What is a Diamond Buy Back Policy?
Shopping around for diamonds is quite a challenging task. You wish to buy through reliable and reputable sellers, you want a good quality & certified origin stone and you want good terms and conditions applicable. As you shop around at different retailers you might have seen some of them offer a ‘diamond buy back policy’. What exactly is this policy? How can it be helpful to you? Keep reading to find out.
The buyback policy as a security for the buyer
You may notice that the diamond you are about to purchase is accompanied by a buyback policy. This means that the jeweler will pay a certain amount of cash for your jewelry anytime in the future, should you decide to sell. Typically, the jeweler will offer to buy back your diamonds for a certain percentage of the current selling price.
For example, if you buy the diamond ring at $3,000, the jeweler might offer a buyback guarantee of 60%. This means that respective jeweler will buy back your diamond ring should you wish to sell it, for exactly $1,800 (60% of its selling price). Of course, buyback guarantees differ greatly from one jeweler to the other. Some will offer high percentage guarantees, while others will offer lower buyback guarantees.
Purchasing a diamond with such a guarantee is like having a certain security, that should you wish to sell extremely fast & secure you can take it back to the jeweler who will pay cash for it. However, there are always certain terms and conditions applicable to this guarantee, and you should read them carefully before buying. All important information is typically available in the fine print, so pay attention.
Lifetime buyback policies
Some jewelers are ready to offer lifetime buyback guarantees. This means the policy does not have an expiration date, and it can be returned to the inventory of the jeweler at any point in time. One important thing to keep in mind is that such policies are generally offered by retailers who sell diamonds accompanied by their AGS or GIA certifications. You need to take good care of this certification, because you will need to present it if you will ever decide to sell the diamond back to the jeweler.
Some exemptions might apply, and you should pay careful attention to the policy statements. For example, the jeweler offers the buyback guarantee only for diamonds with color grading higher than I, or clarity grades higher than SI2. When you take the diamond for sale back to the jeweler, you must present the bill of sale + the original certification documents. Without these documents, the policy is not valid. Certainly, the diamond always has to be returned in undamaged condition, and the jeweler has the right to decline the buyback policy to the client if there are any suspicions or problems noticed.