Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
Danielle
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Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
OK, here's the story. We are not officially engaged, although we have set a date of July 11, 2004 (we are teachers, so we need to be married in the summer, so we are booking stuff before the offical proposal, because he is the King of Procrastinators!)
Anyway, we went ring shopping yesterday in Manhattan (yay!) and I think we got taken advantage of. The store showed us a very nice diamond and setting and was pushing hard for the sale, but I thought it was very expensive. So, the store owner tells us to get it appraised and see what a good deal we are getting. So we head over to an appraiser... who charged 1.5% of the diamond's value... several hundred dollars for exactly 5 minutes of work!!!
Ladies, is this right? How can they be paid a percentage of the value of the diamond? Of course they are going to say it is worth more than it is, so they get more money!! We were so stunned that we paid it and left, speechless! So, did we get taken advantage or is this industry practice?
Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
Hi when i got my E ring the jewler gave us a free apraisal and told us to have a second one as a back up, then you submit which ever is higher to your homeowners insurance. He also said any place should charge $100.00 or less (and thats for the offical paperwork). I dont think you should buy anything from domeone you dont trust and by the way your diamond shold be certified BEFORE you buy it so you have a record of what you are purchasing ... one last comment the paperwork for a jewler to get the diamond certified is $50.00- This should have already been done before they show it to you... hope this helps.
cluelessbride
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
Danielle:
It sounds like you were taken advantage of. First of all, there should be no hard sell - a reputable jeweler will want to build a relationship with you for life, and make you feel comfortable with their business. Of course they want the sale, but to be pushy is suspicious, IMO.
Did you go to an appraiser that the jeweler recommended? If so, they probably refer customers to each other all the time and I would question their impartiality.
At this point I would return the ring (unless you really love it, in that case go to an independent appraiser and have it appraised again so you know what you bought). I would also report this jeweler and appraier to the BBB.
Before we bought my ring we bought a book called How To Buy a Diamond, it gave a lot of good advice. Good luck!
kathleenmarie
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
hard sells turn me off. I hdont know ifyou got taken advantage of, but I hope not!
hugs213
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
Danielle, We have the same wedding date. Jonathan and I are both teachers and that's why we chose that date. P.S. He is also the king of procrastinators (he hasn't even asked his brothers who live with him to be in the wedding party) About the diamond, it does sound a little high, I only paid $75 for my appraisal
kimmie
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
Danielle I m sorry that you were taken advantage of. We went into Manhattan first also but it seemed like everyone was trying to take advantage of us so we just looked to get ideas there then we talked to some of our friends and used their jeweler. If you would like we have a very good jeweler who WONT take advantage of you FM me if your interested. Sorry again I would return what you got and start all over. My fiance did everything himself with this jeweler and you should see my ring I was so proud of him!!!!
valentinesbride
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
Aww, that's terrible , my fiance got the ring appraised at Macy's, they weren't expensive at all
sp04
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
Why don;t you try the diamond district... They will give you a better deal. I know my appraisal was only 50.00 and my ring was appraised at quite a large amount. that was a good price
Danielle
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
We did go to the diamond district! We were so shocked that we just paid, now I WISH we had said something then!
I'm in such a bad position now--my FH put a refundable deposit on it till Monday... and I love it... but if they took advantage of us, and we already paid for the appraisal... we don't want to get taken advantage of again. or pay for another ridiculously expensive appraisal!
Kathy116
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
Where I get all my jewelry appraised, the guy charges a standard flat fee.
JZNCK
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
I asked my FI and he said that the man charged him a flat fee of $50 i would definately check around.. It sounds really high.
skew
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
they should charge either a flat rate or more commonly a % of the total ct weight, never the value of the stone
butterfly20
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
when i bought my ring it came with a free appraisal.. i know when i worked there the appraisal was based on the carat size. if center stone was 1ct to 1.25 then it was something like $75, 1.25 to 1.50 was like $85
AtticaQT
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
I appraised my ring at Macys and they charged me a percentage of what the ring was worth. It took him more than 5 minutes though.
papabear
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
Posted by Danielle
So we head over to an appraiser... who charged 1.5% of the diamond's value... several hundred dollars for exactly 5 minutes of work!!!
Congrats on the stunning ring, if you paid 1.5% of the diamonds value and were charged several hundred dollars, then that ring must be either the size of a grapefruit or completely flawless.
200 divided by 1.5% is $13,000.
I guess if you could afford a ring that big then a large appraisal fee shouldn't have bothered you.
The appraisal should also always correspond with the certificate received. So as long as they are the same, don't fret - just know you got the right diamond.
luckylucy
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
My ring is 2ct total and my fiance was charged a $100 flat fee... if that helps.
It is also standard practice to appraise the ring for more than it is worth. If you lose it (god forbid), it is a good thing. If you nothing ever happens to it, then you are paying more in insurance because of the higher appraised value (not the actual value).
MindyL28
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
I agree with everyone else- I think you might have gotten ripped off. My fiance had my center stone from his grandmother but had it appraised at a reputable place and they charged him $100 (nothing to do with the price of the diamond).
Was the jewler you went to recommended to you by somone? Who was the appraiser- who recommended him?
Do you wonder if these 2 people (the salesman in the diamond store and the appraiser) work together to do this type of thing? If you think that might be the case- I'd be careful buying it from them- it may not be as valuable as you think if they are doing something shady...
If you ask other girls on here who their jewler is, you might get some great recommendation of good, honest jewlers in the diamond district. I can even ask my fiance for his jewler... defitely go to someone that you trust and that comes recommended- it is a HUGE purchase and investment in addition to being emotionally important!
Good luck!
Danielle
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
We just went to the Diamond District to check it out--and just kind of got sucked into their sales pitch... didn't realize the appraisal would be more than $20 or $40...
No matter how much the ring cost, it stinks to be taken advantage of... we are saving hard to have nice things... I just hate to lose any of it on a jerk!
jennbaby
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
Congrats on the stunning ring, if you paid 1.5% of the diamonds value and were charged several hundred dollars, then that ring must be either the size of a grapefruit or completely flawless.
200 divided by 1.5% is $13,000.
I guess if you could afford a ring that big then a large appraisal fee shouldn't have bothered you.
The appraisal should also always correspond with the certificate received. So as long as they are the same, don't fret - just know you got the right diamond.
I paid a couple hundred for my appraisal also. It goes by what the appraisal value of the ring is.
Danielle
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Re: Question about engagement rings--appraisals... did we get royally taken advantage of?
If it's standard practice to charge a % of the value, then fine... it just seems to me that an appraiser would be tempted to inflate the price to get more money... and the guys in the store were just so pushy and shady, we felt like we got taken advantage of.
hmmm... and I wish, but the ring DEFINITELY isn't anywhere near flawless, NOR is it a huge rock.
Also, how long does an appraisal take? it literally took about 5-10 minutes.
