Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)

theatlantic.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 239 posts

Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)

#51

Post by jquery »

lwat wrote: post #40

So... why is there no second-hand diamond marketplace? Lots of people would want to buy cheaper diamonds and there has to be people wanting to sell theirs.

Good question. There is a second-hand diamond marketplace. But the discount you get is proportional to the extra effort you must exert to get the diamond you want. Do you want a 2 carat triple-A GIA certified round brilliant with VS1 clarity, >I color, and an HCA score under 2? Good luck. You'll spend months tracking that down. And you better know what you're doing or you could get scammed. Or you could go to a diamond wholesaler and get what you want, right now, no hassle, and pay the associated overhead.

Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)

#52

Post by hkmurakami »

clobber wrote: post #42
HorizonXP wrote: post #26

Wow, absolutely brilliant. I can't believe this article popped up on HN's front page tonight. I just got back from looking at engagement rings with my girlfriend. I've known about this monopoly for a while, and so has she. Heck, one of the first movies we watched together when we first started dating 7 years ago was Blood Diamond. Here's the conversation we had while in the jewellery store tonight. Me: "Sweety, I rea…

Congrats on presenting a diamond-alternative to her. The diamond trade is absolutely disgusting and unfortunately many people seem to equate "love" with a shiny rock. If it came down to it, I would have to reevaluate marrying someone that refused to believe otherwise.

I started thinking about this issue a few days ago and have yet to come up with a strategy for convincing a (future) partner on the follies of purchasing a diamond. Is there any recourse at all to the epic marketing job De Beers has masterminded?

Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)

#53

Post by jquery »

MikeCapone wrote: post #36
brc wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Honestly, as a community of people in the startup ecosystem, we could stand to learn a thing or two here. Yup. Bang on. Apple does a line in 'oh, but you didn't get an Apple' better than anyone else (they aren't a startup but once were) >I swear, De Beers has probably pulled off the greatest marketing stunt in the history of humanity The Australian Meat & Livestock board came up with a marketing idea. On Australia D…

Unless I'm misremembering, I think there are lots of recently made up holidays that are basically just marketing ploys (Mother's Day and Father's Day).

Every holiday is made up.

Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)

#54

Post by jquery »

dllthomas wrote: post #17
TheAmazingIdiot wrote: post #11

By fallenapple ( from showdead): Ha, they quickly stuck a date in the title. ;) I was going to comment this is a "pre-internet" story. The film Blood Diamond came to mind as I was reading this, and the "Diamond District" in New York City. Lots going on behind the scenes in the "diamond industry". This is a superb lesson in 1. artificial scarcity and 2. how consumers can be conditioned to accept new symbols (a diamond…

> [...] but what does a diamond "mean"? "I would hurt poor people for you."

So it's just like buying a smartphone?

Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)

#55

Post by philwelch »

HorizonXP wrote: post #26

Wow, absolutely brilliant. I can't believe this article popped up on HN's front page tonight. I just got back from looking at engagement rings with my girlfriend. I've known about this monopoly for a while, and so has she. Heck, one of the first movies we watched together when we first started dating 7 years ago was Blood Diamond. Here's the conversation we had while in the jewellery store tonight. Me: "Sweety, I rea…

My fiancee and I did tattoos instead. We came up with a design that we both got in the same place and can be filled in and completed when we get married. The best part is, we are the only two people who had to suffer and shed blood for it.

Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)

#56

Post by philwelch »

jquery wrote: post #53
MikeCapone wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless I'm misremembering, I think there are lots of recently made up holidays that are basically just marketing ploys (Mother's Day and Father's Day).

Every holiday is made up.

Indeed. Even Christmas was controversial in early America because it was seen as a chiefly Catholic holiday that represented excess, decadence, and gluttony. Now it's the cornerstone of the entire retail industry.

Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)

#57

Post by jquery »

majormajor wrote: post #43
elwin wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I swear, De Beers has probably pulled off the greatest marketing stunt in the history of humanity. De Beers has the advantage of selling a luxury good. The point of buying a diamond is to demonstrate one's financial ability. People don't really want cheap diamonds. I doubt their marketing campaign is a good pattern for normal products.

The trick is to turn a less luxurious good into a luxury good. Which is rather like what they did. Cars are an area where this is really common. BMW doesn't bring their lower end stuff into the US. Toyota created Lexus to be a luxury brand. Or there's the pricier sorts of bottled water...

> Or there's the pricier sorts of bottled water...

Tell me about it. On my honeymoon in Maui I accidentally spent $9 on a bottle of water at Ferraro's.

Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)

#58

Post by jquery »

HorizonXP wrote: post #49
humbledrone wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you end up going with a diamond, you might consider a company like Brilliant Earth [1], which offers "conflict free" diamonds (and other gems), and recycled precious metals. Their gems come from mines that employ adults at reasonable wages. I'm not associated with the company, but they made my fiance's engagement ring and we're very happy with it. [1] http://www.brilliantearth.com/conflict-free-diamonds/

Thank you for the link! I've been trying to find a decent source for conflict-free diamonds, and this seems to fit the bill. I hope I can convince my girlfriend to go with an alternative, but this is likely a battle that I will lose. The issue centres around the social stigma of not having a diamond ring. Friends and family will ask what the stone is, and need to be educated. And no matter what you tell them, the per…

Went through the same thing with my wife. In the end I caved and just bought the best damn diamond I could find after 3 months of searching. Easier to explain why you bought an alternative stone than why you bought a shitty diamond.

Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)

#59

Post by jquery »

hkmurakami wrote: post #52
clobber wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Congrats on presenting a diamond-alternative to her. The diamond trade is absolutely disgusting and unfortunately many people seem to equate "love" with a shiny rock. If it came down to it, I would have to reevaluate marrying someone that refused to believe otherwise.

I started thinking about this issue a few days ago and have yet to come up with a strategy for convincing a (future) partner on the follies of purchasing a diamond. Is there any recourse at all to the epic marketing job De Beers has masterminded?

Good luck. It's akin to convincing your SO that you don't want to celebrate Christmas because it's a product of retail marketing.

Re: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? (1982)

#60

Post by caf »

HorizonXP wrote: post #26

Wow, absolutely brilliant. I can't believe this article popped up on HN's front page tonight. I just got back from looking at engagement rings with my girlfriend. I've known about this monopoly for a while, and so has she. Heck, one of the first movies we watched together when we first started dating 7 years ago was Blood Diamond. Here's the conversation we had while in the jewellery store tonight. Me: "Sweety, I rea…

I was lucky, my fiancee is dead keen on Moissanite. She likes the idea that its a "meterorite stone" (even though the ones you can actually buy are industrially grown).
Post reply on HN