How to sell raw diamonds
Selling A Diamond? Know What to Expect
hi I'm Josh Fishman president and owner
of a fisherman's son diamonds in New
York welcome back to our ultimate
diamond education series in an earlier
video titled how to sell your diamond I
have successfully reached many many
people as a result I've been approached
by individuals who want to sell a
diamond either one they purchased
themselves or one which they inherited
and they are asking me to advise them
how much they can realize for the
diamond that they want to sell
generally speaking folks have been
disappointed by the answer they thought
that they were going to get much more
sometimes more than they paid for the
diamond their expectations are very high
after explaining to them the actual
facts on how I came to the price they
were enlightened and they understood the
factors that led me to the price that
I'm offering them I want to share with
you those factors the inside knowledge
of how to go about expecting what to get
for your diamond I cannot give you fixed
percentages off of what you may be
asking because diamonds selling does not
work that way there are though many
factors which affect the price at which
you can sell your diamond and that is
what I want to share with you as usual
much of the analysis ends up with the
answer of it depends it depends on many
factors so let's get started with the
factors that affect the price at which
you may get for the diamond you want to
sell it depends on who you bought the
diamond from and who you are selling it
to most people buy their diamonds from
retail outlets whether online or
brick-and-mortar
and that means they pay a retail price
which is a lot higher than a dealer
price or a wholesaler selling to that
store and when they go and try to sell
that diamond back to the retailer that
they bought it from they will find two
things one the retailer will not offer
them cash back for the diamond because
they don't want to own the inventory
they probably got that diamond on
consignment second they may offer to
take the diamond on consignment from you
and offer you a pretty good price if and
when they sell the diamond but if and
when is very vague and can never happen
or it can take a long time to happen the
only way you can get cash for your
diamond is by selling it to someone who
buys diamonds for stock and that is the
dealer wholesale market primarily in New
York City we a Fishman and son and
people like us buy diamonds for stock
and we can afford to buy diamonds for
our inventory but the price at which you
are going to get is going to be
significantly less than what you paid
for at holes at retail because we must
turn around and sell that diamond back
into the retail market or back into our
private consumer market and it's even
especially worse as the diamond isn't a
good quality diamond let me explain we
recently had a customer contact us to
sell a diamond that they bought at a
retail well-known chain store out on the
west coast for $3,800 for the diamond
it was a seventy three point round
diamond GI a certificated H color si -
clarity very poorly made he told me that
he contacted several sources to sell the
diamond and based on the certificate he
was offered 800 dollars for the diamond
yes $800 for a diamond he paid $3,800
for in looking at the certificate I
figured that the diamond could be worth
maybe a little bit more maybe $900 but
this was a very poor quality diamond and
my guess is that the retailer tripled
the price on what it cost him on
consignment to get the diamond so for
that let's turn to the second factor
that selling your diamond depends on and
that is the quality of the diamond it
depends on the quality and desirability
of your diamond the quality and
desirability of your diamond are very
important factors in determining what
you may realize from the sale of your
diamond and I say both quality and
desirability and let me distinguish
quality is simply the grade of the
diamond desirability is how pretty is
that diamond regardless of the grade so
if you have a diamond that's a very high
quality diamond a devious one but the
diamond isn't a pretty diamond because
the shape isn't right or the brilliance
isn't right
those factors will affect the about you
can get so if it's both a desirable
diamond and a quality diamond you can
expect to receive more but if it's a
quality diamond and not desirable
because it may have a bad inclusion for
the SI one or si two that you have
you're going to get less and if you have
both a low quality diamond and an
undesirable diamond you have big
problems in terms of realizing a good
price or reasonable price for that
diamond it depends on how popular your
diamond is as I discussed in my last
video concerning why round diamonds are
priced higher than fancy shapes the
popularity put another way the demand
for the shape of your diamond will go a
long way in determining how easily you
can sell it and how much you can get for
it all other things being equal round
diamonds being the most popular diamond
that too
of all diamonds sold around diamonds
will be easier to sell and at a better
price than fancy shapes for example if
you have a marquise diamond that you
want to sell that you bought 30 years
ago or that you inherited from 30 years
ago which was popular at the time and
you are going to sell it into today's
market you're going to be very
disappointed because Marquesas are not
very popular today and anyone who wants
to buy a marquise will have a hard time
selling it and they will offer you a
much lower price than you think the
diamond is worth and then even they may
think the diamond is intrinsically worth
simply because they will have to hold on
to the diamond a long time before they
sell but if you have a popular diamond
or a popular shape you will do better
and of course nobody can predict what
that will be in terms of which fancy
shape may be popular at the time but
round diamonds will always be popular
and are a better source of return for
you when you go and sell your diamond it
depends on the age of your diamond does
it have to be recut many people come to
me with diamonds to sell primarily round
diamonds which are quite old and by old
I mean it could be fifteen or twenty
years old which is not really old but
the cutting parameters of what is
desirable in the market today has
changed dramatically over the last ten
to twenty years and accordingly the
diamond that you may have bought twenty
or thirty years ago which was a pretty
diamond and desirable in the marketplace
at that time is no longer that and it
has to be recut in order to meet today's
demanding standards of by consumers for
brilliant
well cut pretty diamonds so when you
come in with a diamond that may weigh
like I had recently 603 carats and it's
a great diamond 2 G color vs one but it
has a 65% table and a 58% debt and is
not a pretty diamond in terms of its bro
Millions that diamond has to be recut it
cannot be looked at as a six carat G vs
1 quality diamond rather it has to be
looked at as what will that diamond sell
for as a poorly cut diamond or a diamond
that has to be recut in order to
maximize its value so if you recut a
stone like that you may end up with a
five and a half carat diamond or a five
and a quarter you don't know and there
are risks in recutting a diamond will
the diamond break will you get an
imperfection into the stone at the last
minute that wasn't there before all of
these things have to be taken into
account by the buyer in evaluating what
that diamond is worth buying for today
but at a minimum it will not be valued
as a six carat diamond because you
cannot improve it within those few
little points from 603 - 601 you're
gonna have to recut that stone the same
thing applies to any diamond a carat 80
that has to be recut a carat diamond
that has to be recut which will weigh
under a carat these are risks that
sellers have to take into account when
they are looking to maximize their value
from themselves and it is a risk that
the buyer of the diamond will absolutely
consider when he goes to purchase that
diamond it depends on the economic
climate at the time you sell your
diamond the economic climate in general
and in the diamond industry in
particular at the time you both buy and
sell your diamond goes a long way in
determining how much you both have to
pay for your diamond and what you can
sell it for in the dealer market at the
time you go to sell it nothing else has
to be explained the business is good
you'll get more if businesses weak it
will be a greater reluctance and fewer
potential buyers will be willing to step
up to the plate and buy your diamond
general risks for the buyer to consider
finally there are some general
risks which the buyer of the diamond has
to consider and which don't really
affect the seller at the time he is
selling the diamond for example what is
the economic climate going to be in the
future
well diamonds become more popular or
less popular will they become more
expensive or less expensive what is the
general directional trend for diamond
prices if I buy it today at a certain
price our price is going down or price
is going up what is the risk if I have
to recut the diamond could it break on
the wheel and I have a total loss or has
happened to me once I cut a diamond at a
carat 80 it broke and I ended up with a
half the carat diamond and lost big
money on the stone
it wasn't the sellers problem it was my
problem these and other factors go a
long way in determining what you as the
seller can get for your diamond and what
I as the buyer I'm willing to pay for
your diamond I can't predict what that
will be but I wanted to elucidate you on
the factors that come into play in the
interaction in buying and selling your
diamond until next time this is Josh
Fishman saying so long
