In an economy that lacks excitement it is sometimes hard to find the right product to sell to make good money. When demand is down, you may be forced to sit on inventories that just take up shelf space. It is sometimes impossible to know what products are going to sell and when the right time has come to sell them. We hope that we can afford the raw material to make our products, while other times we are more concerned about our overhead costs. These are often fixed and do not fluctuate enough to afford in some cases. If we are not selling enough products we may not be able to afford to pay our employees or to buy the raw material that we need. We may find the perfect combination, but things change so often and so rapidly that it may be only for a very short time. One thing that seems to be selling well, even though many experts claim that no one is buying, is diamonds. The price of raw and polished diamonds keeps going up as demand keeps increasing. The basic principles of economics are at play when speaking of diamonds and this situation. Continue reading »

In the current climate, retailers of all types are trying to get by through their sale offerings and other incentives that have slashed prices to a point where their goods are accessible to a larger percentage of the population. These retailers are well aware of the fact that many people simply cannot afford the goods they want, so if they price these items in a range that is more affordable, they can sell based on quantity. This strategy is about the only one that will work in the current climate, and after the economy gets better, they can go back to their older pricing structure, as many people will be back to their pre-crisis discretionary spending budgets. Discretionary spending has been drastically cut as people are truly concerned about the economy and job losses.
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Fancy colored diamonds are almost more popular than white diamonds, although they are often much more rare than their white counterparts. It seems that colored stones, not just diamonds, have become more and more popular over the years. With the recent engagement of Prince William using his mother’s 5-carat sapphire ring to propose, colored stones have been in the media on several occasions in the past few months, as a spotlighted news story. What makes them so unique is the price that they seem to sell for at auction, which can be astronomical. It is almost impossible to fathom a diamond or gemstone of any kind selling for millions of dollars, but fancy colored stones are recently fetching record-breaking prices that have not been seen on the market up to this point. Red diamonds as well as blue diamonds seem to fetch the most and two recent examples have broken records that have previously been thought to stay put for quite awhile due to the recession and down economy.

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Times are tough and you may be wondering if it’s time to visit one of those gold parties. Diamonds have traditionally been a way to secure wealth as a commodity, instead of paper money, and there are companies that lend on diamonds, if that’s what you have. You probably aren’t going to own any big league celebrity-size diamonds, but even a small stone can help you score some ready cash.

Pawn Your Diamond

One easy way to use the diamond to borrow funds is to pawn it. Lots of people favor this approach because they aren’t actually selling the diamond they’re just using it secure a loan. They have a set period of time to come back and buy the diamond back. If you’re only interested in getting a loan with your diamond, there are many pawnshop companies that are willing to do that.

Sell Your Diamond

The second-hand market for diamonds varies on what type of diamond you have and what the market will bear. If you’ve gone through a divorce, you may want to sell, and there are online stores that will let you do that. IdonowIdont.com is one such second-hand retail market for diamonds. You will probably have to get the stone appraised to find out what it’s worth, so that will eat into the price of your diamond too. It’s great for sellers, but buyers may actually find a better place to shop is online places that can discount diamonds based on wholesale prices, not a retail price.

Sell the Setting

You can still opt to keep your diamond and sell the setting instead. Many old settings are made with 18k gold and are worth a bit all by themselves. You just find a buyer of gold and ask them to remove the diamond and buy the setting. If it’s worth enough to them, they’ll do it. You can always reset the diamond into a pendant or a new ring, and thus get the best of both worlds. Some cash and you get to keep your diamond! Just be sure that you have them remove the diamond in front of you, to avoid unscrupulous merchants who might want to switch the stone while you’re not looking.