The Art Of Bargaining

[pwsg07]

Do you bargain when you purchase any gemstone? How much can you bargain? I am not good at bargaining. I would like to know how much I can bargain without making the vendor angry. Usually, I just ask for the best price. Since shipping to Canada always require duty, I would like to lower my cost for the gemstone as much as possible. Thanks.

 

[chrono]

It depends on the vendor, stone, and price. I will bargain only with certain vendors that I have developed a strong relationship with and obviously, I make sure I am not low-balling the stone. I will make a specific offer. Sometimes it is accepted, but usually, we will agree on a new price. I don't always make an offer though, since most of the time, pricing from these vendors I frequent tend to be reasonable.

 

[marymm]

^ My approach is similar to Chrono's.

Sometimes a CS stone has been in a vendor's inventory for a while, so there may be some room for price adjustment.

Or sometimes I am interested in more than one stone, and with a multi-stone purchase some vendors are amenable to a slight discount of the total price.

But, most of the time, I've done my research and part of why I choose to purchase a particular stone is because it is fairly priced for its quality, type, size and color, and because the vendor is reputable with reasonable customer service policies.

 

[valeria101]

.
Quite the art ! Funny enough, www sales feel informal & private enough to bargain somewhat by default - as if the web were a country fair.

 

[pwsg07]

Thanks for your input. How much percent mark down do you ask for?

 

[kgizo]

My approach is similar to the above. For a discount I may ask anywhere from 10-30% depending on what I think is a fair price, what I can afford, repeat customer, how long it has been in their inventory, etc. When asking for a large discount I may offer cash or wire to help the vendor. If I don’t have any idea of the value I ask what kind of discounts they offer to see if any may apply. If the vendor has made it clear they think the item is value priced/their best price I take that into consideration. The most important thing is to ask nicely as a lot of vendors do a good job of pricing their items so I wouldn’t want to them to feel insulted. If I think something is overpriced by 40% or more I walk away as I don’t like the hassle of trying to get a fair price when we are starting so far apart.

 

[minousbijoux]

My approach is similar to the above. For a discount I may ask anywhere from 10-30% depending on what I think is a fair price, what I can afford, repeat customer, how long it has been in their inventory, etc. When asking for a large discount I may offer cash or wire to help the vendor. If I don’t have any idea of the value I ask what kind of discounts they offer to see if any may apply. If the vendor has made it clear they think the item is value priced/their best price I take that into consideration. The most important thing is to ask nicely as a lot of vendors do a good job of pricing their items so I wouldn’t want to them to feel insulted. If I think something is overpriced by 40% or more I walk away as I don’t like the hassle of trying to get a fair price when we are starting so far apart.

Wise counsel, especially the bolded.

 

[pwsg07]

My approach is similar to the above. For a discount I may ask anywhere from 10-30% depending on what I think is a fair price, what I can afford, repeat customer, how long it has been in their inventory, etc. When asking for a large discount I may offer cash or wire to help the vendor. If I don’t have any idea of the value I ask what kind of discounts they offer to see if any may apply. If the vendor has made it clear they think the item is value priced/their best price I take that into consideration. The most important thing is to ask nicely as a lot of vendors do a good job of pricing their items so I wouldn’t want to them to feel insulted. If I think something is overpriced by 40% or more I walk away as I don’t like the hassle of trying to get a fair price when we are starting so far apart.

Thank you. It is so hard to know the market price for colour stone. The colour and the origin make a big difference on the price. e.g.. the pink/red spinel. I didn't know the Burmese one are much more pricy.

 

[chrono]

I keep an eye on past vs current pricing. Unfortunately, that is the only way to know what is considered fair vs overpriced. Like Kgizo, it depends on the relationship, how long the stone has been in inventory, the current demand vs supply, and such. I've gotten anywhere from a 10 to 30% discount as well.