I've bought a few rings off this site and others. Quite successfully after doing all the necessary research. Had a few folks try running games on me, also inquired as to many that had bogus appraisals and opted not to buy when they couldn't be bothered to get a proper appraisal or provide legitimate information about their goods. I'm an automotive mechanic, not a jeweler. This information is for all the regular non-jewelry experts on craig's list looking for value for their $$ when it comes to used jewelry.
1. Don't believe the appraisal. A good number of them aren't worth the paper they are printed on. Take the information supplied about the diamond, go to a site like bluenile dot com and enter it. You'll quickly find out the ACTUAL retail value of the stone. There are people selling 1 carat rings with $20,000 appraisals, and when you check the diamond, it's a $2,000 dull piece of junk that'll drive your lady nuts and make you wish you'd taken a bit more time before wasting your money.
2. If It's a legitimate proper appraisal, it'll include all 4 C's. Carat, Clarity, Color and Cut (quality). Usually on the junk appraisals, the information on Cut is missing. Cut grade can be established 2 ways. By removing the stone and grading it loose, or by using special equipment to assess the cut in the setting. not all appraisers have this equipment. if you want your moneys worth, use an appraiser who can give you all the information, not just 75%. Also, digital imaging has been around for over a decade now. If there isn't a photo of the ring on the appraisal, it's likely a fake or a really old appraisal. All appraisals are dated, signed, and should include info on the qualification of the appraiser. Ask for a copy of the appraisal if it isn't already on the ad, clear enough for you to read on anything claiming to have precious stones/gold appraised at over $1000. Unless the main stone is extremely large and high quality, paying more than 50% of the appraised value is a total waste of money, unless the artistry of the setting makes you tingle. I recently bought a ring off another site for 6500 with full receipt showing the seller paid 10 grand for the center stone plus the cost of the setting. The stone appraised at over 15 grand. quality diamonds increase in price. crappy ones don't. Think of it this way, there are always lots of Chevy cavaliers or Honda accords for sale for a good price. but rarely do you see a good price on a decent Porche. Removing the diamond from a ring, appraising it properly, and resetting it, isn't that expensive (around $100). if the seller is asking big bucks for a stone you want, make this part of the deal. if the appraisal pans out and you agree to buy their used ring, you'll pay (seeing as you get the appraisal). if it's crap, let them pay the bill, after all, it's their diamond and whomever pays the bill gets the appraisal. they'll pay. after all, they want their ring back ;-)
3. Don't meet the seller at the jewelry store they bought it from. Of course they will back up their appraisal. You should pick your own store, someone you've dealt with in the past and trust. A 1 carat diamond can be worth just 1 grand, or 25 grand, depending on the quality of the stone.
4. A proper appraisal cost's about $50-$70 (it goes up based on the size and quality of the main stones). Yup, that's it. That's from the best in the business, someone certified by GIA. If you make an appointment with a store that has a gemologist on site, they can usually do the appraisal while you wait, and some will even include you and explain the whole process. It takes about 30 minutes and can save you a lot of money!
5. If the seller want's to meet you at starbucks instead of a jewelry store to complete the deal, let them know you are bringing along your friend the gemologist. They will quickly decide to back out of the deal. Cubics are quite sparkly but you'll be mightly unimpressed when you find out it's not the diamond you thought you were getting.
6. An appraisal is the best guess on fabricating a new ring from scratch for insurance purposes. If you buy an off the shelf ring for 2 grand, it'll come with an appraisal higher than you paid. Why? Because the one you bought was built in a mold. In a production line. Rebuilding it will obviously cost more. The engine in your car cost $1000 to make. But if you bought all the components separately today, it would cost much much more. So take the appraisal with a grain of salt. It has nothing to do with the actual retail value of the piece. And it's not a new ring, so why would you want to pay retail?
7. The size of the stones is actually the weight. A 1 carat diamond weighs precisely 200 mg or .2 grams. If the stone isn't removed from the setting to be weighed, the appraisal should mention that it is an estimate of carat size (weight). Otherwise, how could they possibly know? Dimensions can only tell so much when a diamond is in a setting.
8. All the factors of the stone make it's ultimate value. For example, "depth". A perfectly cut round brilliant diamond will have a depth of 55-57%. Anything outside of that range will effect it's value to the tune of a thousands of dollars on a 1 carat stone. An Excellent or Ideal Cut (different appraisers use different terms for the same thing) round stone will sparkle like it's on fire(also called hearts and arrows cut). Very good -- less sparkle. Good -- not much at all. Kind of like a dry bar of soap. I've also seen a "commercial" cut. only under jewelry store lighting will this cut sparkle. The sellers of these lower grades of cut are hoping you'll be impressed with bragging rights on the size of the stone. The best sparkle is achieved with a round stone. all other cuts have less because, well, they aren't round. It all has to do with how the light enters and exits the stone. round gives the best reflection quality. Princess cut, Emerald cut all reflect the light poorly. probably why they picked such wonderful names for them. old mine or European cut means it's old, very few facets (the number of cuts on the stone) and very poor light reflection. Generally, it takes a raw diamond of 1 carat or larger to be cut into a quality half carat round diamond. the cutter usually determines the best use of any given raw stone to get the most weight out of the original stone. The best cutters go for the highest quality of cut instead of total final weight. an 'excellent' cut 1/2 carat diamond is easily worth as much as a 'good' cut 1 carat diamond of the same clarity and color. the best cut on a round stone is "hearts and arrows". it's rare, but very well worth the money! To give a comparison, an "ideal or excellent cut" is like getting your car painted by the best painter in town. flawless attention to detail and the highest quality of finish. a "good cut" is equivalent to letting the kid next door paint your car with spray paint from a can. oh, and he didn't wash or sand the car first.
9. Clarity. Jewelry stores will tell you this is the most important aspect of any stone. And it is the #1 consideration for value of the stone when comparing stones of equal size. Yet with the naked eye, nobody can tell the difference between a flawless tone and one with a VS2 clarity. SI1-S12 clarity (S means Slight, I means Inclusion which is a fancy word for flaw), there will be a flaw in the stone that can be seen if you look carefully with some magnification. the flaw can still be so slight and small that these stones are still quite valuable and beautiful if cut properly. I1-I2 you can actually see dirt in the stone or cracks or other flaws under normal light with the naked eye. She wont be happy. It's a cheap way to buy a big stone, but she'll see it. These rings were bought by people looking for size, not quality. They aren't worth much at any size and are usually put in settings that wrap around the diamond like a cup so that you can't see the flaws. these stones are very disappointing if put into a claw setting. There are wholesale sites offering badly cut I2 clarity 1 carat stones for $1200. If you were to try selling it used to a diamond buyer, you'd be lucky to get $500 for it. And the "appraisal" for insurance purposes. . .good luck. They know their jewelry. The big appraisal wont float with them if it's a sub-standard stone. besides, it's replacement value. You only get what you had. They won't pay you out for it, so why waste your hard earned $ on junk to get more junk.
10. Color. Best color is rated at D. (100 years ago, they only had 3 color classifications. A, B, C. so with technology and the value of diamonds inflating, the gemologists came up with a more accurate, wider range of color grading. they scrapped ABC so there would be no confusion between an old appraisal and one using the new system). Anything below that goes down in the alphabet. Once you hit J, yellow starts to show up quite prevalently. If it's set in yellow gold, you can get a pretty good price on a yellow diamond that won't be noticed by the viewing public. The higher in the alphabet, the cheaper the price. When you get farther into the alphabet, the color actually becomes more valuable as a colored diamond. Green is at the end of the scale and is quite rare. But you'd have to want one to buy it for the price.
11. Perfect example on this site was the person selling the Tiffany's ring asking $25000. Appraised at $50,000. The core value of the parts is approximately $12,000, used for the diamond and the platimum. Here is the link. city of vancouver jewelry - by owner - craigslist show contact info html. No appraisal listed. No Cut quality listed (round brilliant is the type of shape, not the cut quality). The diamond, with the info listed might be worth $25,000 brand new. But it's still a used ring/diamond. The asking price is basically the replacement value. Unless you feel a tiffany setting is worth $25,000. It comes with a pretty bag and box. And I have a bridge I'd like to sell you. . .
12. Really good quality newer diamonds are always laser engraved with a serial number. why? because they are more valuable. if you buy a stone that has been engraved, once you get it appraised (the appraisal will include the engraving info), it will always be yours. if you lose it or it is stolen, it will be returned to you if it ever shows up in a store again (as long as you file a police report). the main diamond in the included photo isn't huge, it's .44 carat. But it's laser engraved and came with a passport. because it's a quality stone, not simply merchant quality. this type of detail is generally not bothered with on lower quality stones. why? because the stone isn't worth the extra cost. the original store would have had to pay an independent lab for the detailed description of the stone and engraving. it's all about the bottom line. if they didn't take the extra steps in the beginning, it's likely not a very valuable stone to start with.
the photo at the top of this ad shows a proper appraisal showing all 4C' that cost $55 + tx
here is a link to a very informative site that explains the differences in appraisals and appraisers, what you need to ask, what you want to see on an appraisal: The Appraisal - GoodOldGold.com
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