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.

Rituals of the New Moon

Rituals of the New Moon is a scribe-made item which is learned from a scribe-only drop in Grizzly Hills. Unlike other professions such as Enchanting, Leatherworking, and Jewelcrafting, this is the ONLY dropped technique for Inscription. Because of this, only a very small percentage of scribes know about it or have the technique. Of course, this is an opportunity ripe for the picking...

This awesome thread in the JMTC forums turned me on to marketing these. Rituals is unusual because it is a vanity item that is extraordinarily easy to make - for me, crafting one Rituals costs about 35 gold to make. However since the number of people who know it is low, it is still very profitable to make. Some people can sell them for up to 500g! Unfortunately on my server that number is much lower, but still great profit (150-200g).

It is generally agreed that Rituals don't sell well unless you advertise them, because a lot of people don't even know they exist! It goes to follow then that you should have a /2 macro to advertise these whenever you're in town and idle. But how do you link an item in a macro?

This can be a bit tricky. Remember, this first part is done in CHAT, NOT the macro editor. Open your chat cursor and paste in:

/script CreateMacro("Macro Name", 1, "item link", nil, 1)

Where it says "Macro Name" type in the name you desire. This is the name that shows in your macro pane and on the button.

/script CreateMacro("Macro Name", 1, "item link", nil, 1)

Now, delete 'item link' and between the quotation marks shift+click on an item to link it in the chat pane. It should look like this:

Now hit Enter. You should have a new macro in your Macro pane that looks like this:



Congratulations! Your macro is now ready. You can change the macro's icon and add text around the item link as shown in the first picture. YAY!

Using these types of macros I can advertise direct sales or that my Rituals are up on the AH. Sales vary from day to day, but Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays are the best days, in my experience. Tonight I made over 1500g in 40 minutes just advertising to the pre-raid crowd. Of course, this is an excellent way to sell any item you need to advertise (Mechano-hogs, for example). Good luck and happy scribbling!

GDKP post template

Thanks to Markco's amazing Blog Carnival I've had a lot of visitors today. (Hai 2 u!) I'm still reading through all the amazing articles and am busy with other stuff, but I figured I'd throw on a "gimme" post as a sort of addendum to my featured article.

This is the template I use to post GDKP signups on my realm forum. Dates are examples and of course are changed from week to week.

TITLE:
[H] ICC25 GDKP on 8/7 and 8/8


BODY:
Please be 15 minutes early and be ready to chain pull.

ICC25 on Saturday @ 2 PM server time.
ICC25 on Sunday @2 PM server time.


I've been running GDKPs since 2009. An excellent explanation about what GDKP is and how it is run and secured can be found here:
http://elitistjerks.com/f15/t77416-gdkp_run_discussion_spread_your_server/

I ask for a 300g reservation for a spot. This money goes into the split for that day. You have 24 hours previous to the run to cancel your reserve and get it back. If you don't show up, sorry, but that money is still going into the split. I don't keep it, it's not a scam, it is so people who REALLY want to come will do so. Reserves get priority spots over folks who only sign up.

Saturday's run is for the slightly less-geared. We don't get as much down but people are still buying stuff so there's a decent split. Depending on the group we may get all the wing bosses san Sindra, or we might just do the basic fights. It varies.

Sunday's run is for experienced and geared players who are interested in gearing offspecs or picking up rare pieces, and are capable of doing several hard modes. IF YOU DO NOT PERFORM TO BASIC HM STANDARD you will be KICKED. If you stand in goo/fire, perform 7000 dps (with the buff, no less), or are generally a tard I will happily replace you. So come with flasks and be ready to kill things (or heal things).

Splits are anywhere from 3000-7000 gold usually. Trinkets often go for over 20k. Only Primordial Saronites are reserved; all other items, including BoE items, are bid upon.


Since this has been an issue, I want it to be very clear that when joining my group you play by my rules. These rules are posted in chat in the beginning of the run so that if necessary a Game Master can review them. These rules cover how loot is distributed, what I expect in terms of play quality, and how you should behave. It is YOUR FAULT if you do not read or remember the rules.

This layout presents the most essential information at the top (date and time) and expands into further relevant information in the following paragraphs. After all, the rules are meaningless if you're not even there on time. :P

The link to EJ is important since it shows that this is a widespread phenomenon that is fair and supported by the pro's. EJ is very positive "advertisement" because players trust them.

Again, always be up-front about your rules, standards, reserves, etc. There are definitely scams out there that call themselves GDKPs which serve only to take money for one person. People are nervous handing over big sums of cash, and rightly so. Do your best to assure people of your trustworthiness. In my case, I'm active on my server's forums and have the advantage of being a veteran GDKP raid leader. People know my name and trust me not to cheat them. It's very important to start building this base of trust if you plan on leading these raids well into the future.