Ready to purchase - negotiate?

[helpinnyc]

Hello,

This is my first post so please excuse me if I sound like a total noob

28 YO male and I'm ready to purchase an engagement ring for my GF.

It's been a very long, informative process. Learning about the 4 Cs and going to many jewelers over the course of the month...we have finally found a jeweler we are comfortable and happy with in NYC.

She has decided on a round, excellent cut diamond. 1 carat, G color, VS1 clarity. I'm not exact on the price of the diamond but it's about $5000-$6000 with the platinum band that cost $1,800

Now, I'm not positive but are you allowed to negotiate the price of an engagement ring or is the price firm? I'm going to pay for the ring in cash.

Let's say the ring cost $8,000...what's a realistic offer?

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[antelope1]

You can definitely ask for a "cash" discount of about 3% or 3.5% (whatever the MC or Visa surcharge is now). Most online merchants will have built in a wire or cash discount into their pricing, however, so you may not get an additional discount.

If you are sourcing the ring and setting through the same vendor, I'd shoot for 5% off because the merchant makes a lot on the setting. GOG offers an additional 3% off if you buy a H&A diamond and a setting from them as well.

In general, it doesn't hurt to try (the worst is that the merchant says no way), but I'd do it without your GF there.

 

[oldminer]

If a seller can read you and knows you are totally committed to the purchase they likely will refuse to negotiate. However, if you voice some hesitancy and nicely ask "Is there any room at all on the price?" By implying that your budget is stretched to the point of it becoming a roadblock to the purchase, you may find a little flex in the situation still exists. Ask for the concession, give your reason and then do not say anything more. The first one who speaks next usually loses. Its kind of a funny thing, but very human and a little exciting. Americans, in general, are poor negotiators, but it is a great skill to develop and not shameful to use. You may find doing this privately, without your girlfiend with you, may make it easier to keep from being refused unless she also wants to learn how the tactics of negotiation are worked. She must put on her worried and serious face when all this goes down or it won't work.

My wife of 40+ years still gets sort of red-faced and ashamed when I struggle over a purchase with a seller when we are buying something for our home or a car. I kind of enjoy the process and never feel hurt by asking. Sometimes it really pays off and other times it is good to know the price is fixed and not negotiable. At least by asking you know exactly if you could have done better or not. No harm in that at all. A good seller never resents a properly requested negotiation on price. If they become annoyed, then you may not have asked properly or asked for too much of a price concession which shows you do not appreciate the "bargain" that the price now supposedly is already. If you want a cost price below the actual cost, then you have pushed too far and risk a refusal. Be reasonable and let the seller decide if there is some room in a way that allows the transaction to remain a positive experience for all parties.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Hello,

This is my first post so please excuse me if I sound like a total noob

28 YO male and I'm ready to purchase an engagement ring for my GF.

It's been a very long, informative process. Learning about the 4 Cs and going to many jewelers over the course of the month...we have finally found a jeweler we are comfortable and happy with in NYC.

She has decided on a round, excellent cut diamond.

1 carat, G color, VS1 clarity.

I'm not exact on the price of the diamond but it's about

$5000-$6000

with the platinum band that cost $1,800

Now, I'm not positive but are you allowed to negotiate the price of an engagement ring or is the price firm? I'm going to pay for the ring in cash.

Let's say the ring cost $8,000...what's a realistic offer?

Thanks for everyone's help.

a well cut 1ct G VS1 GIA /AGS stone will cost you more than $6000.

 

[Circe]

If a seller can read you and knows you are totally committed to the purchase they likely will refuse to negotiate. However, if you voice some hesitancy and nicely ask "Is there any room at all on the price?" By implying that your budget is stretched to the point of it becoming a roadblock to the purchase, you may find a little flex in the situation still exists. Ask for the concession, give your reason and then do not say anything more. The first one who speaks next usually loses. Its kind of a funny thing, but very human and a little exciting. Americans, in general, are poor negotiators, but it is a great skill to develop and not shameful to use. You may find doing this privately, without your girlfiend with you, may make it easier to keep from being refused unless she also wants to learn how the tactics of negotiation are worked. She must put on her worried and serious face when all this goes down or it won't work.

My wife of 40+ years still gets sort of red-faced and ashamed when I struggle over a purchase with a seller when we are buying something for our home or a car. I kind of enjoy the process and never feel hurt by asking. Sometimes it really pays off and other times it is good to know the price is fixed and not negotiable. At least by asking you know exactly if you could have done better or not. No harm in that at all. A good seller never resents a properly requested negotiation on price. If they become annoyed, then you may not have asked properly or asked for too much of a price concession which shows you do not appreciate the "bargain" that the price now supposedly is already. If you want a cost price below the actual cost, then you have pushed too far and risk a refusal. Be reasonable and let the seller decide if there is some room in a way that allows the transaction to remain a positive experience for all parties.

Ditto to every word of this. I'm one of Nature's Haggler's (I grew up running around the NYC jewelry district), and my husband is decidedly not. When we bought my e-ring, we went to a 47th street vendor who was a friend of my dad's. I didn't feel like it was my place to haggle there, and my husband just nodded when the dealer just named the price. You could see the jeweler turning red with frustration at a part of the script going unenacted! He wound up throwing the setting in for free.

But, that said, it sort of depends on who you're buying from. A B&M dealer usually has a little room to negotiate, and no one other than his or her own wallet to answer to: online vendors tend to have smaller margins, and larger operations, so if you're dealing with, say, Blue Nile, I wouldn't bet on haggling as an option.

 

[Amys Bling]

here is a PS search for comparable stones so you have an idea on pricing. Typically online vendors have slightly lower prices, and a "wire" discount. Also- many of the vendors in the link I provided, offer a pricescope discount. Check out those stones and see what the pricescope + wire discount is- (total off the price) and use that info to negotiate the price down. Another PSer (Nicoleben) said she showed a B&M store the online price with the discounts and they matched it! Never know..

https://www.pricescope.com/diamond-...&type_search=1&InHouseSearch=&InHouseSearch=0