It’s quite common in some countries, to be in a store, and the salesperson makes one offer, and you make another until you agree a price. Can you negotiate down the price of an engagement ring this way in the UK?
Short answer – it depends where you go. So looking at a few of the key areas or store types, here’s what you can expect. (You should note, that you aren’t going to find a bargain engagement ring price through any of these routes, if retailers were costing wholesale jewellery at wholesale, they would be out of business pretty quick!)
Hatton Garden – London
Hatton Garden positions itself as the heart of the London jewellery industry. It certainly has the largest density of jewellers in the UK and they are in fierce competition with each other and can be quite pushy with consumers too. This means it is possible, in some stores to come to an agreement on the price of an engagement ring. This doesn’t mean you’ve grabbed a bargain, a lot of rings are overpriced at outset, with a view to then being able to discount and appear competitive. But hopefully it means you have spent no more than retail. If a store won't negotiate - they are potentially one of the better ones. Sadly Hatton Garden is no longer a guaranteed byword for quality, and I've had to correct, repair and remake a lot of jewellery from there over the years.
Haggle Potential – High / Quality Potential - Variable
Bond Street – London
There was a wonderful line I read in a book once about shopping on Bond Street – if you ask the price you can’t afford it...” Things have moved on a little, but the location is still a byword for luxury. Here you are buying into a brand. So making an offer to a retailer is at best going to be politely refused (and at worst, politely refused with some distain). There is still some negotiation potential, if you are looking to spend hundreds of thousands to millions of pounds. As you can imagine, this doesn’t happen at the till, and they’ve probably flown you in by helicopter and closed the store for you as well.
Haggle Potential – Non-existent for mere mortals / Quality Potential - High
High Street Retailers – UK Wide
In general, jewellery pieces are marked up, to cover the costs of running the store (there are a lot of overheads) and ideally ensure a profit margin, which varies depending on the store. Diamond rings are harder to negotiate for, the reason being that even if a design isn’t selling, the likely course of action would be to take the stone and put it in a new setting that is more appealing. So if you are in love with the mount, rather than the diamond, then you could agree a cheaper stone. Sometimes you can get a little discount, or negotiate something off your wedding rings for repeat business. Don’t expect massive amounts though.
Haggle Potential – Low / Quality Potential - Cost Driven
The Jewellery Quarter – Birmingham
Another historical part of the UK for jewellery sales, Birmingham has some of the UK’s most important jewellery manufacturers based there, as well as a plethora of jewellery workshops. The jewellery quarter is similar to London’s Hatton Garden, so this does leave some space to check prices are final but expect the same starting point as in that paragraph. Not all stores will engage, however it doesn’t hurt to politely ask.
Haggle Potential – Medium / Quality Potential - Variable
Bespoke Jewellery services (Heirloom London)
Sorry, we don't haggle. Each commission is made to order, and we act as creative director, client consultant and industry buyer so we’ve costed each individually. We specifically work to each client’s budget meaning if there are constraints, we factor this in to our brief and advise on options accordingly. I don’t have the time or creativity to make a piece really expensive and then discount it. Our prices are a fair reflection of what it costs for us to produce and deliver an engagement ring while staying in business. We often supply an insurance valuation, which at high street replacement, normally reflects savings of several hundred to thousands of pounds depending on the piece created. So our consciences are clear.. 😊
Haggle Potential – Nil but you don’t need to | Quality Potential - High
Why is it easier to haggle overseas than in the UK?
In some countries, haggling is part of the culture. BUT haggling comes from the seller trying to make as much on the sale as possible, and the consumer trying to pay as little for the purchase as possible.
Have you actually researched like for like before going away? Are you happy you know the exchange rates? If you don't know what you are supposed to be looking for in an item, aren't a diamond expert (and rely on 'certificates' which aren't a watertight indicator of stone quality) how are you going to benefit - you may have a budget in mind you are trying to hit but if they aren't going to make any money on the piece at that offer you'll find your negotiations stop moving. And then they will bring out another ring, with a lower quality stone with a good story around it and try and get you to buy that instead!
Most of the time something sounds good, and when you aren’t local, and quite often aren’t or a jewellery expert/specialist, it’s easier to feel happy you have made a good purchase. It depends on your standards. Rings can have less metal (of lower caratage) where stones are lower specification (but still on a ‘good’ certificate) and the workmanship is less skilled. Pick up on all these elements and the cost of the ring will start tracking back upwards again.
This then can bring you back to the point that if you have an issue with the ring when you are back home, you’re going to have to pay somebody there to address it. You could ship back to source to fix, but then you are also running the risk of a 20% VAT bill when it returns to the UK.
If you think that overseas stores don’t understand the value of what they are selling, you deserve to be ripped off! They are culturally diverse, and high in business acumen. That shabby looking jewellery store with it's 'simple' looking staff has 3 shiny Mercedez Benz cars parked around the back! They love tourists, they build their business models around tourism. and the knowledge that you are not going to spend another £1,500+ on a holiday to come and tell them how unhappy you are with your purchase when somebody in the UK tells you that you were ripped off!
If you think that overseas stores don’t understand the value of what they are selling, you deserve to be ripped off!
Final Thoughts
Haggling in the UK works best when there is a benefit in doing so for both parties. For example – if you buy the engagement and wedding rings at the same time or picked a pendant to match the earrings then you can sometimes anticipate more of a discount.
Otherwise, the easier it is to haggle with jewellery, the more carefully you need to consider the value of what you are buying. Negotiating on diamonds is always tricky - if it’s a great stone then it’s going to sell so the broker isn’t going to be open to offers. The bigger a stone gets, the better the value our model delivers. Just be wary. I just wouldn’t still be in business if the structure of a client purchase didn’t support my company overheads and in the world of haggling, everyone is looking after their bottom line.
If you want to create an exceptional engagement ring that presents excellent long term value, get in touch and let us know what you are trying to achieve.