Does anyone have any experience of selling an engagement ring?

[Popple123]

Hello MN!

First ever new thread from me - sorry if it’s not the right place for this but I was wondering a couple of things...

1. If, like me, you are no longer in the relationship but you had engagement ring/wedding band - what did you do with it?

2. Does anyone have any recommendations of where I could sell? Been googling all night and resale of diamonds doesn’t look too promising!

Open to suggestions - thank you!

I sold mine from my ex-husband to pay for some barrister fees. It was purchased for around £6k and I got £500 for it. Second hand engagement rings are usually just taken apart because most people don't really want a secondhand engagement ring! But I bloody loved getting rid of it!! 😍

I sold mine for gold - think it was about £130 or something as diamond was worthless. It felt good to let it go though!

I sold two on eBay. Genuinely! I didn’t get bad prices for them compared to their original cost but then they weren’t terribly expensive in the first place. I think they were about £1k new, I got about £400 each, this was a few years ago though.

Thanks for your quick replies!

Naively I thought diamonds had a resale value - is this not the case? Even a relatively decent one?

I’m a bit mad as he still owe me money and I was hoping to recoup from selling. My first offer is about 38% of the original price!

38% of the original price isn't bad tbh.

I couldn't get £100 for my £1200 engagement ring at auction (and I worked there) so have kept it and may get it made into a pendant. Eventually.

My next engagement ring was bought at auction .

I’ve been looking at the auction sites and you get so much more for your money - how come people don’t just buy them all there? Or am I showing my naivety again?

I bought my 1ct diamond 18kt gold eternity ring on eBay. £700 instead of almost £2.5k in Ernest Jones.

So at 38% id probably take that offer.

As soon as you walk out of the jewellery shop the value of new jewellery plummets. Second hand or antique jewellery holds its price and you can often find unique designs,

You can expect to get about a third of the price he paid for it.

Then it will be re sold - for a much higher price. That's market forces for you. Same with selling vintage wine.

If you need money in your pocket, then any money is better than none surely?

Definitely take that offer. That is the best resale I have heard of in a long time. Resale and “replacement value” are totally different things.... Generally speaking, if I were buying from a store, I would never pay retail price. They have 50% off sales all the time and they still make money. The mark-ups on regular retail diamond jewellery are usually 70-80% and the store is only paying for salespeople and rent. (They often have independent valuers and jewelers for repairs, etc, but the jewellery are not actually making the pieces the store is selling unless it is a boutique/bespoke store.) Replacement value is normally the insurance estimate to have that exact ring re-made from scratch. (At a bespoke jeweler, because that is the only way it can be done.)

Thanks for your comments! At least I’m emotionally ready to sell - I’m taking the positive from that

I took mine to a cash converters kind of place. I got about £150 but they only cost about £300 in the first place.