A lot of people ask if pawn shops buy or accept moissanite. If this is something that you are curious about as well, then you need to read this post!
This is one of those questions that I will get asked while I’m at the pawn shop and to tell you the truth, it’s one that I almost hate answering when I’m asked about it.
“Do pawn shops buy moissanite rings?”
Well, not to be a sarcastic wise-guy, but they probably will buy the ring if it is made out of a precious metal like gold or silver.
That having been said, when it comes to the moissanite stone itself, most pawn shops won’t pay for them, and if they do, they won’t pay that much for them at all.
The reason being that a moissanite is a “Man-made” diamond, meaning that there’s nothing really rare about it.
It’s just something that some factory produced and can produce more of at any point that they want.
You have to understand that what makes diamonds valuable to begin with is the fact that they are rare.
The larger they are, the more clear they are, the better color, cut, and the clarity they have – then they are even more rare and worth much more.
So, when we are looking at “Man-made” anything, it’s just not going to have nearly the same value as something that was created naturally.
Why Do Jewelry Stores Charge So Much For Them Then
The next big question you might have is why jewelry stores can get away with charging so much for them if they really aren’t worth anything.
Well, like all things, something is worth whatever another person is willing to pay for it.
So when you go into a jewelry store and see diamonds priced at $10,000-$100,000 going for the “Man-Made” diamond that is half the price seems like the deal of a century!
If you feel for this, it’s not really your fault.
They don’t represent moissanite’s as fake diamonds, even though that’s exactly what they are.
Instead they push them as a “Better than a natural diamond because they are flawless.”
Or they pitch you on the “Value” of having an “Expertly crafted man-made diamond.”
I’ve even heard jewelry sales people go as far as to say that since they were man-made, that they were a “Work of art” and therefore “Priceless.”
To Be Fair, It’s Also Not The Jewelry Sale Person’s Fault
I know it might sound like I’m bashing the sales men and women of the jewelry industry, but I’m really not.
The fact of the matter is that we all have jobs to do and theirs is to sell diamonds, both natural and man-made.
To their bosses, it’s just inventory that needs to be moved.
On top of it, most jewelry stores aren’t in the buying business and almost certainly never in the wholesaling business. They are in the retail business, and that’s a completely different animal.
It’s actually for that reason that I often refer to pawn shops as being the true jewelers as opposed to most jewelry sales people since pawnbrokers know how the diamond markets actually work.
Pawn shops really are in the trenches with how diamond markets move, and they sell far more diamonds than most jewelry stores would even hope to.
But, that’s really a discussion for another day.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is this. Moissanite stones aren’t rare. They are man-made, and as such, have basically no value.
What makes diamonds expensive and worth something to begin with is their rarity. When something comes out of a factory or off, what for all intensive purposes is, an assembly line, there’s none of that rarity or value attached to it any longer.
You see, diamond wholesalers will have very little interest in moissanite stones, and therefore, the only way for a pawn shop to sell it would be to find a retail customer that really wanted one.
However, but the time the pawnbroker got done telling that customer that it’s a “Fake diamond” (because yes, it sometimes feels that pawn shops are more honest than retail stores) that customer will almost always opt for the natural diamond – the one that’s worth something.
