose by trying to offer less. I'm sure Enerchi's experience is not unique- many store and sellers have constant "lowest price ever" sales.

From what I see, in terms of loose diamonds, the internet has eliminated a lot of the "sale" mentality.
The low margins required to ell every day preclude large discounts.
An offer 20% below a very serious price to begin with, might be seen as not serious, or even insulting.
A vendor can politely refuse, in any event if they choose to- so no harm in asking.

 

[Skippy123]

HI:

I think the answer was "well....you can try..." I always ask for discounts--whether I receive them or not is another question....

cheers--Sharon

ditto!!! I think it never hurts to ask!

 

[footshooter5]

Absolutely! Any vendor, whether a brick and mortar store or online is going to have a certain profit margin...it's just a matter of how much they want to eat into that margin for your business.

Every diamond I've bought I've negotiated on the price, whether it's earrings, a tennis bracelet, or a diamond for an engagement ring.

Good luck!

 

[oldminer]

It isn't just diamonds and jewelry subject to to negotiating. Nearly all expensive items are subject to skilled negotiation unless you prefer to just pay the asking price and make the seller happy as possible. Being a fair negotiator and being really ready to accept a good deal are part of the process. Negotiations done in good faith and followed through buy makng a purchase when the results work out make for a good experience for all concerned. Bad faith negotiations where you have no desire to buy are a waste of everyone time and good will.

You can successfully negotiate the price of a car, a home, rent, furniture and many other things. You can't negotiate the prices on a restaurant menu or the asking price at Walmart, but many things can be negotiated in price without becoming a problem.

When you negotiate with an artisan or a mechanic, you may not get the exact quality of work that you believed you were going to get. How can you tell or be certain? You can't. There are times such as these when you need to pay the asking price or just shop around for another bid. Creating bad will with a jewelry artisan, plumber, painter, electrician, etc can really backfire.

I have found that some after the purchase negotiations can be very annoying and obvious. The client who tells you after they have the item in hand they are very "disappointed" and start to nit-pick at nothing just to get you to drop a few dollars back in their hands. This uncalled for use of "I'm disappointed" is a particularly annoying tactic that once discovered makes for no possible good outcome. Real disappointment is totally legitimate, but what I mention here is just a tricky after purchase approach that is very worn out.

 

[Laila619]

If it is a virtual stone on PS, and one vendor has it for a lower price than another, you can negotiate the price.

I will negotiate if I'm buying more than one item, e.g., ring + earrings, and/or i'm a repeat customer.

Yes, exactly. I negotiated the price of a virtual stone, but I'm not sure you could do it for, say, an ACA or other branded cut. I guess it couldn't hurt to try though.

 

[Enerchi]

Thank you everyone - especially Rockdiamond and Oldminer - as you both have trade experience.

For me, if I'm even bold enough to TRY to negotiate, the key is being polite in any interaction. If you treat the other party with respect, and if they have room to play with the profit margin, I think good faith means a lot and the seller will do what they can.

I guess from the standpoint of a virtual product (diamond, stock earrings, preset items) there could be sufficient competition in this market that some vendors would be more amenable to negotiating a discount. I'm just always too timid to ask!

Thank you for the input.

Now... has anyone had a recent success they'd like to share??

 

[MrsDrP]

It's definitely worth a shot! My SO was able to knock $900 off the price of my e-ring. He was firm but respectful and basically told the jeweler "this is what I can afford...either bring the price down closer to this, or I can't buy it!" I guess it depends on who you're dealing with.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I think I said this on another thread, but in regard to current stock, they can't discount much due to the fact that they have to pay current prices to replace the stone in their inventory. I have mostly paid the asking price for stones from these vendors. But there are circumstances where I might ask if the price is firm (such as if other vendors have comparable stones for less). I am sometimes willing to pay the extra for trade-in policies and that kind of thing.

 

[slg47]

FI negotiated my diamond from ~7800 to ~6700
however this was with a B&M store not an online jeweler! I think many of the online vendors have less markup so there is less wiggle room for negotiation, but many provide a discount if paying by bank wire.

also I think some of the 'branded' cuts may have the price set by the brand (e.g. solasfera) so not sure how much negotiation is possible but you could always ask?

 

[Enerchi]

WHOA! slg - that's some skilled silver tongued devil you are married to! Same with MrsDrP - very impressive!

Congratulations on 'getting a deal' - and I think if both parties walk away from it feeling unscathed, then that's a nice win/win all around.

 

[MrsDrP]

My ring was from a B&M store. And the jeweler we worked with really wasn't the one calling the shots - he was just the middle man. He went back and forth with a representative from the designer until my SO was satisfied with the price.

I've never worked with an online vender, but like someone already said, they probably don't have as much wiggle room because they don't have as much mark-up.

I just checked the price of my diamond against the price of online vendor diamonds of similar weight, color, clarity, etc. and it looked like they were all around the same price, some even cheaper! Thus, if i had to guess, these online vendors are already offering them at pretty reasonable prices!

 

[distracts]

My e-ring was already at a price I felt was reasonable based on the quality and what I'd seen on PS and from PS vendors (ie, not overpaying), but they wanted us to buy the wedding band too and were discounting it somewhat as a set, and I didn't want to get the wedding band so my fiance talked them down further. I usually don't feel the need to negotiate once I'm ready to buy, because I do a lot of research and am familiar with what quality I want and what prices seem to be reasonable based on that. I mostly just try to negotiate if I find the price to be an unrealistic assessment of what the item is worth, but in those cases, well, the vendor is already unrealistic, they are usually unwilling to change the price. There have been a couple instances where I have then seen the piece unsold months and months and months later.

And a couple years ago when I worked in a mall, I noticed that from Feb (after Valentine's day) through October, all the not-super-fancy jewelry stores had CONSTANT 50-70% off sales, which stopped just in time for the holiday season. If you're shopping at a maul store and not negotiating down to at least 50% off, imo you're getting ripped off. They've still got to be making profit at that price because how else could they sustain 3.5 months of 50-70% off?

 

[TristanC]

I think one should always ask politely, and if you make an offer to buy at a discounted price, be ready to follow through if that price is met. I've negotiated a sofa from 32K down to 14K before (Ok, it was already tagged at 21K on 'massive' sale, one piece, on the showroom floor and I basically went from there. Took two weeks and a fair bit of back and forth but I guess they realised that it was a hard piece to sell so they basically moved it out of their showroom at virtually cost to cost - I checked the designer's prices around the world and I was well under)

I did also pick up a few other smaller pieces at the asking prices along with this, so it wasn't just price erosion for everything. Sometimes it is a matter of getting things correctly.

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if you encountered a B&M jeweller who was facing cashflow issues and you made an offer on a significant piece in the window... whilst there may be virtually no profit for them, they might do the sale to get cashflow (a year's rent for example).

 

[Sayde64]

Just purchased diamond studs. I knew that there had been a Valentine's Day promo and that there would be a Mother's Day promo, so I proposed a discount since I was right in the middle of two promo's. And I was given one. Then I said I would purchase if I could be given a guarantee that if the upcoming Mother's Day promo was even greater, that I would be refunded the difference. And that was agreed to. Turns out that the Mothers Day promo has some restricting terms and conditions such that I could not have used it if I had waited, so I actually benefitted by working my own deal. Not by a lot, but, I do find that most vendors are quite willing to work with you.

 

[arkieb1]

I always haggle if you do it politely, the worst thing that can happen (if you are polite) is the vendor says no and it only improves from there....

 

[oldminer]

When a mall store does offer a huge "discount" you just have to ask yourself "Is this for real? Is the retail price listed on the tag a genuine price or is it just a fictitious number to create illusory discounts from?" Almost every time, the huge discount is smoke and mirrors and has nothing to do with a special value or a good deal. The price you end up paying may be totally okay as deals go, but it almost never will be as good as they would have you believe. You can't fool all of the people all of the time, but you can fool plenty of folks enough of the time to keep doing it. Do your shopping and learn what price range to expect to pay and then seek out a vendor that deserves your trust.

 

[Enerchi]

When a mall store does offer a huge "discount" you just have to ask yourself "Is this for real? Is the retail price listed on the tag a genuine price or is it just a fictitious number to create illusory discounts from?" Almost every time, the huge discount is smoke and mirrors and has nothing to do with a special value or a good deal. The price you end up paying may be totally okay as deals go, but it almost never will be as good as they would have you believe. You can't fool all of the people all of the time, but you can fool plenty of folks enough of the time to keep doing it. Do your shopping and learn what price range to expect to pay and then seek out a vendor that deserves your trust.

That's exactly what I thought at the time, Oldminer! It was a chain store and "always" has a sale going...

Looking at an old thread thats resurfaced, its kind of interesting to re read this! In general, I'm not a negotiator but if one is offered, I'm more than happy to accept it! And I still believe, treating any sales person kindly and w respect, is going to be more likely to end well than going in guns blazing.

And as for the fool aspect... I know I can easily turn to putty, when I become fixated and enamoured with the latest "object of my desire"!

 

[OECsareforLovers]

I negotiated the price on my recent old euro purchase, but it was from an estate jeweler so maybe the rules are different than B&M. My strategy is usually to be nice and not hard ball, especially if I REALLY want the item. As my husband says "it's not a negotiation if you aren't willing to walk away".

 

[mrs-b]

My experience, in getting discounts on diamonds, is to go with one vendor and become a multiple-repeat customer. Recommend them. Promote them on PriceScope. Then, when you ask for a discount, you have a proven track history, you've invested an amount of money with the vendor making you a customer they'd like to keep, you've done the right thing by them in promoting them and you've raised their visibility in the online community. Most vendors are smart enough to know that if you recommend them over and over, a bad experience, and a removal of your recommendation, will be noticed in a community such as this. And a good vendor will honor loyalty.

 

[SandyinAnaheim]

When I recently purchased my CBI center stone with custom-designed ER & WB set from High Performance Diamonds, I asked for and received the wire discount. Wink offered a 15% discount on the settings if I bought all pieces from him. And I must say, it was all very smooth and easy. Based on my settings, that 15% off worked out to be a VERY nice savings!!


When I had my own business (cigar shop), I would only give discounts to my good and repeat customers, but I worked on a very tight margin as a reseller.