Negotiating at high end retailers

[IronMikey]

Hi all.

I was wondering if anyone has had any experience negotiating on price at high end retailers like Tiffany''s, Graff, HW, Cartier etc.

Also, do any of these locations allow you to have an outside diamond set? I know Tiffany''s and Cartier do not.

I don''t really have a problem purchasing a stone from one of the PS vendors but I don''t think that having ___.com on the ring box seems all that romantic.

Thanks in advance

 

[mrssalvo]

ironmikey- i have heard HW will but you are still going to pay a lot for name on a box

your best bet is to go into those stores with you budget and see what you can do. cash will work best when trying to negotiate i''d think.

 

[Skippy123]

I doubt any of the vendors let you buy an outside stone. I think you can negotiate price a little; I walked into one of the vendors you listed and they said they could drop the price on something a little. I guess it all depends though, never hurts to ask once you started seriously shopping

 

[kroshka]

Hi IronMikey,

Most high end retailers aren''t going to set a stone that they do not sell to you. Is there a particular mounting you like from any of these retailers? If so there are several excellent Pscope vendors that can make inspired custom settings or settings that are very similar.

kroshka

 

[Liberty Diamonds]

Why negotiate, just do not pay retail? It''s just the name and the box which only adds value if you where to sell it one day. Though all the designers have websites with typically enough angles of their rings for other quality jewelers to replicate. This will save you a tremendous amount of mula and allow you to personalize the setting by adding a pink diamond in the shank, or adding an extra touch to make it yours. As well with CAD-CAM technology the designs can be spot on, and you get a file to share with your fiance to show the hard work you put in designing her one-of-a-kind ring. Keep in mind major retailers mass produce each style for everyone of their outlets, so regardless if you go to their showroom in Dubai, or L.A. they will have the same merchandise. Many local jewelers will design just your ring, and you can purchase the diamond anywhere you like. Check out the Internet Friendy Local Jewelers, which is on the PS home page.

 

[IronMikey]

Thanks so much...I love this board!

I''m looking for something similar to one of these settings:

Tiffany Novo - I''d rather use a round stone but I like the thin band with 4 prongs, not 6.

http://www.tiffany.com/Engagement/Item.aspx?subCategoryid=1005

or

http://www.tiffany.com/Engagement/Item.aspx?sku=18715716

I''m looking to spend about $18-24K altogether. I''m willing to go to an eye-clean SI1 but prefer at least VS2 and would want to stay above an I in color. Also, I''m dead set on a H and A stone (AGS 0).

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Actually, Good Old Gold, Pearlman''s, and Winfield''s are real B&M jewelry stores! So you can get a top quality stone from a real jewelry store without paying the mark-up of those high end stores....unless you just want the name on the box, that is!

(And for what it''s worth, WhiteFlash has very nice boxes as well, and they certainly don''t have dot com on the box!)

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 4/12/2008 6:52:33 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
Actually, Good Old Gold, Pearlman's, and Winfield's are real B&M jewelry stores! So you can get a top quality stone from a real jewelry store without paying the mark-up of those high end stores....unless you just want the name on the box, that is!


(And for what it's worth, WhiteFlash has very nice boxes as well, and they certainly don't have dot com on the box!)

Add Engagement Rings Direct to that list. Mark has an office you can visit in person as well with an appointment. But ANY of those vendors would be fabulous. The only place that I can recall that has .com on their boxes is Bluenile. So just stay away from them and you should be good to go.

And just FYI, they DO sell beautiful ring boxes without the ring as well. So you could go purchase a beautiful box somewhere to present it in.

ETA: For the Novo look I suggest doing an H&A stone with a Ritani endless love setting. The profile is so much nicer than the novo IMO and it has the same look. Mine even got mistaken for a novo at a tiffany's once.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Date: 4/12/2008 6:47:32 PM
Author: IronMikey
Thanks so much...I love this board!

I''m looking for something similar to one of these settings:

Tiffany Novo - I''d rather use a round stone but I like the thin band with 4 prongs, not 6.

http://www.tiffany.com/Engagement/Item.aspx?subCategoryid=1005

or

http://www.tiffany.com/Engagement/Item.aspx?sku=18715716

I''m looking to spend about $18-24K altogether. I''m willing to go to an eye-clean SI1 but prefer at least VS2 and would want to stay above an I in color. Also, I''m dead set on a H and A stone (AGS 0).

You can''t assume you''ll easily find AGS hearts and arrows stones at those particular jewelers. I know from this forum a guy recently shopping found the stones at some of those stores not to the standards some of our PS vendors sell.

You can have a ring similar to the Novo made by Leon Mege or Ritani. Personally, I''d rather have a larger, better diamond set by Leon Mege than a stone half the size from one of those other stores.

Here are a couple of great stones that would fit your budget:

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/A-Cut-Above-H-A-cut-diamond-737784.htm

http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/4247/

 

[sna77]

Date: 4/12/2008 6:47:32 PM
Author: IronMikey
Thanks so much...I love this board!

I''m looking for something similar to one of these settings:

Tiffany Novo - I''d rather use a round stone but I like the thin band with 4 prongs, not 6.

http://www.tiffany.com/Engagement/Item.aspx?subCategoryid=1005

or

http://www.tiffany.com/Engagement/Item.aspx?sku=18715716

I''m looking to spend about $18-24K altogether. I''m willing to go to an eye-clean SI1 but prefer at least VS2 and would want to stay above an I in color. Also, I''m dead set on a H and A stone (AGS 0).

Mike, with your budget, I''d find the best AGS 0 stone you can and have someone like Mark Morrell or Leon Mege make the setting...

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Mike, that is what sna77 did. He got a great 2 ct. H&A stone, had it set in a Tiffany repro setting, and bought the wedding band from Tiffany.

 

[triple]

Hi,

I just got a $35K ring delivered from WF and the inside of the little wooden box says "WHITEFLASH.COM", I thought that was a little tacky myself. I think just the WF logo would have been enough.

 

[IronMikey]

This looks great to me and I''ve seen a lot of their work on another forum

http://www.exceldiamonds.com/-Engagement-Rings-5/Shared-Prong-Diamond-Eternity-Engagement-Ring-1125.html

This seems like a great option and I would know from reading elsewhere that they mount outside diamonds.

Thanks so much!

 

[ginzagirl]

Cartier will reset a diamond that is theirs for a hefty amount! I am not sure about Graff but I know for sure that Tiff won''t budge. HW gave me almost 20% discount. I could have gotten a very large rock from one of the vendors here but 1.5 ct was all I wanted for the time being. I saw a 1.51 ct D/IF on ERD for about 15-16,000, much less than my 1.33! However, in 5 years time when I''m back in North America, maybe I''ll be after something larger.... who knows.

Whether you buy from Graff, HW, Tiff, Cartier or an on line vendor, make sure you search your heart and are sure of what you want and then do your due diligence to make sure the specs are good.

Good luck!

 

[arjunajane]

Date: 4/12/2008 7:20:44 PM
Author: triple
Hi,

I just got a $35K ring delivered from WF and the inside of the little wooden box says ''WHITEFLASH.COM'', I thought that was a little tacky myself. I think just the WF logo would have been enough.

Hi triple - really? I never knew this, all the WF packaging I''ve seen looks really classy and doesn''t have dot.com anywhere.. Do you have a pic out of curiousty?
If you think this kind of thing isn''t appropriate, I would probably send off a quick suggestion email to your WF rep, telling them how you feel. I know that feedback from customers should be highly valued by WF so they can improve.

IronMikey, Just imho, I think the whole world is dot.com''d these days so I wouldn''t mind personally if it said that somewhere discreet on my box (say on the bottom or the inside). I agree on the top isn''t appropriate, but I know from seeing pics on PS they don''t do this. I know GOG offer a nice selection of boxes, and I am currently awaiting the wooden one with my purchase so will be happy to post a pic for you if you like.

 

[Gypsy]

I vote for a Ritani setting, personally and an AGS0. The list of ''real'' jewelers everyone gave is great already and cannot be improved upon. I was with Neatfreak at the Tiffany where her Ritani was mistaken for a Novo, and what she modestly didn''t mention was that we were (like 6 of us) comparing her Ritani with ERD sourced cushion to the Tiffany Novo''s and WE ALL LIKED HERS BETTER THAN THE NOVO. Much more fluid design.

 

[sna77]

Date: 4/12/2008 7:42:19 PM
Author: IronMikey
This looks great to me and I''ve seen a lot of their work on another forum

http://www.exceldiamonds.com/-Engagement-Rings-5/Shared-Prong-Diamond-Eternity-Engagement-Ring-1125.html

This seems like a great option and I would know from reading elsewhere that they mount outside diamonds.

Thanks so much!

Mike, I actually bought my setting from Excel and the diamoind from WhiteFlash... The guys at Excel make some great settings, and as you mentioned, they do set diamonds bought elsewhere (although they have access to the same virtual diamond db that the rest of the venodrs do too)...

 

[DiamanteBlu]

The stores you listed with which I have experience do discount substantially at the high end. However, given your specs I would go with one of the vendors here. I think you will get exactly what you want at a better price - then you can go and have your custom setting made.

 

[Shay37]

I just had to check. Mine may be different, but it only has the WF logo inside the ring box.

BTW, if it is .com on someone else''s and it''s a new thing or what, I didn''t realize that. However, maybe WF doesn''t think they should be embarrassed about being a .com.

shay

 

[sna77]

Date: 4/12/2008 7:20:44 PM
Author: triple
Hi,

I just got a $35K ring delivered from WF and the inside of the little wooden box says ''WHITEFLASH.COM'', I thought that was a little tacky myself. I think just the WF logo would have been enough.

Triple,
What did you end up getting? Haven''t seen you in the SMTR section!

 

[Maisie]

My Whiteflash ring box just has the WF logo inside it. It doesn't have the .com

 

[RaymondW]

I bought a Gelin Abaci ring from a jeweler who is online to me, but B&M to their local clientele. It came in a beautiful kid leather covered box and it only says Gelin Abaci. It doesn''t have any mention of the jeweler I bought it through. If it had said gelinabaci.com and i was concerned about it, I''d have gone to eBay and bought a nice generic wooden ring box for $20 rather than spending hundreds more for the ring from a local B&M store just to avoid the .com reference.

Ray

 

[IronMikey]

This is what I was basing my concern on.

I know you can buy a generic ring box online but there''s something I don''t quite love about that either. I always pictured the ring box to have the name of the place of purchase on the inside. I''m only 26 so I wouldn''t say i''m old fashioned but anything.com on an ering seems tacky and impersonal to me. Online shopping is great but I''d think my ff would be a little turned off if she thought I never even saw the diamond I was giving her.

Thanks again for all the replys. I''m going to be asking you all for a bunch of help as the day approaches. It''s a bit of a ways off (6 months) but I want to plan this out to perfection

 

[triple]

Hi again,

Thanks for posting that pic IronMikey, that is the same box I received. As much as I think the .com looks tacky, the ring is awsome, really awsome!!! It apprasied for $35K, I paid WF $25K. The same ring at Tiffany was $37K. Trust me I know what your thinking, my wife really would love the Tiffany and not the .com box. Even after I gave her the ring I told her we could return the WF and get the Tiffany for 37K, she said NO WAY. This WF ring is so beautiful, the Tiffany cannot top this, so why spend the extra money to avoid the .com. In the end a perfect ring is a perfect ring. I told my wife I had her ring made just for her in Houston. A couple of her friends have asked where I got the ring and she tells them the same thing, I had it made for her in Houston(thats the truth).

 

[Rhea]

I can''t seem to find the photos, but I bought earrings from Wink just a few weeks ago. Being the dork I am I took photos of part of the packaging. There was a black paper box and inside it was a reddish brown wooden box that held the earrings. When you opened that box it said "Winifield''s" on the inside in either silver or gold. There was no .com, it just looked like any other jewellery store box.

I''m sure that if this is something that you are truly concerned about you could email the vendors and ask them to email you photos of their packaging. I think Tiffany sells little silver or china boxes if you wanted something like that. Linky to Tiffany & Co ring presentation box - I hope! And something similar to the silver box from Tiffany that I''m talking about, here

Or get rid of the name issue all together and buy a silver or handmade wooden ring box like this:

 

[Ellen]

Date: 4/13/2008 12:43:42 AM
Author: arjunajane

Date: 4/12/2008 7:20:44 PM
Author: triple
Hi,

I just got a $35K ring delivered from WF and the inside of the little wooden box says ''WHITEFLASH.COM'', I thought that was a little tacky myself. I think just the WF logo would have been enough.

Hi triple - really? I never knew this, all the WF packaging I''ve seen looks really classy and doesn''t have dot.com anywhere.. Do you have a pic out of curiousty?
If you think this kind of thing isn''t appropriate, I would probably send off a quick suggestion email to your WF rep, telling them how you feel. I know that feedback from customers should be highly valued by WF so they can improve.

I agree. I bet they''d send you a different one if you asked.

I had to go look at mine, you know how you look at something a hundred times, but can''t tell someone what it looks like exactly?

I have a ring box and stud box, both with the logo only. And a necklace box with nothing. Interesting.