DIAMONDS are forever - and sometimes, that's the problem.
Now ex-wives and girlfriends left with sentimental jewellery after a split are using a dedicated website to turf their Tiffanys - and offload the bad memories that go with it.
Championing itself on the catchcry "you don't want it, he can't have it back", ex-boyfriendjewelry.com was set up a year ago by Megahn Perry and her step-mother Marie, as an online shopping website and venting portal.
Women who sell on the site keep everything they make, but there’s a catch: every user has to cough up the story behind the merchandise.
The seller of an unwanted diamond ring writes on the site: "Well, we were in a rocky place anyway, but thinking I could salvage our relationship, I took the ring. Wore it for 2 days and then walked in on him cheating on me... with his best friend Kyle. Needless to say, I had his things packed by that evening. I'd have kept the ring for myself as a "right hand ring" since its pretty, but I can't wear it without remembering that image. There are just some things you can't un-see.."
The idea for the site was born when Megahn, a Los Angeles actress and writer, tried to find a safe, reliable place to sell her "emotionally-loaded" jewellery after a divorce.
After being turned off by pawn shops manned by men in “wifebeaters'”, Ms Perry realised there was a market for shifting jewellery languishing in drawers – and the memories that made it too painful to wear. eBay "felt too anonymous," she told news.com.au.
"We offer a community atmosphere," Marie Perry said. "It's a place that is safe to open up about the relationship and get it off your chest. These items are usually fairly emotionally charged. People like to know they're going to a good home and to someone who understands what they've been through. eBay is great, but for our user's purposes it's cold and, well ...boring."
The site attracts more than 50,000 page views a day and has more than 21,000 registered users.
Almost 1500 pieces are currently for sale, including listings for "gifts that should have been jewellery," such as the fake Louis Vuitton bag KarlaFantastic received from her boyfriend.
"Asked for a COACH bag for Christmas,” she wrote. “Got this knock-off Louis instead! FAKE - FAKE - FAKE. Just like him! Broke up with him after months of dealing with his bs. Please take this bag away from me! I can't look at it anymore and don't want to donate it to the garbage man. Could use a little cash for retail therapy."
Sarah Nansel also used the site to sell some of the 10 years worth of "ex-jewellery" she had accumulated.
"Countless boyfriends and an ex-husband later, I'm here to offload all my pieces," she wrote. "Every last one. SO no more memories from "addicted-to-videogames," from "forgot-to-mention-i'm-married," or from "we-said-our-vows-but-i'm-screwing-your-bridesmaid." YAY! Get out of my jewelry box, get into my pocketbook. Since the ex-hubby isn't around, his meaningless baubles can help me afford things for the kids that his lack of child support payments aren't (like full-time daycare)."
The Perrys say they never intended to make it a "male-bashing site" despite the fact that a poll of 24,000 users on the site reveals 56 per cent of them describe their boyfriend as either "a complete waste of oxygen" or "beneath my standards."
Wendy Good, who has used exboyfriendjewelry.com said the site seemed like women were finally "achieving justice."
"I think the greatest part of this site is the knowledge that all these strong women have found their ways out of bad situations. I enjoy the thought of all those guys out there who have screwed themselves out of, not only jewelry, but control over women they never deserved in the first place!"
Ms Perry says that understandably, the most common form of jewellery sold on the site is anything heart-shaped.
"The "necklace" section is overloaded with them,” she said. “We recently started a T-shirt line for the site and one of our favourite shirts reads "1 in every 10 relationships ends in heartshaped jewelry."
This encouraged the pair to set up a sister site to ex-boyfriend jewellery,www.stuffthatsleftbehind.com where users can tell their stories about the things that were left behind in their relationships.
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