Originally Posted by
retailguy
Captain - you are obviously single and destined to stay that way.
Tony,
Here is what I know. Gold/Precious Stones are at least priced at triple keystone. What this means, is that if the jeweler paid $100, then he will sell it for $300. Silver is priced typically at 5 times keystone. Paid $100 then sell for $500. Silver prices are actually quite high right now, so the margin to the end consumer may be suffering a bit, but it is probably no lower than 4 times keystone for non-sale merchandise.
Ok. The larger the jewelry store, the larger the markup. Mall stores and overhead are EXTREMELY expensive. Zales typically offers lower quality stones at the same price as a local jewelers quality stones. Jewelers are like loan sharks. You don't really know if you can trust them, most of the time you cannot. Zales, located in the center court of a decent mall probably pays about $15,000 a month in rent, plus a percentage of sales above a certain "target" amount. When you look at it that way, combined with the sales person who probably works on "straight commission" - good sales person, bad deals, or on a "base salary plus commission" - crummy sales person with little experience & no authority to make deals, getting a "good price" at the mall is going to be difficult.
My advice to your "friend" is to skip the mall store in favor of a small town jeweler that has been in his small town location since time began. Have him talk with his mother, grandmother, aunt, next door neighbor or a friend for a referral. He'll pay about the same or just slightly more than the mall store, get better service and some basis to believe he got what he paid for.
Negotiation is just that, negotiation. It is almost pointless in my opinion, because how do you know that you're getting the stone you think you're getting? Can you look at it and see that it is the clarity/color that you think it is? What keeps the jeweler from swapping the stone in the back room? In my experience, 50 years in business in the same location keeps the jeweler from doing that, and not much else.
Finally, a 50% off sale in the jewelry business approximates the mark up that you pay for most other consumer goods in the marketplace. A 50% off sale is a gimmick designed to move inventory that is becoming stale.
Hope this helps, PM me with details if you wish, and I'll help you further.