1) Decide whether you are ready to sell
Selling jewelry can be an emotional process. The first thing to do is to truly understand whether you are ready to let it go.
Depending on your circumstances, there are other options you could consider:
- Repurposing the diamond into other jewelry e.g. a diamond pendant necklace
- Passing the ring to your children, if this feels appropriate.
- Give the jewelry back to an ex partner. This may be appropriate if it’s a family heirloom.
If none of those options are tempting and you do decide to sell, read on to learn how to ensure you get the most money for it.
2) Understand what your jewelry originally cost
Once you have decided that you are ready to sell, the next step is to start thinking about the amount that you are looking for when you sell your ring.
You may know exactly what your ring cost, or you may have no idea.
If you are looking for a figure for an equivalent new ring, retailers like James Allen can be a good option to understand what jewelry of the same size and quality is currently worth.
It’s worth noting that a current fair market price for a ring may be considerably lower than your ring originally cost.
If your ring was originally bought from a mall jeweller, it could have cost twice as much as it would have at an online retailer.
Despite this, the lower price would still be the ‘fair market value’ of the ring.
If this is the case, then the difference between what you paid and what you will be able to sell your diamond ring for may be significant.
3) Come to terms with the fact that you won’t get the price you paid
When you sell or trade in your car, you don’t expect to receive the same price you paid for it.
It’s the same with jewelry.
If you’re selling your jewelry, the person you’re selling to is likely someone in the trade. They need to be able to:
- buy the jewelry from you
- check its quality,
- clean and polish it,
- advertise it
- cover their overheads
and then make a profit on the sale.
Plus, the price that someone is willing to pay for a pre-owned jewelry is less than they would be willing to pay for a similar item if it was brand new.
As a (very) rough guide, it’s likely that you will get around half the price of an equivalent new diamond ring when selling to a diamond specialist.
If you’re selling to a pawn shop, it will be more like 1/4.
Worthy.com’s ‘recent auctions’ tool can be useful to get an approximate ballpark figure of your jewelry’s value:
Use the filters to find rings similar to yours and you’ll be able to quickly gain an understanding of what people are actually willing to pay for a ring like yours.
5) Find your grading report or diamond certification (if you have one)
If you are selling a diamond ring, you should have received a grading report, or ‘certificate’ with it, which detailed its carat weight and the 4Cs of your diamond:
Ideally may have been from an independent organisation like GIA, AGS or IGI.
The grading report will include the information on the center stone, but won’t include any information about smaller stones (e.g. in the setting), or about the setting itself.
If you don’t have a grading report, the person buying the diamond will need to examine the stone to verify its quality, or may pay for the diamond to be reviewed by an independent lab. For this to happen, the diamond will need to be removed from its setting.
4) Find your appraisal (if you have one)
Many diamond rings come with an appraisal when they are first purchased.
Appraisals usually cover the same 4Cs as a lab report, but will also include information about other diamonds in a setting (e.g. 20 melee diamonds in a halo setting), as well as information on the weight and quality of the precious metals used in the setting itself.
Appraisals will also have a replacement value attached to them to show what the appraiser judges the ring to be worth:
If you don’t have an appraisal report, it’s not a huge deal – the person who is buying the ring from you will make their own judgement on what the ring is worth, based on current market conditions.
Key watch-out
Valuations in an appraisal are almost always higher than jewelry is actually worth. They’re intended for insurance purposes and, honestly, a major function of them is to make diamond buyers feel better about their purchase.
In the example above, the value given is $9,500. An equivalent ring could be bought new for around $4,500:
So while the appraised value is significantly higher than this, the actual replacement value of the ring is more like $4,500. The price offered will therefore be based on the actual market value, rather than the inflated appraisal value.
6) Understand the difference places you could sell your jewelry
The best place to sell your jewelry will depend on what you have, how quickly you want to sell and how patient you are.
- Local jewelry buyers – often ‘cash for gold’ type stores or pawnbrokers, these stores pay significantly less than a ring is worth. They can, however, be a good option for wedding rings or rings with small diamonds, as their prices are usually based off the ‘spot prices’ of gold or the raw material, rather than the value of the ring as a piece of jewelry
- Local jewelers – may take your ring in exchange as part of an upgrade, but unless they
- Antique stores – usually only buy very old, or ‘signed’ jewelry ie. one with a luxury brand name attached to it e.g. Tiffany & Co, high quality Harry Winston etc.
- Online specialists – usually provide the highest price for your diamond ring, although the process usually takes a little longer (although it can be as fast as one week).
7) Make enquiries
It’s good practice to source more than one quote when buying something significant to ensure you’re getting good value.
I like to get at least two quotes to compare, whether that’s sourcing a plumber, considering a new car or finding a printer for some birthday invitations.
And when selling something significant, it’s good practice to do the same. I always recommend that you source at least two quotes to ensure that the price that you are being offered is fair.
8) Select the buyer that best fits
When you get the quotes back, it should be a pretty straight forward decision on who to go with: the one that is offering the most.
Other considerations can also be the speed of the transaction, the ease of the transaction and how secure you feel dealing with the buyer. After all, it’s a high value item that you are
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