Value vs. Price -- It’s all smoke and mirrors

Purchasing jewelry is not like buying a TV.  When you purchase a TV you shop around, read reviews and see how many stars a particular TV receives.  When the research is done and you’ve decided on the TV you want, the process is pretty simple.  Search around to see who’s offering the lowest price and buy.

No matter where you end up purchasing your TV, you know you are getting the same TV with the same features and spec’s.  Jewelry, on the other hand, is the complete opposite, no two diamonds, colored gemstones or even the craftsmanship are exactly alike.  In the TV example, the manufacturer sets the retail price and it’s the same price for all TV of that model.  In the jewelry business, however, the individual retailer sets not only determines the retail price but also the quality (features and spec’s as in the TV example)

Let’s imagine a TV retailer buying a $200.00 model TV with a retail price of $400.00 and marketing it up three times over the retail price, $1,200.00 and offering it at 50% off or only $600.00, what a savings the reality is you can buy that TV from an honest vendor for $400.00 retail and likely get another 20% off.   The reason you don’t get scammed on a deal like this is because you can tell it’s the same TV.  You can apply this scenario to almost any retail product, except jewelry.

Did you ever wonder why there are so many jewelry stores in the mall?  (Most of which are owned by one company, Signet Jewelers based in the U.K.)  They can survive, for this reason, they take a diamond that cost $200 and place a tag on it for any price they’d like, let’s say $1,500.00.  Next, they put it on sale, (Think about it, have you ever been to a mall jewelry store that wasn’t having a sale?)  Sale price is 50% off and today only get another 20% off the 50% off price, what a deal!  That’s $750.00 less 20%, net $600.00.

Assuming the quality is the same, (Which you’ll never know because nearly all jewelry customers can’t tell one diamond from another) you’d likely be able to buy that same item from an independent jewelry store in your town for $400.00 to $500.00.  The buyer must beware, I have said this for years and it’s always been true, “when it comes to buying jewelry, you get what you pay for” Whether it’s online, on a cruise or in the mall, no one is giving jewelry away.

In almost every case you get better value for every dollar spent when dealing with a trusted local jewelry who has a vested interest in treating fairly the people in the community in which they live.