Ok Pro's, i have 5k to spend on nice princess cut. Help me!

[orangehole]

Well i have managed to sock away $5k for a loose stone. The setting will be platnum with smaller princess stones on either side of a 4 pronged setting. Now i am leaning towards 0.9-1ct, D,E,F Color and maybe VS1,VS2,SI1 clarity with a nice cut. What can i expect to find in my price range.

Thanx

 

[pricescope]

Hi Orangehole,

All you have to do is to make a few searches from the front page to get a ballpark figure.

 

[orangehole]

Ok well if i go by the Pricescope pricing/Etalers, for $5k i should be able to get a 1ct GIA Princess D/E/F color and VVS1/VVS2 with an Average cut for under 5k. Can i go into a retail Jeweler and shoot for prices like this or will i be laughed out the door for trying to lowball them. Jewelers are showing me H/SI1's for 4k! Will retail jewelers even bother to compete against the extreme internet price advantages.

 

[pricescope]

There are many factors. It depends on how motivated is a B&A jeweler, what kind of extra services (s)he provides, how much time (s)he spends with you, etc.

Sometimes consumers can find very similar to the internet prices in the B&M stores. Other consumers are willing to pay a few % more for a personal service and comfort of dealing with live person who they trust.

If the price is your only criteria and you decided not to buy from the internet dealer, ask your B&M jeweler to get you a stone you found in the internet for comparable price. Keep in mind that many of the diamonds listed in the internet are also listed in the diamond wholesale networks and the trade members can get them for you. This approach probably won't work in the mall stores though.

As for laughing at the store, don't show them any abstract "list" but a screen-shot from the site where you can buy a diamond you like today. There is nothing to laugh about in this situation but rather opposite. Either they match the price or loose your business.

Just be careful, do the homework, educate yourself and compare "apple to apple". That includes not only carat, color and clarity but the cut details and grading report as well. Also take special services and return and exchange policies into account as well as shipping and setting costs.

To be safer use independent expert/appraiser opinion.