How much did you get for your wedding/engagement ring?

[TwoStepsBeyond]

I'm trying to sell a diamond engagement ring and my platinum wedding ring, but none of the local jewellers will offer me anything like a sensible amount for them!

I don't want to sound mercenary, I just need some extra cash for Christmas but don't want to get ripped off by these 'cash for gold' companies.

How much did you get for yours compared to its purchase price and where did you sell it?

My DH bought a second hand engagement ring from Ebay (it's what I wanted). He paid £1,400 and it was valued at £6,200.

Hi there

I think it partly depends on whether you have certification for the diamonds etc. I have quite a high value ring and after lots of research have found a company I think I'll use when I decide to sell - they have offered me just under £2k for it and it was about £7k new. PM me if you'd like details of the company.

I was getting silly quotes, so I contacted the original jewellers, paid 5500, received just over 4 k, well happy with that considering one place offered 700.

I've got a second hand (antique) engagement ring. We paid £3800 from an antique shop. Its been valued at £11,500 which is how much it would cost to buy a new replacement. At auction the same ring would make about £3000.

So basically, if we had bought the ring new for £11,500 then I would expect to only get about £3000 for it if I was to sell, so that's only 26% of its original value!

I've been offere 200 quid for mine...it was designed for me, jewellers say that means no-one else will want it :(

You are better off trying to privately sell it on ebay or whatever.
Most jewellers will give you the gold value only.
My 900 pound wedding ring sold for 150 pounds and only after some serious haggling.
The lowest I was offered was 80.
Even when selling privately you still need someone to want that style of ring above all others.
Diamonds are much like cars and electronics, the minute you leave the shop they devalue by more than half.

Thanks for the replies, it seems that the offers aren't a million miles away from most others. It is a simple modern design with a decent sized stone so perhaps I will try a private sale with a reserve.

Has anyone tried the postal valuing services? I'm a bit nervous about sending it off to someone with no recommendation!

my wedding ring cost £1800. 10 years later I got £300 for it....

How big is the stone (if you don't mind sharing) as it may be worth getting it valued at a jewellers/auction house (mine cost £50 for a detailed valuation but that was based on it being an expensive ring (£10,000+) a lot of places charge as a % of value) the reason I say this is because if you are selling a ring on eBay you will get more for it if you can say its been recently valued at x amount. For example if it was a £6000 ring you might get £2000 as is but if you can say (and prove with the certificate) that the RRP is £6000 then the people watching will consider it a massive bargain and therefore pay much much more

I think that's a good idea actually - it's got to be worth a shot to see if somebody would be prepared to pay more for the ring because of the general design/condition of it, via Ebay, rather than just selling it for its component parts - I was quite saddened to think that my beautiful ring would simply be melted down and its parts sold on, which is of course what happens with the postal service places. When I'm ready to finally sell mine, I think I might try Twiddlebum's suggestion - by today's exchange rate my ring would cost £10,000 now and it is gutting to sell it for such a low value. I thought I'd try putting it on Ebay for a week or two with a reserve and if nobody bought it, then try the postal service.

How about getting it made into another piece of jewellry? Say it has 3 stones. What about a pendant and a pair of earings - maybe good to pass on to daughters if you have them?

Chucked mine at XH (not in a violent way). Didn't get nuffing. Except freedom, which is priceless.

So true re. freedom being priceless. Although I'm quite keen on the extra freedom that a car will give me too, once I've sold my ring

Thanks for the suggestions!

It isn't as expensive as most of yours unfortunately! Cost £1500 about 5 years ago and is now selling in the same jewellers for £2500, its platinum with a square (princess cut) 0.5 carat diamond, but one of the people who looked at it said it wasn't a very clear one so she wouldn't even offer anything for it! Snooty cah. I had a look through her microscope but couldn't see what she was on about diamond dimwit that I am

I must add, it isn't actually from my engagement, so no sentimental attachment (my XH was too tight to even buy me a ring!), it belongs to my boyfriend from his ex (she didn't want it - presuming she threw it at him too!)

Think I may try it on ebay first (with reserve) as it is a really nice ring and someone would be really pleased with it, so sad to think of it being melted down, but really its about whatever makes the most money!

My old engagement ring was £1500 new..now selling for about £2500 in the same jewellers, so the same as you OP

We were only offered £400 for it.

Honestly, there is no money in second hand rings. Hence why it's actually quite sensible to buy second hand!

Diamond quality is very important and is broken into clarity and colour. Cut is also fairly important too and princess cut is less fashionable at the moment making it less desirable current. Unusual and unavailable jewellery makes the most money second hand.
Even usual and unavailable makes about 10 to 30% of it's replacement value when sold second hand.

I spend quite a bit of time looking at and sometimes buying second hand at auction. I would expect to buy a ring whose replacement value was £2500 for £250 at auction before buyers premium.