Selling Gems

[rolenboy01]

Bought a bulk lot of items yesterday and there were quite a few gems inside the lot, I am new to selling gems, my question is what is the best course of action for getting them identified and possible values of them? my main concern is paying for a service and then having them turn out to be worth less than I paid to have them identifed or having them be fake and thus wasting my money, I did not use the term appraisal because as far as I can tell from my research an appraisal is for insurance purposes and will not tell you the resell value of an item.

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

Most retail buying services (gold, silver, diamonds, etc.) will be happy to take a look at the gems and tell you if they are real (natural or synthetic) or just glass. They will either quote a value (based on weight, size and appearance) or tell you it's junk. For free.

That said, even glass beads and synthetic stones have some value to makers of costume jewelry -- who generally buy in bulk.

~~C~~

[vintage_sterling_spoon_rings]

Search for 'gems' on eBay to see how others are doing it...
Look at pricing, how they're displayed. Don't copy word for word ads from successful sellers (it can come back to bite you) but you can get a lot of good (and bad) ideas to help you learn how it's done.

If you ask too much you won't sell... If you don't ask enough you'll sell, but wouldn't you rather get what they're worth?

[papermoneyforme]

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@rolenboy01 wrote:

Bought a bulk lot of items yesterday and there were quite a few gems inside the lot, I am new to selling gems, my question is what is the best course of action for getting them identified and possible values of them? my main concern is paying for a service and then having them turn out to be worth less than I paid to have them identifed or having them be fake and thus wasting my money, I did not use the term appraisal because as far as I can tell from my research an appraisal is for insurance purposes and will not tell you the resell value of an item.

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If they were in a bulk lot, chances are they were there for a reason.

[emerald40]

Retail stores are not going to take time from their day to check things for free.  Besides most on the floor do not have the knowledge to do so anyway.  With many gems today, you need sophisticated equipment to see if they are genine or synethetic, if they are natural or have been heated or treated.

If you just want the basics, real vs not, there are tutorials on google to at least help your separate trash from treasure.

Anything beyond that you need to make an appointment with a 3rd party gemologist to learn what you have.

Putting them on ebay without being totally armed that you know what you have will not end well, imo.

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

@emerald40

I am not speaking of retail stores aka department stores. Some jewelers will offer an opinion and perhaps make an offer to buy. That's their business.

But I specifically refer to retail stores who buy-sell gold, silver, diamonds, coins and other "valuables." In my area, Bellevue Rare Coins is my go-to source -- and I've sold a number of items to them, mostly for scrap value. One item that surprised me was a tie clasp with a chain and dangling pendant with a 3-letter logo. An attractive piece, but I could not ID the logo and figured the 14K meant gold plated, so it was "junk" to me. I sold the piece to them for $2 PLUS $22 for the tiny pendant part, which turned out to be solid gold! if I had listed the item on eBay, with limited information, I might have gotten $5 for it or maybe it would not have sold at all.

~~C~~

[emerald40]

In my area, the bigger ones will only do this on certain days where they put in announcements that they will buy your jewelry.

You cannot just walk off the street.  An appointment has to be set up in advance.

One I am sure you heard of - Ross Simon.

The other was Providence Diamond Co.

I also went to a couple others and got the same thing.  You need to set p an appointment and there is a fee.

Only free if they advertise it that they will buy your old jewelry.  And you still need an appointment.

I went through this when I needed to sell my late mom's fine jewelry to pay down her final expenses.

Pawn shops are of course, different, but you have to have some knowledge of what you have or they will take advantage.

[vintage_sterling_spoon_rings]

I think you meant to reply to someone else, I said nothing about going to a retail store.

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

BRC -- and related businesses in this area -- advertise buy-sell on the radio and emphasize that no appointment is necessary.  Of course, if I were taking in a large quantity of jewelry, coins or antiques, I would ask for an appointment to make sure the right personnel and space are available.  But for a few items of jewelry, maybe 5 to 12 items at a time, walk-ins are always welcome and encouraged. Definitely not a pawn shop atmosphere!

~~C~~  

[rolenboy01]

That's the main problem I don't really want to invest heavily to have them checked and then have them be worthless, but I don't want to try to list them without said knowledge and have someone pull a switcheroo which I would be none the wise about or flip out claiming I "misrepresented" something, I usually don't buy such things for said reasons but they were in a lot with a ton of other stuff I bought and I wasn't about to just cast them aside,  I'm assuming my best bet would be to reach out to friends or family members who might  possibly someone who will check them for a reduced rate without trying to rip me off.

[emerald40]

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@rolenboy01 wrote:

That's the main problem I don't really want to invest heavily to have them checked and then have them be worthless, but I don't want to try to list them without said knowledge and have someone pull a switcheroo which I would be none the wise about or flip out claiming I "misrepresented" something, I usually don't buy such things for said reasons but they were in a lot with a ton of other stuff I bought and I wasn't about to just cast them aside,  I'm assuming my best bet would be to reach out to friends or family members who might  possibly someone who will check them for a reduced rate without trying to rip me off.

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What types of gems are we talking about.

If rubies - unheated vs heated for example - can mean a difference of tens of thousands of dollars.

Real vs glass is just a tip of the discussion.

[18704d · Accepted solution]

IMO, to sell them, you still must know what they are worth.

I'll wager virtually any jeweler or reseller will merely ask you how much money you want for them.

They won't say, they are worth 100 dollars each (even if they are)

They won't educate you if you found a fortune.

They'll simply try to buy them at the lowest price you will allow.

Btw, there's no real "worth" to most any gem.

There's insurance price, retail price (sometimes up to a 20x markup from it's 'true' value), wholesale price etc.

jmtcw,

Lynn

[rolenboy01]

Sounds like I am better off throwing them in a volcano then, this whole experience just further affirmed what I already knew I need to avoid jewelry and stones in the future at all costs.