Hi all,
Have a customer looking purchase an engagement ring with a diamond
in the $20K-30K wholesale range and I’d like to get an idea about
markup. The setting, labor, etc, is all extra, just tring to get an
idea of what a reasonable markup is on diamonds in this price range.
How do most of you mark up the price of larger stones like this?
thanks,
Angelo
looking purchase an engagement ring with a diamond in the $20K-30K wholesale
Well, Angelo, as with all questions about pricing, it’s never that
simple.
I’d like to make around 10% on a sale like that - more if I can get
it. I had a sale like that - they didn’t like the stones so I got one
more. I got it cheaper but didn’t pass on the savings - I priced it
in line with the others. Made $5500 on that one…
In today’s world of cutthroat competition, there’s a prudent thing
to do go to Bluenile.com (your customer is) and find YOUR diamond,
making sure the make is comparable. Then price your stone something
less than them, but still competitive. I use Rap to buy, because I
have to, but I don’t use it to sell.
Melee I price at $1200-$1500/ct for most of it. That’s because I’m
paying $550, maybe $650, more or less, for standard clean goods, and
if I sell a 5 pointer for 60 bucks, I’ll make a whopping $32.50 on
it.
You might want to think that you can price diamonds at will, and
make a huge killing, but you just can’t. Diamonds are everywhere and
there are people who’ll sell that stone for $500 profit…And
customers definately shop.
Some of the last diamonds that I’ve sold, I was not able to mark them
up at all, just pass them along to the customer to get the
opportunity to make the ring. Prior to the internet, I was able to
make 20 to 30% profit on a diamond. Now I’ve found that by the time I
include the tax, which is about 10% here in Tucson, I am non
competitive. I now help my customer pick out his diamond on Bluenile.
A good friend of mine just sold a $30,000 diamond and made $52! That
was a little more than the cost of shipping it in. If you are not a
large diamond buyer, it’s hard to get really good prices. They’ve now
become a commodity.
Kevin Potter
www.potterusa.com