Many times when someone decides to sell their jewelry they hope to be given the highest value possible.  But, no matter where you are going to sell your jewelry, you need to consider that there are other aspects of buying jewelry for the store or business other than handing over a jewelry piece and receiving the expected amount of cash in return.  Its unfortunate, but this just isn't how it happens!

Whether it's an auction house, jewelry store, wholesale or any other option you are selling your jewelry to there are other parts to the selling process that affect how much you get in return.  Before you sell your jewelry you should try to familiarize yourself with the price guide below.

Resale/Retail Value

A lot of math goes into resale or retail value.  The price guide a business will use is:

Style + Workmanship + Intrinsic Value = Resale Value

Not only is the price guide above important, but also the supply and demand matters in a resale/retail situation.  For example, if yellow gold really isn't trendy this year, but platinum is, that could play a role in how much you get for your jewelry.  It's not just about the metal either, but the design, the type of gemstone and more.

Another aspect that will affect the price guide depends on which designer the jewelry is associated with. For example, if you have 2 diamond rings, that are the same cut, color, weight, karat, design, etc.  But, one is stamped with Tiffany & Co and the other is not, chances are the Tiffany one will be worth more.

Appraised Value

When consumers see that a piece has an appraised value of $x,xxx they think that's exactly how much they will get for it.  But, actually, in this price guide instance, the appraisal value has nothing to do with how much money you can get for it if you sell it.

An Appraisal value doesn't state what a piece is worth, but rather how much money it would take to replace it.  This becomes a huge problem when it comes to selling an item because consumers see it's appraised value is $25,000 and assume they can get $25,000 for it if they sell it. 

Most of the time, unless you have a really rare piece of jewelry, the actual cost (money in hand) that you would get is anywhere from 5% to 20% of the appraised value.

If this sounds really confusing to you, then you know why so many people choose not to sell their own jewelry to other people, and instead sell it to other avenues and let them deal with the headache.No matter what option you choose, just make sure you understand that the "value" doesn't equal the money you'll get for it in hand!  

If you are interested in selling your used jewelry or have questions, visit Ralph Mueller & Associates or call 480.949.9229