Why is this stone so expensive?

[iLander]

I don''t understand why this Tourmaline ring on costco.com is so expensive. I''ve always thought of tourmaline as an inexpensive stone compared to spinels and such. What am I missing? Is this color rare or something?

http://www.costco.com Search tourmaline.

Tourmaline & Diamond Ring
18kt White Gold
Only One Available
IGI Value $5,235
Item # 495432
$3,199.99

# Metal: 18kt White Gold
# Tourmaline Shape: Cushion
# Tourmaline Color: Brownish Orange
# Tourmaline Weight: Approximately 5.90 ct
# Total Diamond Weight: .37 ctw

 

[lelser]

Some tourmaline is less expensive than some spinel. You can''t generalize about pricing, though. This is a good sized stone in a popular color (I sell these sunset coloured tourms almost as fast as I cut them.) The price seems pretty reasonable to me for retail.

Cheers,

Lisa

 

[T L]

Date: 5/27/2010 10:22:28 AM
Author:iLander

I don''t understand why this Tourmaline ring on costco.com is so expensive. I''ve always thought of tourmaline as an inexpensive stone compared to spinels and such. What am I missing? Is this color rare or something?

http://www.costco.com Search tourmaline.

Tourmaline & Diamond Ring
18kt White Gold
Only One Available
IGI Value $5,235
Item # 495432
$3,199.99

# Metal: 18kt White Gold
# Tourmaline Shape: Cushion
# Tourmaline Color: Brownish Orange
# Tourmaline Weight: Approximately 5.90 ct
# Total Diamond Weight: .37 ctw

Brown tourmaline should not be so expensive, but Costco is a retailer (regardless of what they want you to think), so you''re always going to be paying a lot more money than the great deals that Pricescopers usually get with online lapidaries and other vendors. Many retailers (not all) take advantage of the novice gem buyer, and most people think they are getting some fabulous rare gem just because they''re spending thousands. Costco by my house has an overly dark sapphire with an IGI that doesn''t get specific at all about treatment. It''s in a halo of teeny tiny melee, and nothing special. They want $28K for it.

Ridiculous.

 

[Liane]

That ring is so expensive because Costco thinks they''ll be able to find someone willing to pay that price for it.

That''s really all there is to it. If you were worried that you were missing something inherently awesome about that stone or setting, don''t worry, you aren''t. It is a biggish stone but IMO nothing special (and actually kind of bleh, in my personal estimation -- I''m not a big fan of browny tourms).

 

[T L]

Date: 5/27/2010 11:36:25 AM
Author: Liane
That ring is so expensive because Costco thinks they'll be able to find someone willing to pay that price for it.

That's really all there is to it. If you were worried that you were missing something inherently awesome about that stone or setting, don't worry, you aren't. It is a biggish stone but IMO nothing special (and actually kind of bleh, in my personal estimation -- I'm not a big fan of browny tourms).

Exactly!!

Also IGI is infamous in the trade as giving overly ridiculous appraisal values. The fact that this gem is a couple thousand less than the overly inflated appraisal value, shows it's overpriced big time. This is nothing new in the trade though. Many retailers want to do enormous markups to get a huge profit margin. That's why it's so important to educate yourself as a consumer for gems, or any high priced item.

 

[Jim Rentfrow]

Retailers will charge whatever price they feel they can maximize profit at. Just using realistic wholesale costs for that piece and a retail markup of 2.5 times their cost, the ring is not that expensive. Everyone needs to remember that most online faceters and goldsmiths are spoiling their clients with the prices they charge.

 

[T L]

Date: 5/27/2010 3:07:47 PM
Author: Jim Rentfrow
Retailers will charge whatever price they feel they can maximize profit at. Just using realistic wholesale costs for that piece and a retail markup of 2.5 times their cost, the ring is not that expensive. Everyone needs to remember that most online faceters and goldsmiths are spoiling their clients with the prices they charge.

My big problem with Costco charging so much for this is that they advertise wholesale pricing on their goods (yeah, lots of retailers do) and they use IGI. I steer clear of any retailer that uses IGI appraisals.

 

[RaiKai]

Eek.

My mother and stepfather recently married (after 24 years of living in sin...ha!) and bought their bands from Costco and just LOVE them. But we are talking a rather plain two-toned band for my stepfather and a lovely filigree (with tiny tiny diamond pave) band for my mother - both were very affordable even compared to online prices. I like to look at the jewelery case at Costco but in my experience when it comes to their larger stones - especially sapphires and other gemstones they charge a huge markup.

But, people must buy them. If they were not selling them they would lower the prices as some profit is better than no profit.

 

[T L]

I will say that Costco is competitively priced for diamond jewelry. I won''t say they are a bargain though.

 

[iLander]

I like Costco for diamonds. I like them because even their tiniest pave diamonds are at least I color and VS2 clarity. This spec is actually better than Tiffany''s smaller pieces. To me, that means alot, especially in smaller stones, save me from all those SI2''s. I find their prices to be good on diamonds. I saw a ring on their site and then it''s Absolute Twin in a jewelry store (same specs, etc) and the jewelry store charged-no joke-4 times the Costco price.

I also like that if I EVER want to return something, even without a reason or a receipt, they''ll give me my money back, no question. I once watched a man haul in one of those flatbed carts covered with timbers and pieces of wood, a slide, some beat up swings, and so on. Turns out he was returning a three year old swing set that had rotted. Because they keep a record of everything, he was given all his money back. That''s remarkable. I ordered a bracelet from them online, and the diamonds were small single cuts, so the metal really overwhelmed the piece. I returned it to the store, no problem.

BUT- I think they really don''t have a handle on gemstones. I''ve seen some of their smaller gem pieces that, because of the diamonds in the piece, I could never duplicate for the price. Even if I somehow managed to buy the melee, buy the gold, form it and melt and set it myself (I don''t actually have any of those skills- this is a hypothetical) I couldn''t match their price. But their larger gemstone pieces just don''t seem to make much sense to me. They have sapphires on their site that are heated and they''re charging unheated prices times two or three. Just too, too much, almost illogical when compared to their other jewelry.

Now I do agree we are spoiled with all the resources and help here on Pricescope! I don''t know about you guys, but that''s why I''m here.

 

[T L]

One time, a poplular American news program on television was running an expose on Tiffany vs Costco diamonds. Well, they determined the quality is pretty much the same, and the pricing is so much better on Costco diamonds. Of course, Tiffany is the "King of Markups," so that's no shocker.

 

[Arkteia]

My friend bought a very nice diamond at Costco. But when I went shopping, none of affordable diamonds was certified. They had certificates only on diamonds abouve $ 7K. I mean, they may cost 10K at other places, but when I am looking at Blue Nile/other websites, they have certificates for most of diamonds, even below 2K.

This being said, I once bought a very nice rhodolite ring in WG with diamonds at Costco.