Diamond engagement rings: a scam?

[Braggia]

So after reading this article:

http://www.stopidiocy.com/2012/03/di...e-for-suckers/

I'm curious about a couple things:

1) Has anyone ever tried to sell their diamond ring? If so, did you get what you expected?

2) Do people in other parts of the world do the diamond engagement ring thing? Or is this pretty much just a US tradition?

[Stir]

1: No.
2: I don't know... Not that many people here actually have classical diamond rings; they're simply not very popular in the Netherlands because frankly, diamonds are quite ugly. There's lots of rings with tiny diamond inlays, though, but the typical engagement/wedding ring in the Netherlands is a finely crafted, but simple, band of white and/or yellow gold with an inscription on the inside.
Dominating stones (in a fitting) are not in fashion... Again because they're ugly. As well as genuinely impractical.

[Cherrysoul]

1. No

2. Diamonds are popular here in Australia too, me personally i think there ugly and boring and an overpriced piece of Coal . Give me a Garnet, ruby or Emerald any day

[FathomFear]

The whole "you need to dump 10% of your salary on a ring" actually started via a very effective marketing campaign by DeBeers.

[Nordya]

I will answer #1

I sold my ex engagement ring, I got 6$ for it, paid 200 for it to give you an idea.

[Braggia]

I will answer #1

I sold my ex engagement ring, I got 6$ for it, paid 200 for it to give you an idea.

Wow, ouch - the article said to expect 25% of the original value or less, which seemed incredibly low. 3% is just insane.

[Braggia]

The whole "you need to dump 10% of your salary on a ring" actually started via a very effective marketing campaign by DeBeers.

Yeah the article goes into that. I guess I'm just shocked that pretty much an entire nation bought into it, and continues to do it.

[Fuzzzie]

So after reading this article:

http://www.stopidiocy.com/2012/03/di...e-for-suckers/

I'm curious about a couple things:

1) Has anyone ever tried to sell their diamond ring? If so, did you get what you expected?

2) Do people in other parts of the world do the diamond engagement ring thing? Or is this pretty much just a US tradition?

1) Any consumer trying to sell something back is going to get screwed. Doesn't matter what you're selling.

2) Canada. It's the same deal.

[Sunseeker]

The whole "you need to dump 10% of your salary on a ring" actually started via a very effective marketing campaign by DeBeers.

This. The whole diamond market is basically a scam by DeBeers.

My fiance and I have silver and garnet matching engagement rings, cost ~$300 for both of them, but because we talked it over and decided what we wanted before hand, we're INCREDIBLY happy with them.

[Braggia]

1) Any consumer trying to sell something back is going to get screwed. Doesn't matter what you're selling.

Not necessarily. Gold, for example, tends to appreciate.

Diamonds are pitched as a solid investment by some, but it seems like there is absolutely no truth to that at all.

[Blood Fox]

anytime you try to sell something back you typically get jibed, besides diamonds are ugly. I like fluorite or cobalt.

[Fuzzzie]

Not necessarily. Gold, for example, tends to appreciate.

Diamonds are pitched as a solid investment by some, but it seems like there is absolutely no truth to that at all.

You buy a diamond ring, you're getting marked up a lot. You sell it back, you're getting payed far less. Gold prices be damned. If you're selling it for gold scrap then you're really losing a lot.

Diamond pricing is sketchy. dunno enough about it to comment.

[Varyk]

I mean, people don't buy engagement rings to make money, they buy them to give to someone as a token of their appreciation and love of someone they want to spend the rest of their life with. Of course it doesn't always work out, but people don't go into buying engagement rings with the idea that they're making an investment (money wise).

[GW2lacky]

Yes, its a scam. My wife was originally all googely-eyed about diamonds when we went looking at engagement rings and I finally had to tell her that if the size of the diamond meant anything in regards to the success of a marriage then every rock star and movie star would be happily married (instead of remarried multiple times).

1. No.

2. Its not a US tradition (alone) and wasn't even started in the US...and at least in the circles I run people are shying away from the diamond is forever notion. Of all my friends and family who have gotten married in the last 10 years, only two have diamonds on their rings and they are both very materialistic people who really like to show off how much money they (or their spouses) make in any way they can.

[Deleted]

This just brings up the age old argument of what is value.

Is it truly rarity, or is the importance society places upon that item? Money is ultimately worthless since the abolition of the gold standard, but it is the massive value that society places upon pieces of linen that give them extraordinary value.

If I were to give the future Mrs.Hawt09 say, a wedding ring with a fragment of moon rock on it, I highly doubt she, nor very many other people would place a great deal of importance in it without thorough explanation. (Please, don't get into the details about it being moon rock, it's an example).

The sheer fact that diamonds are revered on an almost International Level places far greater value upon them than actual value. It is irrelevant that it is simply a part of an advertising fact, very basic elements of Western society have been shaped by advertising, from the given examples of Diamonds to Santa Claus.

I'd much rather the recipient of my gift valued it more for it's significance than it's actual worth.

[Nordya]

Wow, ouch - the article said to expect 25% of the original value or less, which seemed incredibly low. 3% is just insane.

Yeah, they basically only gave me money for the gold, the diamonds were too small and would maybe be 4-5$ but they had to send them away to another place and all, so I just said gimme the money.

I paid 200$ at a jeweller in 2001, sold it in 2008. Saw the same ring online at target in the US for 69$ after it, so I wasn't too surprised to see it that low, just was a rip-off from the start.

[jahasafrat]

I was engaged for a time, did the diamond thing and wedding planning and all that. Then it fell apart, but that' a different story. When we were picking out rings, my (now ex) fiance wanted to get me one with diamonds on it. I squashed that idea real quick, went with a white gold band that cost something like $140 if I remember correctly. I got $95 for it at a pawn shop after we parted ways, which was more than I expected to be honest. Her (planned) wedding ring was passed down to her from her mother, so I feel like I dodged a bullet there. The engagement ring I bought was 1/2 carat worth of princess-cut diamonds in a simple band., not sure if/how much she sold it for. So I guess I don't really have a constructive answer to either of your questions.

[Elodeon]

Relevant article:

Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...ngle_page=true

This article is fascinating for showing that the stones aren't the product at all. The product is public opinion about diamonds. Suppliers create public opinion through product placement and advertising, and control price by controlling supply, and by marketing diamonds in such a way as to discourage resale.

[Zenaur]

a diamond ring is not an investment, so don't even try to look at it as one. It is not a US thing, most EU/NA countries do the same thing and even more use some kind of jewelry. and it's generally always something quite valuable. Diamonds themselves are expensive because over 90% of the worlds supply is controlled by a group of only a few companies (basically a monopoly). Their value is only what you put on them. And what is with all these people saying they are only putting 200 into a wedding ring?! Don't get me wrong, the whole "10% rule" is bs but that has got to be a joke (given that you are able to attain more than a part-time / minimum-wage job) Hell, save for a bit, a token of life long marriage should be worth more than a 1-year investment in WoW subscriptions.

ps -- those that say diamonds and gold are an investment material are generally referring to the raw material, not after they have been made into jewelry, that's just silly. I mean hell, consider the labor/equipment it takes to do the crafting. That alone is worth a decent amount of cash given that you are getting a well made product and not a ring-pop out of a vending machine that some people in here seem to believe is the cool thing to do.

with that also said. remember, in general its just a show of appreciation & that you are giving up something for someone else. It doesn't have to be a diamond ring, there are plenty of other tokens, but do something nice.

[Laize]

I've never been interested in diamonds for the same reason I've never been interested in gold.

They're practically worthless in industry which means their only use is as a value protector. Diamonds are MUCH worse at protecting value than gold. They're not fungible, you need a professional to grade every diamond you get... it's really absurd. To top it all off, their most valuable use is in rings and necklaces.

I want nothing to do with diamonds. Give me stuff that's valuable AND useful (Like Silver) and you have a winner.