When you may have read that tungsten rings are increasingly becoming the ring of choice for wedding bands, it is not simply a truth tungsten ring retailers are trying to pass off. Nowadays, nearly half of all wedding bands sold in the United States are now made of tungsten carbide. Tungsten carbide’s immense popularity stems from not only its durability, but also its affordability.
Despite tungsten carbide’s increasing popularity, you may be on a fruitless mission if you’re looking for the perfect tungsten wedding band at your local jewelry store. Unfortunately, the selection at your local jeweler will be skimpy if there is a selection at all. Why is this, you may be wondering? Well, the main reason is that jewelry stores do not really want you to buy tungsten carbide rings.
Jewelers may give a plethora of other reasons as to why their tungsten carbide selection is not very large. They say things such as tungsten carbide “is not really jewelry” or that there “nothing precious about tungsten”. Well, tungsten carbide is most definitely jewelry; otherwise they would not have any in their store. And yes, tungsten is not a precious metal like gold or silver, but that does not take away from the fact that is very lustrous looking choice for a wedding band.
The real reason that jewelers do not carry a lot of tungsten carbide options is simply that tungsten wedding bands are less expensive. Platinum or a gold wedding band will sell for significantly more than a tungsten carbide ring – that is a fact. Because the mark up generally will not be as high on tungsten carbide ring compared to a gold or platinum ring, the profit margin will be less for the jeweler. Jewelers need to mark up their prices in order to make a profit, just like any other business and any other product. A tungsten ring that retails for $250 will not yield as much profit as, say a platinum ring that retails for $2500. For example, a car dealer will make a larger profit selling you an Aston Martin than the dealer would make selling you a SmartCar.
Some jewelers will carry a few selections of tungsten carbide jewelry, in case they cannot convince you to buy gold or silver or other precious metal options. If you are after tungsten, searching a tungsten carbide retailer is your best option, as you may not find the selection or style you are looking for at your local jeweler.
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