shape
carat
color
clarity

Is A Deal ever an investment?

Bonsai

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Oct 11, 2019
Messages
322
I know jewelry and gemstones are not typically a good investment if doing it solely for those purposes. But after this COVID hit I've gotten 2 really good deals on LT. Basically new rings at less than half price. One is coming with an AGL Brief for a rarer center stone.
Is it ever an investment in these cases from anyone's experience? Well I bought them bc i liked them but for what I paid I cant believe they wont hold the value.
 
Jewelry is generally not an investment as it is a depreciating asset, unless it's something very very rare (high carat, color, clarity, etc.). IMO jewelry typically "depreciates" 50% of its MSRP, so if you got it for less than that, you might be able to sell it for around what you paid for it. At the end of the day, pricing is based on supply and demand.
 
An investment? No. But potentially not losing 50% of their value the second you buy them? Yes, probably.
 
Both were less than half of MSRP. But then do I assume it cuts in half again by my owning it? I think the value of the platinum and diamonds etc is worth that but idk.
 
It depends. Likely the demand for the rings was low, otherwise the seller could have sold them for a higher price.
 
It’s true....
But I took advantage of the covid downturn if you will and I think demand as a whole is a bit less now? Temporarily perhaps

Idk how the market affects gems, etc
 
The old adage is that you make money on the buy so it’s good to get a good deal from the start. If you sell it for more later then sure it can be considered an investment. just holding value no...unless you count that you basically have used it for free (I‘m not sure how to calculate the value of free jewelry wear). Of course none of that matters if you never sell. That would be my problem, lol.
 
I mean... you never know, right? Let's say we plunge into a worldwide recession/depression, no one has any money to spend on gems, and you can't unload it at any price. Then it's not such a good investment.

But maybe demand goes up and it's a great investment!

I've bought a number of "good deals," some of which turned out to be excellent deals and I wish I'd bought more, some of which didn't really hold their price. And who knows what the world will look like ten years from now; I can't even figure out what it will look like next week...
 
Not an investment. There is no MSRP. Commodities like diamonds don't go on sale. The ultra-rich are untouched by this downturn and, like you, may try to capitalize on it. Unlike 2009, it does not seem like prices have dropped on houses, cars, luxury goods, etc. This will not be a "V" but everyone is pretty slow coming to that realization.

I'm really impressed that an unheated sapphire that I bought "at the bottom" in 2010 or so has probably tripled in value since then. But so has the S&P500 -- and that's a lot easier to store and sell.

I agree with others that in a private-party to private-party sale, you can probably resell for not too much less than you bought -- unless the seller is more of a retailer like plenty of folks on LT. eBay is a little different -- there's a reason they call it "losing an auction" when you are the highest bidder. Of everyone in the eBay universe, you valued this item the highest!
 
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP

Featured Topics

Top