{"id":599392,"date":"2026-04-11T05:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T05:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/599392\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T05:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T05:21:11","slug":"aussie-woman-shocked-by-resale-value-of-her-9000-engagement-ring-jaw-hit-the-floor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/599392\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie woman shocked by resale value of her $9,000 engagement ring: ‘Jaw hit the floor’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Sydney teacher has issued an engagement warning<\/a> after discovering what her $9,000 diamond ring<\/a> was worth on resale.<\/p>\n

Mia Pimentel and her partner of nearly five years each presented the other with a diamond ring when they got engaged in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two years later, when the women decided to split, Mia told Yahoo Lifestyle they agreed to keep the ring that the other had proposed with.<\/p>\n

Mia’s gold, one-carat oval solitaire ring was estimated to be worth about $9,000.<\/p>\n

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It took time for her to accept that she should sell the emotionally-charged piece of jewellery, and only decided to check its value after a friend, who is a jeweller, offered to help.<\/p>\n

“I finally got to the point where it was just sitting there, and it was worth a lot,” Mia told Yahoo Lifestyle.<\/p>\n

“When he told me how little I’d get for it, my jaw hit the floor,” she said.<\/p>\n

Her friend had been confident she would be able to get a reasonable price for the ring, especially since gold has skyrocketed in value over the last 12 months.<\/p>\n

But the whole ring was valued at just $500.<\/p>\n

Do you have a relationship story to tell? Contact au.lifestyle.ent@yahooinc.com<\/a><\/p>\n

When sharing her experience, Mia found out she wasn’t alone.<\/p>\n

One said she was devastated when she went through a separation and sold her engagement ring and wedding band.<\/p>\n

“It was laughable how much they both were worth considering they were bought for $10,000,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I just sold my engagement ring for pennies. Better to be rid of it I guess.”<\/p>\n

Another got just $200 for her $5,000 on a ring.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s insane, absolutely,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I had no idea about the crazy deflation,” a third added.<\/p>\n

Why are diamond engagement rings so expensive?<\/p>\n

Sydney master jeweller Ernesto Buono told Yahoo Lifestyle the “extraction cost of natural diamonds make them expensive”.<\/p>\n

But there were other considerations made when they value a piece of jewellery with a stone.<\/p>\n

“The high cost reflects more than the diamond,” the founder of Ernesto Buono Fine Jewellery<\/p>\n

“Customers pay for craftsmanship, design, brand, and a personalised experience. Natural rarity or unique features also play a role.”<\/p>\n

In terms of resale, when you sell to a jeweller or business, they usually can\u2019t get rid of it as is; they may have to melt it down, remake it, or reset the stones.<\/p>\n

This destroys the original labor value.<\/p>\n

“Jewellers often pull the ring apart and redesign the ring, then they have to make their own profit. It’s a lot of labor which is what you’re paying for,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Mia<\/p>\n

Mia wasn’t prepared for the jeweller’s response when she got her engagement ring valued. Source: Supplied\/Mia Pimentel<\/p>\n

In Mia’s case, she had something else working against her: the diamond was lab-grown.<\/p>\n

Even though Mia’s diamond was grown in a lab, Ernesto said the huge devaluation was surprising, claiming you can usually expect a ring to only halve in value.<\/p>\n

Lab-grown diamonds on the rise in Australia<\/p>\n

Lab-grown diamonds have been growing in popularity<\/a> in recent years for many reasons.<\/p>\n

Some people want to move away from diamonds sourced from mines due to ethical reasons, while others are attracted to artificial ones because they’re much cheaper.<\/p>\n

An ABC report suggested lab-grown diamonds make up 50-60 per cent of current retail market and could reach 70 per cent by the end of this year.<\/p>\n

Ernesto said there have been huge leaps in the production-side of lab-grown diamonds, meaning it’s easier and cheaper to create them than even a year ago.<\/p>\n

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“For example, what was once $2,000 per carat might now be around $500,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That’s bringing the overall cost down of the diamonds itself, so it doesn’t retain the value as much as natural does.<\/p>\n

Ernesto had some advice for those wanting to sell a ring after a break up.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes it’s better to try to sell privately yourself rather than through a business,” Ernesto said.<\/p>\n

“You may find someone that loves that design and will love and appreciate it.”<\/p>\n

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