It’s never been easier to sell jewelry from home! You can go online and turn unwanted jewelry into cash in just 48 hours when you work with a professional online buyer like Gemesti. It’s a fast, simple and highly secure process that’s rapidly catching on with sellers across the United States. Read on to see how the online jewelry selling service actually works, and how you can cut out the middlemen and get a fair market price for your used jewelry. 

This article is primarily for people who want to sell a single item of personal jewelry, or a collection of personal jewelry from home. If you’re planning to sell jewelry from home as a business venture, you can still gain some useful tips and insights into the second-hand jewelry market in the US. We’ll give a rundown on all the different options for sellers, and how to avoid the major pitfalls. Selling jewelry online is a bit like swimming in the ocean; it can be a great experience and a lot of fun, but you need to know where the sharks are.

What kind of jewelry can I sell online from home?

There are absolutely no limits on the kind of jewelry you can sell online from home. People are selling diamond engagement rings, wedding bands, diamond necklaces, bracelets, tennis bracelets, vintage jewelry, men’s jewelry, fashion jewelry, branded jewelry, designer watches…even loose diamonds and genuine antique jewelry attract eager buyers. If you have an item of personal jewelry, and you can connect online with a buyer, you will eventually close a sale. The challenge is to showcase your item of jewelry as attractively as possible, offer a competitive price and shipping – and to reach potential buyers in the first place. Reaching serious buyers, rather than casual browsers and online window shoppers is just the first hurdle. 

You might assume that the easiest items of used jewelry to sell online are diamond engagement rings and diamond wedding rings. Don’t confuse the size of the second hand market for used diamond rings with ease of sale. A lot of couples consider buying a second hand ring, but even more people are trying to sell them. Big online jewelry stores like James Allen, Ritani and Blue Nile (as well as a host of smaller US competitors) offer attractive credit deals, layaway programs and buyback offers. They are systematically targeting potential second hand buyers with affordable offers for new diamond engagement rings. 

When you sell jewelry online from home, you’ll face tough competition from millions of other sellers around the world. Professional jewelry and retailers can hire marketing companies to create professional listings. Sellers outside the US can often afford to sell at substantially lower prices. Other sellers can offer free shipping, 30 day returns, or even monthly payment plans. Can your home produced eBay listing compete with a professionally designed listing that includes top quality photography, and skilled copywriting, not to mention an unbeatable price and free shipping with guaranteed 30 day returns?

How do I sell jewelry online from home?

Pretty much every adult in the US has bought something online at some point in their lives. Most of us are regular online shoppers, whether it’s for luxury items, or just groceries and household products. The global COVID-19 pandemic gave the online shopping industry a massive boost in 2020 and 2021. Estimates vary, but the consensus is that at least 230 million Americans shopped online in 2021. 

To use just one site as an example: 31% of eBay sellers are based in America and at least a third of regular eBay users are Americans. To put that in perspective, eBay is aiming to attract 200,000,000 regular users in 2022.  

1. eBay

eBay is easy to use and connects you to millions of potential buyers. If you follow basic rules, it’s a safe and secure option for sellers. The downside is that you’ll face massive competition and it may take months to get a serious buyer who’ll meet your price. 

2. Craigslist

Craigslist is free and gives you access to buyers in your city or state. Unfortunately, we don’t regard it as a safe way for independent sellers to sell high value items like personal jewelry.  

3. Etsy

Etsy is growing in popularity and you will see plenty of jewelry listings. The disadvantage is that you have to open an online store, manage your dashboard  and take personal responsibility for each transaction. It’s better for small businesses and hobby sellers.

4. Gemesti

Gemesti is the safest way to sell jewelry online from home. It’s a professional service that’s designed to deliver fast and convenient transactions with a minimum of hassle. You’ll deal with a single customer services manager who’s a trained gemologist. Expect a fast offer based on market prices and free shipping with FedEx. 

If you’re already accustomed to shopping online, the transition to selling online is usually a fairly simple one. That said, when you want to sell high value items like jewelry from home, you need to know more than just the basics. Selling a 1 carat diamond engagement ring is a lot more risky than selling the unworn Nike shoes that you forgot to return to the store. 

Protect your security when you sell jewelry online!

There’s a bottom line with diamond jewelry: Rings, bracelets, earrings and necklaces are small, easy to hide, easy to transport, and you can sell them for cash pretty much anywhere. Criminals love to get their hands on diamond jewelry, and the same applies to gold, silver and platinum jewelry, and designer watches like Rolexes and Pateks etc. Even cheaper, lower end jewelry can be quickly sold for a few bucks in a pawn store. If you have a drug habit to feed, any dollar will do…

Professional jewelry thieves work with fences in the jewelry trade who will give them around 30% of the retail price for stolen diamonds. Usually they’ll aim to carry out bulk heists on businesses and sell the haul as a job lot. A three million dollar heist could yield a $300,000 cash payment, before expenses. Some thefts are in fact insurance frauds carried out with the assistance of a crooked business owner. Big, successful heists are fairly rare. They require a lot of planning and resources, good information on the target, a reliable buyer, and a reliable and experienced team of robbers. 

Improvements in security and surveillance technology are making jewelry robberies and commercial burglaries steadily harder to pull off. Private citizens selling jewelry online are a much easier target. The pickings may be much smaller, but the risk to the offenders is tiny in comparison and the planning, logistics and upfront expenses are minimal. If a criminal can steal a used diamond ring worth $1,000 – and all it costs him is a few hours online and some time researching the victim – that’s an excellent payday. Burglars and home invaders also work on the principle that where there’s jewelry, there may also be cash, and other desirable items. What’s yours, is theirs. 

If you sell jewelry online from home, there is always a chance that your listing will be checked out by someone with bad intentions. This is more of an issue if you’re using a local site or Craigslist. Unwelcome responses could include professional con artists, a would-be scammer, a professional burglar, a street thug with some personal initiative, or some desperate junkies. Online ads, especially those placed by women, can also attract other types of criminals whose intentions are harmful on a personal level. It’s rare, but it does sadly happen. If that paints a bleak, or even a scary picture of selling online, it’s important to remember that it’s simply a list of worst case scenarios. The majority of people out there are still decent and law abiding, and most online transactions run smoothly. You do however need to know the possible risks, and how to avoid them as much as possible.  

3 Top Tips to Sell Jewelry from Home Safely

If you follow these 3 basic rules, you’ll be able to eliminate most of the risks associated with selling personal jewelry and other high value luxury items online. Most of the rules are just common sense, but it’s easy to get careless if you’re in a hurry to make a sale. 

1. Never disclose your home address or any personal information. Review each listing carefully before you publish it. Use an anonymous one-time email address for any communications. Beware of ‘Google detectives’ who can take a seemingly useless scrap of information and use it to find another scrap of online information. Each new piece of the jigsaw puzzle creates bigger clues. It’s frighteningly easy to build a clear picture of someone’s life in this way. A seemingly innocent message with a request for more info can be a sophisticated phishing trip. 

2. Don’t sell expensive jewelry on Craigslist or on social media. They can be fantastic for selling a lot of second hand items, but not diamond jewelry. Craigslist doesn’t offer adequate protections and listings are by locality. If you’re going to try and sell a diamond ring on Facebook, you might as well just publish your name and address online. Most used jewelry listings on Craigslist either link back to retail jewelry stores, or are posted by naive sellers who haven’t considered the risks. Some listings may even be scams. Save Craigslist for selling second hand furniture and used sports equipment. 

3. Never meet buyers in person. The only exception to this rule is if you live in a small community and you can verify who you’re dealing with. Otherwise, you’re taking an unnecessary risk with your personal safety – and your property. You might think that you’re smart enough to arrange a meeting in a way that prevents a robbery. Would you recognise a counterfeit $100 bill, or would you catch on in time if the ‘buyer’ palmed your ring and handed you back a convincing fake? The same rules apply to returns when you sell online. You wouldn’t be the first person to provide a full refund in return for a perfectly identical fake, or for your original ring – but reset with a lower grade diamond. 

Sell Jewelry from home for the best price

It’s easy to sell jewelry from home, or from work (or anywhere else that you have network coverage). Just go to www.gemesti.com and fill out the short online form on the home page. A client services manager will get back to you with the best price that the current market supports. Not only will you be offered the best price, you’ll get a VIP service. Gemesti figured out the problems in the second hand jewelry market and found solutions that actually work. 

Sellers aren’t just looking for the best price for their used jewelry, or a fast and convenient service (although these are prerequisites). What was often missing in pawn stores and jewelry stores was respect. Many sellers – particularly women – feel uncomfortable having to walk in uninvited and try to sell a diamond engagement ring or wedding ring. Trying to bargain for a fair price is a disheartening experience. 

Gemesti treats sellers as valued clients and aims to provide a service. They also understand that clients can be busy, and want to get straight down to business. The Gemesti way of doing business is professional, courteous and direct. As soon as the online form has been reviewed, you’ll get a callback from your client services manager. He’ll make a (non-binding) initial price offer that comes with free overnight FedEx shipping to the EGL US Laboratory in LA. Gemesti will pay for an independent gemologist’s report on your jewelry. As soon as he has the report, your client services manager will call you back with a formal offer. If you accept it, you can upload a signed sales agreement and your money will be wired to your bank that day. If you choose not to sell, your ring will be shipped back to you free of charge. 

If you have more questions, or want to get started, Gemesti is keen to help. You easily sell your jewelry from home from any location in the United States.