Worthy Review: Is Worthy Legit?

If you’ve been searching for ways to sell your fine jewelry pieces, you may have heard of Worthy. And that could leave you wondering; is Worthy legit? 

Worthy is a company that sells your jewelry for you, sending you the profits after the sale. 

In this Worthy review, we’ll tell you how Worthy works, how much it costs, whether you can get it back and more. That way you can better determine if Worthy is for you. 

What is Worthy?

Worthy is an online auction site that focuses on selling used luxury jewelry and watches. The site was founded in 2014 by Ben de Kalo, a former investment banker. 

The company’s goal is to bring together sellers of high-end fine jewelry with buyers interested in obtaining high-end jewelry pieces. 

Worthy sells only to a select group of professional jewelry buyers that are highly vetted before they’re given access to the auction site.  

Because there are over 1,000 buyers competing for each jewelry piece, your chances of getting more for your jewelry piece are higher.

Worthy doesn’t accept all types of fine jewelry. However, it does accept:

• Diamond engagement rings and wedding rings with gold and/or platinum settings
• Designer jewelry from high-end designers such as Harry Winston, Tiffany and others
• High-end designer watches made by companies such as Rolex, Cartier and Tag Heuer
• Loose diamonds that meet Worthy’s buyer standards

You can visit the Worthy.com website to learn more specifically about the types of jewelry Worthy accepts. 

Worthy also has a philanthropic heart. They are involved with and financially committed to Jewelers for Children. Jewelers for Children is a non-profit organization that works with jewelers to raise money for children facing catastrophic illness or life-threatening abuse situations.  

How Does Worthy Work?

As mentioned earlier, Worthy facilitates the selling of your fine jewelry (or helps you purchase fine jewelry) in an online auction setting. 

The company offers a free and fully insured FedEx shipment of your jewelry piece to Worthy. From here, Worthy prepares it for your auction. All FedEx shipments of jewelry are insured for up to $50,000 by Lloyds of London.

After your jewelry piece is received by Worthy, it goes through a cleaning, photography and grading process to get it ready for auction. 

The cleaning process is done by a professional jewelry cleaner and removes any tarnish, dirt or surface scratches. 

Your jewelry piece is then professionally photographed to show off all angles of the piece.

From there, your jewelry piece is graded and given an appraised value by a professional appraiser from labs associated with the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), International Gemological Institute (IGI)  GHI Gemological Laboratory or other leading labs. 

When this process is complete, you’ll be given a suggested reserve price (lowest bid accepted) for your jewelry piece. 

You are free to adjust this reserve price upward if you prefer.

Once listed, you simply wait for your jewelry piece to sell to one of Worthy’s vetted buyers. After the auction starts and there’s an offer that meets or exceeds the reserve price, that offer is binding. 

After the sale, Worthy collects the sales proceeds from the buyer and then sends you the money (bank transfer, PayPal or check) you’ve earned from the sale, minus the commission fee. 

If there is more than one offer, the highest offer is accepted. In the event that there is an offer that is lower than the reserve price, you can accept or reject that offer. 

If you choose to reject the offer, Worthy sends your jewelry piece back to you, insured and free of charge.

What Are The Fees To Sell On Worthy?

Fees to sell on Worthy vary based on the winning bid for your jewelry piece. You never pay any fees until your jewelry piece is sold. 

The fee amount Worthy charges is a percentage amount and is determined as follows:

Winning Bid Amount	Worthy’s Fee
Up to $5,000	18%
$5,001-$15,000	14%
$15,001-$30,000	12%
$30,001 and above	10%

If you are shipping more than three valuables to Worthy, this falls under the “Jewelry Box” fee terms, which is a flat 18%. 

Next, let’s discuss Worthy’s main features and what makes the company attractive to jewelry sellers.

Worthy Features

Worthy has several features that make it a strong consideration should you want to sell your fine jewelry. 

Professional Preparation

One of the features you get when you sell on Worthy is professional preparation. After you ship your secured package to Worthy via FedEx, Worthy puts it through a gentle but thorough preparation process.

First, the jewelry piece is professionally cleaned and polished, removing any and all dirt and tarnish from the piece.

After that, your jewelry piece is professionally photographed for the auction. Pictures are taken from a variety of angles in order to show off every facet of your jewelry piece.

Your jewelry piece is also professionally graded by external, industry-leading labs such as GIA, GHI and IGI. 

Watches are inspected by a company called Grand Central Watch. Grand Central Watch has been inspecting and repairing watches since 1952. 

All of these processes work together in order to get your jewelry piece in pristine shape so that it has the best chance of getting the highest price possible at auction.

Personal Auction Managers

After your jewelry piece is inspected and graded, the grading lab will give you a recommended reserve price (the lowest bid accepted) for your jewelry.

You can simply accept that bid price and have your piece prepared for the auction. However, you will also have a designated auction manager from Worthy that is able to assist you.

Your personal auction manager will be there to answer any questions you may have. They can also talk with you about the recommended reserve price should you have any questions.

For example, if you feel the reserve price is too low, your auction manager can walk you through the pros and cons of raising the reserve price.

The auction manager is available to help you with any other questions about the auction process as well. 

In addition, Worthy has a full team of customer service professionals to assist you throughout the auction, sale and payment processes of your experience. 

Professional Buyer Network

Worthy offers a professional buyer network of over 1,000 jewelry and diamond experts. All of Worthy’s buyers have been thoroughly vetted.

They know how much a jewelry piece is worth and compete against each other at auctions. As mentioned previously, this process assists Worthy in helping you get you the highest offer for your jewelry pieces.  

Also, because Worthy only works with professional, vetted buyers you can be assured that you’re not taking a risk by selling to some random person with unknown financials and other details. 

It’s important to note that whenever you resell your jewelry on a site like Worthy, you may not get as much money as you would if you sell the piece outright to a civilian buyer as opposed to a professional buyer. 

Professional buyers typically buy jewelry in order to resell it. Civilian “customer” buyers buy jewelry pieces for private use and expect to pay more.  

Fast, Secure Payment

When you sell your jewelry through Worthy you’ve got three options for payment: ACH bank transfer, check or PayPal payment. 

Note that you cannot choose to get your payment through PayPal if the amount Worthy owes you is over $5,000. Instead, you must choose to receive a check or an ACH bank transfer.

When it comes to the timing of your payment, Worthy says to expect it to take up to 5-7 days to collect payment from the buyer. 

After payment is received from the buyer, it will take a bit of time for the payment to be transferred to you:

• 1 to 3 business days for ACH bank transfers (usually the fastest method)
• 2 to 3 business days for PayPal transfers
• 4 to 5 business days for mailed checks

In the event that you’re selling multiple pieces of jewelry, payment is held until the sale for all pieces is complete. 

If you’re interested in getting your payment for a piece immediately after it sells, I would recommend selling your items one at a time. 

Worthy Reviews

Here is some of what consumers are saying about Worthy on popular review sites such as Trustpilot and the BBB (Better Business Bureau).

Worthy has a 4.7 star (excellent) review on Trustpilot. Here is a sample of both a positive and negative review from Trustpilot.

“Very professional and a great experience from start to finish…..Worthy took care of everything. After I sent my items in I had to do nothing except receive my money from them. Very easy and was stress-free for me. From my experience, I highly recommend Worthy!–Bob R. on Worthy

“As much as I’m happy to sell my ring, and Worthy.com made it easy and safe, I’m disappointed in the value. Your advertising makes it sound like a person will get much more for their jewelry when they sell than they actually do……” Catherine on Worthy

Worthy has an A- rating on the BBB website. Here is a sample of both a positive and negative review from the BBB.

“Excellent! My account manager, Rachel, was very professional, helpful and there was always great communication throughout the whole process…….I would definitely recommend Worthy.” -Ronald P. on BBB

“The process itself went smoothly and the agent was very communicative. However, I was disappointed with the resell price. If I had the bandwidth to deal with it myself, then I probably could have gotten more money…” -Princess B. on BBB 

As I skimmed reviews on Trustpilot and the BBB, I found that many of the negative reviews had to do with customers not getting as much money as they had hoped for their jewelry piece.

Next, let’s look at answers to some popular frequently asked questions on Worthy. 

Worthy FAQs

Here’s a look at commonly asked questions when it comes to using Worthy.

Worthy Alternatives

There are other companies that buy fine jewelry from private buyers like yourself. Here is some information about a couple of Worthy alternatives. 

Cash for Diamonds USA works similarly to Worthy in that it will help you sell your diamond jewelry. 

However, unlike Worthy, Cash for Diamonds USA doesn’t hold an auction to sell your diamonds. Instead, you ship your diamonds to Cash for Diamonds USA free of charge and insured.

Then Cash for Diamonds USA will give you an on-the-spot offer for your diamonds. You can accept the offer and get your cash within a few days.

Louped works similarly to Worthy in that it will help you sell your jewelry piece online. Simply send in a picture of your jewelry piece, and your Louped expert will tell you what they recommend you list it for. 

You can also take the direct sale offer from your Louped professional. The commission structure for selling on Louped ranges from 10-20% depending on what your item sells for. 

Louped is a bit more hands off than Worthy. However, it does offer the marketplace option where you can sell your item to a buyer or you can choose Louped’s direct offer, which is nice. 

Final Thoughts: Is Worthy Legit?

Worthy is a legit site for you to sell your fine jewelry on. You may want to use Worthy to sell your jewelry if you have fine jewelry worth over $1,000 and you have time to wait for the auction to take place. 

Yes, Worthy does take up to 18% of the final sale price of your jewelry piece. However, in exchange for that commission you’ll get a safe, professional, insured option for selling your jewelry.