Ma & Pa revisited--different industry

[Colo Springs E]

I know there's been debate here from time to time regarding local guitar shops. We're fortunate here in Colo Springs to have a great local shop that is quite competitive on price, and offers great service (as well as a great "Barber Shop" type environment--a great place to just hang out and shoot the breeze).

Anyhoo...

So I'm diamond shopping for my wife for Christmas. She's dropped major hints that she wants some diamond stud earrings, and frankly, I haven't bought her any really nice jewelry in awhile--she deserves it in a major way. She's hoping for 1/4 carat combined--I wish I could go 1/2 combined, but I just can't swing it. I was looking at 1/4 to 1/3 combined carats initially. I hit literally all the "mall shops" and decided to go to a local downtown business, Zerbe's (or something like that).

Their prices were not even CLOSE to competitive on same or similar size/quality/clarity/color, etc. I mean, not even close--typically double what I was seeing elsewhere for similar-rated diamonds. Example: they had 1/4 carat earrings for $400. I've found 1/4 carat earrings for half that price with the same ratings (I1/I2 clarity, I/J near colorless). I actually found a slightly better-rated 3/8 carat earrings (nearly twice the size!) for the same price--better color, less inclusions. Where? You guessed it, at one of the evil mall shops (Helzbergs in this case). What's worse, is 'the big corporate store' offered better service/guarantee: lifetime on the diamonds and posts as long as you bring in every 6 mos for them to inspect [for free, no less]); the local shop only had a one-year on the diamonds and didn't offer the lifetime warranty for any price! Most of the mall shops also had a 100% upgrade policy if, down the road, you want to trade them on on something at least double the value of your initial purchase; again, the local shop offered no such thing.

I dunno, I really think some small shops--in every industry I guess--just don't get it. I really wanted to buy her earrings from the downtown shop. Had they been remotely competitive on price, I likely wouldv'e bought them there--even without the guarantee. They made it impossible for me to not buy from the bigger chain.

-Eric

[ashtray]

I bought mine at Kohl's department store. They had a sale, as they always do - either 40 or 50% off, and I think we got an extra 15% off b/c we got to pick a day to use that with our new Kohl's charge card. I think it was somewhere around $200 for 1/3 tc? Something like that - nowhere near $400! That's just crazy!

JC Penny's will have sales on diamonds from time to time too.

I used to buy all my stuff for my wife at Kay's - but their prices can be hit or miss if not on sale.

Yeah - local stores I guess just can't compete with volume sales in this case. Really sad. I wonder how they stay in business?

[GlennLewis]

http://www.jewelryexchange.com

Locations alllll over the place, claim to have one in Denver. I've bought "spousal" jewelry through the local one and there isn't a store in the Chicago area that can touch their normal everyday diamond prices.

Anyway, for $400, you can get 1ct studs from these folks, .5ct studs for $199.... and my personal experience is that they are good diamonds, quality mounts, etc. and a heck of a guarantee. And I used to make jewelry so I have no idea what I'm talking about

[Ben Harmless]

With almost zero clue about what I'm talking about, I'll offer my two understandings about diamonds:

1. They've got a huuuuuuge markup. Micro$oft can sell X-boxes at a loss because they want to sell games. Diamonds won't let you do that.

2. Do your homework on diamonds and where they come from. I'm glad you love your wife, but don't let her put rocks in her ears unless you can be sure of what you're doing. This is as close as I ever want to come to a contraversial topic here, though I doubt anyone would argue with me, but I'm going to leave it at that.

[Hey Joe]

I'll second Bens #2 point.

[Mark Davis]

My friend owns a Jewlery store and he says they markup diamonds 1000% thats not a typo.

So when you see 1/2 price sales the store is making alot of $$.

I asked him why the giant markup as most retail stores are happy with a 40% markup.

He said well think about it how often do you make a major ring purchase? I said never cause I dont wear jewlery or am married or in a relationship. He said we dont count on repeat customers so we have to make all our $$ on 1 sale.

[Daddy Elmis]

Let's not forget that the largest cartel in the world, DeBeers, controls something like 60% of the uncut diamond market and controls prices. They were convicted of price fixing in the U.S. in the 1980's and hence have done no direct business in (or stepped foot inside) the U.S. since then. I understand they settled that matter last summer by paying a multi-million dollar fine.

There are lots of experts that will tell you that diamonds are not nearly as scarce as you believe, and that the price is the result of careful market manipulation by the cartel.

[Steve McGinnis]

I bought mine from Bluenile.com on the recomendation from several ladies at work. My wife was pleased and I got better deals than I could locally.

[xStonr]

Know the 4 C's

Carat
Clarity
Color
Cut


http://www.google.com/search?q=4+c%2...visions_inline