hazelstone
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2010
- Messages
- 55
I know this involves a little bragging, but I just can't help it! I'm hoping that someone can get some ideas and maybe snag a deal of their own like this. I was able to get a .82 carat 18k I-VS1 Tiffany setting engagement ring for $2265 after some elbow grease.
My fiance is unemployed at the moment, and feeling depressed that he couldn't get me the ring "I deserved" (even though I said I didn't need one at all!) I know he wanted to get me a ring from Tiffany, and in better economic times he would have easily been able to afford it. I know I could get better diamonds elsewhere, but he'd feel less good about it and I did like the idea of a Tiffany ring. So I put my bargain hunting hat on and went to work to see if it was feasible. Part of this is luck and part is savvy bargaining, but hopefully someone else can learn from my experience.
First, I went to eBay, a favorite hunting ground for me when I need to find a good deal. My problem was, as I found quickly, that no one buys 18k gold erings from Tiffany anymore. All the Tiffany rings were platinum, and I had my heart set on gold. Not to be deterred, I looked around for gift cards to find a way to save some money on buying a new ring. By total chance I found someone listing a $5k "shopping spree" on eBay--eBay doesn't allow gift cards listed over $500 and deletes any listings like this, but this guy did not mention "gift card" anywhere in the auction. And for that reason, no one else looking for gift cards saw this auction--I came across it accidentally while looking for rings. I convinced him to let me do a "buy it now" for his starting bid price ($3000) and went through Bing.com to make the eBay purchase (getting an additional $200 cash back). So here I am with a $5000 gift card that cost me only $2800! Not a bad start.
So now I call Tiffany, all excited, and ask about the 1 ct. round Tiffany setting in 18k gold they list online as "starting at $7300." Unfortunately, they told me that they have very few gold set rings at all, and nothing in platinum in the range I was asking about. The lowest they could do would be $8800 or so, and an extra $450 to have it reset in gold. I asked about .80+ rings and the best they could do was $7000+, not including sales tax. Stumped, I looked back at eBay. I thought that maybe I should just buy a used ring in platinum and pay the $450 to have it set in gold, so I looked around and found a .82 VS1-I, and after a little haggling I bought it for $3015 (with all paperwork, certificates, etc.) I split the $5000 gift card into 10 $500 gift cards, and sold 9 of them online to a gift card buyback company for $400 each. So I ended up coming out of that transaction with a $500 gift card and $800 profit. I am bringing my ring to Tiffany to be reset in a new 18k band and to do a new revaluation in my name, at a total cost of $550. So after all is said and done, our ring cost us just $2265 inclusive of everything! I'm very happy with it, and if he really insists, we have the option of doing the upgrade later on. And it really will be a "new" ring--the setting brand new and perfect, with all the boxes and the valuation in my name. I love making a show of the great deals I get to my friends, but for the sake of my fiance I'm going to have to keep hush about this one. So thanks for listening, and good luck! I learned a lot about diamonds on here and I hope that someone is helped by this.
My fiance is unemployed at the moment, and feeling depressed that he couldn't get me the ring "I deserved" (even though I said I didn't need one at all!) I know he wanted to get me a ring from Tiffany, and in better economic times he would have easily been able to afford it. I know I could get better diamonds elsewhere, but he'd feel less good about it and I did like the idea of a Tiffany ring. So I put my bargain hunting hat on and went to work to see if it was feasible. Part of this is luck and part is savvy bargaining, but hopefully someone else can learn from my experience.
First, I went to eBay, a favorite hunting ground for me when I need to find a good deal. My problem was, as I found quickly, that no one buys 18k gold erings from Tiffany anymore. All the Tiffany rings were platinum, and I had my heart set on gold. Not to be deterred, I looked around for gift cards to find a way to save some money on buying a new ring. By total chance I found someone listing a $5k "shopping spree" on eBay--eBay doesn't allow gift cards listed over $500 and deletes any listings like this, but this guy did not mention "gift card" anywhere in the auction. And for that reason, no one else looking for gift cards saw this auction--I came across it accidentally while looking for rings. I convinced him to let me do a "buy it now" for his starting bid price ($3000) and went through Bing.com to make the eBay purchase (getting an additional $200 cash back). So here I am with a $5000 gift card that cost me only $2800! Not a bad start.
So now I call Tiffany, all excited, and ask about the 1 ct. round Tiffany setting in 18k gold they list online as "starting at $7300." Unfortunately, they told me that they have very few gold set rings at all, and nothing in platinum in the range I was asking about. The lowest they could do would be $8800 or so, and an extra $450 to have it reset in gold. I asked about .80+ rings and the best they could do was $7000+, not including sales tax. Stumped, I looked back at eBay. I thought that maybe I should just buy a used ring in platinum and pay the $450 to have it set in gold, so I looked around and found a .82 VS1-I, and after a little haggling I bought it for $3015 (with all paperwork, certificates, etc.) I split the $5000 gift card into 10 $500 gift cards, and sold 9 of them online to a gift card buyback company for $400 each. So I ended up coming out of that transaction with a $500 gift card and $800 profit. I am bringing my ring to Tiffany to be reset in a new 18k band and to do a new revaluation in my name, at a total cost of $550. So after all is said and done, our ring cost us just $2265 inclusive of everything! I'm very happy with it, and if he really insists, we have the option of doing the upgrade later on. And it really will be a "new" ring--the setting brand new and perfect, with all the boxes and the valuation in my name. I love making a show of the great deals I get to my friends, but for the sake of my fiance I'm going to have to keep hush about this one. So thanks for listening, and good luck! I learned a lot about diamonds on here and I hope that someone is helped by this.
I''m glad you were able to get just what you wanted and at a good price too. You deserve it after everything you had to put together to make it happen.
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