Why is everything so overpriced or horrible selection?

[SparkliesLuver]

Just wanted to pop my head in to post this because it caught my eye.

Montana sapphire
3.60 cts
VVS
Heat only
9mm, depth 5.8mm
$3,995
http://www.gemfix.com/sapphire_montana.html

"Wow! Insanely brilliant yellow Montana sapphire. Lighter and darker yellow splashes around a dark golden-yellow center. Huge! Closest Pantone Color Card: 142C overall."

 

[PrecisionGem]

I think what you are maybe are missing is the much of the retail stone business is on memo. Jewelers can't carry a large inventory of stones, it's too expensive. So when you go back to the store you bought your stone from, they really can't afford to buy it back, even at a wholesale price. So they will offer you a very low price. Normally when you go to your local jeweler looking for a stone, he will have you come back in a few days. What he then does is have a number of stones sent to him on memo to show you. He only pays for the stone once you buy it, the others are sent back. Or what they have in stock, some of it may be on memo. When I lived in Buffalo, I had 3 or 4 stores that I would leave anywhere from 6 to 20 stones with on memo. These would would display or show to customers, and once sold, I would get paid.
It's a strange business, but we are dealing with items that often take a long time to sell, and cost quite a bit, so it's different than more common consumer goods. The store has overhead, and the owner also needs to make some profit.

Yes, if somebody has 10 stones for sale as a side business or hobby the margin does not matter much. It is like a garage sale online.

A professional company with 1000 gems online has several millions in $ value sitting there, waiting. This is necessary so that people can actually find what they search but it is expensive for the seller.

Unless you buy dozens of stones at one time it is RETAIL at retail prices. Totally normal.

Ed I kind of take offense being classified as an online garage sale, rather than a professional company.

While you have a large inventory of cut stones, I have a large inventory of rough stones. My cut stones sell fast, so you don't see them as inventory, but it's there in rough.

 

[T L]

Another thing you may not be thinking of, is that these "cheapskate" jewelers, are covering the cost of shipping the stones in for you to look at, and also sending the ones or all of them back. Then if you select a stone, and during the setting process something goes wrong and the stone is damaged, you are still not paying anything.

I think a 5x mark up is not found very often in retail stones, unless maybe you are talking about very small stones that cost just around 1 dollar.

Goldstein, are you sure you don't have these jewelers confused with lawyers?

I believe some high end designers charge way more than 5x markup. When you see stores like Tiffany sell a citrine ring in a plain gold setting for $1800, this is really marked up IMO. Gene, you set more reasonable and fair pricing. How much do you think Tiffany paid for making this ring? The stone is maybe worth $25 tops, and so you're paying mainly for the cost of the gold setting.

http://www.tiffany.com/Shopping/Item.aspx?fromGrid=1&sku=GRP02201&mcat=&cid=&search_params=p+1-n+10000-c+-s+1-r+-t+citrine-ni+1-x+-lr+-hr+-ri+-mi+-pp+0+2&search=1&origin=search&searchkeyword=citrine&selectedsku=24033147

However, these high end designers have a lot more overhead than you do, marketing and advertising, as well as paying their employees, designers, manufacturers, and rent on their expensive properties, is not cheap. You're also paying for the "name," which many retailers don't have. Therefore, there are many reasons for the high markup. I personally do not shop at places like that because I don't want to pay for all of that, but I understand that some people like paying for a "name" and/or a designer, and that's their prerogative.

I would say that almost every vendor that posts on this board has reasonable and fair pricing, not all, but most. It's not hard to find a fair price on a spinel for example, but it's hard to find the quality that used to be out there several years ago. I however do not fault vendors for wanting to make a profit, and again, with education, you can tell if you're paying a fair price.

 

[pregcurious]

As a collector, I'll frequent all sites that have quality stones, but I enjoy sites the most that have a smaller selection with higher quality stones and images.

 

[arkieb1]

Dude, it's called Ebay. When you get ripped off blind from a vendor that doesn't speak English then you will better appreciate what the service component you are paying for is from trusted vendors. If you want a bargain then you have to be able to take risks not be risk adverse.....

 

[pregcurious]

So this is where the action is?..I must visit the CS forum more often...

The action is definitely here.

 

[PrecisionGem]

TL that's true. I was thinking more in line with the independent jeweler. These are the people I have experience with, and I don't see them getting that high a mark up.
It becomes clouded once the stone is set. Who is to say what portion of the price is the stone, the setting, the design? A place like Tiffany's needs a higher price, just look at the overhead... the guy opening the door, the men in black suits looking like CIA agents, the elaborate decor. If they got rid of all that, their prices could be lower, but then some people want to see all that, and are willing to pay for it along with the little blue box.

 

[bobsiv]

I don't really get why a retail customer would expect to have access to wholesale pricing. I guess the question is why does wholesale pricing exist?

From my experience as a very small scale gem cutter, my 'wholesale' jeweler clients are, if not invaluable, well worth the 25-50% discount that I give them. Marketing to general consumers is very expensive, time-consuming, and slow to develop.

Every sale to a new client requires building a new relationship. Sometimes that's fun and the client is easy to work with. Sometimes it's miserable. There's a lot less risk with an established professional client, he knows what to expect from me and I know what he's expecting to get. I don't have to worry about returns, endless questions, requests for more pictures, possible scams, etc.

Having wholesale clients allows me to focus on what I like to do; adding value to a rough stone by cutting it. I imagine the situation is very similar from the jeweler's perspective.

As for pricing, gems are a volatile market. I don't think the term 'overpriced' really applies. A gem is 'worth' what someone is willing to pay at a given time. The prices you see are a reflection of that. Just because that price may be more than you're willing to pay, doesn't make it overpriced. If you are saying that prices were less in the past and you expect them to be less in the future, then I think 'overvalued' might be a better term. There's no worldwide collusion of jewelers to inflate prices (outside of the diamond market), what you see is a response to the market demand.

 

[deskjockey]

As for pricing, gems are a volatile market. I don't think the term 'overpriced' really applies. A gem is 'worth' what someone is willing to pay at a given time. The prices you see are a reflection of that. Just because that price may be more than you're willing to pay, doesn't make it overpriced.

I think this is super important. I'm a relative newbie and don't have any super-expensive or high end stones. But the way I see the market is that a really nice big sapphire being out of my reach is just the way it is. We're dealing with something where the value is subjective, and it's a totally luxury/unnecessary item. I'm willing to call someone a parasite if there's a drought and they monopolize a water source and charge $100/gallon for it. But a pretty stone that came out of the ground? The fact that we assign any value at all is sort of silly, if you think about it.

I think the markups for retail or from jewelers aren't a big deal - IMO, they have additional costs and work to do, and like it or not their TIME is worth money as much as the goods are worth money. If you don't want to deal with markups, then you have to work harder and smarter to get what you want, be prepared to wait, and be prepared to make sacrifices.

The fact that something costs more than you want to pay sucks, but it's not "unfair" or indicative that people are being leeches.

 

[pregcurious]

I don't really get why a retail customer would expect to have access to wholesale pricing. I guess the question is why does wholesale pricing exist?

From my experience as a very small scale gem cutter, my 'wholesale' jeweler clients are, if not invaluable, well worth the 25-50% discount that I give them. Marketing to general consumers is very expensive, time-consuming, and slow to develop.

Every sale to a new client requires building a new relationship. Sometimes that's fun and the client is easy to work with. Sometimes it's miserable. There's a lot less risk with an established professional client, he knows what to expect from me and I know what he's expecting to get. I don't have to worry about returns, endless questions, requests for more pictures, possible scams, etc.

Having wholesale clients allows me to focus on what I like to do; adding value to a rough stone by cutting it. I imagine the situation is very similar from the jeweler's perspective.

As for pricing, gems are a volatile market. I don't think the term 'overpriced' really applies. A gem is 'worth' what someone is willing to pay at a given time. The prices you see are a reflection of that. Just because that price may be more than you're willing to pay, doesn't make it overpriced. If you are saying that prices were less in the past and you expect them to be less in the future, then I think 'overvalued' might be a better term. There's no worldwide collusion of jewelers to inflate prices (outside of the diamond market), what you see is a response to the market demand.

Stated so well.

 

[T L]

The fact that something costs more than you want to pay sucks, but it's not "unfair" or indicative that people are being leeches.

Right, but this is why education is so very important because some jewelers, not all, do take advantage of the novice buyer, and they sell at obscene prices. I think most of us here are too intelligent to be taken in by such dealers. We do owe a lot to our education on this consumer forum, because without it, myself included, many have been taken advantage of by seedy dealers.

Unlike a car, television, or even a white diamonds, colored stone pricing is very complex, and it's up to the consumer most of the time to make sure they're not being taken advantage of, which is why this subforum exists.

 

[deskjockey]

The fact that something costs more than you want to pay sucks, but it's not "unfair" or indicative that people are being leeches.

Right, but this is why education is so very important because some jewelers, not all, do take advantage of the novice buyer, and they sell at obscene prices. I think most of us here are too intelligent to be taken in by such dealers. We do owe a lot to our education on this consumer forum, because without it, myself included, many have been taken advantage of by seedy dealers.

Unlike a car, television, or even a white diamonds, colored stone pricing is very complex, and it's up to the consumer most of the time to make sure they're not being taken advantage of, which is why this subforum exists.

This is certainly true, too, but I feel like in this case, the education is there, suggestions have been made, and nothing seems to be good/cheap enough and there is rather a broad brush being used against all "retail vendors."

I see this sort of thing all the time in the horse world, and have even been on the end of being accused of being a "parasite" (though not those exact words) for selling a young lightly trained horse that someone could have gotten for free a few months before (never mind that the asking price was still less than the amount invested in the animal, oh no, it was horribly unfair and how dare we mark things up so much? Us getting the horse for free and marking it up made us horrible people, despite ulcer treatment costing $1k, special shoeing, and hours of intro training! All for something that is most definitely a luxury with subjective value, LOL)

This kind of stuff really is everywhere, but if I'm going to call anybody out on it, I'll call out mattress salesmen before I call out jewelers, LOL.

 

[movie zombie]

They might not buy it upfront. A successful jeweller, even a relatively small operation, will move tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Why would a wholesaler want to deal with hundreds of people buying one stone a piece when they could deal with one retailer buying hundreds of stones?

The second point that needs to be made is that wholesalers do not want to deal with the general public for security reasons. The gem trade is dangerous. The jewellers assume the risk (not to mention the hassle) of dealing directly with the public. It would be incredibly dangerous to allow members of the general public into a wholesalers place of business where millions of dollars worth of gemstones are being passed around. Many won't even sell to jewellers they don't know without industry references.

ETA: It is not industry practice to mark up x5. I don't know where you are getting that from. A jeweller's margins are actually pretty thin. That's why so many have struggled with the recession.

Them not buying it upfront is exactly the problem I have with Jewelers. They order it on your behalf and than charge a commission in reality.

When you go to Walmart, everything is already stocked and owned by Walmart, not their suppliers. You are buying from them LONG after they took ownership of it - they are not a third-party agent buying on the behalf of a customer and charging 2-5 times the original price.

The Jeweler never takes ownership of the merchandise - because as soon as you order, they order to fulfill it. They are just salespeople and agents working on your behalf towards the actual seller - the wholesalers.

The 5X markup was for high-end designer brand jewelers like Tiffanys & Cartier. (I know they own their own mines)...

Sometimes the mark-up can 50%, sometimes just double. But 3X markup is not unheard of it at all and can go as high as 5X.

Many Jewelers switch gemstones upon setting. Not all but plenty enough to not trust them ever fully. They give inaccurate appraisals to uneducated customers to misrepresent the value.

wholesalers do not want to deal with the general public for security reasons. - Anything dealing with very valuable merchandise will attract thieves and crooks. That's just the nature of the business.

If robbers and thieves want to target wholesalers... with enough planning, they can and nothing will stop them except law enforcement which can sometimes fail.

But yes, you are right on that point.

The gem trade is very dangerous and you are guaranteed to be robbed unless you are right next to a police station. In which case, you'd have some pretty dumb crooks...

so go buy your jewelry at WalMart.

 

[digdeep]

Popcorn, please! As you get older (or watch gemstone pricing) you will discover that nothing stays the same as it once was..............

 

[markus71]

Okay, I cannot resist. This post has pulled me out of 7 years of lurkdom!

First, I have heard this “rip-off retailer” argument one too many times. Before Wal-Mart, small retail businesses were the American Way, and not viewed with automatic suspicion, everyone just made a living. This is still the case in most situations, its just that in the past 2 decades or so we have been trained to always look for the best price (never pay retail!), even if that means supporting a foreign economy and not local businesses who actually contribute tax dollars to our community. Whatever.

I owned a retail store, not jewelry, but a kids resale. Most of my items came from parents. I guess I would be considered a parasitic leech as well because I marked up everything double. (The horror!) A few parents felt they were being ripped off, “Hey, you are only giving me $50 for this and you are going to sell it for $100, that’s not fair!” (Their other option was to sell it themselves on Craigslist or have a yard sale, which I always told them they were welcome to do. Of course, both things took a whole lot more effort than coming to me and getting cash.)
After hearing this accusation several times, I sat down and did the math, because I am analytical.
If the item actually sold for $100 (not always), here is how my $50 ‘profit’ broke down:
$18 for Uncle Sam
$22 for ridiculously high retail space rent, insurance, utilities, and a one day a week employee when it was busy
$10 for me. The greedy parasite.
With that $10 I had to pay for my own healthcare, mortgage, and put food on the table and buy shoes for my kids. Forget college funds, retirement accounts or any frills. Yet, being a “store owner” I was the ‘fat cat’ taking advantage of people –people who went home with an effortless tax-free $50. Greedy? You do the math, on $100k of annual receipts, what was my net? $10k and that is not a typo. Ha, sold that business.
Maybe this example is not a jewelry store, but this is what 50% markup leaves you in small business America.

Second: No one is even suggesting you buy a loose colored stone from a retail jeweler, so why do you keep harping on that? This forum would not exist if we all believed in buying stones from retail jewelry stores.
“TL” and others put a lot of effort into making a list of gemstone dealers, here on this very forum, many of whom are gemcutters, not retail jewelers!
If you don’t see what you are dreaming of, why don’t you go to Tucson in February? After buying airfare, paying the jacked up gem show hotel rates and wandering through hundreds of shows for 2 weeks, you might get lucky and find exactly what you are looking for, wholesale! Of course by then, the price will reflect your overhead as well…

 

[T L]

Some people on this forum refer to the mall jewelers as "maul jewelers" who jack up prices and supposedly sell crap too, but I have defended them. Some of them actually have great sales, and while I wouldn't buy a gemstone from them (not enough selection for me, too many synthetics and undisclosed treatments), I do think some of their settings, sans the treated or synthetic gem, are very good deals from time to time. Therefore, I think we all need to realize there is a lot to consumer education. It's not the fault of the retailer that they have to make a markup to support themselves, that's understandable, but consumers have to protect themselves as well.

 

[movie zombie]

welcome, markus71!
lurking for 7 years?!
you picked the right thread to chime in on, imo.

 

[MJO]

To the OP. What do you do for a living? I am assuming you personally do not have a job or business or are the main provider to support your family.

 

[chrono]

This feels like deja-vu although the threads in the past were not as contentious.

Simply put,
1. Fine quality gems are getting fewer to the point where treatment is now more common to make them more saleable.
2. Demand is very high in Asia, so the focus is there and the buyers are willing to pay a lot of money for them.
3. Yes, some jewellers have a ridiculous markup but some don't. It is unfair to say all jewellers are sharks. Some truly provide a service and not all customers have the interest or time to do research on gems and jewellery. As Kenny says, people vary. Jewellers have a good bit of overhead to cover from rental of the property (higher rental for prime areas), personnel salary (higher salaries for better trained employees), marketing, utilities, insurance and the like.

 

[minousbijoux]

They might not buy it upfront. A successful jeweller, even a relatively small operation, will move tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Why would a wholesaler want to deal with hundreds of people buying one stone a piece when they could deal with one retailer buying hundreds of stones?

The second point that needs to be made is that wholesalers do not want to deal with the general public for security reasons. The gem trade is dangerous. The jewellers assume the risk (not to mention the hassle) of dealing directly with the public. It would be incredibly dangerous to allow members of the general public into a wholesalers place of business where millions of dollars worth of gemstones are being passed around. Many won't even sell to jewellers they don't know without industry references.

ETA: It is not industry practice to mark up x5. I don't know where you are getting that from. A jeweller's margins are actually pretty thin. That's why so many have struggled with the recession.

Them not buying it upfront is exactly the problem I have with Jewelers. They order it on your behalf and than charge a commission in reality.

When you go to Walmart, everything is already stocked and owned by Walmart, not their suppliers. You are buying from them LONG after they took ownership of it - they are not a third-party agent buying on the behalf of a customer and charging 2-5 times the original price.

The Jeweler never takes ownership of the merchandise - because as soon as you order, they order to fulfill it. They are just salespeople and agents working on your behalf towards the actual seller - the wholesalers.

The 5X markup was for high-end designer brand jewelers like Tiffanys & Cartier. (I know they own their own mines)...

Sometimes the mark-up can 50%, sometimes just double. But 3X markup is not unheard of it at all and can go as high as 5X.

Many Jewelers switch gemstones upon setting. Not all but plenty enough to not trust them ever fully. They give inaccurate appraisals to uneducated customers to misrepresent the value.

wholesalers do not want to deal with the general public for security reasons. - Anything dealing with very valuable merchandise will attract thieves and crooks. That's just the nature of the business.

If robbers and thieves want to target wholesalers... with enough planning, they can and nothing will stop them except law enforcement which can sometimes fail.

But yes, you are right on that point.

The gem trade is very dangerous and you are guaranteed to be robbed unless you are right next to a police station. In which case, you'd have some pretty dumb crooks...

Okay, I remember you now! You came a few years ago with the same diatribe. You're right. We can all learn so much from your wisdom.

 

[distracts]

I think a 5x mark up is not found very often in retail stones, unless maybe you are talking about very small stones that cost just around 1 dollar.

Goldstein, are you sure you don't have these jewelers confused with lawyers?

If he wants to find a 5x markup, look at almost ANY clothing store... it seems that 60-70% sales are built into the pricing model and that still leaves a store with a good amount of profit. I worked at a high-end clothing store in college, and items were marked up ten to twenty times over what they were purchased wholesale from the designer for.

If you don’t see what you are dreaming of, why don’t you go to Tucson in February? After buying airfare, paying the jacked up gem show hotel rates and wandering through hundreds of shows for 2 weeks, you might get lucky and find exactly what you are looking for, wholesale! Of course by then, the price will reflect your overhead as well…

As for pricing, gems are a volatile market. I don't think the term 'overpriced' really applies. A gem is 'worth' what someone is willing to pay at a given time. The prices you see are a reflection of that. Just because that price may be more than you're willing to pay, doesn't make it overpriced. If you are saying that prices were less in the past and you expect them to be less in the future, then I think 'overvalued' might be a better term. There's no worldwide collusion of jewelers to inflate prices (outside of the diamond market), what you see is a response to the market demand.

Wait, you're saying market forces determine the prices of goods?? I AM APPALLED BY THIS.

 

[GregS]

This is an obvious troll job, why this has been allowed to go on this long befuddles me.

 

[Sunstorm]

Wow, there are so many wrong assumptions here OP, the worst thing is when someone thinks they know everything about a field and a topic and in fact they know a bit but do not know most and make horribly erroneous assumptions.

I work with jewelers in a city that is incredibly expensive. In downtown not only rent is crazy but a jeweler has to pay hundreds of thousands of euros for a top spot and pay this up front when opening a business. Costs are crazy and yes many are struggling especially when building up a business nowadays. They have to pay for insurance and comply with their requirements which may mean another hundred thousand euros for security. Doing interior design in the store, safe, employees, stock costs are incredibly high in this field even when certain things like most stones are on consignment. After having such expenses do they not deserve something on consignment when the honest ones will work passionately with customers and spend countless hours with them to provide the best service and value for their money?

I tell you also that it is very offensive to suggest that they are parasites. I know of one recent case when we searched high and low for weeks for a customer which involved tons of work and only ended up with the customer buying something else. It happens and you can call it time and energy thrown out the window but it is truly not if you love what you do as these are all learning experiences. Many jewelers do love their profession and value their customers and want to provide the best quality in products and services too.

The markups you are mentioning are very very far from the truth even in this very expensive city I am talking about. I have no idea where you got the idea that markup on stones is 2 to 5 times. Maybe 2 times from the mine as rough? Is that what you meant or can you base what you are saying on evidence? Even higher end honest jewelry stones usually have a markup that is only a fraction of what you are talking about. Ok, maybe some mall stores do what you are talking about, there will be dishonest jewelers too and obviously big brands use higher markeups but I do not believe that most honest businesses do, at least not where I work and not the people I know. There can be so much customer service involved and the services of professionals with expensive degrees are required and the price depends on that too, obviously for special orders where weeks or months or work is involved with many, many consultations, research, modifications, searching for a stone, a gemologist, a goldsmith, sales people, the customer may end up paying 2 x, however, in my experience this is not true for stock items as most I know really only make a healthy and very honest profit but you cannot expect jewelers to work for nothing either and to make such a gigantic initial investment and not want to get anywhere and starve.

True that there are brick and mortar jewelers who dirty the reputation of the good ones but there are rotten apples on every tree, perhaps you had a bad experience or not sure why you are making such generalizations. I wish I could buy my designer clothes or shoes at wholesale, now there is a huge markup there. Of course the best scenario is when you work in the gem and jewelry trade and your favorite things are gems and jewelry but this does not mean you will not pay a huge markup on other items you enjoy especially when we are talking luxury products and believe me the markup there will not be as little as the one charged on stones.

 

[Marlow]

Me too - I reported concern but nothing happened.

 

[OreoRosies86]

This is an obvious troll job, why this has been allowed to go on this long befuddles me.

Right?!

 

[Dioptase]

This is an obvious troll job, why this has been allowed to go on this long befuddles me.

Entertainment?

 

[chrono]

Marlow,
The OP has not broken any rules, although some of it might have skirted close.

I, for one, would like this thread to stay, as it highlights the reality of the gem business in that it isn't as easy or straightforward as it seems on the surface.

 

[canuk-gal]

Marlow,
The OP has not broken any rules, although some of it might have skirted close.

I, for one, would like this thread to stay, as it highlights the reality of the gem business in that it isn't as easy or straightforward as it seems on the surface.

+1.

cheers--Sharon

 

[pyramid]

I am glad this thread went on. I have really learned a lot from it. Great thread explaining the industry from professionals and pricescopers who replied to Goldsteins posts. I think this thread should be a sticky.

 

[aviastar]

Add another layer to the difference between wholesale and retail: taxes. If you paid sales tax ( or should pay a sales tax on internet purchases to your own state) you did NOT buy wholesale. Retailers are set up to collect any applicable state and federal taxes, wholesales are not because they do not sell to an end user. If the wholesales started working directly with the public they would have to start collecting taxes, and trust me, no one wants to be responsible for this part! You, technically, need a federal tax id number to purchase wholesale specifically to prevent people from dodging taxes. The retailer does assume a cost, in admin time, to collect and report those taxes, so it's a net loss for them.

As to value added, yes the brick and mortar jeweler DOES add value- at a minimum they provide a roof, four walls, usually a comfy seat, a microscope, lights, for you to see and interact with a stone before paying a dime for it and without necessitating you travel to do so. They assume the shipping costs, both the first round, and back home if you choose to walk away. The trust a wholesaler needs to send the stone without payment cannot be built up over a single transaction, so even if they will send it to you for inspection and have a generous return policy, you're out the full purchase price while you investigate. A jeweler also has contacts, more value added! Wholesalers sometimes maintain a web presence, but not actually all that often; a jeweler will have multiple sources he can call if the first does not have something to fit your needs.

Hopefully, a b&m also has a GG on site, especially for the less educated consumer, but also so an educated consumer can have an intelligent conversation about what they are seeing. Gemological equipment, an actual idea of current market forces, opinions on whether that inclusion makes setting more difficult. I know many local places don't have this, but mine certainly does!

Okay, I cannot resist. This post has pulled me out of 7 years of lurkdom!

First, I have heard this “rip-off retailer” argument one too many times. Before Wal-Mart, small retail businesses were the American Way, and not viewed with automatic suspicion, everyone just made a living. This is still the case in most situations, its just that in the past 2 decades or so we have been trained to always look for the best price (never pay retail!), even if that means supporting a foreign economy and not local businesses who actually contribute tax dollars to our community. Whatever.

I owned a retail store, not jewelry, but a kids resale. Most of my items came from parents. I guess I would be considered a parasitic leech as well because I marked up everything double. (The horror!) A few parents felt they were being ripped off, “Hey, you are only giving me $50 for this and you are going to sell it for $100, that’s not fair!” (Their other option was to sell it themselves on Craigslist or have a yard sale, which I always told them they were welcome to do. Of course, both things took a whole lot more effort than coming to me and getting cash.)
After hearing this accusation several times, I sat down and did the math, because I am analytical.
If the item actually sold for $100 (not always), here is how my $50 ‘profit’ broke down:
$18 for Uncle Sam
$22 for ridiculously high retail space rent, insurance, utilities, and a one day a week employee when it was busy
$10 for me. The greedy parasite.
With that $10 I had to pay for my own healthcare, mortgage, and put food on the table and buy shoes for my kids. Forget college funds, retirement accounts or any frills. Yet, being a “store owner” I was the ‘fat cat’ taking advantage of people –people who went home with an effortless tax-free $50. Greedy? You do the math, on $100k of annual receipts, what was my net? $10k and that is not a typo. Ha, sold that business.
Maybe this example is not a jewelry store, but this is what 50% markup leaves you in small business America.

Second: No one is even suggesting you buy a loose colored stone from a retail jeweler, so why do you keep harping on that? This forum would not exist if we all believed in buying stones from retail jewelry stores.
“TL” and others put a lot of effort into making a list of gemstone dealers, here on this very forum, many of whom are gemcutters, not retail jewelers!
If you don’t see what you are dreaming of, why don’t you go to Tucson in February? After buying airfare, paying the jacked up gem show hotel rates and wandering through hundreds of shows for 2 weeks, you might get lucky and find exactly what you are looking for, wholesale! Of course by then, the price will reflect your overhead as well…

As a small business owner, THANK YOU!