feliceWHY SELL YOUR JEWELRY?
If this year has a running theme it is all about “Decluttering.” I have read about it, written about it and spent months doing it!
Recently I rented out the family home of 30 plus years, which catapulted me into an Olympian decluttering frenzy. The process was grueling but incredibly rewarding, just as Marie Kondo predicted in her #1 New York Times best selling book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.”
Late one night in the midst of my declutter marathon, I sat with my jewelry box. I examined each piece. And what I found, when I truly gave it some thought, was surprising. There was some great bling and a few expensive pieces that no longer gave me any joy.
I put aside a few items that I could never give away (my nana’s necklace), but I was still left with a pile of old jewelry, including a diamond ring, that fell into one or more of the following categories:
- jewelry that is truly ugly and garish;
- jewelry that I have never worn and never will;
- jewelry that does not hold any sentimental value; or
- jewelry that holds memories that I would rather forget.
Why was I holding on to these items of jewelry, deep in the recesses of my closet? Guilt about selling them? Really, at our age?
I decided that it was ridiculous to keep these pieces of jewelry. That selling them, and putting the money to good use (like taking my family on vacation, perhaps?) would give me more joy than having this jewelry sit in a box in my closet tarnishing.
WHAT IS WORTHY.COM?
A friend whom I trust told me about Worthy.com, an online auction marketplace for diamonds, jewelry and watches that is incredibly user friendly. She had used Worthy to sell her diamond jewelry and was incredibly satisfied. So I looked into it.
What I learned was that:
- Worthy pays for all FedEx shipping and insures the items for up to $100,000 with Lloyds’ of London.
- They have all diamond jewelry graded by renowned gemological labs like the GIA.
- They clean, professionally photograph in HD, and take care of the description and listing of all the items that are sent to them.
- Worthy puts your item up to a nationwide network of professional buyers, who compete for your jewelry, encouraging a fair market value.
- They are very transparent: If they don’t sell your items for at least the reserve price, you can choose to have it returned to you, free of charge, no questions asked.
- They have dedicated account managers that guide you and keep you updated throughout the whole process.
So I took the plunge and tried it, and I am so happy I did. I have de-cluttered. I have purged. I have extra cash.
MY EXPERIENCE SELLING ON WORTHY.COM
Not really knowing the kind of diamond I had, just me eyeballing it, I felt pretty clueless on how to describe my ring. So after inputting the obvious information like the setting and the cut, the rest was going to be pure guessing on my part. I did not have any idea on the carat weight, the clarity, the color. I needed help, so I called their help line at 888-222-0208 and spoke to Jay one of their Customer Success agents.
Jay was very professional and responsive to my questions and helped me every step of the way. I input the mid range to get a trending price of my diamond. Within a few seconds, the Worthy calculated the sum total of the center stone, the metal and the surrounding diamonds, and gave me a range between $9,041 – $11,507 for what I input as a 2.5 ct round, H, SI1 diamond. This was like the Kelley Blue book for diamonds.
I had nothing to lose, Jay helped coordinate the Fed Ex shipping for me and organized my pick-up, which made it very easy and convenient and safe. I was anxious to see what I would get when it went up for their private auction to buyers. Jay kept me informed along the way telling me that my diamond would get more unmounted for a GIA report. I ok’d doing that and in a few days I heard back that the stone had a decent report card, so I put a reserve price of $10,500, that meant I would accept that or more, but not less. I was ready to go. My auction ran for 3 days and I was pleased with the result, I said yes! Ka-ching!
HOW TO SELL JEWELRY ON WORTHY.COM
- Go to Worthy.com, select the valuables that you want to sell, upload photos of your items and enter your contact details. They will tell you about their potential value based on data from previous auctions of similar items.
- Schedule a FedEx pickup or drop off your items, using a prepaid and insured shipping label that they will send you by email.
- Once your jewelry has arrived to their New York City offices, their team will clean it, photograph it in HD and send it to a gemological lab like the GIA for a professional grading.
- Then, they will list your items, together with the photos and grading report, to their platform of hundreds of professional buyers, who will place bids on your jewelry. You can follow the auction as it unfolds.
- If the highest bid meets your reserve price, you will get paid immediately via your chosen payment method. If it doesn’t, you have the option to get your items returned to you, at no cost.
Ready to sell that old jewelry and put the money towards something that gives you joy? Start here!