If you’ve decided that you want to sell your wedding ring, there are a couple of things you should know before going ahead. First, you need to understand what factors determine the value of the ring. You also need to be aware of which potential buyers are likely to pay the most for your gold jewelry.
10-karat gold wedding rings
Let’s take a closer look at the most important aspects of selling a gold ring:
What Is the Value of Your Gold Wedding Ring?
Generally, the value of a gold wedding ring is comprised of the value of the metal it is made of and the value of the stones set in the piece.
The value of the ring as a complete piece of jewelry is higher than the cost of its materials because it also includes the value of the design and the work involved to create it.
Click here to browse a collection of gold rings and check their prices.
Value of the Metal
The value of the gold in your wedding ring is the price gold buyers would pay for the metal.
To find out how much it is worth, first determine the karat of the ring and express it as a percentage, then multiply this number by the ring’s weight (excluding any stones) to find how much pure gold the piece contains, and value this amount by the market price of gold.
For example, if your wedding ring is 22 karats, the equivalent gold purity value in percentage terms is found by dividing the karats by 24.
Thus, we calculate 22/24 = 0.917, and this means that the ring contains 91.7% gold. If the piece weighs 10 g, then the amount of pure gold in it is equal to 10 x 91.7% = 9.17 g.
If you multiply the weight of the pure gold in your ring by the market price of the metal, you will see how much it is worth.
The most relevant price to you would be the one quoted by gold dealers that buy individual jewelry items to resell them for scrap gold or melt them down.
These quotes fluctuate daily with the market price of gold.
Value of the Stones
If your wedding ring has any stones, such as diamonds, their resale value will be lower than the retail price similar stones sell for at the jewelry store.
The price you can get for your diamonds or other gemstones will be closer to the wholesale prices jewelers pay to their suppliers.
To estimate the value of your stones, look up the retail prices for gemstones or diamonds that have the same color, clarity, carat weight, and cut quality, and assume that you would get about 20% of that amount.
Here you can see the retail prices for loose diamonds or for gemstones.
Value as a Complete Piece of Jewelry
The market value of jewelry pieces is higher than the sum of the values of their constituent metals and stones, as you also pay for the design and the craftsmanship involved.
However, this is mostly true of new pieces, whereas second-hand jewelry sells for much lower prices.
So, the value of your ring as a used piece of jewelry is likely to be closer to the resale price of the gold and stones in it.
Where Can You Sell Your Gold Wedding Ring?
People most often sell their gold rings to jewelry brokers, gold dealers, jewelers, and bidders at auctions.
Jewelry brokers buy used jewelry in order to resell it. Some of them also operate online.
Gold dealers will buy your wedding ring with the intention of melting it down. They will pay you only for the metal.
Some might offer to also buy your diamonds or other stones, if there are any in your ring, but the price offered for them may not be the best you could get.
Jewelers will also usually buy your wedding ring for the gold in it, and many will not pay you much more than gold dealers would. Some will buy it in order to sell it as second-hand jewelry, and those may pay more than the scrap gold buyers. Few jewelers would pay a significantly higher price for used jewelry, as such pieces sell at deep discounts.
Some jewelers may offer you to exchange your ring or its stones for store credit, which you can use to buy jewelry from the jeweler’s shop.
Such deals have the potential to provide better value if you are not explicitly looking to get cash for your wedding ring.
Selling at an auction is likely to be more lucrative than selling to gold dealers or jewelers as long as your wedding ring has some unique feature that makes it valuable to potential bidders.
For example, if your ring is made by a famous designer or is an antique, you could get more money for it than if you sell it for scrap gold. This is less likely to happen if the ring does not have any characteristics that make it stand out, however.
Worthy is one such service that organizes online jewelry auctions for engagement rings and diamond jewelry — you can mail them your items and they will sell your jewelry for you and send you the money when it is sold.
Should You Have Your Wedding Ring Appraised Before Selling It?
A jewelry appraisal is usually done by a certified appraiser who is also an expert in gemology. The document issued after the jewelry is appraised contains its theoretical market value.
Keep in mind that this number is likely to be much higher than the price of the piece as second-hand jewelry or scrap gold.
Although you most likely won’t be able to sell your wedding ring for its appraised value, the appraisal document could help you get a higher price when negotiating with jewelers or auctioning the ring.
Generally, an appraisal will be helpful if you are going to sell your ring as a complete jewelry piece. If you offer a wedding ring to a gold dealer for scrap metal, the appraisal won’t be of much use.
