Selling diamonds

[marmar2013]

Hi All
Just a quick question and i apologize if this is the wrong section. I am recently divorced and need to sell my jewelry, i have 30K in credit card debt from attorney fees. I am going to see a jeweler tonight.
should I hope to get 75% of the value, 50% of the value or of what we spent?

I have no idea how to do this or what to expect. All my stuff is platinum and I have a brand new breitling watch to sell also.

If the purchase price of all is $25,000, should i take no less then $12,500 then?

 

[tyty333]

Hi All
Just a quick question and i apologize if this is the wrong section. I am recently divorced and need to sell my jewelry, i have 30K in credit card debt from attorney fees. I am going to see a jeweler tonight.
should I hope to get 75% of the value, 50% of the value or of what we spent?

I have no idea how to do this or what to expect. All my stuff is platinum and I have a brand new breitling watch to sell also.

If the purchase price of all is $25,000, should i take no less then $12,500 then?

I'm sorry you are going through this...

I certainly wouldnt take the first offer. If your jewelry is brand name you can probably do better than 50% but probably not
with a jeweler. How much time do you have? We have a pre-loved forum where you can let people know what you have
for sell. You can actually put photos up and list them on either loupetoop.com or http://www.diamondbistro.com/ .
Any chance of you taking it to an appraiser who can tell you what they think it's worth on the second hand market? I just hate
to see you get taken. No matter what the jeweler offers, I would ask for more. Good luck...

 

[marmar2013]

Hi All
Just a quick question and i apologize if this is the wrong section. I am recently divorced and need to sell my jewelry, i have 30K in credit card debt from attorney fees. I am going to see a jeweler tonight.
should I hope to get 75% of the value, 50% of the value or of what we spent?

I have no idea how to do this or what to expect. All my stuff is platinum and I have a brand new breitling watch to sell also.

If the purchase price of all is $25,000, should i take no less then $12,500 then?

I'm sorry you are going through this...

I certainly wouldnt take the first offer. If your jewelry is brand name you can probably do better than 50% but probably not
with a jeweler. How much time do you have? We have a pre-loved forum where you can let people know what you have
for sell. You can actually put photos up and list them on either loupetoop.com or http://www.diamondbistro.com/ .
Any chance of you taking it to an appraiser who can tell you what they think it's worth on the second hand market? I just hate
to see you get taken. No matter what the jeweler offers, I would ask for more. Good luck...

I wasn't planning on taking them to an appraiser, honestly my head is spinning. I delivered our baby in March, he told me in the hospital he wanted a divorce. Everything was finalized a few weeks ago. I have two babies, 8 months and 2 yrs. I work fulltime and am just trying to keep it all together.
Should I get an appraisal?
I have a lot of stuff. All platinum
Ering, two diamond wedding bands, diamond stud earrings, 5 diamond stone ring, etc

if i wanted to put photos on the site you note, do i need an appraisal to try and sell there? i have NO idea what im doing.
i just need to get my cc debt down asap. He is now living out of state with the woman he was having an affair with.............

 

[Diamondz1]

Hi Marmar, I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully some Pricescopers with more experience will weigh in before your appointment tonight but I would definitely encourage you not to take the first offer your given!

Whatever the jeweler offers you tonight is just one data point. Can you visit other jewelers? Try to gather as much info as you can before making a decision. There are other options besides selling to a jeweler where I'd guess you'll be quoted at wholesale (50%?). You can also try to sell your pieces yourself, or via consignment for a higher (but slower) return.

Best of luck!!

Edit: Whoa, girl I posted this before seeing your response. Rawr! That's a hard story to read. Makes me mad on your behalf > But you know what? Good things happen to good people, and bad people... well, you reap what you sow. There are a lot of options for selling your own jewelry. An appraisal might not be a bad idea so that you know what you have. It eliminates risk of a smooth talking sales person convincing you that your pieces are worth much less than they truly are. While you don't really need an appraisal to list jewelry for sale on a website, it doesn't hurt to have one. 1. You know where you stand on the value of your pieces, and 2. it can give confidence to potential buyers as well. If your diamond pieces have lab reports (GIA, AGS, etc) that also helps.

 

[VRBeauty]

I'd start by getting estimates from several reputable jewelers in your area if possible. If your ring originally cost in the $25,000 range it would be worth your while to pay an independent appraiser for an estimate. The problem is that the faster you need the money, the more you're going to have to rely on quick sales (i.e., selling to a local jeweler or pawn shop) and likely lower prices. Consider selling just one piece (or two) as necessary to pay upcoming bills if that might by you time to sell other pieces through a slower but potentially more lucrative route, such as consignment.

Many people here sell through Loupetroop.com or diamondbistro.com, sites which allow you to advertise and deal directly with potential buyers. Sales of well-priced and desireable merchandise on those sites seem to be pretty brisk. But - those sites don't have the buyer/seller ratings, dispute resolution, and arbitration procedures that a site like Ebay does, so you as a seller are assuming a bit more risk. You might also contact Jewels by Grace or LoveAffairDiamonds, both of which sell ,jewelry on consignment, to get their estimates of what they might be able to sell your for. Selling on consignment reduces that risk to you but you're paying some commission fees.

One final thought - Pricescope has a "sell your diamond" feature that allows you to essentially put information about your diamond out there to numerous jewelers or diamond brokers - and allows them to make you an offer. https://www.pricescope.com/sell-your-diamond Of course potential buyers in the trade would be looking to minimize their risk and to be able to re-sell at a profit, so the more credible information you can provide (an AGS or GIA certification would be ideal; an assessment provided by a trusted independent appraiser one step below that) the better the offers you'll get.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I am so sorry to hear of your situation. I can't even imagine how you are managing two babies and full time work alone.

Please do not do anything too quickly. Jewelers are going to offer you less than perhaps a second hand buyer because they will resell it with a mark up.

If your larger diamonds have GIA reports, that is very good information and will help sell them. If not, you need an independent appraisal. I can recommend Neil Beatty in Denver who is well known on this forum. David Atlas in PA is also a good independent appraiser.

http://www.americangemregistry.com/

http://datlas.com/services/

This forum gets a lot of views, and if you list your items on loupetroop and then post in the pre-loved section here, you have a chance of getting 50-75% depending on the items as long as they are high quality.

If that is too much trouble, Erica at Love Affair Diamonds does consignment and has the lowest consignment fees I know of.

 

[tyty333]

You do not need appraisals to sell on our pre loved forum.

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/forum/preloved-ps-jewels/']https://www.pricescope.com/forum/preloved-ps-jewels/[/URL]

I think there is someone on there looking for a 5 stone right now.
Maybe you could list everything at 75% of what you paid which will
Be better than what a jeweler will offer. Any large stones with
Gia/AGS that are well cut may go for more. I encourage you to
Use the "Sell your Diamond" function at least to see what they will
Offer. The other thing you will really need is very good up close
Photos.

 

[marmar2013]

Thank you to EVERYONE that responded. You have given me a lot of great information and I really appreciate it.

What a mess.

thanks again


I got the kids, so that is a blessing in itself, need to keep reminding myself of that......................

 

[ChristineRose]

Pricescope actually has a really good article.

Purchase prices of diamonds vary tremendously. A lot of people have these inflated appraisals where they get a piece of paper that says the stone is worth twice what they paid for it, when in fact the exact same stone could have been bought from another dealer for much less.

So the first step is to estimate what your stone would have cost from a bare bones dealer like Blue Nile. This is pretty hard to do without talking to a professional (unless of course you did buy it from Blue Nile....)

You might get as much as 70% of your cost on a private sale (e-Bay, etc.). The nicer and rarer your diamond, the higher the percentage you'll be able to get. On the other hand, a quickie diamond buyer (WE BUY GOLD!!!!) may offer you 10% or even less. Jewelers are typically in between, but a jeweler has to assess whether they really need your stone in their store. In general the longer you can wait, the more you can hope to get.

If you do have a stone that did cost $25,000 you absolutely should look at getting a full appraisal and a GIA certificate. The second hand buying market is very aware of fraud and inflated appraisals and you

 

[tyty333]

Hi All
Just a quick question and i apologize if this is the wrong section. I am recently divorced and need to sell my jewelry, i have 30K in credit card debt from attorney fees. I am going to see a jeweler tonight.
should I hope to get 75% of the value, 50% of the value or of what we spent?

I have no idea how to do this or what to expect. All my stuff is platinum and I have a brand new breitling watch to sell also.

If the purchase price of all is $25,000, should i take no less then $12,500 then?

I think we have some misinformation...She said if the purchase price for ALL IS $25k...not that she has 1 ring worth $25k.

 

[Travelgal]

I am so sorry to hear your story. I sold my ring on idonowidont dot com. It worked well for me and I got 75% of what I paid for it. I was previously offered 50% by another jeweler so I thought I did well. In hindsight (and before prices cope), I should have checked jamesallen because my diamond increased significantly in value. I would still recommend the site, but I would definitely do some research on the market value of your rings first.

 

[metooplease]

I just wanted to say that I'm so sorry that you are dealing with this.

I will be no help whatsoever here, but please consider (since it is cc debt you are dealing with) the interest rates of that. The longer you hold onto stuff, the more you are paying...So you would need to figure that as a "cost" to you.

Hopefully you can get rid of your stuff quickly and at a fair price and it will be one less headache for you.

Best wishes to you.

 

[HopeDream]

Some jewelry stores offer consignment as well, so you might consider consigning it with a local jeweler that does a lot of business. Consignments often run at the jeweler receiving 25-30% of the purchase price, so they are motivated to sell your items at a fair price.