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Gemologist said...

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Meraj

Rough_Rock
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Jun 7, 2003
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A gemologist told me that there isn''t much room for negotiation if purchasing an ideal cut diamond. Is there any truth to that statement or is he licking his chops????
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Richard Sherwood

Ideal_Rock
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Sep 25, 2002
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Depends on the operation, their overhead, and the markup they operate at. There's no hard and fast rule. If they operate at a bare bones markup, that would be the case. If they operate with some fat there, you might be able to trim it a bit.

You can get an idea by checking out comparables, and then see if the vendor is willing to take a discount, or will let you walk instead. Usually if they're willing to let you walk, they're operating at the bottom line, with no room left to discount.
 

elmo

Brilliant_Rock
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Jun 18, 2003
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Richard, I think your advice is right on...a lot of new shoppers see only the price and don't fairly compare and value the level of service a seller is providing. Moreover, different sellers providing a similar service will simply operate on different margins.

However, the one thing that caught my eye in Meraj's post that makes me want to call b-s on that seller is whether he's distinguishing ideals from other makes when refusing to negotiate. I can't tell for sure if the seller was making that distinction. But if he was, I'd walk.
 

DiamondExpert

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Jan 15, 2003
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A quite unfair and misleading statment, elmo...pricing restrictions & limitations on some branded ideals are quite severe, whereas on non-ideals and generic ideals there may be more flexibility...furthermore, some dealers DO offer great basic prices with little room to move...you can't judge the quality of a deal by how much the dealer will knock off the price.
 

elmo

Brilliant_Rock
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Jun 18, 2003
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Gary, I'm talking about the case where someone walks into a store and asks whether there's negotiating room on some unbranded ideal versus some unbranded 60/60, and the jeweler responds that he can negotiate on the 60/60 but implies that all AGS ideals are something rare and special and there's no negoatiating on them at all.

Sorry I wasn't more specific, but I've heard this line before.
 

Mara

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Oct 30, 2002
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I always think there is room for negotiation in any matter!! It never hurts to ask. But I would be a little suspicious if off the bat the gemologist or jeweler told me there is no negotiations.

However, for branded stones such as 8* or HOF or a heavily branded store such as a Tiffany or a HW...chances are there IS no negotiation allowed. For the branded stones, they either produce enough product to barely satisfy demand, so they don't have to lower prices; and with the well-known brand names, people will pay for the brand..so they don't have to discount.

For basic unbranded stones or H&A..there should be some negotiation in my opinion. Esp if you are talking offline pricing!! Our jeweler gave us excellent pricing on our stone, he matched online pricing because he wanted our business. I also approached him respectfully after doing most of my research and said that I wanted to give him the opportunity to see what he could do if he was interested. He jumped at the chance, called in stones, matched pricing, and we went with him offline (my fiance felt more comfortable--and it was his money after all!). I really appreciated him going the extra mile to show that he wanted our biz--instead of just telling me some line about how internet vendors can't be trusted, or accusing me of being a know-it-all because I had an internet diamond education (like other lines I have seen and heard!).

Online vendors deal on lower margins for the most part than B&M from what I have read/seen/heard. Run a search on a stone on Pscope and then compare an offline price, chances are there will be a difference.

It all comes down to what you feel comfortable with. But I wouldn't feel comfortable working with a jeweler or gemologist that made gross generalizations like the one you mentioned. Saying that all ideal cut stones are not negotiable IMO just mean you need to go someplace where they ARE.

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My 2 cents.. Good luck!
 
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