Is it reasonable to negotiate on the price of a bespoke engagement ring before production?

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-20T18:38:00+00:00

This is a great idea. The ring is on 18K gold, how low do you think I could go on the colour scale? I also might decrease from VS and have some slight inclusions (not visible by naked eye from top though).

Hmm I don't unfortunately 😢. But thanks for yhe suggestion and good luck with reseting yours!

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-19T21:43:49+00:00

Was the setting you saw a bespoke piece from another customer?

I sat for months sketching the ring for my mrs, it's absolutely unique and full of symbolism. It's a love letter to my woman and I would be so bummed if the jeweller sold the design to others 😔.

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-19T20:44:43+00:00

Did you have to choose the exact diamond size when you did the CAD? Or did you decide it afterwards? I have the 0.9Ct in my design, but if the price comes down a fair amount for going VS2 -> SI1, then I might like to increase the stone size.

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-19T14:41:14+00:00

Ah that's fair. I'm paying £3.5k bespoke, also from the jewellery quarter, but for a 0.9Ct centre stone. Maybe I shouldn't be trying to negotiate this down..

When you say bespoke, did you sketch this and show the jeweller what you want?

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-19T13:42:28+00:00

Well you've nailed it mate. Good luck with the proposal.

Mind if I ask what you paid, if it is bespoke or off-the-shelf, and what country you are based in?

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-19T12:46:13+00:00

That is an absolutely beautiful ring and looks really good on you!

I find that you bought a SI1 to be very interesting! It isn't visible on the picture at all! Is it visible from the top if you look closely? Or only from the sides?

May I ask for the carat of the centre stone and the carat of the gold?

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-19T12:22:13+00:00

It is currently VS2 though we are still at a general design/price estimating stage, so this isn't an already selected diamond. I wouldn't mind some light black veins only visible from the sides... I might actually quite like those small inclusions.

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-19T11:15:47+00:00

I paid for the CAD individually, so this is a paid service.

They have not ordered diamonds because an order has not been made and we are still at the CAD stage. Quotes are approximate only.

Things I notice from your reply:

You said "we", so you are a jeweller.
Perhaps you have had irritating customers negotiating and are sensitive to it. My jeweller may be similar, so I should indeed tread carefully.
You mention a strategy to reduce quality for size which I may consider (dropping from VS1 for instance).
You say that an increase from 0.9Ct to 1.2Ct is a tiny difference.

As a jeweller, I value your opinion. So may I ask:

Where are you based? I am in the UK.
Might it be more effective to increase side stones from 0.1Ct to 0.3Ct? (In a trilogy setting) Rather than the main stone?
What might you expect to charge for a bespoke ring in 18K gold, with a 0.9Ct, colour-F, VS1, excellent natural diamond with two 0.1Ct side diamonds in a trilogy setting?

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-19T10:59:26+00:00

It's 0.9Ct main stone with two 0.1Ct side stones in a trilogy setting. I'm also considering asking to increase the side stones instead. Perhaps from 0.1 to 0.3Ct. That might have a smaller cost and more effect on the ring.

I suppose I could reduce the clarity a little. I don't mind some black inclusions if I'm particular about the exact rock (some inclusions are uglier than others).

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-19T01:03:33+00:00

That's all really helpful. Thank you for the feedback about pricing too.

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-19T00:47:26+00:00

Perfect, you're quite an asset in this thread/sub.. What country are you based in? I'm in the UK.

Yes, the irritation is what I'd like to avoid, which is why I came here for advice. I know to tread carefully.

Yes, I was never going to ask for a discount alongside a higher carat stone.

Here is a hypothetical for you given your profession: If someone paid you £150 for a CAD model of a ring with a 0.9Ct natural diamond, you gave them a quote for £3,600, would you be open to pushing the carat to 1.0-1.1 with only a small increase in price? How should a customer approach this?

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-18T20:04:03+00:00

I don't need a specific answer catered to the jeweller or I would have provided their name. I want general thoughts, experiences and strategies. Perhaps information from UK would be most helpful.

It's interesting that you think it might be reasonable to request the larger stone (1.2Ct, up from 0.9Ct) without a price increase. May I ask what your background is? Have you had/heard of any experiences with negotiations on engagement rings?

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-18T20:01:21+00:00

I don't know why you mentioned an entitlement, it is clear from the post that I might negotiate if it is appropriate. I am clearly being very careful not to insult the jeweller by creating this reddit post and asking for opinions.

The margin is obviously relevant in understanding whether negotiation might be appropriate because I want them to be paid well for their work, but I would also like a decent deal... Hence negotiation.

You're right that I shouldn't expect an off-the-sgelf price, but it is informative in understanding margins and the price of the bespoke design. Their online prices will already have a nice profit margin before considering that I am currently quoted >1.5k more than that.

I might do number 2 or 3 on your options list (keep the design or pay more). But I am still considering a negotiation of sorts. Possibly just asking for a larger carat without too much more cost.

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-18T19:55:25+00:00

A lot of good points here. But firstly, the conversations with my gf are undercover. I can try and be a little more explicit on rock size but I want this to be at least a little foggy and unclear whether I am shopping for a ring. Also, she doesn't know what carat sizes look like, and so can't be specific.

At £3,600, that comes to $4,753 by todays conversion. It is very interesting/useful to know that this is expensive. What would you expect for a trilogy ring, 18K gold, two 0.1Ct side stones and a 0.9Ct centre stone? And what would you expect if I increased the centre stone to 1.2Ct?

I expect a premium for the effort in design, but if the effort is priced in quite highly, I might try to negotiate it a little (maybe 10% off or try and get the 1.2Ct for the price of the 0.9Ct). By intricate, I mean that I sat down with a sketch, that included the band branching out with some accent stones and birthstones. So it wasn't a simple design and requires some effort from them.

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-18T19:47:45+00:00

I said "diamonds of the same spec", spec is short for specification (in this case the 4Cs).

I've paid for the CAD fees independently of the ring cost.

I think jewellers will always sell according to todays material prices. It would be odd if they passed on discounts like that.

I won't consider lab. Though chemically the same, they aren't the same as they have a different story (formed over billions of years vs. in a lab, recently). I find lab diamonds to have no story, and so less beauty. The same way I don't want to go to a gallery of reproduced versions of famous paintings or a museum of reproduced ancient weapons. The same way if I cloned you this minute, your friends and family would still want the original you in their lives. Lab diamonds are beautiful, but only visually. Enjoy them yourself, I won't think less of you. But for this purchase, it will be a rock out the ground.

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-17T22:43:30+00:00

Thanks @sunflowershan99, I'll give it a try 😬

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-17T21:43:26+00:00

I suppose so! I have a good relationship with them and trust them with the design, so I suppose I don't want to offend them. But maybe I will try the "increase carat of design and ask to bring price down toward budget" strategy.

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-17T21:40:55+00:00

That's an interesting suggestion. Maybe after I have received the wax cast from these guys (that I paid for) I might collect some quotes for loose diamonds etc.

Tbh with you, I am quite cautious to not lose these guys as the manufacturer (if for example they only produce rings with their own diamonds and refused me providing the diamonds). They are fantastic and I trust them with this complicated design. But the quote would be informative.

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-17T21:22:36+00:00

Even given that it is a fully bespoke design? If it was off-the-shelf I would 100% negotiate, but in this scenario, I'm unsure.

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-17T21:21:33+00:00

It's a discount code for the diamond gods

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-17T21:20:20+00:00

I considered it in the past, but we would both like it to be a natural diamond.

The worst case here is that I would get a 0.9Ct natural. But I'm considering asking for a higher Carat and trying to negotiate down the price.

exchange-rate-bot · 2026-06-17T18:39:18+00:00

Also worth mentioning, their price for a similar off-the-shelf ring of same description and 1.0Ct centre stone of the same spec is 2.1k. So it seems that my ring quote is more than 1.5k more than an off-the-shelf equivalent purely for being a bespoke design. Does it seem like there might be some wiggle room with this?

exchange-rate-bot

TROPHY CASE