How to sell diamonds: a method that works anywhere

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.

Decide what you want from the sale

Before you ask anyone for a price, decide what matters most to you. Some sellers want the matter settled quickly and privately. Some want the strongest offer and will spend weeks getting it. Some want to keep the diamond and only need money for a while, which is not a sale at all. Each goal points to a different kind of buyer.

Know what you have

• The four Cs. Diamond professionals describe stones with the grading system GIA developed in the 1950s: clarity, color, cut and carat weight. A grading report records all four.
• Carat weight. A carat is 200 milligrams, and a point is one hundredth of a carat.
• Natural or laboratory-grown. Under the FTC’s jewelry guides, a lab-grown diamond must be described clearly as laboratory-grown, laboratory-created or similar.
• The setting. For a ring or other jewelry, the metal is valued separately from the stones, on its weight and purity.
• The paperwork. A report, receipts, any appraisal, and the box and papers for a signed piece.

If the stone has a GIA report, GIA offers a Report Check on its website where the report number can be looked up. The article on how to check your GIA report explains it. If there is no report, the page on how to sell loose diamonds covers stones without one.

The places to sell a diamond, compared

Where	Suits	Watch for
A diamond buyer or dealer	Most stones, loose or set. They price diamonds every day and resell to the trade.	Get more than one written offer. Check the business’s licence where your city requires one.
A jeweler that buys	Pieces the jeweler can sell again as they are, and gold.	Some jewelers buy only metal, not stones. Ask.
Auction or consignment	Signed, antique or unusual pieces with a following among collectors.	Fees or a share of the sale, and payment only when it sells.
Online-only buyers	Sellers who cannot get to a buyer in person.	You send the piece away. In New York City a business that buys exclusively online is exempt from the secondhand dealer licence.
Selling privately	A buyer you already know.	Your own safety, and proving what the stone is without a report.
A pawnshop	Only if you want the diamond back later.	A pawn is a loan, not a sale.

Who pays the most for diamonds?

No kind of buyer pays the most for every diamond, and anyone who claims to always pay the most cannot know what the next buyer would offer. The buyer who offers most for your stone is usually the one who has a use for it: a customer waiting for that size and shape, a setting it fits, or a collector for that maker. You find that buyer by asking several, which is why a place with many buyers close together is useful. In New York that place is the Diamond District NYC on West 47th Street.

Is it better to pawn or sell a diamond?

They do different jobs. A pawn is a loan secured by the diamond: you get money now and the piece back if you repay. A sale is final. In New York City the two are licensed separately: a business that lends against pledged goods needs a DCWP pawnbroker licence, apart from the secondhand dealer licence a buyer holds. If you do not want the diamond back, a pawn adds a loan you do not need. If you do want it back, selling it is the wrong move.

Prepare the diamond and the papers

1. Find the grading report and look its number up.
2. Gather receipts, appraisals, boxes and papers.
3. Keep a ring or a piece of jewelry whole. Do not take stones out yourself.
4. Store a loose stone in a closed box, not an envelope.
5. Write down what you know: shape, carat weight, report number and where it came from.
6. Bring official photo ID. In New York City a licensed buyer must see it and record it.

Compare offers the right way

Compare offers with each other, not with the price on the receipt. A retail price includes the store’s costs and margin, and a buyer pays what the piece is worth to them to resell, reset or melt, so any offer will be lower than what was paid in a store. The guide to diamond resale value explains what moves an offer up or down.

• Give every buyer the same description.
• For a ring, ask for the stone and the metal separately.
• Get each offer in writing, dated, with the business’s name.
• Ask whether the offer stands for a day or a week.
• Decide away from the counter.

Selling a diamond by mail

Sending a diamond away to a company you have never visited means trusting it with the stone before any offer is made. If you consider it, find out who the business is, where it is, how the parcel is insured and what happens if you decline the offer. Remember that a New York City business that buys or sells exclusively online is exempt from the city’s secondhand dealer licence, so the in-person protections described on this site may not apply. Where you can, show the stone to a buyer in person first.

Mistakes that cost sellers

• Taking the first offer because the visit felt awkward.
• Treating an appraisal figure as a price. An appraisal is not an offer.
• Not knowing whether the stone is natural or laboratory-grown.
• Leaving the stone with a buyer to be looked at later.
• Selling the setting and the stone together without knowing what each was worth.
• Forgetting taxes. The IRS says net capital gains from selling collectibles, such as coins or art, are taxed at a maximum 28% rate (Topic 409). Ask a tax professional.

If you are in New York City, the step-by-step page on how to sell diamonds in NYC adds what the city requires of every buyer, and the questions page has short answers to the rest.

Questions people ask