Can somebody please give a reality check on resale ideas?

[ereetah]

Hi everyone- this is my first post and I''ve been amazed by all of the knowledge on this board! I looked at the resale thread, but have a fairly specific question and I''m hoping somebody can give me an idea of what''s reasonable to expect.

For various reasons, my husband and I have decided to "trade" in my e-ring, but I have a few concerns. The new one I''m looking at is the Tiffany Lucida Bezel so there is no way a store credit at the place of purchase will work. Also, we are moving to Europe in about a month- do you know if the same principles of selling a diamond through classifieds or consignment would work? I know in general prices are more expensive there, so I wondered if waiting until we move would help or hurt matters.

The ring is a princess, 1.01 carat, E, VS2, Depth 89%, Table 76%, Med to VThick Girdle, Good Polish and Symmetry. At the time of purchase, we were pretty young and didn''t do a whole lot of research as far as which measurements to look at for a given cut- as I''m looking around this forum, I am thinking the stats on my ring (table and depth) may make things difficult: could somebody confirm this? We paid about $4500 4 years ago, and were hoping to get something ($3000 or so) to put toward the Tiffany.

Thanks for any help or advice!

 

[neatfreak]

I doubt you'll get as much as $3000...most of the time you'll be very lucky if you get half. Does it have a certificate? That can help too.

As for the move...prices can be more expensive in Europe...but at the same time the dollar is awful right now, so people who really want deals are buying from the US. And add to the pot that in most of europe diamonds are not nearly as big of a deal as they are in the US...I think personally you might have better luck here.

 

[ereetah]

It has the GIA cert with all of the information. Funny how jewelers say that diamonds are investment. As a finance person I never bought that, but wow getting only half really proves it!

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 5/10/2008 2:26:04 PM
Author: ereetah
It has the GIA cert with all of the information. Funny how jewelers say that diamonds are investment. As a finance person I never bought that, but wow getting only half really proves it!

Engagement ring diamonds unfortunately are in no way an investment.

Make sure to include that it is GIA certified when you try to sell it. That helps too.

 

[denverappraiser]

There are several key questions on resale:

What do you have?
Who will you sell it to?
Who are your competitors in the market you’ll be selling into?

On the first, you’ve mostly got an answer. Princess/GIA/1.01/E/VS2, nothing really steller above and beyond that but nothing that indicates it’s a dog either so let’s call that one answered.

Before we get into who your customer is, look up comparable stones here. Be conservative, this is only for your own education, not for your sales material and there’s probably hundreds of superficially similar stones available in the list. The cheapest probably have some ‘issues’ with them but figure yours belongs near the bottom for competitive purposes. If the alternative being considered is shopping here, that stone seems to be in the neighborhood of $4k. Let’s use that as a benchmark.

If you are selling to a dealer, meaning a store that’s going to be reselling it to someone else, a decent bid is half to 3/4 of this figure. That puts you in the $2k to $3k range. Not so far from where you want to be and definitely the least painful approach. The difference will have to do with the details of the stone beyond what we’ve discussed, especially condition, and unrelated things like the cash flow of the dealer, how their inventory is on stones like that and just whether they ‘like’ it.

Many dealers will do a consignment deal on certain stones. This brings down the margin they need to charge but means you have to wait to get your money. It also effectively puts you into partnership with the dealer and you have to care about things like whether they are still in business, whether they are paying their bills, etc. Often consignment stores get better prices than the folks here are asking and then will take 25% or so off the top for their service. If they can sell it for, say, $4,500 and then take 25% for their share, that leaves you with $3375. If they can get $5k or they’ll do it for 20%, you’ll do even better. That’s a decent return on your money for waiting even if it takes a while to sell if you’re willing to put up with the process and you can find a cooperative dealer. A warning about consignment dealers – Asking a lot for your stone and charging a low commission is not the same as actually getting it. There are quite a few that seem to be interested in filling up their cases with things that don’t cost them anything and then manage the sales to actually move things that get them a better margin.

Direct sales on the likes of ebay and craigslist or through the newspaper don’t seem to work very well for most people but it depends on your skills as this sort of thing. Writing an attractive ebay ad, convincing buyers that you’re a credible seller et.al. is actually more difficult than it appears at first blush. If you’re good at it, you can come out ok and the ebay fees are cheap but most people don’t seem to end up all that happy. Expect to get anywhere from 50%-100% of what the dealers are asking for here. The difference will be your own selling skills and the luck of the dice.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[anemone]

Heck, put an ad on craigslist for 4K and see what happens. Get a free anonymous phone number on the internet if you have to communicate by phone.

I picked a stone with identical specs for $4500 a couple of months ago, but mine was shallower than 89% Depth and I looked through 25 stones to find it.

 

[Sizzle]

How can one get a free internet phone number now that private phone went belly up?