Three years back, De Beers had officially rolled out its pre-owned diamond valuation and buyback business through International Institute of Diamond Valuation (IIDV). IIDV was launched after De Beers ran its pilot for 18 months, and the same was available for Forevermark brand diamond jewelry only at IIDV’s affiliated participating jewelers. However, De Beers’ second-hand diamonds business did not take off well and closed down this year.

Diamond consumers have had always fewer to no options in case they wanted to sell back their diamonds or diamond jewelry, as traditional jewellers offer a high markdown on the original value of diamonds. Similarly, couple of years ago, another buyback valuation program – Mondiamo was launched, but when we enquired we received quotes having 41% to 51% markdown in value for GIA certified diamonds listed on Blue Nile!! This situation is well described in a 1982 The Atlantic article by Edward Jay Epstein – ‘Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?’ Enigma of diamond prices have thus ripped off consumers over the years.

However, New York-based Diamond Lighthouse aims to change this scenario by allowing diamond consumers to sell their stones online for full current market prices to a group of trusted buyers. Over the years, Diamond Lighthouse’ platform – “Sell my Diamond Online” has gained the reputation of being the No. 1 platform to resell diamonds. Diamond Lighthouse has apparently created a network of trusted and vetted buyers who are willing and able to pay full current market value of the diamonds, unlike other companies and platform that offer undervalued prices.

The company has launched a new user-friendly website that allows the journey of diamond consumers to sell their diamonds online quite easy. With access to buyers that generally people won’t have, diamond consumers gain to get the best prices for their precious stones, in less than 24 hours. However, Diamond Lighthouse accepts only diamonds upwards of 1 Carat on its online platform as the company’s network consists of large diamond buyers.

Buying and reselling of pre-owned diamonds typically is also known as diamond recycling and, apart from Lab-grown diamonds, will become a major driver for the diamond industry as mined diamond production starts to fall – Case in point – Australia’s diamond output set to fall by 90% after closure of Argyle mine.

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