How to buy engagement ring?
Edwin
Having just started on my search for an engagement ring,
I'm wondering, are the prices that the stores give you
the list price? In other words, is it expected that you
"haggle" on the price as you would for a car?
Jaime Rounds
YES!!! We walked into a store once and were looking at a ring
(this was our first trip out and weren't planning on buying
anything) and she said, I'll take $1400 off if you want it
today. He actually ended up purchasing the same ring a month or
two later for $2200 less than retail. So haggle haggle haggle!
John Sikora
Edwin,
Remember what you are looking at is the worth of the diamond. No matter
what your monetary range, I would suggest sitting down with a 'hometown'
jeweler, a certified gemologist. That person should have the patience to
talk you through the 3 C (carat, cut, and clarity) of a diamond. What
you want to be looking at buying is an individual diamond, (the price
for the setting is insignificant ~$200) not the whole set. The reasoning
behind this that you should be able to look at the diamond (at various
magnifications) to see for what you are paying. If the diamond is
already set as is might be the case with a mall jewelry store, an
imperfection can be easily masked underneath a prong and the price of
the gem may be over inflated or the setting may influence the color of
the diamond. The reason mall stores drop their prices so much is they
know that you are buying a significantly cheaper stone and their happy
to let you walk away with a happy feeling. Trust me, everyone makes a
profit no matter how good the deal.
Once you have an idea of what your fiancee is looking for in her ring I
would suggest talking to 2 or 3 gemologists and they will quote you
prices (share those prices with the others) as well they will have the
luxury of shopping for what you are looking for the next time they go
out to buy diamonds wholesale.
The biggest key here is TRUST...if you feel awkward you can leave...and
PATIENCE. It's a hard decision but you'll know when you have the perfect
stone and it will show in your fiancee's eye when you pop the question.
Cheers and happy hunting,
John
Kate the Short
In article <6l1d5a$ks5$1...@hiram.io.com>,
eth...@pentagon.io.com (Edwin) sat on the sofa and said:
>Having just started on my search for an engagement ring,
>I'm wondering, are the prices that the stores give you
>the list price? In other words, is it expected that you
>"haggle" on the price as you would for a car?
You can haggle. This is done by saying that you can't afford that much
for the stone, though that's exactly what you were looking for. They
will then usually drop to a lower price.
kate.
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ITRADE
How about saving some real change and trying out
some estate pieces at the better estate jewelers
in the area?????? They are usually reputable,
have classy pieces, give good prices, and do not
charge to mount things or crap like that....
Rich
Kate the Short <ka...@enteract.com> wrote in article
<357b811d....@news.enteract.com>...
Odd Whiting Wong
John Sikora (jsi...@nospam.indiana.edu) wrote:
: Edwin,
: talk you through the 3 C (carat, cut, and clarity) of a diamond. What
Whoa. You're missing a big one. Color. Believe me Edwin, color makes a
huge difference - rather, a lack of it. Unless you are checking out a
fancy stone. IMO, if you were to rank the order of importance it would be
1-cut
2-color
3-clarity
4-cost
5-carat
Really, there are 5 C's. I'm getting married this summer and when I was in
the market for an engagement ring I went to every store - whether retail,
mall or high-end individual stores - or to wholesaler types. I also read
everything from library books to some pretty good FAQ's on the topic of
ring buying on the Internet. Key words for a search: "Engagement ring" and
"FAQ"
Here's my reasoning and experience for the abovementioned order of
importance which, for the most part, will be extolled by most
knowledgeable people in the trade.
1-cut. The cut is probably the most important factor. Why? There are two
parts. The actual shape of the diamond whether round brilliant, oval,
marquise, pear, trilliant ... and so on. Of course, the large majority of
engagement ring buyers choose round brilliant. The other is the "make" or
the quality of the cut. It's a relationship between the quality of cut of
the faceting of the diamond and the proportions from the width and depth.
A diamond of proper proportions and cut will give the most brilliance and
fire. Two terms that are actually referring to different things but I
won't get to far into that. The point being is that if you get a poorly
cut diamond then it won't "sparkle" and look good under most conditions.
For example: if you get a diamond with a super-wide table - the flat part
of the diamond you see when looking straight at the diamond at the top -
then it will look bigger than it's actual carat weight, a 50 point (or a
.5 Carat diamond) diamond can look like a 60 pointer. BUT, because the
table has been cut to make it wider then the depth suffers and you get
poor brilliance and fire. I mean, it's really noticeable. Not the way to
go.
In addition, when you hit the jewelers make sure to check out the
"make" and if they give you a blank stare then caveat emptor! Buyer
beware. A good jeweler will understand you and will hopefully separate you
from the suckers to the knowledgeable and will probably pull out the
better quality stuff. Of course, there will be a point where you want to
stop the increase in quality because it will begin to cost you an arm and
a leg. The trick is to know where to stop along that scale of cost Vs
return.
2-color. The color is very important since it determines much of the first
impression. The better the color grade then the "whiter" the diamond will
look and the more impressive the diamond and therefore the more love and
attention you will get from your fiancee! (Just kidding!) I would put it
before clarity and I will tell you why ... later. Look for at least a g or
h at worst IMO. I was able to get an E and I have to say that it made all
the difference. Know that the grading starts at D. If you are able to get
a great "make" diamond and match it with good color then it will look
awesome.
3-clarity. The industry, mass-retailers, and people who don't know much
about diamond buying put great emphasis on clarity. While it's important -
it's really not to the level that everyone puts it on the pedestal for.
Simply put, you can sacrifice clarity to a certain point. Why? Because up
to a certain point you CAN'T see the inclusions or flaws in the diamond
with the naked eye and therefore becomes a moot point. Why pay more for a
diamond that looks exactly like another diamond that costs substantially
more? Example: let's say a 1.00 Carat, D-color, SI 1 Clarity, great cut
diamond costs ... oh, 6 grand US, for the sake of argument. A great cut
1.00 Carat D-color, flawless or VVS 1 diamond can cost upwards towards 20
to 30 grand. Why? Because they are rare as heck and you pay accordingly.
But, for the most part, the average person would have a hard time seeing
the difference without a loupe, or 10x magnifying glass used by industry
people. Just supply and demand. I just realized that people in the
industry aren't gonna like me saying this but it's the truth. So, the
point is that you should try to get the most bang for your buck within
these parameters. So, remembering that the graduated scale of clarity goes
like this: Fl, VVS1 and 2, VS 1 and 2, SI 1 and 2 ... that's about as far
as you want to go. Stick with an SI 1 or so and then invest the rest of
your money into the Carat size or better the color or get a better cut
diamond.
4-cost. This is pretty much self explanatory.
5-carat. This might be higher up for some people. But, a better cut
diamond with better color and clarity with a smaller diamond (within
reason in comparision) will be more impressive than a poorer cut larger
diamond with worse color and clarity. I mean, what do you want? Better
quality or just size for the sake of size? With a superior smaller diamond
you can do things like upgrading to a better setting (which is most
important) using 18K instead of 14K (if you want it) or Platinum or even
extra diamonds within the setting or shank (ring). There are pluses and
minuses for 14K Vs 18K and Plat but I can tell you later if you want.
Lastly, I would seriously advise you to do your homework and make sure
that you get something that your fiancee to be will be thrilled with the
ring. Whether that means shopping with her to get a secure idea of what
she wants or getting something impressive and then swapping it for what
she really wants later if she desires something else. I mean, she's gonna
wear it for the rest of her life. Make sure you do it right the first
time. As for me, I went ring looking with my fiancee to quite a few places
and found out what she liked. Believe me, you'll be amazed at what she
finds nice and to what you think would look good on her. Go with her likes
and not what you think would look nice on her. Believe me on that one. The
women will tell you the same. Just go with it.
I'm not into retail stores because they are just that - retail. That
involves many issues. Many times the person that's selling you the ring
has little real experience with the industry. Instead of asking a friend
who's seen a show on home building for advice you should seek the advice
of an actual home builder, know what I mean? I went to a wholesaler, the
people that sell to the retailers and selected the loose diamond with the
best attributes that I could afford. Brought one of the owners with me to
a super high end store to see the ring that I wanted - a knockoff, so to
speak. The ring was custom made for me by a jeweler that did work for the
city's best stores and the workmanship was incredible. Remember: most
rings you see in the glass at a retail shop are made by machines and not
by hand. That's also why you generally pay less.
I realize that this is way off from your original post - by the way, price
drops is part of the industry. That's the way to sell something. If a ring
is 5,000 then that means that their cost is probably around 1,500 to 2,000
maybe 2,200 or so ballpark. Then they will put the rings on "sale" for 30%
off which is 1,500 bucks on 5,000 which drops the price to 3,500. You come
in and say "Great deal, I can afford that!" and they profit the rest. Now,
this is not indicative of all transactions but the idea is the same. What
i'm saying is that you can control for the quality of the diamond and the
ring as well as price if you learned about the industry and did the
legwork yourself. You will thank yourself later.
Hope this helps. Feel free to email me if you want.
Regards,
Oddie
Mieko Miyagawa
Or even check prices against www.tradeshop.com
I thought about having my guy get me a ring from there, but we ended up finding
a great local shop that had very similar prices and a setting I just loved. I
just told him what setting I liked and that I'd like a marquise stone, and he
figured out how much to spend (he ended up with the best one they had in
stock... a little more than we were planning on spending - but it's neat to
have a stone I think is HUGE instead of nice, and it was his money)
Mieko
8/99??
In article <01bd9024$84f7d9e0$2992edcc@default>, ITR...@prodigy.net says...
thomasjewell...@gmail.com
> Having just started on my search for an engagement ring,
> I'm wondering, are the prices that the stores give you
> the list price? In other words, is it expected that you
> "haggle" on the price as you would for a car?
Cheers,