Finding the best place to sell jewelry online can feel daunting, especially with so many options available. We’ve researched and evaluated some of the top places to sell your jewelry online to help you get the most for your pieces. Here are our top picks for the best places to sell jewelry online.
Pros & Cons
Overview
Worthy is an online luxury marketplace that helps users quickly and easily sell their jewelry online. They offer consignment, which includes a free (insured) shipping label, cleaning, photographing, and listing of your items, as well as quick payment after the item has sold. The company partners with GIA gemologists for precious stone appraisals and certifications, and uses a database of past auction prices to evaluate the retail price of your item. They will also take professional photos and provide you with an appraisal report. Worthy has fantastic customer service to help you at any point in the process. They are open seven days a week and are available by phone, email, online chat, or users can ask for a callback. It also has a physical location in New York City to assist customers. To get started with Worthy, simply fill out the online submission form and you’ll be given an item evaluation via email. If you choose to list with Worthy, you’ll receive a pre-filled FedEx label to ship your items for listing.
Pros & Cons
Overview
As the largest auction site in the world, eBay allows users to quickly list items for sale and has a specific section for jewelry on its site, making it easy for hundreds of millions of users to sort and find the jewelry they want to buy. As a seller, the first 250 jewelry listings are free, and sellers only pay a commission once the item is sold. While the first $1,000 of a sale incurs a 15% fee (industry standard), the higher the sales price, the lower the fee. Prices from $1,000 to $7,500 are only charged a 6.5% fee. Anything above $7,500 is charged a 3% fee. This laddered structure lowers the fee for higher-priced items (but can be confusing to calculate). Here’s an example:
First $1,000 = $150 fee (15%)Next $6,500 = $422.50 fee (6.5%)Next $3,000 = $90 fee (3%)Total fee on $10,000 item = $662.50 (6.6% rate)
As you can see, the actual total fee is 6.6% on a $10,000 item, which is much less than the industry standard. EBay can tack on additional charges for more features on your listing (such as a “Buy it Now” button), so make sure to review its seller’s fees to understand what it may cost you to sell on eBay. To get started selling your jewelry with eBay, you can sign up for a free account (with an email or Google account), and list your items for free.
Pros & Cons
Overview
Etsy is the go-to place for craft-making business owners, as it does not charge you to create an online shop. Users can list and sell their jewelry to millions of buyers and the platform has a mobile app to make managing sales easy. Etsy has tons of helpful tutorials on setting up your shop and even has a built-in ads platform to help give your items more visibility. It’s important to note, however, that items that sell with leads from an ad incur an additional 15% charge, lowering your profit margin quite a bit. Etsy does offer discounts on shipping, helping save on costs when your item is sold. To get started with Etsy, simply sign up for an account, follow the tutorials on setting up your shop, list your items, and start selling.
Pros & Cons
Overview
WP Diamonds is an online marketplace for selling high-end jewelry, watches, handbags, and even loose diamonds. It specializes in purchasing diamond jewelry and other high-end pieces. You’ll get an offer via email after you submit your items for appraisal. WP Diamonds takes extra care with its purchasing process, insuring shipped items up to $200,000 and giving users quick payment on accepted offers. While this may be a quick way to make some money from your high-end jewelry, WP Diamonds may offer you less than the retail price as it will be re-selling your items for profit (similar to a jewelry shop). It’s always good to shop around and get multiple quotes, especially for high-end pieces. To get an offer from WP Diamonds, simply fill out the online form, describing and attaching pictures of your items. If you agree to an appraisal, you can ship your items via a pre-filled FedEx label, have them examined, and WP Diamonds will give you an offer. If you accept the offer, you may be paid within 24 hours.
Pros & Cons
Overview
Shopify is the premier online platform for eCommerce businesses and fully customizable for creating your online jewelry shop. Shopify offers pre-made templates for getting started quickly, and advanced users can customize every aspect of the online store. If you create your own jewelry or do drop shipping of other people’s jewelry, Shopify can be your storefront. With quick online checkout, multiple payment processing options, full theme customization, and add-ons for things like one-click upsell, Shopify is the leader in the eCommerce space. To get started building your Shopify store, you’ll need to sign up for one of its paid plans. If you are selling jewelry online, you should be able to build your store and customize it with a Shopify Basic plan. You can compare all Shopify plans and pricing to find the one that best fits your needs.
Pros & Cons
Overview
The RealReal is an online consignment shop that specializes in selling luxury goods. It inspects every item consigned for authenticity, re-sells the items, and takes a commission for the work. If you are looking to sell lightly-used jewelry, especially designer jewelry, The RealReal may help you fetch higher prices for your pieces. It staffs in-house GIA-certified gemologists to evaluate and authenticate your jewelry. The company also has retail locations around the U.S. where consignors can come in for free evaluations of their items to get an idea of its value. Customers can consign in-store as well. Commissions are very high if your items are more than $750, costing a whopping 70%. Jewelry sold for $149 or less will cost 20%-30%, so it is not cheap to consign with The RealReal. Also, if items don’t sell for a certain amount of time, The RealReal may lower the listing price at will. To get started, sign up for an online account, send over details and pictures of your items, and then ship them in for evaluation and authentication. The RealReal will then give you a listing price, and if agreed, they will post them for sale. While fetching top-dollar is always a priority, losing your jewelry to a scam would be devastating. No matter where you decide to sell your jewelry online, make sure the company is reputable, secure, and offers insurance.
How Do Websites to Sell Jewelry Online Work?
Selling to an online jeweler is quick and easy. You submit the item details, get an estimate, and if agreed, send in the jewelry and receive payment. If you are looking to sell your jewelry online through an auction service:
Submit details about your jewelry through an online form, including pictures.Receive an appraisal estimate.Send in items for examination, authentication, and listing at auction.Receive payment within seven days to a few weeks once the jewelry sells at auction.
If you are creating your own eCommerce storefront, the process is different based on the platforms used, such as Etsy and Shopify above.
How Do I Choose the Best Place to Sell Jewelry Online?
Always look for a reputable online jeweler or auction house that has been in business for a while. Industry reputation is important when dealing with valuables such as jewelry. Also, check the fees and commission schedule as this will help you see how much you will pay to sell your items. And finally, if you are mailing your jewelry in, insure it for at least the full retail value of the item.
How Much Does It Cost to List Jewelry for Sale Online?
If you are listing your items on an auction site, the listing fees (per item) typically range from $0.20 to $0.35. Places like eBay give you up to 250 free listings, which can be cost-saving. But the real fees are seller commissions, paid when the item sells. This can be over 50% on some sites, so always review the fee schedule before listing.
Is Selling Jewelry Online Profitable?
If you are looking to run an online business selling jewelry, it can be very profitable. As with any online business, it comes down to quality products, good margin, and marketing. Selling jewelry that you make by hand is limited to your output capacity, but if you make high-end pieces, you may be able to make very good money selling only a few items per month. If you need help getting started, check out our full list of ideas on jewelry-making to gain inspiration.
Methodology
Our research led us to companies with a solid industry reputation that offer simple on-boarding and transparent pricing for selling jewelry. We considered a variety of different selling options, including online auctions, consignment, direct purchase, eCommerce, and online marketplaces. Worthy stood out for its simple selling process, transparent pricing, and customer service, while Etsy is the top-performing platform for selling handmade crafts and jewelry.
