gem crasher

The epic gem market has pooped itself the last few days. There is a guy posting tons of cut gems for less than raws (I'm talking 70g Balanced Dreadstones when the raws are 80-90g), even 10-15 of a single cut at a time. Fortunately he is not posting all of the cuts but it still is a bummer. I initially reported him as potentially being hacked, but also sent him a mail. He replied and says he is liquidating an alt's inventory; I would normally buy it out but I'm nervous picking up so many cut gems at this time.

Things have been moving slooooowly in all markets. I still have four Mechano-hogs to sell. :( At this point I'm thinking of liquidating a lot of my stock and starting to finally stockpile for Cataclysm.

(For clarification: I didn't report him out of spite. I genuinely suspected he might be a hacked account/gbank so I considered it a reasonable action to take. Only after I put in the ticket did he respond so I knew he was a real person.)

Epic Gems and Profit

I arrived too late on the Jewelcrafting scene in WotLK to really get into the saronite shuffle, and therefore I haven't really sold a lot of rare-quality gems. The vast majority of my JC profit has been from buying, cutting and selling epic-quality gems.

As of last week, I have all WotLK epic gem patterns. I figured it was about time to go through my BeanCounter data and see which gems I have made the most money from. Obviously this data is exclusive to my server, and may vary on others - but is a decent indicator for a high population server with an active pug scene and lots of raiding guilds. I'm excluding meta gems and prismatic gems because they are not part of my regular crafting.

Keep in mind that the average price is what they are listed at, not necessarily what they sell for. (I'm looking at you, Flashing Cardinal Ruby.)

gem name

total profit

Auctioneer's market price

Numbers are rounded up to the nearest silver.

RED

Bold Cardinal Ruby	50,436.50	135.72
Bright Cardinal Ruby	22,741.26	132.27
Delicate Cardinal Ruby	31,704.97	137.34
Flashing Cardinal Ruby	0	145.93
Fractured Cardinal Ruby	36,214.22	140.81
Precise Cardinal Ruby	10,601.90	141.32
Runed Cardinal Ruby	59,637.17	132.81
Subtle Cardinal Ruby	0	149.82

ORANGE

Accurate Ametrine	3,785.50	126.99
Champion's Ametrine	189.18	125.82
Deadly Ametrine	1,433.33	123.22
Deft Ametrine	2,020.08	123.94
Durable Ametrine	-9.45	161.41
Empowered Ametrine	0	151.96
Etched Ametrine	334.14	128.43
Fierce Ametrine	0	143.13
Glimmering Ametrine	0	141.24
Glinting Ametrine	1,741.02	128.28
Inscribed Ametrine	742.46	118.23
Lucent Ametrine	0	162.28
Luminous Ametrine	7,749.16	130.67
Potent Ametrine	4,849.88	113.15
Pristine Ametrine	1,818.30	130.20
Reckless Ametrine	32,010.08	108.44
Resolute Ametrine	454.72	146.0
Resplendent Ametrine	0	185.23
Stalwart Ametrine	0	121.55
Stark Ametrine	3,940.77	116.28
Veiled Ametrine	5,957.02	115.05
Wicked Ametrine	600.29	124.71

YELLOW

Brilliant King's Amber	10,370.98	137.14
Mystic King's Amber	0	157.65
Quick King's Amber	18,258.56	133.27
Rigid King's Amber	13,535.82	142.54
Smooth King's Amber	9,057.43	136.79
Thick King's Amber	8,380.20	150.39

GREEN

Dazzling Eye of Zul	2,223.77	129.04
Enduring Eye of Zul	3,480.81	117.21
Energized Eye of Zul	5,487.16	119.83
Forceful Eye of Zul	2,092.54	114.40
Intricate Eye of Zul	3,257.39	127.03
Jagged Eye of Zul	360.91	127.15
Lambent Eye of Zul	0	200.60
Misty Eye of Zul	99.88	185.54
Opaque Eye of Zul	-5.40	223.0
Radiant Eye of Zul	0	126.68
Seer's Eye of Zul	494.38	106.20
Shattered Eye of Zul	113.60	149.62
Shining Eye of Zul	610.75	224.0
Steady Eye of Zul	442.18	121.83
Sundered Eye of Zul	0	196.65
Tense Eye of Zul	-32.40	140.41
Timeless Eye of Zul	735.61	119.93
Turbid Eye of Zul	0	251.75
Vivid Eye of Zul	4,679.64	114.44

BLUE

Lustrous Majestic Zircon	0	163.83
Solid Majestic Zircon	80,334.80	132.06
Sparkling Majestic Zircon	0	169.74
Stormy Majestic Zircon	7,598.41	148.19

PURPLE

Balanced Dreadstone	6,918.83	122.70
Defender's Dreadstone	345.49	141.58
Glowing Dreadstone	9,581.45	139.95
Guardian's Dreadstone	4,488.81	132.52
Infused Dreadstone	0	147.59
Mysterious Dreadstone	1,564.91	149.0
Puissant Dreadstone	3,605.83	112.98
Purified Dreadstone	25,749.83	115.53
Regal Dreadstone	-61.11	121.84
Royal Dreadstone	3,940.75	121.32
Shifting Dreadstone	5,884.58	122.23
Sovereign Dreadstone	657.76	122.13
Tenuous Dreadstone	0	143.75

There are a few important things you should take away from these tables.

1 - A working knowledge of what each class and spec should gem for is invaluable. No one is going to buy Tenuous Dreadstone because, frankly, it blows. On the other hand, Glowing Dreadstone is a great seller and very popular, but an under-exploited market. Only elemental shamans gem using these, so many JCs don't bother with the pattern.

2 - If my list shows total sales to be over 1500g, it's a safe pattern to invest in. In my opinion diversity is important. Reckless Ametrine sells extremely well, for example, but what if the market is saturated? In that case it's a good idea to be able to cut Pristine and Potent Ametrines instead.

3 - Know how to interpret market value. At this point in the game, high market value means low competition because the gems are unpopular and don't sell well. Again if you check out Reckless Ametrine, the market value is rather low - this is because it sells exceptionally well and there is lots of competition.

4 - Even "crappy" gems like Eye of Zul have some great cuts. I've had a few people ask me what Zul cuts they should get, so pay special attention to that table if you're struggling to sell them. Contrary to popular belief you can turn a tidy profit on these fellas.


As always if you have any questions or notice any mistakes please comment and let me know! Please point out if links are wrong, I've been wrestling with Wowhead during its downtime and might have flubbed a few.

epic gems

After the orgasmic nature of the gem market the last two weeks, it comes as no surprise that a crash had to happen eventually. For the past 5 days there is nary a raw gem to be found on the AH, except for 160g+, while cut gems have plummeted to 120g for primary colors. :( I'm still making a profit by buying gems through trade but it blows!