How to sell used jewelry?

[Scuba]

I have a number of nice pieces of genuine gold/precious stone jewelry that I no longer wear. Rather than letting it sit in a drawer or safe deposit box, I thought I might see what I could get for it.

Has anyone done this? How should I go about this? Thanks for any ideas!

 

[KB]

I have sold a variety of different types of jewelry at a consignment shop. Locally, there is a Home Consignment center franchise that sells furniture and decorations, but also has a jewelry section. They take 40% of the sales price, but at least it gets sold.

The only other suggestion would be to take your jewelry to local jewelry shops and see if they would buy the pieces outright.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

You would be sad at the resale price of most jewelry, that being said, the gold usually has a melt down price, the MOST generous "we buy gold" usually pays 60-75 % of melt value, the smelters pay about 95 %. But the smelter im referring to is on 47th street in NYC in the Diamond district, and you need to be a dealer to go there. the stones sadly are usually worth a few dollars a piece, unless its a carat or more in size and its good quality. If you live in a large metropolitan area make a day of it, and go around to jewelry shops, pawn brokers and see what they will give you. Then decide if you want to try to sell it for more, or gift it to someone that used to admire it if its not worth much.

 

[brett]

We downsized a few years ago. Part of the process was deciding what to do with various pieces of gold jewelry....some rings, a few single earings etc.

We happened to mention this to a small local jeweler when we took a ring in for repair. We decided to use his services. He sorted through the pieces and to identify 10, 14, 18, and 21 carat items. Plus he discarded the fakes. He sold the gold to a refiner in town. His cut was 10 percent. We plan to use his service again.

 

[braumeister]

I sold my mothers old jewelry in 2011 when gold was at its last peak.

This place US Gold Buyers was recommended by the Wall Street Journal and I was very happy with them. They paid something like 90% of the day's spot price (really!). I referred a couple of friends to them and they were also very pleased. They have been around a long time and they make it very easy as you can see from their website.

As mentioned above, the stones really aren't worth much if anything in most cases.

Something else to keep in mind if you do this: if you weigh your gold jewelry yourself at home, don't forget that it's not all gold. For example, 14 karat means it's only 14/24ths gold, or a bit over 58%. So take that into consideration when you estimate what you might get for it.

 

[Amethyst]

Have a jeweler make it into new jewelry. We did that with Mr. A.'s old wedding ring and some broken pieces of mine. The jeweler crafted a new ring for me that is still a favorite 25 years later....

 

[Souschef]

Have a jeweler make it into new jewelry. We did that with Mr. A.'s old wedding ring and some broken pieces of mine. The jeweler crafted a new ring for me that is still a favorite 25 years later....

+1
We took my wife's engagement ring from her late husband and a gold bracelet my late wife gave me and had it made into a beautiful pendant.

 

[Amethyst]

That is GORGEOUS

+1
We took my wife's engagement ring from her late husband and a gold bracelet my late wife gave me and had it made into a beautiful pendant.

 

[iloveyoga]

Used jewelry is not easy to sell and does not bring good $$. I have done this locally working with jeweler that I cam to trust.

 

[haha]

+1
We took my wife's engagement ring from her late husband and a gold bracelet my late wife gave me and had it made into a beautiful pendant.

Very nice! And a lovely idea too.

Ha

 

[Koolau]

Something else to keep in mind if you do this: if you weigh your gold jewelry yourself at home, don't forget that it's not all gold. For example, 14 karat means it's only 14/24ths gold, or a bit over 58%. So take that into consideration when you estimate what you might get for it.

Also, keep in mind that gold (or silver, etc.) is valued by the troy ounce, not the usual 16 oz to a pound we are used to. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_weight

Many gold buyers also use pennyweight which I believe is confusing to most folks, so insist they convert to troy ounces for you since that is what listed prices are typically quoted. Don't be afraid to shop around. For a hand full of old gold jewelry, you could easily be seeing a difference of a couple hundred dollars between lowest to highest offers.

Alternately, unless you need the money, throw the old jewelry into your safety deposit box and forget about it until the next big run-up in gold. It's not taking up the space of one dusty old book. YMMV

YMMV

 

[Fedup]

I sold some pieces of jewelry with amethyst that I didn't care anymore, it was at gold peak time and I got $200. I still have some more that I want to get rid off but don't care to sell anymore at the moment.

 

[Scuba]

Very nice! And a lovely idea too.



Ha

+1

 

[athena53]

What about selling on e-Bay? I've bought a few small 14k items (charms for my charm bracelet, and the bracelet itself) as well as a platinum chain and and everything was as described. To me, the risk is mostly on the buyer, and you'd most likely get more than the "we buy gold" places offer.

 

[iloveyoga]

Used jewelry is not easy to sell and does not bring good $$. I have done this locally working with jeweler that I came to trust.

I hate typos!

 

[Aerides]

If it's at least 20 years old you might try selling as Vintage on Etsy, but that does require taking really gorgeous photos, and waiting a long time for it to sell.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I put mine in a local consignment shop and they only took a small cut. I also had 2 rings melted down and the jeweler designed me a new ring. When you sell you only get about a fifth of what you paid.

 

[ls99]

A timely thread for me. Late DW had lots of the stuff, I have given away to the family a lot of it. Still have way too much. The options described so far are helpful. Thanks.

 

[brucethebroker]

What about selling on e-Bay? I've bought a few small 14k items (charms for my charm bracelet, and the bracelet itself) as well as a platinum chain and and everything was as described. To me, the risk is mostly on the buyer, and you'd most likely get more than the "we buy gold" places offer.

ebay & PayPal fees will run about 20%. A nice rule of thumb to consult as you shop "we buy gold" places, jewelry stores and consignment shops.

I sell smaller items on ebay, but have used a couple of local jewelers I trust for gold and larger silver pieces. Too time consuming to try to calculate what a gold ring is worth. The jewelers pay cash on the spot, and sometimes throw in a freebie (I got them to put a new battery in my watch one time-a free bracelet repair another time.) Keep that in mind if you are offering a large lot of jewelry.

 

[Scuba]

Thanks for all the ideas. I think I'll start with a couple of local jewelers and go from there.

 

[AutumnElf]

If it's gold or silver, you can take it to a place that says "We buy gold." Actually try several because some will have different prices, or you might find you really like one of the shops.

I did this with all of my gold and broken jewelry. They bought the gemstones too. I made about $250 on some of this jewelry that I'd purchased over the years but didn't wear anymore. Take a few pieces around and see what you can get!