OUR PRICING APPROACH
Jewellery carries more than materials, it carries memories and meaning.
At 100 Ways, we believe fine jewellery should be unique, sustainable, and approachable. Much of what we offer is pre-loved, carefully sourced and restored so it can continue its story with you. We want you to feel confident that every piece is as fairly priced as it is beautifully made. That confidence comes from knowing its value is rooted in the gold and gemstones at its core, the craftsmanship and restoration it requires, and the care we take to prepare it for its next chapter.
Below, we walk you through that journey and how it translates into thoughtful, fair pricing, ready to be cherished or passed down.
The Lifecycle of a Jewel
Unlike traditional retail markups, our pricing reflects the unique lifecycle of each jewel, the value of materials and the thoughtful work that goes into restoring and presenting each piece. Here is a brief overview of that lifecycle and how fluctuating commodity rates might affect our pricing.
Sourcing
We buy pre-loved jewelry directly from individuals. Buying costs are tied to the current gold market, which means the current value of gold directly affects what we pay for a piece.
Just as we sell at fair, transparent prices, we also buy at fair, transparent prices. Whether you visit us in person, use our mail-in program, or work with our national buying partner Canada Gold, your payouts reflect today’s gold value.
Learn more about selling your jewellery with us.
Sorting & Cleaning
We receive all of the sourced jewellery pieces from our partner locations and sort through those alongside our own to select the finest pieces to prepare for a new chapter.
We give each chosen piece careful TLC and have our in-house experts inspect each piece. This involves a thorough cleaning and identifying any minor repairs that might be needed.
Grading, Authentication & Repairs
Some repairs and refurbishments are made by our in house experts, including tightening prongs or adding a jump to old charms to use on a necklace while others are outsourced to more specialized craftspeople. While our internal costs fluctuate with the market value of precious metals, so do our external suppliers and craftspeople we work with.
We also take any steps for special authentication when needed. This could include verifying something's brand name or researching hallmarks to find the date and origin of an antique piece. Finally, we also test to ensure we only list natural diamonds.
Preparing Pieces for Listing
After pieces are polished and ready to be shared with the world, we carefully photograph, price, and list each piece to be dropped along with hundreds of ‘new’ items each Monday and Friday.
Recycling & Renewal
Pieces that are not selected or are beyond repair are responsibly recycled. We carefully remove the stones and send the pieces to be refined down to gold to start the cycle again.
We send diamond melee to GIA for sorting and larger diamonds to GIA for individual reports. Our in-house gemologists handle most grading of gemstones.
While the refined material value is the starting point for any piece, jewelry is more than numbers on a scale. It’s care, craftsmanship, and history. By repairing, cleaning, and preparing each piece with expertise, we honour its past while unlocking new value for its future.
The Next Chapter
While many of the larger loose stones find a home in our Loose Stones collection here at 100 Ways, one of our goals is to use all of the stones we take out of jewellery.
We can happily say that all pieces from our 100 Ways Signature Collection are made with recycled gold along with those reclaimed diamonds or gemstones. By creating our pieces with repurposed materials, we are proud to be contributing to a more ethical jewellery industry.
The refined gold we receive back can also be used in future repairs and resizings.
What Shapes a Price
At every stage of the life cycle, the current market value of gold affects our costs. Traditional retail pricing takes into account not only the materials and manufacturing costs alongside the time and labour, but also the market demand and competitor pricing.
Our pricing approach places more of an emphasis on the actual value instead of market demand and competitor pricing.
We price our pieces with a formula that takes into account:
- The weight of the gold, tied to current market value.
The weight of gold, tied to current market value is factored in with a sliding scale. This sliding scale aims to extend fair value no matter the weight of a piece. This means that heavier gold pieces will see a lower % per weight cost. - The quality and character of diamonds and gemstones is factored in.
- A fixed cost for our overhead costs that help cover our team members and materials for preparing a piece to sell.
This includes costs associated with shipping, listing, cleaning, repair, authentication, grading, and photography.
We estimate 90% of our pieces are priced using a calculator based on the above pricing model. With such a wide range of fine jewellery pieces, there are some exceptions to the rule! For exceptional pieces, we will also consider the craftsmanship, design, and rarity of the piece to finalize a price.
Some examples of this are more special antique pieces that require careful handling and historical research, brand name beauties that require special authentication, or certain high end coloured stones that require more specialized gemologist attention.
Whether you are selling a piece to us or discovering one for yourself, you can trust that the price reflects true, lasting value.
You’ll find that our prices are often a fraction of the price you could expect with traditional retailers - often between 50% and 90% off of new retail prices. We are often priced lower than many online auction sites and pawnshops.
Estimated Retail Prices
On each product listing, you’ll see an ‘Estimated Retail Price’ alongside our ‘100 Ways Fair Pricing’. When products go on sale, you’ll also see a sale price.
So what are estimated retail prices and where do we find those numbers?
The Estimated Retail Price is an estimation of what you could expect to spend on a similar value item at a traditional retailer.
Whenever possible, we try to find the exact “Estimated Retail Price” for our items. For items we can’t find prices for in our research, we use a formula to give a fair retail price estimate for comparable items that can be found online (similar to traditional retail pricing).
For many higher end or specialty items we will commission a third party appraisal which would then be used for the Estimated Retail Price. For transparency, we will include older appraisals for customers although those figures wouldn’t reflect current market value for the Estimated Retail Price.
Price Adjustments
Our pricing and our costs are directly tied to the real value of gold and other commodities. While the value of precious metals and even diamonds will fluctuate often, most of the time, our prices remain steady.
We value your trust and only adjust our pricing when the value of these materials change substantially and for a period of time that it becomes unsustainable for us and our trusted restoration partners.
More recently, this has meant price increases due to rising gold costs.
A price adjustment due to rising commodity costs will only affect the portion of the price that is directly tied to that material. If we look back to our pricing formula, that means that only the gold portion of the pricing is adjusted in a pricing update due to gold prices.
So items with just a few grams of gold (like a large diamond ring) may barely change, while gold-heavy pieces (like chains and bands) may increase by a larger amount.
Heartfelt Appreciation
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us and our pricing approach. We are so grateful to be able to continue sharing jewellery that is as meaningful and lasting as the lives it touches. Your trust and support make this journey possible.