Jewelry Negotiation Primer

Why Negotiate?

What does a new car, expensive jewelry, and a home have in common?  Their respective transactions all involve a large sum of money... and in any such transaction, it is worth the seller's time to try to "tailor" each deal to maximize the amount of revenue that can be extracted out of every individual buyer.  Economists call this "price discrimination" and it simply means that you will pay more if the salesperson detects:

• strong emotional affinity for the product (e.g. you're in love with a particular ring)
• desperation (e.g. you're planning to propose tomorrow but still don't have the ring)
• price insensitivity (e.g. you're rich),
• lack of education on the purchase at hand.

This primer breaks the negotiation process into three steps:  Preparation, Setting Limits, and Closing the Deal while Keeping your Emotions out of it.  As we describe each step more fully, we will make references to relevant pages on our site.

As you read this primer, keep in mind that you should not approach a jeweler like you might approach your "stereotypical used-car salesman."  Most jewelers depend on word-of-mouth advertising and repeat business to build their clientele, and will therefore treat you fairly.  That being said, there are always unscrupulous dealers in any industry.  Since you are preparing to part with an attractive sum of cash in exchange for jewelry -- something which you may know very little about -- do your homework and be diligent with your purchase.