Diamond trade-in: should I disclose original purchase price?

[cowcow81]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking to potentially trade in my current diamond and purchase a CBI. Should I have disclosed my original purchase price to CBI? I know it’s water under the bridge since I already sent in my original invoice with the purchase price on it but I’m just wondering if it affects the offer that I will receive. Melissa at CBI told me it does not but for my own peace of mind I wanted to get your honest opinion. Thank you!

Also, if anyone has recommendations as to where I should sell my diamond, I’d greatly appreciate it!

 

[whitewave]

I don’t think it matters... they have to find a buyer and you know how that goes— something is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.

 

[RayRay]

I seriously doubt it matters too. Are you able to sell it to HPD? That’s what I did with mine...super easy!!!

 

[the_mother_thing]

I wouldn’t think it really matters. I don’t think a vendor would offer you (significantly) more than what they can get for it simply because you paid X more/less. I can only imagine there is some wiggle room depending on their profit on the diamond you’re buying to help you out and close the deal.

 

[Wewechew]

I disclosed the purchase price of my stone I traded into them- I trust them.

 

[cowcow81]

I seriously doubt it matters too. Are you able to sell it to HPD? That’s what I did with mine...super easy!!!

I’m waiting on the offer, hopefully will hear back in the next couple of days! Did you lose a lot of money selling the old diamond if you don’t mind me asking? Just trying to prepare myself from the shock.

 

[cowcow81]

I disclosed the purchase price of my stone I traded into them- I trust them.

Good to know, thank you! Melissa was very pleasant on the phone.

 

[cowcow81]

I don’t think it matters... they have to find a buyer and you know how that goes— something is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.

True!

 

[Wewechew]

I’m waiting on the offer, hopefully will hear back in the next couple of days! Did you lose a lot of money selling the old diamond if you don’t mind me asking? Just trying to prepare myself from the shock.

They will be coming back with a wholesale number for it... so depending on what you purchased your stone for, you may want to brace yourself. But they do bend over backwards trying to get the best deal for you.

 

[RayRay]

I’m waiting on the offer, hopefully will hear back in the next couple of days! Did you lose a lot of money selling the old diamond if you don’t mind me asking? Just trying to prepare myself from the shock.

Depends on how you look at it...I bought my first diamond at Diamonds Direct five yeArs ago for $7k, when I probably could hAve bought one online for $5k. I got just under $4k for it, which is really good as a % of the current market prices. It also depends on your current specs. I thought about keeping it for a pendant and decided I really wanted a CBI NOW!!!!

 

[headlight]

I just went through this, myself. And it isn't the first time... I've now traded 3 times. My husband is praying this is the last! What is interesting this most recent time just this past February is that I received as trade-in credit almost the exact same amount that I had paid for the stone when I purchased it (also a trade - yikes) 16 years ago! (The buying and the selling were not with the same jeweler.) The jeweler did not know what I had paid for the stone and so it is totally coincidental. Sadly, be prepared at the price you will get. The only reason I "netted" out on mine was because I had it for so long. But that wasn't the case for the previous 2 (and if I trade this one it won't!). With that said, I look at it this way: If it gets me into the diamond I want to be at, then that's all I want out of it. I understand the jeweler is there to be profitable. So he/she wants something... and so do I! If we both end up with what we want I feel you have to put the value you think you lost out of your mind. If you didn't have the stone you are trading in, you wouldn't be able to get the next one, so you got your value out of it that way. It served as a stepping stone (toward our own personal diamond nirvana lol!). My jeweler flat out said I could do much better if I sold it privately but I did not want to go that route. I wanted my new diamond and wanted to get on with it! What IS more interesting is that he offered me a price when I first approached him that I could use toward a trade. Alternatively, they suggested I try a recut to see if perhaps that would make me want to keep my diamond. So I paid approx $1400 for the recut of a 3.29 RB, cut to 3.18. In spite of the recut, I was still "over" that stone yet now that I did the recut, he offered me an additional FIVE GRAND! So that $1400 was a great move on my part! That trade in got me my 2.01 GIA3X E color! I think we were short about $750 toward the mounting. So my husband was happy, my jeweler was happy and me... well, we'll see (wink wink)!!!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I probably would not give my purchase price, because they are going to make an offer based on the wholesale value of the diamond. What you paid is irrelevant, really. However, I think in other circumstances with less reputable vendors, that price might influence the price offered.

@headlight , um, I think you need to make a thread telling us about your upgrade journey and show more pics of your new ring! It's not usual around here for someone to go down in size but higher in color or clarity! I totally get it, though!

 

[cowcow81]

I just went through this, myself. And it isn't the first time... I've now traded 3 times. My husband is praying this is the last! What is interesting this most recent time just this past February is that I received as trade-in credit almost the exact same amount that I had paid for the stone when I purchased it (also a trade - yikes) 16 years ago! (The buying and the selling were not with the same jeweler.) The jeweler did not know what I had paid for the stone and so it is totally coincidental. Sadly, be prepared at the price you will get. The only reason I "netted" out on mine was because I had it for so long. But that wasn't the case for the previous 2 (and if I trade this one it won't!). With that said, I look at it this way: If it gets me into the diamond I want to be at, then that's all I want out of it. I understand the jeweler is there to be profitable. So he/she wants something... and so do I! If we both end up with what we want I feel you have to put the value you think you lost out of your mind. If you didn't have the stone you are trading in, you wouldn't be able to get the next one, so you got your value out of it that way. It served as a stepping stone (toward our own personal diamond nirvana lol!). My jeweler flat out said I could do much better if I sold it privately but I did not want to go that route. I wanted my new diamond and wanted to get on with it! What IS more interesting is that he offered me a price when I first approached him that I could use toward a trade. Alternatively, they suggested I try a recut to see if perhaps that would make me want to keep my diamond. So I paid approx $1400 for the recut of a 3.29 RB, cut to 3.18. In spite of the recut, I was still "over" that stone yet now that I did the recut, he offered me an additional FIVE GRAND! So that $1400 was a great move on my part! That trade in got me my 2.01 GIA3X E color! I think we were short about $750 toward the mounting. So my husband was happy, my jeweler was happy and me... well, we'll see (wink wink)!!!

What a journey! Happy for you! Could you share a bit more on why you didn’t want to keep the recut? Stats of before and after? Did you use brian Gavin for the recut? I was actually thinking about having mine recut but we will see how much I can get by trading in since recut is not cheap either.

 

[headlight]

I will work on that!!!

 

[headlight]

I don’t know who did the recut as I went through my jeweler and it was someone he uses.
It was a very poorly cut stone, an EGL Israel loser with a 61% table and a 61.3% total depth, crown height 14%, pavilion depth 44%. I don’t recall the number but it was like a 4-something on the HCA. It did have good spread lol!!! The inclusions were awful, lots of black reflecting all over the place... it was supposedly an SI2. I have an SI2 now but it’s a world of difference. (Wanted higher clarity but something’s always gotta give!). It was just a mess with eye-visible clarity and the light leakage. And then there was the color issue: It was graded as an H but my jeweler and I agreed it was an I. Maybe because of the poor cut or maybe because of the size, or both, it was really warm and dark to me. It didn’t bother me when I first got it, but as the years went on it began to bother me more and more until I couldn’t stand it. The best thing about that diamond was it’s size... which is great considering that when I purchased it (using trade as partial payment lol!) my one and only priority was getting a “headlight”! So I got what I paid for
Interestingly, the recut only took away 11 points! There was an inclusion that prevented them from doing more so perhaps it could’ve been cut to even better proportions but it was just yucky rough IMO. I don’t even know the recut proportions. I just needed that out of my life. Similarly, the mounting I most recently had for it was a huge problem as it didn’t fit right and hurt my finger and looked gaudy and made wearing the diamond I hated an even more miserable experience. Pathetic, totally pathetic!!!!

 

[cowcow81]

I don’t know who did the recut as I went through my jeweler and it was someone he uses.
It was a very poorly cut stone, an EGL Israel loser with a 61% table and a 61.3% total depth, crown height 14%, pavilion depth 44%. I don’t recall the number but it was like a 4-something on the HCA. It did have good spread lol!!! The inclusions were awful, lots of black reflecting all over the place... it was supposedly an SI2. I have an SI2 now but it’s a world of difference. (Wanted higher clarity but something’s always gotta give!). It was just a mess with eye-visible clarity and the light leakage. And then there was the color issue: It was graded as an H but my jeweler and I agreed it was an I. Maybe because of the poor cut or maybe because of the size, or both, it was really warm and dark to me. It didn’t bother me when I first got it, but as the years went on it began to bother me more and more until I couldn’t stand it. The best thing about that diamond was it’s size... which is great considering that when I purchased it (using trade as partial payment lol!) my one and only priority was getting a “headlight”! So I got what I paid for
Interestingly, the recut only took away 11 points! There was an inclusion that prevented them from doing more so perhaps it could’ve been cut to even better proportions but it was just yucky rough IMO. I don’t even know the recut proportions. I just needed that out of my life. Similarly, the mounting I most recently had for it was a huge problem as it didn’t fit right and hurt my finger and looked gaudy and made wearing the diamond I hated an even more miserable experience. Pathetic, totally pathetic!!!!

Wow I could really tell how much you disliked your old diamond from your last post. Reading your story makes me feel like I’m just nitpicking my diamond which I wanted so badly when I first came upon it, I’m not at the point where I feel like I can’t stand it, in fact, when I wear it I still get drawn to how bright and big it looks on my size 4 finger, I went for spread and I got spread (9.05 x 9.09). But being on this site has made me want better, aka the superideal. And I keep wondering if I’m trading off fire for brightness because of the CA 34 PA 40.8. But I also know that at this point in life, a better diamond or another diamond is not priority, it’s just nice to have, but definitely something I could live without.

Maybe I should sit tight until I see some CBIs at the appraisers office before I lose sleep over this decision making process.

 

[headlight]

Are you saying yours now is fiery and you would be trading that to get brightness? Or the other way around?
I'm sure the CBIs will be amazing in person. You better be prepared, after seeing them, to not be able to live with yourself if you don't get one! Diamond "seeking" is totally a Pandora's box!
You are just going to have to play this out and see what the numbers are, how they compare to what you have now, etc.
I am not good at having patience with the process!

 

[cowcow81]

Are you saying yours now is fiery and you would be trading that to get brightness? Or the other way around?
I'm sure the CBIs will be amazing in person. You better be prepared, after seeing them, to not be able to live with yourself if you don't get one! Diamond "seeking" is totally a Pandora's box!
You are just going to have to play this out and see what the numbers are, how they compare to what you have now, etc.
I am not good at having patience with the process!

I meant to say that my current diamond probably has less fire due to the shallow crown and large table at 58%. Why i overlooked all these things when I bought the diamond is beyond me! SMH

 

[headlight]

I totally understand. We get swept away! Personally, I find the whole process very stressful and overwhelming, and I just can't make good decisions under those conditions. And i'm impulsive. All this is not a good recipe for making a diamond decision!!!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

You do need to stop worrying until you see the diamonds in person! All I can say is that I had never seen a superideal before I saw my first one, and I couldn't ever go backwards and not care about getting that cut quality in a modern round!

 

[CareBear]

I was never asked my purchase price when trading in with WF so I never gave it, but I don't think it affects their offer. Reputable vendors wouldn't adjust the offer based on the originally purchase price.