Everything You Need To Know Before Jewelry Shopping This Season

Christmas is approaching fast and consumers in the US are getting ready for spending BIG money. According to the latest consumer survey Americans are going to spend an average of 800 dollars on Christmas presents. Besides latest tech-gadgets, jewelry, and luxury watches are in highest demand for Christmas shoppers. While premium brands like Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Graff, David Yurman, Rolex, Chopard, or Bvlgari rank first among wealthy shoppers brands such as Michael Kors, Invicta, Ralph Lauren, or Calvin Klein provide more affordable but also luxury accessories for a smaller budget. We gathered some great tips for getting the most out of your hard earned money.

Save Money by Buying Pre-owned or Refurbished Jewelry and Watches

Most people believe that almost all Christmas gifts are brand-new. FALSE. There is a big trend of buying pre-owned jewelry, watches, and luxury accessories. Especially millennials enjoy shopping on marketplaces where fine but pre-owned gifts are offered. One well-known and highly respected company for trading with used luxury jewelry, diamonds, and watches is www.redollar.com offering great shopping deals. We had the pleasure to talk with Maria Tait from reDollar about jewelry deals. Maria is responsible for pricing Christmas bargains for reDollar. She is absolutely convinced of the huge benefit of buying used but refurbished jewelry.

“We were able to help shoppers safe a lot of money on jewelry and watches. Our recent deals were a Tiffany diamond ring for only $1,800 instead of $4,500, a TAG Heuer watch for $1,800 instead of $4,000, a Gucci diamond watch for only $1,250 instead of $4,700 or a Pandora bracelet for $450 instead of $1,200.” Maria Tait is proud of the deals reDollar was able to provide as buyers were able to buy items they actually could not afford brand-new.

Benefits of Buying Used or Refurbished Jewelry

Lots of people still know about the benefits of buying pre-owned fine jewelry. Clever people often refer to buying a used vehicle. Buying a brand-new car means losing 30% of its value only by driving out of the dealer’s parking lot. Buying new jewelry and watches is pretty much comparable with cars although the loss is probably even greater. If you spend 5,000 dollars on a brand-new Cartier ring in the boutique and you give it to a reputable auction house on the same day, they will probably sell it for $2,500 or even for less.

1. You save money! 

Your first big benefit is saving money. Buying pre-owned fine jewelry allows you to save a little fortune or to buy something more expensive you probably couldn’t afford brand-new. Sometimes savings are so huge that people can go on a vacation just buy buying used. Looking at the figures and doing the math means understanding that buying used is just smart and not stingy.

2. You keep the value! 

Another very important benefit of buying pre-owned is keeping value in the item you’ve bought. A luxury watch acquired for 50% of its original price is probably a good investment or at least a way to prevent you from having a loss if the merchandise will be sold again. People do not consider that times can change and they could be forced to sell what they once have bought as a gift. You have done a great job selling something for the price you once spent.

3. Refurbished is almost like new!

Specialized companies do great refurbishing jobs. Very often a refurbished item is almost not to distinguish from a brand-new item. The reason for that is the quality. Most very expensive brands are using high-quality materials like gold, silver, platinum or even palladium. These metals are very easy to polish and when worked by an experienced goldsmith, they can look like new, even if they have been worn for a while. Same with diamonds and gemstones. Because gemstones have a natural hardness, polishing a diamond or a colored stone can be very quick and easy. Just with some love and little efforts rings, pendants, watches, necklaces, brooches, bracelets and accessories can look almost as stunning as if they were brand-new.

4. Find Certified & Free Returns!

Reliable sellers often offer graded jewelry and free returns allowing to buy with confidence. Very expensive items often come with an appraisal. Unfortunately, appraisals are not always THAT great as some appraisers are doing a questionable job or a job only for the money. Very often a close look at the appraisal is helpful. A nice looking, in-depth appraisal provides more certainty in purchasing then a hand-written one. Use your mind and don’t get fooled by super cheap bargains. Buying too cheap can be an indicator for buying fake merchandise. A heavy, solid gold Rolex watch for only $1,000? Obviously, there is something wrong with it.

5. Save Money Buying Jewelry & Watches from Auctions

Another way to make great jewelry bargains is through auctions. Live auctions or online auctions, both can be very fruitful and lucrative as long as you have some basic knowledge. Especially bidding on eBay and buying from private sellers requires some knowledge. Indicators for running into a bad experience are usually things like “no returns accepted” or “no feedback” or “new members” or still “negative feedback received”. It’s not automatically a bad sign but using your common sense may be helpful to prevent getting scammed. The bargain can turn out to be a nightmare although eBay is well-known for making it always right for buyers.

Smaller local auction houses also don’t always know what they offer or they don’t want to know. Some auctioneers have still a bad reputation for selling counterfeit vintage costume jewelry with no returns accepted. All sales final – Auctioneers are forced to offer final sales because their consignors want to see the proceeds soon. Always check the reputation first. Google and yelp reviews are usually extremely helpful to separate the good guys from the bad guys.

Jewelry Shopping Conclusion

Like with everything in life, using your common sense is helpful. Buying a luxury item for little money can result in getting scammed. There are some really great places for buying used jewelry and watches but no company can operate on a loss. A real bargain is usually easy to identify as reliable sellers work very transparent. Learn more about the seller before you buy and check for reviews on Google or Yelp. Shopping can be so much fun but losing money can be terrible. The Christmas season is known for fraud. For this reason, we recommend to be careful. The use of PayPal and credit cards can also be helpful in the event of a total loss. Happy shopping!