A new policy has emerged among major jewellery companies that may save you hundreds of dollars if you're considering a resize. You just need to know your ring size before you get measured, then ask the company if they will accept returns for resizing under their own policy. They only have to take it back for inspection and charge no restocking fee.
This new policy is emerging in response to the growing number of women who are buying diamond rings for less than they're worth. These resizers are usually run by people who resell jewellery online for profit. They will buy your ring on eBay, resize it and re-sell it at a higher price.
Why does it cost money to get your ring resized?
When a ring is resized, the metal becomes work hardened. This means that the metal has been forcibly stretched. When a ring is heated to resize it, the metal will still harden and become work hardened after it cools down again.
If a ring was not compensatingly heated up before stretching, there can be micro fissures and other brittle areas in the metal.
These micro fissures do not show up to the naked eye but they set themselves for future failure by shattering or cracking all at once.
The way any jeweler knows if a ring has been resized before is the diamonds will be loose inside of it.
Now I can resize your diamond without heat treating it because I have a special machine for this.
10 times out of 10, if a ring has been resized before, a diamond will fall right out of the setting and end up lost in the carpet or otherwise.
When this happens ,there is no way to put that diamond back into the ring without heating up the metal first. This is the only way to get the metal pliable enough to push the diamond back into place securely.
Sizing a ring down is not as costly, because in that case we're simply compressing it. If you lose some weight throughout your life (which most of us do) then this shouldn't be an issue either.
Remember that if all else fails, you can always sell the diamond separately for money.
Ring resizing is a last resort when all other attempts have failed.
How much does it cost to get a ring resized?
When I do a ring sizing , I charge $100. The jeweler near me charges $50 for this service and then they sell you an expensive (new) size 8 setting that ends up costing you money twice over.
What about when my ring gets lost in the ocean?
Before we get started, let's talk about diamonds falling out of settings. A diamond is most likely to fall out if it is loose in its setting, which would make you think the proper way to prevent this is with an extra tight setting? Not always.
When jewellery gets wet, especially salt water or chlorine, metals will contract and diamonds will pop right out! The only solution is to have a setting that has a micro bevel around the girdle of your diamond. This will let it expand with the metal, rather than contract and pop out.
In my experience I see about an 80% failure rate on rings in salt water situations. But is this a jeweller's fault? No! It's not our responsibility to make sure that the ring is kept safe and dry at all times. I give you a $300+ estimate for this service and we both know it's simply not worth it.
As an alternative, you can take your ring to a company that offers jewellery restoration. They will replace the diamonds in your ring for less money than the cost of resizing it. The process is simple and they are able to do it within days. Alternatively, I recommend selling or donating your existing ring to charity if you know there's no chance of ever wearing it again. You'll get a lot more money from the ring if you sell it.
So, how did this work out for me? I've had my ring resized through a company called RingResizeNow and they charged me $100 which included the shipping cost to them, leaving me with a brand new size 6 ring. It was resized within 3 days and it's absolutely gorgeous!
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