Diamond prices are fairly stable, the issue is jewelers mark prices way up and most people don't know what a good price is. If a diamond goes for $5k wholesale, chances are they're looking to sell it for $10-20k. Since most people only buy 1-2 engagement rings in their lifetime they don't know what is a reasonable price. They "shop around" at three stores that are all owned by the same company. So they end up paying $15k for a ring. Then if they need to return it they only get $5k for it. They overpaid due to the emotion of the moment and expect to get something close.
Even in the article you listed there were a number of offers all close to each other. ~8-10k is a 'reasonable price' for that ring.
Most jewelers I've interacted with are more than happy to buy your diamond for a bit under wholesale cost. They're also happy to make rings with old diamonds. They make money selling settings too.
One issue is the public. There are a number of people who don't want a "Used Ring". But, there are a large number of diamonds being sold that have been owned previously.
I feel like if you took and old diamond ring, reset it and refinished it, there would be no way to tell that it was "used". Maybe resetting it will introduce some flaws that weren't there before.
Kind of crazy when people say they want a "new" diamond, uh....well all of them are literally millions of years old unless it's lab grown.
> I feel like if you took and old diamond ring, reset it and refinished it, there would be no way to tell that it was "used". Maybe resetting it will introduce some flaws that weren't there before.
Can anyone who works in the diamond industry respond to this? Can anyone tell if a diamond has been made into a ring before? Would it damage the diamond to remove it from the ring? This sounds like an opportunity to plaster signs that say "WE BUY DIAMOND RINGS" all over and buy them back from consumers at a discount from wholesale.
Not in the diamond industry. But, most diamonds are etched with a serial number. GIA etches a report number you can look up online for instance. Similar to a VIN you could probably google it and see if it's been listed/sold elsewhere. Unlikely though as the turn around on diamonds is very low.
The easiest way is to determine through the setting. Styles change. If it's a setting from the 50s that isn't made anymore it's probably old. If it's a setting from a company that is < 10 years old it's got a better chance of being new.
Diamonds are not damaged when swapping settings. They are often removed and reset if a prong breaks for instance.
Most people just don't want to buy from estate sales or auction. So, jewelry stores will do that, clean it up, put it in a new setting (or leave it as is), and resell it as 'new'.
This is all correct! I've worked in the diamond business for almost a decade now and see people complain on HN and Reddit constantly about diamonds all while barely understanding the industry at all. The common complaint of "you can't sell them for what you paid" is a dumb complaint because they don't understand the HUGE markup the stones receive at retail.
Here's the profit margins that the stones receive along the way:
- Miners selling to cutters - 10-15% profit
- Cutters selling to wholesalers - 3-5% profit
- Wholesalers selling to retail - 10-20% profit
- Retail to consumers - 100-200% profit
Everyone on these threads is always mad at the miners and I never see any anger placed on the Jared's, Kay's, Zale's of the world (all owned by the same company btw).
> The common complaint of "you can't sell them for what you paid"
You and the other person gives loads of reasons why people giving that complaint are entirely right. The marketing is (partly) that it is valuable. In practice you'll not be able to resell it for a similar value.
I was hoping the takeaway would be “don’t buy diamonds from retail”. BlueNile is the best option here in the US for buying diamonds, usually around a 10-15% markup over wholesale.
My wife is a jewelry buyer for big retail , this is accurate but people also don’t understand the overhead and cost associated with retail in general. It’s much more burdened that some B2B middleman. My opinion after countless conversations with her about the industry is the best model would be something like Trunk Club where they mail you a bunch of rings, you decided which to keep. It probably exists in some format, if not, the obvious problem is the value of the inventory and the potential for fraud/theft that it would attract. Unfortunately it’s essentially what’s been going on in our house since covid WFH, she had a million dollars of product sitting on a shelf in her home office.
Even in the article you listed there were a number of offers all close to each other. ~8-10k is a 'reasonable price' for that ring.
Most jewelers I've interacted with are more than happy to buy your diamond for a bit under wholesale cost. They're also happy to make rings with old diamonds. They make money selling settings too.
One issue is the public. There are a number of people who don't want a "Used Ring". But, there are a large number of diamonds being sold that have been owned previously.