'Negotiating' the price of Caresse d'orchidées down at Cartier boutique

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Bee...Bee

Bee...Bee

Dizziness to myself
Mar 16, 2006
729
4
#1
Hi everyone, first of all I have to say that I've been lurking around for some time and it is very enjoyable because the forum(s) are very informative whilst also very light-hearted :flowers:

So this is my third post and I'm afraid it is going to sound very cheap (because I'm very cheap:laugh: ) but I would be grateful if anyone can advise me on what is the acceptable percentage discount rate that we should be asking for when we go and buy Cartier Caresse d'orchidées necklace and earrings (for our wedding).

Both of us actually live in London but we've decided to order it from the Singapore boutique because aside from VAT+forex reasons we have always thought that you can carry out 'haggling' operations much more freely in Asian boutiques:p . Today the lady at the shop says that it is ready so we should go and see it ASAP -2 weeks time; should we ask for a 20% discount or is that too much or too little?

Thank you very much in advance for your advice because I'm totally clueless since in Europe they are very stringent, I only got ~7% discount for my Tonneau watch and for my engagement ring from Tiffany, no discount at all!!! and all that my fiancé got was two coffee table books instead :push: :blink: :rofl:

Oh by the way if this question sounds too cheap :sick: or doesn't deserve its own thread, whoever is the omnipotent, transcendent power can delete it at his/her own leisure.:censor:
 
#2
Welcome to the PF Bee Bee! And congratulations on your upcoming nuptials! I wish I had an answer to your question, but I am sure someone here will have a good one soon!
 
#3
Wow. First of all, welcome Bee Bee! Secondly, I didn't know they were allowed to give discounts at all!! I must keep this in mind when I go into Cartier's next time.

Good luck and hopefully someone else will be more helpful!
 
#4
Oh, I :heart: :heart: this Cartier line! It's so elegant and feminine. My dream piece is the orchid ring!
I'd be surprised if Cartier will budge on their pricing, though. If they do, I'd love to know about it... :)
 
#7
I'm not sure about Cartier...

But Harry Winston definitely gives discounts, if you can call 20% off the already 40% inflated price a discount...

Their tag prices are rarely what you pay for. SA always say, "Let me see what I can do for you..." goes to the back gets a lower price.. then you hagle a bit more.
 
#9
joanna; that is exactly what I think (wily people, just like Birkins suddenly appearing after they've talked to you, n'est pas?:rofl: )

shu, Greentea, harlem_cutie, pink_bai2bi; they do definitely budge by varying degrees. Sometime ago when I went looking for a Trinity (is that the name?) ring, for fun wearing, the lady in Bangkok immediately offered a 5% discount even without me asking!!! And in Singapore but, yonks yonks ago, my mum told me she was offered a 40%!!!! discount on her gold Baignoire watch but then that was when everyone was broke post-1997 crisis.

Of course there is no way there was going to be 40% discount on my steel Tank Française nor on anything else in Europe. The person who sold me my Tonneau watch told me that the official line in Europe (and USA I assume) is that only discounts ar given on High Jewellery pieces. This is probably the line that we've all been told but at the end he said he is going to give me a discount (~7%) because his boutique has just moved from up the street and he was a very nice person :rofl: and wants me to comeback to his boutique everytime for anything Cartier :smile1:. Alas he doesn't know I am just a very cheap hag:laugh:

I am so sure that discount rates in Asia are higher than 7%. Is there any Asian lady here in the know, surely there must be an Asian lady around here:smile1: ? What's is the usual 'haggling' rate in Asia, doesn't have to be for jewellery but let's say for a watch, for example?
What do other non-Asian ladies reckon; is it about right or would they kick us out if we ask for 20% (anything above this I'll be very happy)?

EDIT: Has anyone actually managed a 20% discount for any necklace or earrings, does not have to be at Cartier but at 'respectable' places where they rip you off :rofl: ?
 
#10
Bee...Bee said:
joanna; that is exactly what I think (wily people, just like Birkins suddenly appearing after they've talked to you, n'est pas?:rofl: )

shu, Greentea, harlem_cutie, pink_bai2bi; they do definitely budge by varying degrees. Sometime ago when I went looking for a Trinity (is that the name?) ring, for fun wearing, the lady in Bangkok immediately offered a 5% discount even without me asking!!! And in Singapore but, yonks yonks ago, my mum told me she was offered a 40%!!!! discount on her gold Baignoire watch but then that was when everyone was broke post-1997 crisis.

Of course there is no way there was going to be 40% discount on my steel Tank Française nor on anything else in Europe. The person who sold me my Tonneau watch told me that the official line in Europe (and USA I assume) is that only discounts ar given on High Jewellery pieces. This is probably the line that we've all been told but at the end he said he is going to give me a discount (~7%) because his boutique has just moved from up the street and he was a very nice person :rofl: and wants me to comeback to his boutique everytime for anything Cartier :smile1:. Alas he doesn't know I am just a very cheap hag:laugh:

I am so sure that discount rates in Asia are higher than 7%. Is there any Asian lady here in the know, surely there must be an Asian lady around here:smile1: ? What's is the usual 'haggling' rate in Asia, doesn't have to be for jewellery but let's say for a watch, for example?
What do other non-Asian ladies reckon; is it about right or would they kick us out if we ask for 20% (anything above this I'll be very happy)?

EDIT: Has anyone actually managed a 20% discount for any necklace or earrings, does not have to be at Cartier but at 'respectable' places where they rip you off :rofl: ?
Click to expand...
Well, that makes sense. I have that same Tank watch and my jeweler was able to order it for a small discount but Cartier was firm on the price. I think that pave orchid ring I want is WAY beyond my price range right now (ie, I could have a few croc Birkins instead) but it never hurts to dream...:love: :love:
 
#11
cartier - no discount over here (dubai) on jewelry and this in a place where everything usually comes with a discount
but cartier paris gives you a discount on their haute joaillerie or basically not a discount you just argument the prices out with them personally ;)
 
#12
Bee...Bee I love your Tokidoki qee! I have several of those on my Tokidoki bags. Let me get this straight.......you walk into the actual Cartier store and get a discount? Or are you using another jewelry store who sells Cartier?
 
#13
aren´t their jewelry pieces of their main collection not only sold exclsively through their boutiques? of caure waches you can at cery good jewelry or watch stores but thei main lines?? never heard of that :hrmm:
 
#14
Greentea said:
Well, that makes sense. I have that same Tank watch and my jeweler was able to order it for a small discount but Cartier was firm on the price. I think that pave orchid ring I want is WAY beyond my price range right now (ie, I could have a few croc Birkins instead) but it never hurts to dream...:love: :love:
Click to expand...

lol Greentea, dilemma for the day – they both come up around the same, which way would you go if you get either today?:

1) ~1.20 carat ruby + diamonds adding up to ~3.50 carat orchid ring
2) 28cm Kelly as hors d’oeuvre, a diamond encrusted 35 cm Birkin with some spare cash for tri-fold Bearn portefeuille for dessert all naturally in shiny porosus.

Unfortunately for me, I can’t go down the Hermès path because I look bad with exotics:yucky: and completely broke anyway:laugh: . After this, no more wishing for Hermès and no more jewellery for a long…… time either because I think that this will be my ‘killer’ set for the next 31 years (assuming I live to 60:smile1: ).

Lilach, THANK YOU very much but can you tell what do you mean by ‘or basically not a discount you just argument the prices out with them personally’? Do you mean I have to trash it out with them on the individual basis right then and it’s just down to our rhetoric to get a 20% discount?


Coldplaylover, I am actually thinking of getting a new LeSportsac bag just for the Qee itself, it's so CUTE. My 7% discount on the Tonneau was from the Cartier boutique at Sloane Street in London (I am certain I spoke to the manager because he was past 40 and he said he was also taking a course in gemology and a normal employee surely cannot do that). The offer of 5% on Trinity ring is from the Cartier boutique in Bangkok and my mum's 40% discount was also from a Cartier boutique in Singapore.

P.S. Can I also ask does Caresse fall into High Jewellery? I’m uncertainly sure that it doesn’t because the ring I’ve been describing to Greentea is £49,000 but I’ve seen some unreal High Jewellery bling at 43 carat going for £490,000; in London Cartier has a separate boutique for this. A girl can dream…sigh
 
#15
Bee Bee - I do not think 20% is unreasonable; but, I always thought that you wait for them to offer it?

I have no international experience with haggling; but, I know that in Vegas (at every shop, say minus Hermes, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton, i.e. the namesake stores) the price you see is not the price you pay if you don't act too impressed, excited, desperate to obtain the item.

I have paused and shook my head and said, "well, if it were a little less, maybe" - and, have consistently been offered the items at 20% off, which does seem to be the acceptable margin for discounts.

As I said, this does not work EVERYWHERE; but, I have never asked for a discount, I have just hinted and waited to see if they would offer.
 
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