Failed relationships cause glitter on the web

After 35-year-old mortgage broker Steven Sherman and his fiancee broke up last year, he kept the 1.7-carat diamond engagement ring he had bought for $8,000. The jeweller who sold it to him offered $2,800 to take it back.

“I was kind of shocked,” Sherman said.

The Edison, New Jersey, bachelor ultimately unloaded the gem for $5,800 on idonowidont.com, one of at least three internet firms aimed at former lovers who want to vent hurt feelings and sell relics of past relationships. About 1.7 million used engagement and wedding rings with a retail value of $4.2 billion become available annually, estimates David Becker, CEO, idonowidont.com in New York.

“We have found a market that’s underserved,” Becker, 49, said in an interview. “It is good for the seller to move on, and there are people who want something vintage and used.”

Until now, people selling unwanted gems bargained with jewellers or placed ads on catch-all websites such as eBay and Craigslist.

Then there are the highly public celebrity sales, like the Christie’s International auction in 2006 at which actress Ellen Barkin dumped $20 million worth of jewellery given to her by her ex-husband Ron Perelman.

Wives tend to keep engagement jewellery, although its value often is added to the marital assets divided between the soon-to- be-divorced spouses, according to Gregg Herman, a Milwaukee attorney who chairs the American Bar Association’s family-law section. If the split takes place before the wedding, men typically get the stone back because it’s a gift conditioned on marriage, he said.

Breakup Songs: Siblings Mara and Joshua Opperman, co-founders of idonowidont.com, said they started their business after Josh’s and his girlfriend broke up and he tried to sell the diamond he’d given her.

While eyeing $3,000 diamond and sapphire rings, customers can read articles about relationships (“If there are ghosts from the past, they will constantly haunt your new marriage”) and watch music videos of “best breakup songs” such as “About to Come Alive.”

“We decided to take a humourous approach because breakups are so disheartening,” said Mara, 28.

The Oppermans have sold about 250 rings for $1,000 to $30,000 since early last year, Josh said. He listed his own gem and received 70 per cent of the retail value for the 2.7-carat diamond ring that cost him “well above $10,000,” he said. The retailer who sold it to him offered less than half.

Heartbreak Tales: The company authenticates the jewellery after a buyer and seller agree on a price and charges a 5 per cent transaction fee, said Josh, 31.

Megahn Perry and her stepmother Marie, who live in Los Angeles, say they founded exboyfriendjewelry.com in February to create an online community where people can sell baubles from former lovers and “get those tangible memories out the door.”

Their slogan is, “You don’t want it. He can’t have it back.”Sellers post classified ads for free and deal directly with buyers. The company doesn’t charge a transaction fee. Customers are advised to guard against fraud by using a third party such as escrow.com, which collects, holds and disburses funds for a fee.

Visitors are also encouraged to post their tales of heartbreak.

‘Lyin’ Cheatin’
“I thought I had found Wonderful, but he was Lyin’ Cheatin’,” said a recent post by the seller of a $1,000 marquise-cut diamond engagement ring.

Divorceyourdiamond.com, started in May, directs sellers to participating jewelers in the US and Canada. If they agree on a price, the retailer buys the ring on the spot.