Finding the Best Option for Selling Your Diamonds
The best way to sell your diamonds depends on your goal: Do you want more money even if you have to wait, or do you need to sell your diamonds quickly even if that means you could get paid less?
Another important consideration is whether you want to get cash for your diamonds or you would be willing to exchange them for another piece of jewelry.
Let’s take a look at the best options to sell your diamonds for cash, and then see what you should do if you simply want to exchange them for jewelry.
Selling Diamonds for Cash
The main options you have to sell your diamonds for cash are through a diamond dealer, retail jeweler, or an auction.
Diamond dealers are the best choice if speed is essential.
These people specialize in buying and selling diamonds, so they will offer you a deal quickly and execute it swiftly if you accept.
The downside is that you might get less money than you would if you sold the diamonds to a retailer or at an auction.
Jewelry retailers could offer you a higher price for your diamonds than dealers would, but that’s not a given.
It is true that by selling to jewelers, you skip the middleman wholesale dealer, but not all retailers actually buy diamonds. And many of those that do might not offer you a price that is much better than the one you would get from a dealer.
Some jewelers might agree to display your diamonds in their store for a fee, and you might be able to get a higher price than with other options. However, it may take a long time before someone buys your stones.
In general, going to jewelry retailers is the best way to sell your diamonds if you are not in a hurry and have the time to ask around and negotiate a better price or to wait for your stones to sell.
An auction is another option to sell diamonds. It can be arranged through an auction house, a jewelry store that offers such services, or a website such as eBay.
Generally, an auction is the best choice if your stone is unique in some way or has some antique value.
How Much Cash Can You Sell Your Diamonds For?
If you go to a jewelry store and try to sell your diamond jewelry for cash, chances are that you won’t be able to get more than 50-60% of its original retail value.
Jewelry stores don’t really have the incentive to buy your diamond jewelry at its retail price.
In fact, you’d be lucky to get half of what you bought your items for. In most cases, the price you will be offered will be around 25-40% of the retail price of your jewelry, depending on where you bought the stone from.
Why the low price?
Why do jewelers offer such low prices for diamonds that are sold for a lot more?
The fact that your jewelry is used is only part of the reason. The truth is that jewelry stores don’t really have the incentive to buy your diamond jewelry at its retail price because they buy diamonds in bulk at much lower rates.
Does all that mean that jewelers make outrageous profits on diamonds?
Not really. Even if the wholesale purchase price of diamond jewelry seems low, it has to be marked up to cover the store’s expenses such as salaries, rent, utilities, advertising, etc.
Profit is only a small part of the retail price, and it is not worth it for jewelers to pay that much for second-hand jewelry.
Looking to sell your engagement ring or other diamond jewelry? Check out Worthy, which is an online jewelry auction platform — you can mail in your jewelry and let Worthy organize the sale for you, sending you the money after the piece is sold.
Some Jewelers Don’t Buy Diamonds for Cash
Some jewelers will not buy your diamonds at all.
One of the reasons is precisely the low price they can offer you: It is likely to outrage some customers, who may never come back to buy anything from the store.
In addition, some stores don’t want to deal with the hassle of establishing the quality of the diamonds offered to them as the process involves additional time and money.
Trading In Your Diamond: A Better Alternative?
Although selling your diamonds for cash may not be worth it for you, a non-cash deal may prove to give you a better value for your stone.
A lot of jewelers won’t buy diamonds for cash but would be willing to accept your stone in exchange for store credit that you can use to buy jewelry at the store.
Even retailers that are willing to pay cash for diamonds will usually give you a better deal if you agree to trade in your stone for a better diamond or another piece of jewelry. The reason is that the new item you will get will usually cost more, and instead of paying you cash, the jeweler will receive some cash from you to cover the difference in value between the two items.
So, if you think you would want to buy jewelry with the money you would receive for your diamond, the best option to get the most value for your stone would be to exchange it at a store that accepts trade-ins.
The exchange option might give you the best value if you go to the store where you bought your diamond, assuming it has an exchange policy. So, this would be the first place to check before you try any other jewelry shops.
Evaluating a Trade-In vs. Cash Deal
Let’s see how you can work out whether a trade-in deal would be a better option for you than a cash sale:
Suppose the diamond ring you want to sell was bought for $5,000. Say the jewelry store offers you 20% of the ring’s original price, i.e. $1,000.
However, you are told that if you trade the ring in, you will be given an allowance of $2,500 (50% your item’s price) to use against any purchase of new jewelry from the store.
So if you want to buy a new ring that costs $6,000, you will have to pay only $3,500.
In the above example, if you trade in your jewelry, you get a value of $2,500 for it than the $1,000 you would get if you sold it for cash.
The store actually makes a sale to you and gets $3,500 in cash plus your item, which can be sold for at least $2,500. Both you and the jeweler are better off than if you went with the cash deal.
Of course, if you need cash urgently, a trade-in deal may not work for you, so make sure to evaluate your alternatives before deciding which option to take.
