Far different styles. I much prefer the simple yet modern style of the classic Tiffany versus the Tacori. The details are intricate but its just TOO much. Way over the top IMO.

 

You really must be a baller to spend $25K on a e-ring....seeing you would spend so much on a ring I'm assuming you have a couple of houses and decent investments.

 

With proper frugality, $25k is certainly doable by a lot of people. What amazes me is the statement that HwangTKD saved up that much in only three months! That's significantly more money than you'd need to finance a $200k F430. I imagine that he's in a position for which a $10k vs $5k loss in case of divorce really doesn't mean anything. He's just looking for a primer on what the diamond industry terminology means.

 

^^^ Which is exactly why I suggested that HwangTKD invest a small portion of his savings in a solid pre-nup agreement.

Andrew

 

Do yourself a favor and take some of that money and make this the most amazing proposal EVER!! the ring will be the ring, she wont know the difference between a $18k ring and a $25k ring, BUT she will definitely know the difference between a proposal in a park and a proposal in a park in Italy with first class flights, opera tickets, 5star hotels, etc. You want to be the ultimate Pimp to ladies and men alike, make her want to brag about the proposal to everyone. trust me, she will tell EVERYONE at any chance you get, and people remember those things. her family will love you, and you will do no wrong in their eyes, (also send her mom flowers after the proposal to thank her for her daughter)

Also, several people with expensive rings dont even wear them, they put them in a safe. How lame is that, kind of like driving a '75 pinto with a bumper sticker that says "my other car is a ferrari"

and dont get a solitaire, for that kind of cash, get something with an intricate band. diamonds are a racket, but see how much longer people look at he ring when the band is decorative (like tacoris)

Dave

In Summary:
1. Less ring, more event
2. Not too much ring
3. Bands matter, solitaires only get a glance.

 

Please look at the income statement for Tiffany Co.


Their profit margin is almost 60% which is almost TWICE their peer group. They aren't just making a couple hundred $$$ on a 1.2c ring

 

Depending on where you go and depending on how much you can "barter"

Lets say we have a Diamond ring that costs $1000

Keystone pricing(3x cost) usually marks that up to $4000 MSRP
Now higher end stores will sell that for probably $3500-$3000
Mid range stores that will work with you more will sell it to you for $2500
Low end stores(assuming you can find or order the same exact ring) will probably mark it up twice and sell it to you for $2000

Of course you can't just subtract cost - sales price to get pure profit, but you get the idea.

My father has been a jeweler for 40 years and I've seen the innerworkings of the business my entire life, not to mention worked in it.

Jewelry sales have always been the "how much is this customer willing to pay" game. Of course with the internet, this has REALLY changed the way jewelry is purchased. Consumers are much better equipped with knowledge and pricing, so that has helped level the playing field.

So what warrants the higher end store selling the ring for top dollar? A whole bunch of things. It could be guarantees, warranty, after service, repair, customer service etc.... Clientele.

The middle shop may not have bought the ring DIRECT from the mfg of the ring, but rather purchased it from a middle man, so they don't deal with owning the dealership but might carry the ring. With dealerships there are all sorts of regulations and policies you are "supposed" to follow. Can't sell it below a certain price etc... So again, might offer support etc. that warrants a better after shopping experience.

The low end shop, MAY OR MAY NOT even have the kind of ring you are looking for. But they may. Most likely it will not be through a direct dealership for that particular ring company(unless its just a generic ring that is mfg at many different places) Again they may have bought it from a wholesaler, and don't care about the brand service as much. They want to sell you a ring and you want to buy it. Other than the ring at a good price, don't expect a lot of freebies from this type of store(cleanings repairs etc...)

Every Jeweler has a bottom line price and they will ALWAYS highball you and gauge your reaction to see if you are really interested. Thus is the art of the deal.(I exclude companies that do not barter) Although even at Movado when I worked there would knock a few thou off a ring if it was pricey enough, and you REALLLLLLY worked the deal, so nothing is impossible. Every company out there needs to make a buck. There are VERY few companies out there that can actually CHARGE keystone pricing and get away with it. But there have usually spent millions on their marketing and brand image to do so.

 

I am only talking in general terms here. Please don't take my statements out of context. Sales, the economy, and pricing structures will change pricing for everything.

I'm talking more in terms of "real" msrp prices

I've sold stuff at a 25-%50%, even occasionally at cost just to clear out old merchandise that had been sitting there for years and free up cash flow. But in order for Jewelers to stay in business they have to count on those big ticket items with high markup to help them increase the bottom line. Thats just the way the industry is run. You'd be surprised just HOW MANY middle men there are in one ring.

This is just an example for a diamond.

The miners mine the stone - charge $10
The cutters cut the stone - charge $20
The polishers polish the stone - Charge $40
The wholesale diamond dealer sells it - $80
The mfg buys it - $160
The mfg sells it to a wholesale jeweler distributor - $320
The distributor sells it for $640
And the jeweler then charges $1280 for it(or more)

This is a very CRUDE example, but you get the picture.

The internet has REALLLLLLY changed this pipeline. I forgot the name of it, but there is ONE diamond wholesaler that has bypassed the "diamond families" to purchase secret partnerships with mines to direct buy the stones, polish mfg and sell the finished stone DIRECT to the consumer. This puts a huge kink in the chain of suppliers, Thus you can understand why the Jewelry industry in all honesty hated the internet. Now they must follow, but profits have really took a nose dive trying to even be competitive with what is available online.

To really try and understand the costs of the jewelry industry, you will open up a can of worms. Its very intricate and has been that way since the start. But the internet again has changed all that.

This post took a more "historical" theme, but hopefully you enjoy the history lesson.

 

Oh and just to let you in on how DeBeers does business.

Not saying that this is how its ALWAYS done. but can be quite often.

If you are a diamond buyer, you will setup a meeting with them, they will offer you three bags of diamonds. Each one having all sorts of cuts sizes clarities, You basically take a best guess and pick the one you think will be most fruitful, As far as I know for the most part they do not negotiate. If they don't like you, they will not sell to you again. Basically screwing you out of a diamond supply (minus the independent mines in Russia, but that only accounts for like 5-10% of all diamond supply) So when you say a Diamond is a diamond. It really is the same thing. Once its certified of course, because in all honesty they probably came from de Beers, or they could be conflict diamonds, but thats a WHOLE other hornets nest. Those little disclaimers at jewelry stores are really BS. Conflict diamonds get passed on from wholesaler to wholesaler to sort of LAUNDER them, that the end retailer has no clue WHERE it came from. But they are really abundantly circulating in jewelry today, there really is no REAL way of knowing the origin, unless it was CLEARLY documentd where that specific diamond came from, which in most cases, doesnt happen.

 

I wasnt talking about Tiffanys profit. I was talking about a 3rd party's profit selling a Tiffany ring that they bought from someone else.