When you’re in need for extra cash, digging through your jewelry box is a pretty good place to start. You might find some unwanted jewelry you’ve been keeping for a long time. You’ll never know; you might get a good price from that unwanted piece which can surely save your empty pocket.
So, when talking about reselling jewelry, how do you get the best value for your jewelry? Take a look at these tips.
Managing Expectations
It’s important that you ground your expectations before you get too excited about raking in the money. You could have an heirloom necklace that belonged to a great aunty, but to anyone you try to sell it to, it’s just a necklace.
Typically, a piece of jewelry won’t sell for anywhere near the appraised value for insurance purposes. The appraised values are usually based on the retail cost of having the item replaced. The real amount you may receive will depend on a range of variables, such as rarity and beauty as well as materials.
Evaluating the Item
To come up with a ballpark value for your item, look at it objectively. Check online to view more products similar to your jewelry and add a discount to what you see to find your piece’s price.
Preparing Jewelry for Sale
Depending on where you’re going to sell your jewellery, restoring the piece can make a massive difference in fetching a great price. Sometimes all that raggedy old heirloom needs is a bit of cleaning to make it shine like new again. All you need to do is use some dish soap and a little warm water to get that lustre back to where it should be. Use a soft bristle toothbrush to clean your jewelry with care (a harder toothbrush could scratch the gold and certain gems) and then leave it to air dry. If you have a piece that needs a bit more elbow grease, try making some homemade jewelry cleaner: mix baking soda, salt, and dish soap and there you have it. For certain items, a good quality denture cleaner can also do the trick.
If you don’t feel completely comfortable cleaning your jewelry yourself, you should seek professional help. Some jewelry stores may even offer to clean your items for free. Be warned though, strong cleaning can indeed damage or even destroy jewels. If you’re really unsure of how to clean the gems and jewelry, leave it to the professionals.
Never attempt to clean gems or gold in chlorine. While ammonia based cleaning solutions tend to be used throughout the jewelry industry, they can also damage certain gems, so do try to avoid them. One of the best pieces of advice we can give you is to try to familiarize yourself with the best cleaners for your jewelry and then clean the items carefully.
If some of your items are in need of repair, leave that to the professionals, too. You could risk damaging the item further if you’re not too sure of what you are doing, and this can greatly impact the value. If all you want to do is make the item wearable again for your own use, then go for it. But if you’re dead set on making money from it, let a jeweler take a look first.
Do you have some tips to share with preparing your jewelry to be passed along to another person? Leave us your tips in the comment section below!
