How Much Will I Get For My Diamond?

Before you start to think about how much you might get for your diamond jewellery there are a few home truths about jewellery valuations that you probably need to be aware of.  We’ve attempted to demystify the facts around jewellery pricing and valuations below.

Jewellery Valuations – why are they so varied?  

The answer to this is that jewellery Valuations are so varied because there are many different types of Jewellery Valuation each with a specific purpose.  The main two are Retail Replacement Value and  Resale Value.

Retail Replacement Value

The retail replacement value of an item is simply what it would cost to replace the exact item if it were bought today in a retail outlet. These are typically provided by high street jewellers and are used for insurance purposes.

Unfortunately, many appraisers in the jewellery sector are happy to give valuations which are 100% above retail even if they have just sold the item.   This tactic is often used as a sales tool to create an illusion of significant discounts being offered.  As ”Retail Replacement Valuations” are often inflated, they do not represent the actual value of the jewellery and are unreliable when considering what your Diamond or Jewellery is actually worth.

Resale Value

The Resale Value value of an item is what the item could sell for on the open market at the current time.  The Resale Value of an item is a much more realistic valuation and takes into account the current market conditions, the condition of the item and of course its intrinsic value. This is the only valuation worth referring to if selling diamonds or jewellery.

The difference between the resale value and the price originally paid includes the jewellers mark-up / profit and any VAT or sales taxes placed on the item.

Top Tip if you are considering getting your jewellery appraised or ”valued”;

If you are looking for a third party opinion regarding the value of your diamond, you could take it to a professional valuer / appraiser.   However, you would need to specify what type of valuation you want as otherwise you will get the inflated ‘Retail Replacement Value’  which will be of little use.

If you want to know what its really worth, you need to ask the appraiser for the resale, cash value or even liquidation value.  An appraiser should then tell you what to expect from a diamond buyer such as ourselves.

How much could you hope to get when selling?

A diamond buyer can only offer you what they can get back on the diamond (after allowing for some service costs and profit).  As a general rule of thumb if you paid €15,000 and your insurance appraisal says it is worth €25,000 you might be offered an amount in the region of €7,500 – €8,500.

Remember the €25,000 value was a very inflated value and wasn’t realistic even at the time you bought the item.

Finally – remember that its easy for someone to place a high valuation on an item if they are not buying it!