upgrading princess cut diamond

[Charmed]

I inquired at my local jeweler about upgrading my princess cut diamond. He said it is a long process b/c they don't stock princess cuts. He said they would sell it for us but it would sell for 70% less. This shocked me! My diamond is a .70 princess cut VVS2, E. My husband and I were in Aruba as posted earlier and a jeweler there offered to buy it from us for the retail cost. Any other information about upgrading would be so greatly appreciated. I thought I could trade it in and purchase a new diamond, is that possible? Thank you in advance!

 

[divergrrl]

Charmed,

From reading your posts, your Aruba dealer sounded pretty easy to do biz with. I know its scary to buy abroad, but maybe you can send it to him & trade out.

I am not in the biz, but I have heard that most retailers will not trade up your diamond at retail (they buy wholesale & have margins, overhead etc.) and you really can't expect them to lose money on your transaction. I have heard of a few jewelers in town here who say they will give you a credit later for your original purch price when you upgrade, but their diamonds were twice the price of what I paid for mine going through a broker.

It would be like a car dealership giving you high Kelly Blue Book for your trade in. If they do, they usually hide the price difference in financing, or the cost of the new car. Ex: I have a car that is now worth $9000 blue book, a car dealer might give me about $7000 for it. but I could sell it on my own in the paper for $10,500 or $11,000.

In my humble opinion, you are better off finding a diamond through means other than straight retail.

Have you thought about keeping your stone & making a pendant?

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Charmed, the fellow to trade your princess cut in with is the fellow who sold it to you originally.

Other dealers are not willing to give you your purchase price in trade because they did not receive the profit from the original sale. The money went into the originating seller's pocket, hence he is the one who would be motivated to take your diamond back in trade at full value.

 

[Charmed]

Thank you Rich, you have been so helpful! I didn't even think of going back to the jeweler who sold my husband the diamond. The only problem is we haven't gone back there since all the difficulties we had with her. As posted in earlier posts, crooked setting, messy solering job, not informing us of rough edge jetting out of corner, setting prong AROUND jetting edge. I would love for her to give us all he paid since her business was so poor. However, I wouldn't know how to approach it with her. I really think she should know all the problems but my husband said that he never wanted to go back there. So there is our dilemma.

Thank you for your feedback! Please wish us luck in finding the perfect diamond for us!

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Bummer.

I'm with divergrrl. Buy another ring stone when you're flush and make the original stone into a pendant.