In this article, I will share with you my top tips for negotiating the price you want to pay for wedding rings.
I find that when it comes to jewellers the sales people can be slightly annoying. I don’t know whether it’s because getting married is a highly personal event and so their questions can come across as intrusive, especially if you have just met. They tend to cross that line between being overly friendly and brash. How big is the wedding? How many guests will there be? What date is it? Can I come?... I guess, in their defence, their aim is to help you choose the perfect ring and to do that they need to understand your tastes in a relatively short space of time. It’s just to me, it seems odd that we all of sudden rocket from zero to besties in the space of five rings.
Enough about that, you came here to learn how to score an exceptional deal.
So first up, you want to be ring shopping when you have time. You don’t want to be dashing between work meetings or on your lunch break, do it on a Sunday when its quitter and you can dedicate a few hours to properly having a browse around.
With wedding bands, because they cost a lot less than the engagement ring, the jewellers tend not to ask for your budget up front, if at all. Don’t reveal this, it will come in handy later. Letting them know your budget at the appropriate moment is a key turning point in the negotiation.
Let them bring out a few trays of rings and start to narrow it down based on what you are drawn to. Whether is diamonds all the way round the band or mat gold. Eventually, when you have found the his and hers set that you are totally in love with, say these are the rings. How much are they?
Let them go away and do some calculations and come back to tell you the prices. Every jeweller will tell you the RRP price and then the price they are willing to sell you them at.
Seller: ‘The price is normally X, but I can do for you for x’
This is not the negotiation. You didn’t just negotiate a discount. Stop yourself from patting yourself on the back just yet, this is just an illusion based on anchoring the price to the RRP to show you that they’ve knocked some off.
Now take your time, don’t rush, the negotiation is beginning. Frown a little, pause, wait, look like you are mulling over something in your head when actually you are trying to remember the last episode of Suits you watched.
On occasion, this pause in flow will lead the jeweller to counter you even before you have said a word. In an effort to wow you and knock you off your feet they come at you with a second discount. Reel it in baby and keep on mulling. They haven’t got you yet.
NOW is the time to mention your budget.
Turn to your partner (leverage your resources) and say ‘our budget is X, we really need to watch our spending right now’
The they say back, ‘shall we just think about it’
By now, alarm bells are ringing in the head of the sales person. This is not what they want, you scampering off to find treasures that fit your budget elsewhere or worst of all, to think about it!
Turn back to the seller and say, ‘our budget is x (as if they didn’t hear you say it already, they have ears like a fox) is x really the best you can do’?
They might say yes, they might say no. Doesn’t matter.
Keep talking, now is the time to calmly bring them further into your story and give them a reason as to why your budget needs to be x. E.g. we are moving to Singapore next month and they want three months’ rent up front so we need to be careful with money right now.
Then you’ll have a bit of a chat about Singapore and how exciting it will be.
Then, if they got the hint and the bench mark that you have set (your budget), they should say hang on a minute and go and crunch the numbers once again.
This is an important turning point in the negotiation as it signals they very much want to do a deal.
They will then come back with their best and final.
But hold on, is this really their best and final, you bet your bottom dollar it’s not.
There are always ways to make the negotiation keep going.
Do you really want platinum or could you live with 18c white gold instead? These variables start to impact the negotiation in a big way, especially important if you already knew you wanted white gold over platform to begin with. (white gold is cheaper than platinum).
Now that the seller has your budget to work to, they know what they need to aim for to get you to say yes. You’ve given them a target.
Now it’s just a chase of maintaining that you need to hit that figure to get the deal down.
Again, take your time, there is no need to rush. You’ve found your rings, they are perfect and now you have a seller who’s engaged and working with you to get you a bargain and also get their commission.
In one sense, its good if you can drop in subtlety, that you wedding is only a couple of months away, maybe in comment to your partner. Normally the sales person will ask you both when the big day is, so it will already be out in the open, but in the event that it isn’t, get it out there.
Why? Well, because if your wedding is soon, it means that you are going to drop some coin on rings in the very near future and given that sales people work to targets they will do their darnedest to get you to put the purchase their way instead of to someone else. It the world of quota’s, a quick sale can mean more than just numbers in the company books, it can give them something to talk about in the Monday morning sales meeting and make them look good.
Further points of leverage, are if this is the same jewellers that you bought the engagement ring from, then they will likely cut you a better deal because you have already had it large with them on the engagement ring front and feel more obligated.
The more that you can make the sales person feel part of the journey, the more they are likely to do for you when it comes to price. Once you bring them into your world, you share your budget and you find the two rings that work for you, then you have a winning cocktail of fun that will slip down better than a frozen margarita on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach.
So there you have it, how to get the wedding rings of your dreams for the price you want.
Happy negotiating!
Top Tips – Quick Summary:
Take your time
Pick your rings, not a range of rings, it’s important you find the ones, a) because it feels good b) because the negotiation is then centred around one/two rings, not rings of differing values
Pause, mull over, dilly dally around after their first round of pricing
Subtly mention your budget (give them the boundaries)
Ask for their best price
Change the goal posts, in terms of platinum verse white gold etc
Mention your wedding is soon, around the corner
‘Shall we think about it’
If we can get close to x, then we can do it
Push for the big close
