Help on engagement ring costs

74jax

Ok, following on from my post earlier today.

My OH and I are now pricing rings, I would like to email the online companies asking for their best price on whichever ring I like.

My OH believes the price stated on website is the actual price.

I am being silly to think we can negotiate down the price?

johannalf88

You can negotiate - H2B did on mine! It is probably easier to ask for more for less. For example my diamond is 10% bigger, so meant to be around 20% more, but H2B said he would only pay 10% more. This was a different situation (he put in the order then they couldn't fulfil it), but it shows that they can be flexible.

LEJC

Check with some of the casback sites like quidco or topcash...online retailers will sometime hook up with them and offer discounts of typically 5-10%

USM

You may have more luck in person at places such as Hatton Garden or Birmingham's similar area.

I recently bought an engagement ring in Hatton Garden and within an hour of walking in the door had bought their starting price down by £2,500 so haggling really does exist.

zoeisababe

blinking heck USM! WELL DONE!

wanna shop for mine?! LOL

rach27184

My h2b haggled! Got £100 off - nowhere near as good as USM!!! Wow!!! Go for it!!!

74jax

OH's feelings are that if we ask for their 'best price' then we have to buy it at whatever price they come back with.

I was trying to explain they will have a profit margin and if they are willing to reduce they will, we don't have to take what they come back with, but he really didn't feel comfortable doing this. At all.

He said I could if I wanted, but doing all the negotitaions over the cost of my engagement ring, isn't really how I had planned looking for a ring.

So, we have submitted 2 ring ideas to Samara James and they are getting back to him with costs and he is deciding from the that whether to go ahead or not. So fingers crossed.

LEJC

We are probably all too British with our attitudes to haggling and asking for the best price...and its probably not how you imagined buying a ring but my thought is "if you dont ask you dont get..."and as long as you arn't offended when the retailer says theres no further movement on price then thats fine...look on it that if you can save 10% on every £300 spent then thats a bottle of champagne to celebrate with....

74jax

LEJC wrote: »

We are probably all too British with our attitudes to haggling and asking for the best price...and its probably not how you imagined buying a ring but my thought is "if you dont ask you dont get..."and as long as you arn't offended when the retailer says theres no further movement on price then thats fine...look on it that if you can save 10% on every £300 spent then thats a bottle of champagne to celebrate with....

I agree with that principle too, but I was an estate agents for 10 years and a banking advisor for 2 years, definately have more of a 'sales drive' in me than he has :rotfl:

Idiophreak

I'd also recommend going to a place with a bunch of jewellers to play off against each other. I went to the jewellery quarter in Brum to get my wedding ring...

First place I went to, £400
Next place, £360
Next place, £350
Next place, £340
Next place, £310
Last place £280

That was 6 jewellers, there are 400 there to choose from, so I can't imagine how little I could have gotten the thing for if I'd been prepared to go round every one.

I also didn't exactly have to play "hardball" or anything. I walked in, said "I want your best price for X, Y and Z, please" - and waited for the number. Most asked what the best price I'd had so far was...

The last place offered £300 originally and I got him down a little, offering to pay up front, there and then...It's really nothing to be scared of.

In contrast, when I bought the OH's engagement ring from Tiffany, I asked about negotiation and was told flat out that they don't do it, end of. So it definitely depends where you shop

USM

Identical experience with Tiffany - I politely excused myself and never looked back.

People buy them though and it just shows the power of brand advertising. A colleague of mine bought his fiance's ring from Tiffany and paid more than I did but ended up with a smaller stone of lesser quality - crazy but well done to Tiffany for a successful marketing business!