I hope this doesn''t get me in too much trouble here...
In my efforts to track the ebb and flow of the diamond retail market, which does clearly fluctuate, I''ve been watching PriceScope prices for many months now.
I also have the good forune to be able to wander into the L.A. Jewelry District anytime, where vendors are only too happy to show you the latest Rapaport sheet so they can tell you how much of a discount they''re giving you.
From other sources I''ve been able to glean that PriceScope prices on H&A diamonds and 1A AGA cuts are somewhere between really close to Rapaport and 5-10% over Rapaport. By all accounts, these are the best deals around unless you are buying in quantity.
I know that Rapaport prices come out on Thursday at midnight (I''m assuming that''s NY standard time, which is 9pm Pacific time where I live).
So I did a little test the other day. I printed out the PriceScope stats for a certain range of stones on Thursday, March 13 at 8:30pm PST. Here it is Saturday, March 15 and those prices have not changed one bit. There are no new stones in the rather broad categories I selected and there are no new prices.
Am I too assume this means PriceScope lags considerably behind Rapaport prices? If Rapaport went down yesterday (as I''m guessing it did in several areas), when are we going to see the online vendors bring their prices more in line?
I''ve noticed that once a stone gets a particular $/per carat rating on the internet, that rating sticks over months even if the market for similar stones goes down. It seems that some dealers are willing to mark up if the market goes up, but nobody marks down if the market goes down.
That leads me to believe I''d be better off waiting for new stones to pop up at the lower prices instead of buying an older one at a higher price.
Am I wrong? Am I giving away too much information here?
Maybe somebody can give me a better explanation about why there''s a lag time between Rapaport and PriceScope (I have a few ideas).
In my efforts to track the ebb and flow of the diamond retail market, which does clearly fluctuate, I''ve been watching PriceScope prices for many months now.
I also have the good forune to be able to wander into the L.A. Jewelry District anytime, where vendors are only too happy to show you the latest Rapaport sheet so they can tell you how much of a discount they''re giving you.
From other sources I''ve been able to glean that PriceScope prices on H&A diamonds and 1A AGA cuts are somewhere between really close to Rapaport and 5-10% over Rapaport. By all accounts, these are the best deals around unless you are buying in quantity.
I know that Rapaport prices come out on Thursday at midnight (I''m assuming that''s NY standard time, which is 9pm Pacific time where I live).
So I did a little test the other day. I printed out the PriceScope stats for a certain range of stones on Thursday, March 13 at 8:30pm PST. Here it is Saturday, March 15 and those prices have not changed one bit. There are no new stones in the rather broad categories I selected and there are no new prices.
Am I too assume this means PriceScope lags considerably behind Rapaport prices? If Rapaport went down yesterday (as I''m guessing it did in several areas), when are we going to see the online vendors bring their prices more in line?
I''ve noticed that once a stone gets a particular $/per carat rating on the internet, that rating sticks over months even if the market for similar stones goes down. It seems that some dealers are willing to mark up if the market goes up, but nobody marks down if the market goes down.
That leads me to believe I''d be better off waiting for new stones to pop up at the lower prices instead of buying an older one at a higher price.
Am I wrong? Am I giving away too much information here?
Maybe somebody can give me a better explanation about why there''s a lag time between Rapaport and PriceScope (I have a few ideas).
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