Selling wedding rings

[mallerina]

I tried searching the forums but I'm notoriously bad at interneting so my apologies if this has been covered before!

Last year before I was really gulping down the mustachian Kool-aid I convinced my husband to let me use our tax refund to upgrade my engagement/wedding rings. We didn't have a wedding and my original rings were small. I had just started attending a private university as a grad student and despite my age and supposed wisdom, the need to keep up with the wealthy kids was strong. I know, I deserve an epic face punch (I've already administered my own.)

Fast forward to a year later and I'm a completely different person. I've fully embraced the minimalist lifestyle and while I don't care for early retirement, we're on a path to FI. Plus the ring has been repaired 4 times because stones keep falling out of the micro-pave setting. I sold it back to the jeweler yesterday for half of what I paid for it. I don't necessarily miss the ring (I hardly wore it because of the problem with losing stones.)

My wonderful husband says the rings were a sunk cost anyway and if they weren't doing anything for us we may as well put the money to good use (savings or cargo bike). I guess my question is: did I make a stupid decision to sell it back and take such a loss? Has anyone else done something similar so I can feel like I'm not such a moron?

[terran]

Right now, would you pay what you sold them for to have the rings back? If yes, then you made a mistake, if not then you made the right choice.

[FarmerPete]

If you are asking if you could have gotten more money for the ring, the answer is probably going to be yes, but may just as likely be a no.  Most of the masses don't want to buy a "used" wedding ring from a stranger.  Some view it as bad luck, and others view it as just straight tacky.  Personally, it's a great option.  The jeweler will most likely either melt it down and build new items, or sell it as new to some unsuspecting customer.  Either way, they'll mark it back up and make a decent profit.  Either way, selling it to a private entity would have taken a lot of time and effort on your part.  The buyer would want an appraisal, and you certainly couldn't have sold it for 100% of what you paid.  You might have been lucky to get 60%.

I'm shocked that you sold it.  Most people can't grasp that sunk cost dilemma, and would have held on to it for the rest of their lives.  Wedding rings are a scam, and while I didn't spend a ton on ours, we still spent too much.

[Retire-Canada]

I'd treat it as a sunk cost. You sold them and now forget about them.

-- Vik

[iris lily]

Great lesson 0P! It's doubtful you could've gotten much money for these rings.

This incident will be useful in the futurewhen you are tempted to aspirational buying. Use the feeling this gives you hang onto it,and it will help you avoid this kind of thing in the future.

[Gone Fishing]

You have already correctly identified the facepunch moment (buying them).  As others have mentioned, you might have been able to sqeeze a hair more out of the sale, but probably not much.  Congratulations for having the badassity needed to part ways with something that is not helping you achieve your goal!   

[Guesl982374]

Just move forward with life. What's done is done.

Jewelry is typically a sunk cost the day you buy it.

[I'm a red panda]

I'm impressed you got half of what you paid for it back.

I've never considered trying to sell my wedding ring because what I could actually get for it doesn't really make much of a dent.  It certainly isn't worth what was paid for it, in resale.   If I ever truly need money, then of course it would be worth it to sell it for anything I could.

[mallerina]

Thanks y'all! I think I just needed to verify that I didn't overlook something. I totally agree FarmerPete that the wedding ring thing is a scam... And I fell for it hook line and sinker! Iris lily I like your outlook to use this as a teachable moment to avoid future aspirational buying. I suppose in my case the path to mustachianism is paved with hard lessons... Or diamonds.

[Gone Fishing]

When gold was sky high a few years ago, just for fun I asked a pawn/gold broker what he would give me for my wedding band.  He offered me about 1/3rd of what my wife paid for it only a few years earlier.  Of course this was scrap value discounted by his margin.