People often ask me how they can sell a used wedding ring, or how to unload other manufactured jewelry for a good price.
Well, although I can tell you thousands of ways to sell handcrafted jewelry, I’m not an expert on selling manufactured jewelry!
I can share a few tips with you, though - and I can also tell you about my own recent experience with selling some unwanted gold jewelry I hadn’t worn in years.
But first, a word of warning - you will probably not be able to get anywhere near the price you’d like to get for your used wedding ring or other jewelry, even when the precious metal market prices are very high.
So don’t expect too much - although there’s always a chance you may be pleasantly surprised.
Here’s what I would recommend:
If the piece is unusual, antique, vintage, or has stones, you may want to have it appraised first.
People may be leery about buying used jewelry from you if you don’t have an official statement of what the components are made of.
They don’t want to wind up paying diamond prices for cubic zirconia!
Also, an important thing to remember here is that you won’t get the full value of what the piece of jewelry is currently worth, unless you sell it directly to the end user (and even then you may have to bargain with them).
Finding an end user can be tricky, though.
You can try selling your wedding ring or other piece on eBay.
However, be forewarned that there are thousands upon thousands of pieces of manufactured jewelry up for auction there.
In fact, as I write this, there are 17,496 eBay results for “wedding ring” alone!
So on eBay you’ll face a lot of competition, and a lot of jewelry that’s priced quite low - which may be hard to compete against and still get the price you’d like.
And if you’re not an established seller, people may not even visit your auction - unless you do something to make it attention-grabbing (like the guy who sold his ex-wife’s wedding dress on eBay, with a hysterically funny auction listing that included photos of him modeling the dress).
Also remember that on eBay you’ll be paying auction fees, which will cut into your profit to some degree.
You may also want to try selling your wedding ring through a classified ad in your local newspaper, or through an online classified ad such as in CraigsList.
If you can’t connect directly with the end user, then you’ll have to go through a “middle man” such as a pawn broker, antique dealer, etc.
However, there you’ll be lucky to get half of the value of the piece, because the middle-man has to make a profit from the other half.
There’s also another approach you can take.
You can investigate selling your wedding ring or other manufactured jewelry to a place that buys used gold or silver to melt down and re-use.
If you’re a jewelry artist and you use precious metals in your work, check with jewelry suppliers such as Monsterslayer or Rio Grande, who accept precious metal scraps.
They will either pay you for what you send in, or give you a slightly higher amount of credit toward your next metal purchase there.
However, before sending them your wedding ring or other unwanted precious metal jewelry, contact them to be sure it’s an item they’ll accept.
You can also try a local jeweler in your town who buys metals.
Recently I took some unwanted gold jewelry to a place in my town that has a sign out front saying “We Buy Gold - Highest Prices Paid!”
If you decide to do this, I have a tip for you:
Before you go, take the time to thoroughly clean and polish each piece of jewelry you’re taking in for them to look at.
The nicer and more valuable you make the jewelry look, the better of a deal they’re likely to offer you.
I cleaned my unwanted gold jewelry till it sparkled like new, then dried it thoroughly and put each item in its own mini ziplock bag.
Then I took it all to the small local jeweler who had the “We Buy Gold!” sign out front.
The day I went, I knew that the gold market was very high - $944 per ounce that day (you can check the current gold and silver market prices before you make any deals).
I also decided ahead of time on the lowest price I would accept for the pieces I was taking in.
The jewelry store clerk was amazed at the excellent condition my jewelry was in - it sparkled under the jewelry store lights, and each piece was carefully packaged.
(She told me that most people just come in and pull a handful of broken, grubby jewelry out of their pocket.)
The clerk weighed the gold jewelry I had brought in, and made me an offer that was lower than I was willing to accept.
Then she said I should come back the next day when the jewelry store owner was in, because the pieces I had brought in were so nice, and he might want to offer more.
So that’s what I did.
And he wound up offering me twice as much as the clerk had offered me the day before - mainly because everything was in such good condition.
I was happy to accept his offer, and to unload my unwanted gold jewelry in exchange for a small wad of cash.
The jewelry store will melt down some of the smaller pieces to use when they repair other gold jewelry.
Some of the larger pieces I think they’re going to resell.
Anyway, it was an interesting experience - and although I didn’t make a fortune, I was able to take advantage of the current sky-high gold market to get rid of some jewelry I hadn’t worn in years!
July 15, 2008 - Edited to add:
As a reference point, here’s a chart of how much one buyer pays for scrap gold.
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