consignment <sigh>

[proto]

So... dont need a ring anymore.

local jeweller has offered to sell on consignment in his window for 25% commission.

Requires a remount onto one of his standard mounts for £500.

On the plus side, factoring all of this in and jewellers expected sale price of £7500, I break out even minus some cashflow/use of money in the intervening period. Jeweller has also offered to holdover the £500 until the item sells.

However, I have no guarantee that the ring will

1 - sell
2 - sell at the price indicated by the jeweller

Is this a bad deal to make me spend £500 at the jeweller or is this semi normal? It wouldnt sell as a second hand item, but as one of his own stock. I also get to keep the old mount, although what I would do with it is anyone's guess. I expect it will be useless after unmounting?

Its Pt900 which is not seen in the UK, which is why jeweller wants to remount.

 

[craighnt]

Hm, I am in the US so I am not sure what the custom is in the UK. But anyway, I was looking into that as well at one point and the 25% rate is on the higher end of things but I did here that from one store. As far as spending money on it, usually the store is the one that will clean and possibly remount since they have a good idea of what is in demand. But they will charge you for that.

I would caution you about paying for all that since there is no guarantee it will sell. Secondly, most people who buy antique jewelry are buying it for the setting. It's easy for some retailer to tell you to spend your money on what they want but I would be careful about that. What do they have to lose? Finally, ask about fees if it dose not sell. One place I was talking to wanted to charge $250 as a cleaning/evaluation fee I would have to pay to get it back.

 

[proto]

no cleaning/evaluation fee.

jeweller has looked at diamond and agrees it is a good stone, he is just not interested in dealing with the custom US setting.

It is not antique setting. brand new from WF.

If the stone does not sell once it has been set by the jeweller, I can walk out with it for the £500 which is the cost of the setting.

I know GoG does consignment but I dont think i would get anywhere near the expected selling price, and I would have to pay taxes to ship it there, although I understand they take somewhere between 10 and 20%.

selling by private sale would be best, but after emailing all my close friends, nobody else seems terribly interested.

 

[the_mother_thing]

Sorry you no longer need the ring. Can you list it in the preloved forum, diamond bistro and/or loupe troop first, etc. and see what kind of interest you get before coughing up more $$ just to sell it? Just a suggestion.

 

[teobdl]

Proto--sorry it didn't work out.

Weren't you buying the .8-1 ct range? Madelise (a PSer) was looking for a nice diamond in that range very recently for a friend.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/forum/preloved-ps-jewels/wtb-0-8-1ct-mrb-t204650.html']https://www.pricescope.com/forum/preloved-ps-jewels/wtb-0-8-1ct-mrb-t204650.html[/URL]
Contact her there.

Do NOT remount or agree to sell on consignment until you have explored all your options. I would recommend you sell at anything above 80% of the purchase price. Or keep the diamond for a future someone, if that doesn't feel weird to you (probably would to most, but who knows. it is just an object). Btw, are you beyond the buyback period?

I think you bought from WF--you could also store the diamond and use it in the future as a 100% upgrade to something else. That way you don't lose value except in shipping fees (minimal in the grand scheme).

 

[dk168]

I am in the UK, and based on my past experiences with selling jewellery, I would never sell to a jeweller again, as I would have got more selling via eBay!!!

Their excuse for the low prices they offered? The golds were only 14k WG and that's not common in the UK (we are talking about 2006), and the diamonds not certified, etc. etc...

One should expect a loss when selling jewellery, even if it is new and unworn, IMO. How much one is prepared to accept is down to the individual.

If the ring was mine, I would list it on eBay using Buy It Now with a Best Offer Option, setting the Buy It Now price as the maximum I am hoping to get, with a minimum Best Offer price below which the offers will be automatically rejected.

I am sure there are better ways to sell, however, eBay is what I know and have reasonable successes after a shaky start due to newbie errors in choosing the wrong selling format that ended up with over 200 GBP of listing fees without any of the items being sold (I took them to a jeweller and sold at knocked down prices instead, however, I am wiser now).

Good luck with whatever you decide.

DK

 

[OoohShiny]

Sorry to hear your change in circumstances

I think you've got some good suggestions above - I would start by seeing if you could sell on here first, it's your target market and we have all seen the work you've put in to get a great stone and ring!

In an absolute worst case scenario, do you have any ladies (your mum?) who would appreciate an awesome pendant??

I would be tempted to hold on to it if you can't get a good price. I read on here that prices are going up for stones with a good cut, so if you could keep it an upgrade with it at WF in the future then that would not be a 'waste' of your spend so far, or you maybe could get a higher price in the future, although returns on stones as an 'investment' are not exactly guaranteed!

 

[proto]

Many thanks for the replies so far.

diamond was JA - outside of return period
setting was WF custom - no return possible

Ebay scares the crap out of me because of all of the purchaser protections. I would never do that and risk getting scammed by a buyer. Just read too many horror stories I guess.

If the whole thing sells for £7,500, I break even after the 25% commission and £500 re-setting cost. This covers diamond, setting, VAT everything. Sales to the US or on loupetroup would never fetch that amount unfortunately.

Wanted to know if this refitting charge is pretty normal (seems to be from what i am reading so far) and whether 25% is robbery or just on the high end of acceptable.

Will def keep looking around and may see if any places in Hatton garden will consign and what they offer.

 

[WinkHPD]

So... dont need a ring anymore.

local jeweller has offered to sell on consignment in his window for 25% commission.

Requires a remount onto one of his standard mounts for £500.

On the plus side, factoring all of this in and jewellers expected sale price of £7500, I break out even minus some cashflow/use of money in the intervening period. Jeweller has also offered to holdover the £500 until the item sells.

However, I have no guarantee that the ring will

1 - sell
2 - sell at the price indicated by the jeweller

Is this a bad deal to make me spend £500 at the jeweller or is this semi normal? It wouldnt sell as a second hand item, but as one of his own stock. I also get to keep the old mount, although what I would do with it is anyone's guess. I expect it will be useless after unmounting?

Its Pt900 which is not seen in the UK, which is why jeweller wants to remount.

This is probably less than what he would make selling one of his own rings since he is a bricks and mortar store, so this seems fair to me. Some will think it high because they do not know how much it costs to run a proper jewelry store. It is one of the highest price per square foot retail catagories. We Internet vendors save a LOT of money by not having to pay those expenses, which allows Internet vendors to work on lower margins.

However, since we sell for less, we pay less, so you would likely NOT break even selling through an Internet vendor. You also do not have the risk of selling privately to an unknown party as you would by selling it yourself, although it is possible that you would actually yield more by doing that if you are successful.

By charging you for the new mounting, even though the jeweler is willing to wait until sale to collect it the jeweler is advising you that you will have a greater chance of sale in a new mounting and also assuring himself of covering his costs in doing this service for you, even if the diamond does not sell. He is at the same time, then, increasing your chance of eventual sale through him, and assuring himself that you do not cost him any out of pocket expenses while marketing your diamond. Not that common, but actually very intelligent on his part and a service to you as well.

What you would do with the old mounting is try to sell it. If nothing else, you can scrap it for a few dollars. Much of the value of the original mounting is in the labor that it took to make it correctly, and WhiteFlash has the reputation of making their rings very correctly. If you try to sell it on the internet resale market, be sure to reference its provenance as that will have a positive influence on its marketability.

Just my thoughts on an early Friday morning. The early morning sun is burning through the remnant clouds of last nights epic electrical storm and it is looking like it will be a glorious day. I wish you well with your sale.

Wink

 

[OoohShiny]

Sorry to hear your change in circumstances

I think you've got some good suggestions above - I would start by seeing if you could sell on here first, it's your target market and we have all seen the work you've put in to get a great stone and ring!

In an absolute worst case scenario, do you have any ladies (your mum?) who would appreciate an awesome pendant??

I would be tempted to hold on to it if you can't get a good price. I read on here that prices are going up for stones with a good cut, so that would not be a 'waste' of your spend so far - maybe could get a higher price in the future? although returns on stones as an 'investment' are not exactly guaranteed!

Asking round Hatton Garden could be a good plan, there are many different styles of shop there so you may find someone who could sort things out for you. Durrants on Grenville St (IIRC) seem to be non-nonsense and good people (I'm still thinking I might use them for the setting for the stone I've bought) and A&S just round the corner on Hatton Garden had a nice, no-pressure style and a chatty manager/owner guy (with a beard and glasses IIRC) when I popped in.


Let us know how you get on



EDIT: I have no idea what's going on there, I thought the first time I pressed Submit it didn't post so I amended it following other posts - please excuse the duplication!!

 

[Karl_K]

Changing the setting to fit better with what the dealer can sell is common.
25% is not unexpected it is likely the most common number with many charging 30% to 33% and others as low as 10-15% but often to get that rate you have to use the money to buy something from that jeweler. It often depends on the price of the item, smaller % fee for more expensive items.

 

[Andelain]

JA offers a 70% buyback on the stone. I'm positive you could get 75% the cost of the stone if you list it in pre-loved. I have a WTB up, and so does one other PS'er.

 

[Mayk]

You could also list with Grace at Jewels by Grace. She's sold a number of pieces for me.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I would try consignment with the jeweler(provided he is reputable) and try to get all my money back. My understanding is that the UK is much more expensive to buy diamonds, which I think you know, or why come to the states to buy a beautiful diamond?. If after 6 months it doesn't sell, you can think of other alternatives. In some ways I don't understand your problem. Just get your money back. If you achieve that, even with a 25% commission, its still good. You don't need a profit, right?


don't use ebay!

Annette

 

[Gypsy]

You've gotten great advice. I just wanted to say that I'm so sorry. You put so much effort into finding this lovely ring, and I know that if you put your heart in everything the way that you did into that process you will find someone who values you and recognizes what a great catch you are soon. Best of luck to you.

 

[OoohShiny]

Hey Proto,

I'm not sure if you'll ever log back into here after the stress you've had! but if you had it would be great to know how things have turned out for you.

 

[Sunstorm]

Hi Proto,

I am really sorry about what happened, this is the thing we did not want to hear.( I think that breaking even is great, hey, it is far better than how most people would do in your situation. I would try consignment, it can work out well and this is the season when it has a good chance of selling. As others suggested though, do explore other options beforehand like this forum, diamondbistro, etc.... Yes, B&M jewelers have very high costs, hence their prices are higher too but this plays to your advantage because you bought online and are possibly selling through a B&M. I also know that many jewelers will reset a diamond so it fits with everything else that they are selling. Yes, worst case scenario you can sell the setting as scrap although someone may buy that too if you list it on diamondbistro or one of these places. Best of luck to you and I am confident you will find the person of your dreams soon! Keep us posted.

 

[pyramid]

Not on the scale of diamond you have but here is my old story. I had a ring bought from a high street chain and asked a high street family jeweller in Aberdeen, Scotland (one of two great ones) if I could trade in the ring. This was about 2005. The ring cost £1800 in an 18ct setting the new ring was £3200. He said they had valued the ring at £1500. I said that the ring cost £1800 (I didn't know then about getting a lot less than you paid) and that it was a G colour. The family jeweller (who happened to be the owner) told me that all the diamonds the high street jeweller sold were said to be G but weren't which was true as all information cards said that. He said 'that is not a G, it might be an H'.He said he would have to reset it into another ring as white gold was the rage then, also the setting was a bit fancy like bow shaped shoulders but still just made of gold. He said they had valued the ring at £1500 and he would give me £700 as a trade in on the other diamond. I decided not to do it but not because of the trade in. So I don't know what they deducted because of the setting, and as I was going to buy another from them it was a bit different.