To sell an engagement ring well, you do not need to know anything about diamonds before you start. You need to find what papers you have, understand the two parts a buyer will value, and insist on a written offer that you are free to turn down. This page takes you through that in the order it happens.
Sell Diamond Engagement Ring is an independent referral service, not a buyer, pawnshop or dealer. When you call or send the form, we connect you with an independent buyer in New York, who makes any offer. What follows applies wherever you sell.
Find the paperwork
Start with a drawer, a folder or an email search. You are looking for four things, and it is fine to find none of them.
- A grading report from GIA, IGI or another laboratory. It may be a printed document, a small card, or a number written on the receipt.
- The receipt. It shows where the ring came from and often names the stone’s weight and grades.
- An appraisal, usually made for insurance. It describes the ring, and it is not an offer.
- The box and papers, if the ring is by a known maker.
If you find a report number, GIA offers a Report Check on its website where a report number can be looked up. Do this yourself before you speak to a buyer. It confirms what you have, and it means nobody has to tell you.
Read the report in plain words
A diamond report describes the stone with the four factors GIA set out in the 1950s: clarity, color, cut and carat weight. You do not need to master them, only to recognize them on the page.
| On the report | What it means |
|---|---|
| Carat weight | Weight. A carat is 200 milligrams; a point is one hundredth of a carat, so 75 points is three quarters of a carat. |
| Color | Graded against master stones on GIA’s D-to-Z scale. |
| Clarity | How free the stone is of inclusions and blemishes. Flawless, the top grade, means none visible under 10x magnification to a skilled grader. |
| Cut | How the stone was shaped and finished. Under the FTC’s guides, an unqualified ‘brilliant’ or ‘full cut’ is a round stone with at least 32 facets plus the table above the girdle and at least 24 below. |
| Laboratory-grown | If the stone was made in a laboratory, the FTC’s guides call for that to be disclosed clearly, in words such as laboratory-grown or laboratory-created. |
If the ring has no report, the stone can still be described and valued. It simply takes the buyer longer to be sure of it, and the first figure you hear may be a range until the stone has been looked at.
Clean it gently, and leave it as it is
A ring worn for years collects a film behind the stone that dulls it. Warm water, a drop of mild dish soap and a soft brush are enough; rinse it over a bowl, not an open drain, and dry it with a soft cloth. That is all the preparation a ring needs.
Do not have it repaired, polished, resized or re-tipped before you sell. Work done before a sale is money spent on a ring you are about to part with, and a buyer may prefer to see it as it is. If a prong is loose, keep the ring in a small bag or box so the stone cannot fall out on the way.
Know the two parts: the stone and the setting
A buyer looks at an engagement ring as two things. The center stone is described by its report or by the buyer’s own look at it. The setting is the band, the prongs and any side stones: its metal is identified from the stamp and weighed, and any maker’s name is noted.
How the metal is figured
Gold is marked by karat, and the karat divided by 24 gives the gold share: 14K is 58.3% gold, 18K is 75%. Melt value is the weight in troy ounces times the fineness times the spot price per troy ounce. A troy ounce is 31.10348 grams, so a setting weighed in grams is divided by 31.10348 to give troy ounces. For example, if a 14K band weighs W grams and spot gold is X dollars per troy ounce, the gold in it is worth W divided by 31.10348, times 0.583, times X. Melt value is the value of the pure metal only; an offer for the metal is usually below it, because the buyer pays to refine it and needs a margin.
Selling the stone and keeping the band
Some people want to keep the band, or a family setting, and sell only the stone. That is a reasonable thing to ask. Say so at the start, and ask for the offer to describe exactly what is being bought.
Ask for offers, in writing
An offer you can hold is worth far more than one you heard. Ask each buyer to write it down: what they are buying (the whole ring, or the stone alone), how they describe the stone and the metal, and the figure. With two written offers side by side, you can see at once whether they are valuing the same thing.
Expect any offer to be below what was paid in a store. A retail price includes the store’s costs and margin; a buyer pays what the ring is worth to them to resell. That is the case for nearly every ring, and an appraisal will not change it: an insurance appraisal is not an offer.
What happens when you sell
In New York City, the city’s rules tell you what a licensed secondhand dealer must do when you sell. It is a useful checklist anywhere:
- You show photo ID, and the buyer records its type and number. You sign in front of the buyer; a copy of the ID is not enough.
- The buyer weighs precious metal on an approved scale and tells you the troy weight.
- The buyer records the sale, including the metal and the stones, and keeps that record.
- The DCWP license is posted where you can see it, and its number is on the receipt.
- The buyer cannot buy from a minor.
Ask for a receipt that describes the ring and the figure paid, and keep it with your copy of the report.
Selling an engagement ring online, or near you
Searching to sell an engagement ring near me brings up a map of local shops, and searching online brings up businesses that buy by post. Either can work. What matters is the same in both: a clear description, a written offer, and a buyer you can check. Be careful about sending a ring anywhere before you have a written offer and know who will receive it. For a fuller comparison of the places, see where to sell a diamond engagement ring.
If the ring came from an engagement that ended
New York’s Civil Rights Law section 80-b lets a person go to court to recover property or money that was handed over solely in view of a planned marriage that did not take place. If ownership is in question, ask a lawyer before selling. Our page on the engagement ring after a divorce covers this gently.
If it is not an engagement ring
Anniversary, eternity and cocktail rings are valued the same way, but with more weight on the small stones. See how to sell a diamond ring of any other kind. For plain bands and wedding sets, see how to sell a wedding ring.
A word on taxes
The IRS says that net capital gains from selling collectibles, such as coins or art, are taxed at a maximum federal rate of 28% (IRS Topic 409). Whether your sale produces a gain, and how it should be reported, depends on what you paid and on your own situation. This site cannot advise on that: ask a tax professional about your sale, and keep the receipt for the ring and the receipt from the sale together.
Ready to ask what your engagement ring is worth? Your details are passed to the independent New York buyer we connect you with.
Questions people ask
Is it hard to sell an engagement ring?
It is usually simpler than people fear. The harder part is accepting that resale is below retail. With the report, a written offer and a second opinion, most of the uncertainty goes away.
Should I sell the stone without the setting?
You can ask a buyer for an offer on the stone alone if you want to keep the band. Ask for the offer to state exactly what is being bought.
Should I get the ring appraised first?
An appraisal describes the ring and can be a useful guideline, as the insurer Jewelers Mutual suggests. Remember that an insurance appraisal is not an offer.
What ID do I need to sell a ring in New York City?
An official document with a signature, issued by a US, state, county or city government, a public agency or an employer, or a numbered police, fire or postal badge. You sign in front of the buyer.
Who are engagement ring buyers?
Jewelers, diamond buyers, consignment shops, auction houses and private buyers. Each works differently, and our page on where to sell compares them.
Can I change my mind after asking?
Yes. Asking is free and an offer does not oblige you to sell.