Selling Your Ring
If you take away only one piece of advice from this website, it should be this: Diamond rings are never and should never be treated as an investment. If you sell, you will lose money almost 100% of the time.
So what’s the best you can do if you’re forced into selling your ring? Try and minimize your losses. First, though, let’s look at why you’ll lose money.
Why you Will lose Money Selling Your Diamond Ring
The diamond market is a complex industry that is essentially a monopoly. As such, the supply of diamonds is carefully controlled to maintain a healthy and robust profit margin. Additionally, if you bought your ring through a traditional brick & mortar jewelry store, that store didn’t actually own your diamond. They had it there on credit and only paid for it after you purchased it. Add to the fact that to maintain that fancy store, they have to add a serious markup to the price, and you have a recipe for significant losses.
Why would a jewelry store purchase your diamond when it has display cases of free diamonds (since they don’t pay for them until someone purchases them)? The only way it makes sense for them is to get it cheap. Really cheap. Probably between 40%-60% less than what you bought it for. So taking it back to Zale’s or Jared is out of the question. What next?
A pawn shop will offer you even less than a reputable jewelry store. By its very nature, a pawn shop has to sell cheaper than a larger store. So if they have to sell cheaper, then they have to buy cheaper. Definitely cross pawn shops off your list.
To maximize your price and minimize your losses, you’re left with two distinct options. First, sell the ring yourself on the second-hand market. This can either be through eBay, Craigslist, IDoNowIDont, or any other such marketplace. To get top dollar, though, you’ll need a diamond with documentation, preferably a GIA certification. Check the recently sold listings to obtain a better idea of what pricing will be.
Secondly, you can reach out to an online ring reseller. Just as you’ll get a better deal buying a ring online, you’ll get a better deal selling it online. Usually, they’ll provide you with a thorough price estimate, mitigating some of the ambiguity. There are a number of viable sites such as:
www.mondiamo.com
www.abemor.com
The most important thing you can do is to get a great deal upfront when you buy. Hopefully, you’ll never be in a position where you have to sell your wedding ring. If you are, though, it’ll be a lot easier if you got it for a great deal, which is why we are here to help you!