Diamonds
Shoppers in the market for a diamond should be prepared to pay anywhere from 50 to 200 percent more than the wholesale cost, according to TheStreet.com. Information at this Google Answers page suggests markups range from 50 to 400 percent.
A diamond’s sparkle may cause shoppers to turn a blind eye to the price tag, but you can land a better deal by understanding what you’re buying and doing a lot of shopping. First, unless you’ve got very deep pockets, avoid the big name diamond retailers who can get away with massive markups by virtue of their brand. Consider instead, online diamond sellers like Blue Nile. According to Chron.com these web-based sellers are putting pressure on the whole market by marking-up their diamonds as little as 18 percent.