Recently, some products from the high-end gold jewelry brand, Laopu Huangjin, on the Mainland’s second-hand market have been significantly discounted, with multiple gold jewelry items selling for around 50% off their original retail prices.
According to a report by “Zhongxin Jingwei” on August 21, several second-hand dealers have been offering discounted prices for certain styles of Laopu Huangjin products. For instance, a rose window pink sapphire pendant originally priced at around 38,000 yuan is now being quoted at around 19,000 yuan; while another cross-shaped diamond pendant originally priced at about 33,000 yuan is now being quoted at around 20,500 yuan. The highest offer for these two products is only 22,000 yuan.
Another report by “Jiemian News” suggests that some second-hand dealers are offering even lower prices. For example, a rose window pendant with a price tag of 22,520 yuan is now being quoted at around 19,070 yuan, equivalent to a 51.6% discount; and another pendant from the same series originally priced at 34,300 yuan is now being offered at around 17,940 yuan, equivalent to a 48.3% discount.
A Shanghai consumer, Liu Liu (pseudonym), spent 55,000 yuan in the first half of this year on several pieces of Laopu Huangjin gold jewelry, totaling about 35 grams in weight. After wearing them for half a year, luxury goods recyclers only calculated the price based on the value of the gold material, offering around 31,000 yuan.
“Losing over 20,000 yuan after wearing them for half a year. Instead of selling at a loss, it’s better to keep them for personal wear,” she said.
A gold recycler in Beijing told “Zhongxin Jingwei” that the recycling price of Laopu Huangjin mainly depends on the real-time gold price and the circulation of styles, unrelated to the original purchase price of consumers. With the decline in gold prices, counter promotions, and a decrease in the circulation of second-hand goods, the recycling prices for some styles are now less than half of the purchase price.
The recycler mentioned that several pieces of Laopu Huangjin products purchased at their store have been stored for more than half a year without finding buyers, leading to a more cautious approach towards accepting goods recently.
Another manager of a chain gold jewelry recycling store stated that the brand, craftsmanship, and channel premiums mainly exist in the retail sector. Once entering the second-hand market, recyclers primarily value the gold material based on its intrinsic worth.
Chinese luxury goods expert Zhou Ting mentioned that the craftsmanship and cultural premiums of Laopu Huangjin have not yet formed a widespread consensus in the second-hand market. She believes that gold jewelry is essentially a consumer product, where consumers pay for craftsmanship, aesthetics, and wearable value. The gold products with high liquidity are mainly low-premium investment gold bars and gold grains.
Wu Zewei, a designated researcher at Su Shang Bank, mentioned that gold recycling mainly focuses on weight, purity, and real-time gold prices, while the added value of craftsmanship and branding in retail prices is challenging to retain after melting. As a result, the price difference between buying and selling high-premium gold jewelry is more distinct.