(Closed) What the heck bees! Poll Included..

• mstopknot
• 4 years ago

• Wedding: September 2018

I don’t think it’s them being greedy, that’s just how the open market works. Businesses can charge what they want for the goods and services they provide. Consumers can choose to buy or not. If someone chooses to buy their products, they are not being ripped off, they decided the price was fair and they made the purchase. If the consumer did not think the price was fair, they would not buy the product. You can’t blame the business if people choose not to do their research on what they’re buying.

To answer your question, no, I do not think the chain store will price match an online retailer. Usually the prices are higher because there are other considerations like cleaning, redipping, upgrade options etc. Not to mention the convenience of being able to take your ring in to the store for those things rather than waiting weeks to mail it back and forth. You generally will not get those things out of an e-tailer.

My ring is from a brick and mortar (Shaneco) and part of why we chose them over blue nile or its ilk was because of the exra services they offer. I get free cleanings and repairs for life, they have an awesome upgrade program, and if I have a concern I can talk face-to-face with a real person rather than mailing my ring off and hoping for the best. I also got a great price because I had done my research and looked at tons of diamonds through the loup until I found THE ONE

• skplue
• 4 years ago

• Wedding: January 2016

alamana:  It’s unfair to compare brick and mortar stores to online shops like Blue Nile, etc. Brick and mortar stores will have higher costs of operating, especially because they’re usually located in malls. I’m not sure if you’re familiar, but rent in malls is very expensive. There are also services that mall jewelry stores offer that online stores can’t. My boss had her ring from Kay’s and they’d clean and inspect it for her quite often. Kay’s/ Zales/ other similar stores are very expensive for what you’re getting, but this is also business. It’s the consumer’s responsibility to do research and make sure they’re getting the best deal possible. 

• skplue
• 4 years ago

• Wedding: January 2016

pinuppuddin:  I vote get a used diamond via DiamondBistro/ LoupeTroop/ eBay/ Craigslist/ where ever you can buy a used diamond. That is the best bang for your buck! I’m currently eyeing out an antique diamond on eBay. 🙂 

• skplue
• 4 years ago

• Wedding: January 2016

pinuppuddin:  what shape diamond are you looking for? I’m always looking for used loose diamonds lol. Maybe I’ll find one you might like. 

• skplue
• 4 years ago

• Wedding: January 2016

No problem! I love diamonds and am always looking through pages of eBay listings/ check DB & LT daily. It’s my hobby lol. I also love sharing good deals! If I find anything good and reasonably priced, I’ll let you know!

• alamana
• 4 years ago

My main problem with mall jewelry stores isn’t the fact that they overprice their merchandise (although I don’t love that, I agree with caveat emptor and all that). It’s that they sell crappy low quality jewelry and stones at inflated prices and give really, really bad advice to cover that fact. When I tried rings on in a mall store (can’t remember whether it was Kay or Helz) I was actually working with the regional manager who was there that day and he told me that out of the 4 c’s he doesn’t “pay any attention to cut” because the other 3 c’s are much more important. Well — no they aren’t. Cut is most important … by quite a bit. But those stores don’t tend to sell the diamonds with really wonderful cuts, so that’s what they will tell you. It’s bad business. If I worked in jewelry and told people “I don’t worry about diamond cut — that doesn’t matter,” I wouldn’t be able to respect myself. Especially knowing that people were walking out the door with rings that sparkle like crazy under the jewelry store lights but will never sparkle well again. I’d be willing to bet that there isn’t a diamond in an engagement ring in a mall jewelry store in the entire DC area (which is where I live) that would perform to my standards. But I bet there are a lot of diamonds in engagement rings in mall jewelrey stores around here that would cost more than one that would perform to my standards. 

Yeah, I get it that it is a free country, and people can sell crap for high prices and get away with it. I get it that consumers are lazy and there is a sucker born every minute and all of that — so the stores get away with it. But I don’t have to like it. And FYI, the prices in the b&m stores are not high because of rent overhead — they are high because of the need to hold expensive inventory (which is another reason the diamonds tend to be so crappy in a mall store … you can move cheap diamonds in cheap settings more easily in a mall store as people will wander in and drop $800 on a cluster mess that sparkles like crazy under their lights, but they won’t wander in and drop $40k (unless the b&m is Tiffany, which is a whole other thing)). 

• ilovesophia
• 4 years ago

pinuppuddin:  so I have no love lost for chain stores, and im not beyond thinking they’re “ripping people off” (though I kinda think that about the entire diamond industry..). But I’ll play devils advocate for a moment and say that you haven’t taken into account overhead. Brick and mortar stores have to charge higher prices that online dealers because of overhead – rent, employees, electricity, etc. it adds up! Plus, they often offer things like free lifetime rhodium replating for white gold (which usually costs about $50 from a jeweler) – this isn’t actually “free” but built into the cost of the ring. 

• ilovesophia
• 4 years ago

pinuppuddin:  ahh…i didn’t realize that was part of an extended service plan you had to purchase. i don’t actually have much personal experience with B&M, but a friend’s ring was from Kay and her Darling Husband had said something about lifetime free redipping (we were discussing platinum vs white gold, as i chose a platinum ring partly for this reason), so i took that to be standard. my bad.

like i said, i’m often of the mindset of corporate america trying to f*ck over the consumer the best way they know how 🙂