Finding Jewelry
Best Buys
Buying jewelry is
often a major investment, and the key to finding a best buy in jewelry is to
know the correct value of the piece in question.
The most accurate
method of establishing value is through an appraisal from an independent
gemologist preferably certified by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).
Such appraisals are usually given as "Suggested List Retail" being the price the
vendor should be asking for the piece. Their wholesale cost will vary between
30% and 60% of the above figure, so they may have room to come down on the price
to close the sale.
It is quite all
right to dicker the price of a piece of jewelry down to the minimum the vendor
is willing to get. Keep in mind that, if their asking price is already close to
wholesale, there is little room to reduce the price any further. Beware of
advertised prices of "50% off". A few years ago a large department store chain
was charged with fraud for offering 50% off jewelry on which they had doubled
the price. They escaped prosecution by showing that this was a common practice
among jewelry vendors. And it still is!
Prices can vary
greatly on similar items from vendor to vendor. So, lacking an independent
appraisal, you should at least shop around and compare prices on items of
similar quality.
See our page on Diamond Grading to understand more about this subject.
Gemstone and
diamond quality is a major factor in calculating the accurate value of a piece
of jewelry. Get a detailed receipt giving materials, weights and number of
stones, sizes and quality. Also get a money back guarantee if returned within a
reasonable period so that you can have the jewelry appraised by an independent
appraiser. If you find that you were overcharged, it may not have been
intentional. You’d be surprised at the number of pricing mistakes vendors can
make.
The more you learn
about jewelry values, the better buys you will find. A good book to own and
study is JEWELRY & GEMS, The Buying Guide by Matlins and Bonanno
published by Gemstone Press.
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