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

theatlantic.com

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

#221

Post by rmc »

liber8 wrote: post #216
rmc wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do engagement rings have a large resale value anyway? This is a whole article about the marketing push for diamonds. I can't imagine what "second hand ring" would say....

That's sort of the point. The ring itself is only really worth whatever the metal weighs because nobody wants a "used" ring. So if you sell the ring to a jeweler, he is almost certain to melt it down and recast it. Whatever you paid for the craftsmanship/design of the ring is literally melted away. The stone is another story. It's very easy to resell/reuse good stones, although as the article indicates, the value you…

Yes that's true, but I'd presume a lot of what you pay for in a diamond ring initially is not the cost of raw materials, but the symolism, and hence a diamond ring would lose value.

I was thinking you'd lose money either way if you went with diamond vs. non-diamond, so "you'll lose value" is not a compelling argument for non-diamond.

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

#222

Post by evincarofautumn »

raleec wrote: post #151
evincarofautumn wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven’t noticed such a trend, but it would be welcome. Never liked the look of diamonds, myself, so I always figured if I got engaged I’d just look for the gemstone that’s right for my partner—their look, their personality.

The fact that you (and probably she) are presuming that a stone is required in the first place means that DeBeers has won the larger victory.

I don’t; jewelry is just nice.

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

#223

Post by brc »

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).

Well, Australia Day isn't a made-up holiday -it's always been the 'National Day' (think 4th July). But it's just that the Meat + Livestock Board spotted a gap in the 'traditions' market and filled that gap in with some shrewd marketing.

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

#224

Post by brc »

rmc wrote: post #221
liber8 wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's sort of the point. The ring itself is only really worth whatever the metal weighs because nobody wants a "used" ring. So if you sell the ring to a jeweler, he is almost certain to melt it down and recast it. Whatever you paid for the craftsmanship/design of the ring is literally melted away. The stone is another story. It's very easy to resell/reuse good stones, although as the article indicates, the value you…

Yes that's true, but I'd presume a lot of what you pay for in a diamond ring initially is not the cost of raw materials, but the symolism, and hence a diamond ring would lose value. I was thinking you'd lose money either way if you went with diamond vs. non-diamond, so "you'll lose value" is not a compelling argument for non-diamond.

Everything about a wedding is front-loaded to an exreme. From photos, to flowers, to cars - when it's a wedding the price is loaded. It's a complete rort, everyone knows it is going on, yet - there it is, everyone just pays up. Because nobody wants to be seen to be cheap.

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

#225

Post by brc »

deveac wrote: post #180
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 recently purchased a diamond engagement ring for my fiance. That shopping experience perfectly encapsulated everything there is that I could possibly hate about making a consumer purchase: 1)Product is monopolistic, with supply artificially constrained in order to generate prices that reflect that. Actual value of say, a one carat diamond, is probably a few hundred bucks max. 2)Cultural demand was artificially craf…

Consumers are rational in the purchase of diamonds - their purchases are based on buying the diamond that shows the largest amount of wealth for the given stone.

Irrational would be paying more money for a smaller diamond.

Responding to social norms creating by a marketing campaign is many things - strange, definitely - but it's not irrational.

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

#226

Post by olalonde »

startupfounder wrote: post #174

3 Days ago Rohin ( http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=rohin ) the co-founder of Pricenomics posted the article: "We Need a Warby Parker for Mattresses" ( http://priceonomics.com/mattresses/#industry ) to which I responded: "We need a Warbly Parker for Diamonds" ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4522922 ). Niggler posted a comment to this Atlantic article ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4523063 ) and t…

Actually, I posted this article just after reading the story about Russia revealing a secret diamond field containing "trillions of carats" http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4534468 (I don't recall reading niggler's comment or yours honestly). I think that's why it got so many up votes. In fact, it seems this article is regularly submitted on HN: http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&q=Hav.... Now that I think about it, I think I first discovered this article through HN 2 years ago.

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

#227

Post by charlieok »

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…

This Atlantic article is 30 years old (and still relevant -- props for that).

Here's a related one from yesterday:

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/09/study-soci...

“What behavioral psychology reveals about your online photos: Comments and approval from other users end up being more important than the way you look.”

It's the same phenomenon both times -- social proof. It's the same reason you're more attractive in a club if you appear to be getting approval from other attractive people. The same reason the original PageRank algorithm did a good job of surfacing web pages people wanted to see.

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

#228

Post by pbhjpbhj »

WiseWeasel wrote: post #212
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Reality is that which is practical for us to concern ourselves with. // By that definition reality is completely subjective which rather plays towards my point. You find the axiomatic basis of scientific understanding to not belong to "practical knowledge". Or that the axiomatic nature of standard logics is not practical? So basically all of physical science, mathematics, logic, ... understanding the epistemologica…

Until work in theoretical physics yields practical or verifiable results, I am content to consider it fantasy rather than reality. Not to denigrate those who spend their time on such matters, and the social considerations those people have for their peers might make such pursuits somewhat practical for them, but you cannot expect a randomly selected person to consider such knowledge a part of their reality until it h…

Lol.

Simple example that many people use day-to-day is relativity and GPS (eg http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast162/Unit5/gps.... I guess things like transistors, fibre optics, nuclear power, and lasers are so far removed from everyday life that theoretical physics simply has no application to reality. /sarcasm

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

#229

Post by katharinen »

HorizonXP wrote: post #189
cabalamat wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> De Beers has probably pulled off the greatest marketing stunt in the history of humanity. The fact that it's so ingrained in our minds, to the point where a smart, educated, and informed person like my girlfriend still wants a diamond even after knowing all the issues with them, is fascinating. Does she still want the diamond after being shown the article? Most people don't like being manipulated.

I sent it to her, and it's a long article. I'm hoping she reads most of it. We went out for coffee after shopping. She knows I'm right about diamonds. Her issue is a) she has difficulty listening to me about these things because she's stubborn and feels like I'm manipulating her b) she doesn't want to buck the trend, be different, and have to explain things to her friends and family. She hates being different, and sh…

Might it help to point out that both Princess Di and Kate Middleton got sapphires?

I think she'd be pleasantly surprised to hear how much of a non-issue it has been among friends, family, and acquiantances that me and my (also female) fiancee don't wear any engagement ring at all (our ruby and sapphire rings are both waiting to be resized).

That said, the point of a gift is to give something the recipient would enjoy -- not something you would want yourself. So, if it really makes a difference to her or her family, I'd recommend getting a diamond, even if it sets back your plans for a house, etc (I hope she understands that!!)

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

#230

Post by jeza »

brc wrote: post #223
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).

Well, Australia Day isn't a made-up holiday -it's always been the 'National Day' (think 4th July). But it's just that the Meat + Livestock Board spotted a gap in the 'traditions' market and filled that gap in with some shrewd marketing.

Really? I've never really associated Australia Day with eating meat, but if we were going to organise something on that day a barbecue would be quite likely. But that's probably true of any day where we'd be organising a family gathering. It's certainly not like Christmas where you have to pre-order a turkey.

I do find it ironic though how barbecues are considered to be an Australian tradition. But then the most well known brand for barbecues, Weber is American.

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