Category: Diamond Selling

Posted on by

Best Practices in Selling Estate Jewelry, Diamonds and Gems

 A definitive guide to doing the job right, without regret, and without making costly mistakes.

For over 40 years of my even longer career in the jewelry industry, I bought and sold estate jewelry, diamonds and gems. There is nothing like daily experience over decades to give someone a unique and wonderful insight into the many pitfalls that exist for the public, who only occasionally find themselves in an unfamiliar role as sellers.  To become an intelligent seller of items the public has little real knowledge of second hand markets.  Individuals have next to no experience in negotiating asking prices, offers and deals.  Do you think it is difficult to buy a car?  Jewelry is far more difficult and blind.  The second hand jewelry and gem sales market is very different than the retail jewelry market or the auto business.  You do not dare enter such markets with no advance knowledge.

There is literally no end to the diverse nature of the jewelry product mix. No one individual buyer is expert in everything.  No one buyer is a true best buyer for everything.  Buying and selling items in the jewelry business requires proper expertise in not only the items on offer, but very good understanding of what buyers preferences are, what they feel they can sell, what they wish to stock for inventory, and what they believe they should invest in.  Of course, one also needs to know what buyers do not want and what turns them off.  It is a psychological game as well as an expert game for all the players.

The consumer who wants to sell has special problems. They are inundated by “buyers” of all types.  Pawn shops, scrap buyers, coin stores, mom and pop jewelers, kiosks in malls, auction galleries of every size and shape, large corporations with slick advertising in fancy urban locations.  You name it, there will be a “buyer” there just waiting to peel off some $100’s or willing to write you a check.  Your problem is that you probably have many unanswered questions that need answers to BEFORE you make any deal.

You need to know the range of second hand value of each and every item. Until you know what the real value is in the market you are now in, selling jewelry and gems, you cannot know what price is a good one to accept.  You cannot tell by the personality of the buyer.  Remember, all con-men have wonderful personalities and their stock in trade is getting you to believe in them.  It is very, very easy to be victimized.

You will be offered “FREE APPRAISALS” by many buyers. You must realize that this free appraisal is most often worth exactly what it cost.  Sorry, but there is little free stuff that is worth anything.  You may find this somewhat harsh and unkind.  My tone is strident because way too many people wishing to sell are badly misled by biased advice.  If “free appraisal” was worded properly, it would be advertised as “FREE OFFER TO PURCHASE”.  That would be way better.  You can always say “NO”.  However, if you have no understanding of the proper value of what you want to sell, you will say “NO “even if you were offered the correct amount.  Why would you do that unless you have not gotten the information you require first?  This is a main and primary point of this essay.

Before you go out to sell, you need expert advisory services to best understand the values in the secondary marketplace. You need to know the facts in advance to make a clear decision.  You can’t rely on “free appraisals” given by those who might not be objective.  There is often a lot of money at stake and everyone knows where there are big bucks, there are often huge pitfalls.

The same advice can be given to the public when they are asked by retailers or others in the jewelry trade to “Consign the items with me for a period of time and when I get them sold I will give you XX% of what I obtain”. This is NOT AN OFFER to buy anything.  This is allowing your precious items to sit somewhere out of your control and at the whim of the seller.  How well do you know the seller?  Will you get back what you left?  Will the items ever sell?  Will the eventual price be a correct one?  Is the person you are consigning to a true expert or just a “buddy”?  Consigning to an auction gallery may be a bit better, but it sure is not inexpensive.  You will get about 2/3 of an auction selling price.  That is not always terrible and may end up being very good, but it may not even be as much as you can get outright from a really expert buyer who wants what you have and is willing to pay on the spot for it.

What can you do? First, obtain a real appraiser’s estimate of value as a second hand item for sale.  Only an experienced appraiser, one with second hand market expertise, can help you with this.  Only a relative handful of otherwise well qualified appraisers in the USA have such estate jewelry valuation experience.  There will be a fee for such services, but the fee will be more than fully covered by selling for correct prices and not impulsively for way too little money.  Some appraisers will recommend buyers for items that fit well with one another.  I often do that, not as a profit center, but to help my clients get the right amount of money without putting them into a worrisome situation.  If I don’t have a good buyer or situation for what you wish to sell, that’s what I tell you.  Not every sale is easy.  Most of the time, sales made easily without market value knowledge, are not for a proper amount of money.  That’s human nature, but we can often defeat our failings with better advice and a bit of education.

Have I gotten your attention? This was not written to scare anyone, but instead to encourage you to investigate the value BEFORE you sell.  Knowing the real range of value will make the sales process easier and safer.

My time can be yours by appointment.    David Atlas    datlas@datlas.com  1-215-385-0258

 

 

 

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Is It Time to Sell Your Jewelry?

Styles, fashion, finances, incomes, expenses, priorities all have undergone great changes over the past 10 years for nearly all of us. While life is still good here compared to most of the rest of the world, it may be now that jewelry sitting in a hiding place, a safe or a bank vault needs to come out into the market and to be sold. Every buyer tells you they are the biggest and the best, but consumers really do not have much of a clue about selling their jewelry properly. Help is here if you want to do the necessary job as well as you can.

When you want to sell jewelry you have owned or inherited most of you will hardly know where or how to start. You probably do not know the liquidation value of your items even if you have current Insurance appraisals. Most folks don’t even understand that insurance appraisals are not good indicators of what a consumer can sell their jewelry for. So many consumers falsely believe that whatever the item was appraised for insurance coverage that a dealer would be willing to pay such a retail price. Folks, it just isn’t so. When you want to sell jewelry and be paid upon delivery, a dealer will pay a fraction of the retail value even for fantastic and fine items. Items that are obsolete, damaged or out of fashion generally bring scrap value with very little for small diamonds and nearly zero for most common colored gems. You can’t sell a home for cash on any given day and get the full market value from a buyer. You can’t do it with jewelry, either.

Consignment of jewelry to a retail store is not the way to get paid with any speed or security. Do you know the jeweler well enough to leave the items with nothing but a receipt? How long will it take? Will the items ever sell? How and when might you be paid? Consignment to a well-known auction gallery is safer, but hardly the way to getting more money than in an outright, fair sale. Examine closely the long time it takes, along with all the associated costs charged to you and to whoever is the buyer. You’ll find the auction house takes a large share of the value as their commission. That’s money you will never see. Yes, the world’s finest and largest jewels sell at fabulous auctions, but jewelry belonging to members of the general public rarely rise to those world class levels of interest.

While I no longer actively buy jewelry, I have had 48 years of experience with buying and estate jewelry. I know how to help people understand how much they might obtain, how much to ask, how to hear what a buyer is saying, how to understand what the buyer is not saying, and to understand a question about your idea of value versus an authentic cash offer for purchase.

My long time associate, Steven Schiffman, owns a one-time subsidiary firm of mine named D. Atlas Estates, LLC. He is not an appraiser, but is a highly experienced and current buyer of estate jewelry. For many years we travelled together to buy estate jewelry. We still often work in consort with one another, but we are independent. Steven will make valid, competitive and fair offers for your jewelry, as many other dealers also claim to do. Not all dealers are the same. Not all try to be fair. Finding a legitimate buyer is a very important part of selling jewelry properly. Consumers must be prepared to use due diligence and patience in searching for what they will find to be the best price they can obtain. There is no shortcut to getting a best outcome. A consignment of jewelry to Mr. Schiffman is usually for only a two to five days, not for an unknown period of time.  His goal and yours is to maximize what you will be able to get from agreeing to finalize a sale.  Steven Schiffman may be reached at 610-245-3100. www.datlasestates.com

My services at D. Atlas & Co., Inc. are for those of you who would like to better understand the value of what they have and how to handle dealer transactions in a professional way. Sometimes our services include creation of a sales tool appraisal and advice about retail selling that might help achieve a larger share of the value trapped in your items. While I charge a fee for my time, buyers generally do not charge, but offer what they often term a “free appraisal”. Free often is worth exactly that amount, so regardless of the terminology, please understand there is likely a large difference between any buyer’s “free appraisal” and the appraisal and common sense advice D. Atlas & Co., Inc. is able and willing provide.  Advisory services provided by David Atlas are available at 610-245-3101. Right here at: www.datlas.com

Our coordinated phone numbers indicate how closely our two firms still operate. Both of us strive keep our objectivity and provide the best services we can to all sellers.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

The “right” way to do a trade-in.

It is simple, but you need to follow these steps to know what sort of deal you are making.

#1.  Shop and discover what you want, what you can afford, and where you feel most comfortable in buying.  See what their return policy is.  Find out about any warranty or trade-back policies.

#2.  Find out the amount you can get outright, for immediate payment, on the item you wish to trade-in.  This is the item you no longer wish to own.  Shop around until you are satisfied that you understand the situation no matter how little the offers may be.  Now that part is done.

#3.  Determine the final item you wish to purchase.  Do your research to discover the best asking price for the item and make every effort to have a vendor who you feel most comfortable with actually do the deal with you.  Even if it costs a few bucks more, relationships and emotions have value that can’t be exactly measured.  Be sure you are at the price which totally makes it work for you.  Price is important, but not the only consideration.

#3.  From out of nowhere, pull out your trade-in and ask what the item is worth in order to make the deal.  You already know exactly what you can sell it for outright, and you also know exactly what you must pay.  If your vendor wants to over allow a bit in order to tempt you into the sale, now is the time for you to get the benefit of trading in by making the vendor give you a “liberal” trade-in. A liberal trade-in will result it you getting the new item for less.  They may or may not wish to trade, but you know exactly where you stand and when to say yes or no.  If the trade-in benefits the bottom line cost, then go forward, if not, you can decide to sell to your other bidder or not to make the trade.

One must be aware that if any mention of a trade-in is made in advance of the final asking price on a new item, there may be no way to get to the exact asking price.  If you don’t have the asking price settled, then any trade-in allowance is a mystery that you cannot later figure out and you will have more or less ruined the potential extra value of the trade-in.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Selling jewelry or diamonds? What do you ask a buyer for?

When you have jewelry or diamonds to sell, you don’t need to ask for an “appraisal”.  Many appraisers and gemologists will immediately sell you an appraisal report which will add nothing to the secondary market value of your items and create yet another expense for you to pay out good money.  Instead, when you want to sell jewelry or diamonds, go to people or firms who advertise they are “buyers” and simply ask them to tell you what they would be willing to pay you.  Ask for an “offer” or a “bid”, not an “appraisal”.  Unless you have a large quantity of items and/or show an attitude of unwillingness to do business, a buyer will give you their offer or bid for no cost.  Once you have collected a few bids, then you are in an excellent position to know what the items are actually worth to those who you have found willing to exchange cash for your items.  In this process, you will likely also find those who would offer to take your items on a long term consignment in order to offer them for sale to their customers, but who won’t pay you anything unless and until the item(s) are sold.  If you have time, this may be a bit better for you.  Remember, you will have to put your trust in the firm and person you are making a consignment with.  They have everything and all you’ll have is a receipt.  It may take considerable time and may never result in a sale.

Auctions will take your items for consignment to to place on sale at upcoming auction dates.  At least you have a hoped for sale date, but please look at the amount of fees the auction loads onto any amount you will obtain.  There are buyers fees, sellers fees and sometimes insurance and photo fees which will come out of the total value the auction can get for your pieces.  You may get less than 2/3 of the money the items brought at the auction and be no better off than selling such items outright to a dealer and have been paid months sooner.  You have to make this judgment about time, money and trust.

The point of all of this is that you do not need to request an “appraisal” when you want to sell.  What you need to request is an “offer”.  Be sure to get assurance that you have a few days to a couple weeks to “make up your mind” or to “consult with your family members” before the offer expires.  Also, if a buyer says “Will you take $xxxx for these items?” be certain to respond, “Are you offering to buy these pieces at that price or are you just asking me a question and not making a firm offer?”  You will find many buyers are not going to be straight about making a bid until you get past this tricky question they often like to ask.

These words and techniques will help to give you time to make sure you are accepting the best available offer, to eliminate mis-understanding fake offers which really were just probing questions and not offers, and to have no regrets later on about choosing to sell your jewelry or diamonds.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Thin is In: A Vendor’s Dilemma

The thin jewelry trend
Fashion is often influenced by the cost of production. With precious metal prices rising to record levels we have seen fashion take to a course where thinner and lighter is “fashionable”. It certainly is logical, but it is my belief we have reached and likely have passed beyond a reasonable limit to an extent on how delicate and light some ring mountings are to be made. While the comments I am about to make apply more broadly, I’ll just touch on a couple portions which seem to be creating frequent problems.

Rings with 1.5mm shanks are thin and delicate. For many people they are way too thin to be durable. Added to this trend for thinness is the micropavé of many light items further reducing the metal content and therefore also reducing durability. A ring for daily wear takes an incredible amount of abuse in the normal routine of life. Add this wear factor to a light and overly delicate design with tiny diamonds plugged into a Swiss cheese of holes for holding these stones there is nearly nothing left to give the ring sufficient strength. These very delicate and beautiful rings are just going to give consumers problems sooner or later. Some folks may be very careful and dainty with their rings on, but most people are going to see trouble in their future with such pieces.

Historically, one of the things which gave rise to this fashion are some of the wonderful Art Deco and filigree items from the first 1/2 of the 1900’s. One must remember that these items mostly look so delicate and fine today because they were made heavy enough when new that they have worn away a good deal of their metal by now, but are still holding up. They were not so thin when new. And, the thin ones made for less money back then have worn out and been scrapped or rebuilt.

I am seeing bracelets too thin to be durable, earrings with friction nuts so thin that they won’t stay on the ear, micropavé and invisibly set diamond jewelry made so light that the items bend and the stones fall out. If you have insurance, you are covered for the loss of the diamonds, but normal wear and tear on jewelry is not covered.

My suggestion is to investigate and shop well to determine if a light, delicate item is really right for you. Using a 2 or 2.5mm shank will help the ring to stand up to normal wear. Using hand made or die struck components, which are more dense metal than cast components, also often increases hardness, and durability. The labor to make a slightly heavier item is truly nominal. Only the added metal increases the cost and while it will cost more, the jewelry will last a long, long time and frequently never give the owner any problem over decades of use.

Not to make light of what I see as a a tragic situation, but I see the chase for thinness in rings akin to the public’s mistaken attraction to the super thin fashion models who are about one tiny meal away from turning into dust. Just a little more body on both jewelry and models would not be a mistake……. (My experience is all with jewelry and unfortunately not with models, oh well.)

Vendor’s Dilemma
The vendor’s dilemma is to agree to sell an item which will not wear well over a long period of time, or sell what you request in spite of this reasonably clear knowledge. All vendors want and need your business. Some will always agree to make whatever you wish. Some may warn you and then make what you want anyway and a few will never agree to make a piece too light or too thin to hold stones well or to be less than durable. Let the vendor guide you and keep an open mind. We cannot go thinner and thinner still. We have reached that limit already. Fashion and common sense will head in the opposite direction at some point. Look for advice and listen to those things which your vendor suggests concerning daily use and wear and tear issues. If the vendor makes no mention of durability and thickness concerns, then you should ask. You may be glad you did.