How to buy engagement ring?
Q.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?
A.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! 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.
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