I Do Now I Don’t, the leading website for buying and selling wedding jewelry, recently unveiled a new look.
Founder Josh Opperman built his super-successful business on a broken heart.
“After my fiancé broke off our engagement [in 2007] and gave me back the ring, I was devastated.”
For a while, Mr. Opperman wondered what to do but the practicality beat out heartbreak and he decided on cash instead of a souvenir. “I had a lot of issues trying to sell back my engagement ring,” Mr. Opperman, 37, told the Observer. After discovering that he could dually put his relationship in the past whilst making a quick buck, IDNID was born.
Mr. Opperman said, “ When I was taking back my ring, I didn’t want store credit. I went to various other sources and I was only getting 30 percent back of what I paid for it. I tried e-bay and there were a lot of scams on there. From that experience, I thought there must have been a better, safer way to do this”
Unlike eBay, the IDNID process ensures that both the buyer and seller are credible sources. “What we do differently is that once an item is sold, we hold the money, the item is sent into us, it is checked by a gemologist that will verify the details against the seller’s ad, and only if it passes do we release the item to send to the buyer and the money to the seller,” Mr. Opperman said. “By controlling the process like that, we ensure that the buyer is getting what he is supposed to be getting, and seller is guaranteed to be paid.”
And now, 7 years after it’s founding, I Do Now I Don’t has expanded into something much bigger than Mr. Opperman ever expected. “When we first launched [IDNID], it was kind of like a side project. I had a full time job. A couple months after it started taking off, we figured that we had something,” Opperman noted. “I didn’t think it was going to get this big.” IDNID has truly exceeded all expectations, with countless listings on the site including engagement rings listed for over $200,000.
And since the breakup, it’s safe to say Mr. Opperman hasn’t looked back. Featured on Good Morning America, CNN, NBC, US Weekly, The New York Times and more, IDNID has become a hit amongst bitter ex-fiancées and frugal spouses-to-be.
“I definitely wouldn’t change a thing. I have looked back and I’m actually glad [the breakup] happened… Of course I wouldn’t have the business if this hadn’t happened to me,” Mr. Opperman, now married with a three-year-old daughter, said. “Everything happens for a reason.”
