The question behind most diamond sales is a simple one: why is the offer so far from what I paid? The honest answer has nothing to do with whether the diamond is good or whether the buyer is fair. It comes from what a retail price is made of. This guide explains the gap between retail and resale, what people mean when they ask whether diamonds hold value, and the things that move a resale offer up or down. It gives no percentages: an offer depends on the stone and on the buyer, and no single figure fits every diamond.
Diamond Buyers NYC is an independent referral service, not a buyer, pawnshop or dealer. When you call or send the form, your details go to an independent buyer in New York, who makes any offer.
What a retail price is made of
When you buy a diamond in a store, the price covers much more than the stone. It pays for the store itself, its staff, its advertising, its stock, the setting and the work of setting the stone, and the store’s margin. All of that is real cost, and it is built into the price you paid.
When you sell, the buyer is on the other side of that equation. They pay what the piece is worth to them to resell, reset or melt, and they will carry their own costs and need their own margin when they sell it on. So an offer is lower than what was paid in a store. That is true of every honest buyer, everywhere.
Two prices, two questions
A retail price answers ‘what does it cost to buy this, finished and in a store?’. Resale value answers ‘what will someone in the trade pay for it today?’. They are different questions, so they have different answers.
Do diamonds hold value?
People mean two things by this question. The first is whether a diamond is still a diamond in twenty years, and it is: under the FTC’s definition a diamond is pure carbon crystallized in the isometric system, with a hardness of 10. The second is whether you could sell it for what you paid, and that is a different matter. No one can promise what any stone will be worth in the future, and this site makes no forecast. What you can know is what it is worth to buyers today, by asking several.
What moves a resale offer up
- A grading report. A report from GIA, or from IGI or another laboratory, lets a buyer price the stone with confidence. GIA offers a Report Check on its website where a report number can be looked up.
- Strong grades on the four Cs. Diamond professionals describe stones by clarity, color, cut and carat weight, the system GIA developed in the 1950s. Higher grades on each usually mean a more desirable stone.
- A shape and size buyers are looking for. Demand differs between shapes and sizes, and from one month to the next.
- A signed piece with its papers. A piece from a maker such as Tiffany & Co., Cartier or Harry Winston, with its box and papers, may be worth more to some buyers than its stones and metal.
- Good condition. A stone without chips, and a setting that needs no repair.
What moves it down
- No paperwork. Not fatal, but the buyer must grade the stone and allows for the uncertainty.
- Damage. A chipped stone may need recutting, which costs weight.
- Doubt about what it is. Whether a stone is natural or laboratory-grown must be settled. Under the FTC’s jewelry guides a lab-grown diamond must be described clearly as laboratory-grown or similar.
- A setting that will be melted. If no buyer wants the design, the metal is worth its melt value and no more.
The setting has its own value
A ring or other piece of jewelry is valued in two parts. The diamonds are judged on the four Cs. The metal is weighed, and unless the design itself has a buyer, its value starts from melt: the weight in troy ounces, times the purity, times the day’s spot price. A troy ounce is 31.10348 grams. For gold, purity is the karat divided by 24, so 14 karat is 58.3% gold and 18 karat is 75%. In New York City, any business that buys precious metal must have a scale and tell you the troy weight. The page on how to sell gold in NYC works through an example.
Natural and laboratory-grown stones
Stores sell laboratory-grown diamonds as well as mined ones, and that matters when you sell. Under the FTC’s jewelry guides, a lab-grown diamond must be described clearly as laboratory-grown, laboratory-created or similar: it is not a mined stone. A buyer will want to know which you have before making any offer, and will value it as the product it is. If your receipt or report uses any of those words, say so up front. If you have no paperwork and are not sure, let the buyer establish it, and ask how they value each kind.
The same goes for any treatment or doubt about a stone. Anything that is unclear about what a diamond is makes a buyer more cautious, and caution shows up in the offer. Paperwork that settles the question is worth finding before you sell.
How much can I sell my diamond for?
Only a buyer who has seen the stone can tell you, and only for today. A chart of prices by carat on a website is not your diamond. The best way to find out is to get two or three written offers, each based on the same description: the report number, the carat weight, the shape, and whether it is natural or lab-grown. The article on how much a diamond sells for walks through the questions a buyer asks on the way to a number.
An appraisal is not resale value
Many sellers have an appraisal from the time of purchase, written for insurance. It is useful background, but an appraisal is not an offer, and the appraiser was not offering to buy. Jewelers Mutual, an insurer, suggests getting an appraisal before selling and using it as a guideline. Treat it as a description of the piece, not a target. The page on diamond appraisal in NYC explains the difference in more detail.
Getting the most of the resale value
- Find and check the grading report.
- Bring receipts, appraisals and any box and papers.
- Know whether the stone is natural or laboratory-grown.
- Ask for the stone and the metal to be valued separately.
- Get more than one written offer. In New York the Diamond District NYC puts many buyers on one block.
- Decide away from the counter.
Want to know what your diamond is worth to a buyer today? Call, and an independent New York buyer comes back to you.
Questions people ask
Why is a diamond’s resale value lower than its retail price?
A retail price includes the store’s costs and margin. A buyer pays what the piece is worth to them to resell, reset or melt, so an offer is lower than what was paid in a store.
Do diamonds hold their value?
A diamond is durable, but no one can promise what it will sell for later. What you can find out is what buyers will pay today, by asking more than one.
Does a GIA report raise resale value?
A report lets a buyer price the stone with confidence and check it against the report number. That usually makes offers easier to get and to compare.
Is the ring setting worth anything?
Yes. The metal is weighed and valued separately from the stones, starting from its melt value. A signed design may be worth more to some buyers.
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