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Gemstone Trends - What Gemstones Are Popular Right Now

Gemstone Trends focuses on Gem Rock Auctions ‘Best Sales’ on a monthly basis. This review is an important source for sellers and buyers to analyse which gemstones are currently best to invest on.

The gemstone industry is affected by many macro and micro conditions that are due to normal supply and demand factors, government interventions and embargoes. Many gemstone mining fields do not have constant supply, and now we see  weather such as wet monsoonal to drought conditions have a major effect on production. Chinese buying patterns can also increase or decrease the gemstone price if it is considered in fashion or not.

We monitor gemstone trends from google analytics, items sold on Gem Rock Auctions and items that are being watch to help us provide our buyers a good indication of the most current gemstone trends.

March 2020 we reached Half a Million Gemstones sold worldwide on our platform! 

Thank you to all the buyers and sellers for your support!

Gemstone Trends Quarterly Report January to March 2020

Our Verified Sellers had record Quarter and sold a total of 30,326 gemstones for this quarter in comparison to 25,003 for the same period last year.

First Quarter to have over 30,000 gemstones sold.

 Volume sales increase 19.17%

Sales value Increase Massive 31.54%

Our Data demonstrates that buyer prefer higher quality Gemstones with purchase net increase over 10%

January to February were both records months with strongest sales ever for Gemstones.

In March we reached milestone of HALF MILLION   gemstones lots sold on this site.

Corona Virus did impact sales, in that many Thailand sellers could not ship for 2 weeks but sales were still up 11.48% for March.

Italy, which is in lockdown, was the 6^th best buyer country, even though they cannot accept deliveries.

UK, HK, Singapore, France all had strong buyers with USA the top country for strong buyers.

Quality gemstones in price points $2,000 to $15,000 were in good demand, with most approved certified gemstones.

January to February were both records months with strongest sales ever for Gemstones.

• JANUARY sales totalled 10,127 gems compared to 7,863 last year an increase 28.79 %  in volume and 36.58 % increase in sales value
• FEBRUARY sales totalled 9,980 gems compared to 7,279 last year an increase 37.10% in volume and 36.58 % increase in sales value
•  MARCH sales totalled 10,219 gems compared to 9,861 last year an increase in volume 3.63 % and increase in sales value t year an increase 14.59% % 

USA buyers were strongest for Certified Gemstones and surprising good sales to UK even with virus and Brexit issues.

Thailand were the strongest sellers, and some had difficulty shipping in middle March but reports of Quicker shipments at end of March.

One UK buyer stated shipments are now quicker from Thailand than before.

Item Watch

Gemstone Buyers make massive use of this program in comparing our sellers’ stock on level playing field.

A RECORD 261,774 were added to item watch in this quarter.

First quarter in that over Quarter Million Gemstones we added to item watch. This is an important tool now, helping buyers to see what the gemstones sells for and improving their product knowledge. 

Gemstone Trends Quarterly Report Oct - Dec 2019

Our Verified Sellers have sold a total of 28,800 gemstones for this quarter in comparison to 21,458 for the same period last year.

Quality gemstones in price points $2,000 to $10,000 were in good demand.

Strongest demand in the $1,000 plus price point were certified gemstones.

Item Watch

Gemstone Buyers make massive use of this program in comparing our sellers’ stock on level playing field.

A record 211,273 were added to item watch in this quarter.

Gemstone Trends Quarterly Report July - Sep 2019

Our Verified Sellers have sold a total of 26,110 gemstones for the month, in comparison to 18,216 for the same period last year.

Volume sales were attributed to increase in cabochon gemstones from repeat buyers.

Cabochon stones are ideal for resellers on social sites or local markets. The trend has been predicted for these sales to increase as many buyers have handmade jewelry businesses at home.

Buyers are value adding or simply re marketing these stones as good value gemstones. The gems between the price points $10 to $20 are popular.

This Gig economy will continue to grow in low end gemstones that people can resell.

Quality gemstones in price points $3,000 to $10,000 were in good demand.

Strongest demand in the $1,000 price point were certified gemstones.

In Item watch 181,121 gemstones were added to item watch in this quarter.

Gemstone Trends Report September 2019

Our Verified Sellers have sold a total of 9,385 gemstones for the month, in comparison to 6361 for the same period last year.

Sales were up 22% for the month.

Item watch 60,697 Gemstones were added to item watch in this quarter.

We noticed a trend that more buyers are utilizing Item Watch on a daily basis.

Established buyers add item watch to a high-end gemstone, or to a particular seller that the buyer prefers.

New buyers use item watch to follow sales in No reserve $1 auctions, and we recommend this category to new buyers, as this category has over 1,000 no reserve gemstones to follow.

Gemstone Trends August 2019

Our Verified Sellers have sold a total of 8964 gemstones for the month of July, in comparison to 6048 for the same period last year.

August was our second-best month ever as buyers target quality gemstones.

Record new buyer registration and record active users.

Record interaction of buyers switching from both sites buying opals and gems.

Top sales were strong demand for sapphires ranging from $10,000 to $11,000.

There was a strong demand for quality gems around $1,000 plus price points.

Gemstones priced at $1,000 to $3,000 were the most we have sold in one month.

Top Categories

August sales were spread over many of the gemstone categories. The top category were Sapphires, Diamonds, Tourmaline, Emeralds, colored Diamonds, Tanzanite, cabochons and Ruby. 

There was a record of 63,082 gemstones added to ‘Item Watch’ by our buyers. New buyers and repeat professional gemstone dealers all use this Item Watch program to keep up to date on gemstone prices.  

16,852 new gemstones were listed during August 2019.

Gemstone Trends July 2019

Our Verified Sellers have sold a total of 7,061 gemstones for the month of July, in comparison to 5807 for the same period last year.

July sales were spread over many of the gemstone categories with Tourmaline once again being the top category, followed by Sapphires, Emeralds, colored Diamonds, Tanzanite, cabochons, Ruby, Spinel, Zircon and Aquamarine.

All categories had a strong demand for quality and certified gemstones, except for cabochons stones where buyers are after lower price points. 

Large size gemstones were in strong demand and also manufacturers purchasing small sized gemstones in parcel lots for jewelry manufacturing.

There were 54,290 gemstones added to ‘Item Watch’ in July by our buyers. New buyers and repeat professional opal dealers all use this item watch program to keep up to date on gemstone prices. 

14,672 new gemstones were listed during June valued $6,361,000

Gemstone Trends Quarterly Report Apr - Jun 2019

There were 24,942 Gemstones lots sold in the last quarter, which is a 70.46% increase from the same period last year.

Gemrock Auctions has $45,733,495 value of gemstones listed as of 30th June with over 100,000 Gemstones offered for sale.

Item Watch

There were 86,000 Gemstones added to ‘Item Watch’

17,636 new Gemstones were listed during Last quarter valued $25,000,057

10 Certified Gemstones above $100,000 listed in Quarter

Social Network Gemstone Purchases

We have seen the demand rise gradually with people buying bulk lots gemstones for resale.

Majority re sell on social sites or popular handicraft sites and are value adding.

These buyers are making gemstone jewelry such as wire wrapping on cabochons and our cabochon stones have increased in sales substantially in that it is nearly always in the top ten category’s listed compared to below 50 last year and are adding value instead just by and re sell.

Metaphysical sales mineral specimens have increased with buyers adding their personal holistic aspects and re selling these specimens from Amethyst, Citrine, Tourmaline and Quartz, just to name few.

Parcel lots of small gemstones are also purchased by re sellers for making into gemstone jewelry.

We expect this market to increase as many people search for extra income on these sites.

Gemrock Auctions has 100,643 gemstones listed and with the sister sites on Treasure Auctions have 200,000 items listed live.

Gemstone Trends June 2019

Our Verified Sellers have sold a total of 7,598 gemstones for the month of June, in comparison to 4,972 for the same period last year.

The May sales have increased by 52.8% above the same month last year.

Large size gemstones were in strong demand, and manufactures purchasing small gemstones in parcel lots for jewelry manufacturing.

There was a strong demand between $1250 to $1500 price points for quality certified gems.

There were 56,134 gemstones added to ‘Item Watch’ in June by our buyers.

New buyers and repeat professional opal dealers all use this program to keep up to date on gemstone prices.

17,130 new gemstones were listed during June valued $18,800,000.

Social Network Purchases

We have seen the demand rise gradually with people buying bulk gemstone lots for resale.

Majority re sell on social sites or popular handicraft sites and are value adding.

These buyers are making wire wrap on boulder opals or cutting and polishing to sell opals and also making bead necklaces, and are adding value instead just by and re sell.

We expect this market to increase as many people search for extra income on these sites.

Gemstone Trends May 2019

Our Verified Sellers have sold 8,477 gemstones for the month of May, in comparison to 5,170 for the same period last year.

We’ve had over $1.1 Million dollar’s worth of gems sold in the last 3 months.

We have a record sale of a Tanzanite for $7,400.

Our May sales have increased by over 30%.

In the last 3 months:

-Over 198,000 gems were added to ‘Item Watch’

-Over 9 million dollars’ worth of gemstones were listed

-Nearly 30,000 gems sold. Dollar value is up by over 50%

-Gem Rock Auctions have had over 10 million page views

-Over 500,000 individual bids were placed

We’ve had a record listing month of $4,251,879 gems listed in May.

Gemstone Trends April 2019

Our Verified Sellers have sold 8,372 Gemstones for the month of April, in comparison to 4,545 for the same period last year.

Sales Increase

Sales increased by a massive 49% compared to the month of April last year (2018).

‘No Reserve Auctions’ have exploded in popularity and now most days approximately 1,100 auctions are finishing.

Audit Watch for April

58,968 gemstones were marked in item watch for April by our buyers.

Listings Value New Gemstone Listings

$3,001,978 worth of Gemstones were listed in April compared to $2,319,424 in March 2018.

New Listings

15,176 New Gemstones were listed across all categories in April.

UK buyers have been the second strongest buyers behind the USA.

Brexit must be on everyone’s mind and maybe they anticipate big drop in their currency exchange so are now buying large quantity of good gemstones between the $500 to $1,00 range.

Gemstone Trends Quarterly Report Jan - Mar 2019

The demand for top gems keeps improving with with 25,138 gemstone lots sold this quarter compared to 15,514 gemstones sold for the same quarter last year.

 This represents a 62.03% increase from the same quarter last year. Gemstones sold dollar value is up 65.19%.

March was our record month since we began in 2005, which is 14 years ago.

 One major aspect that we contribute this success to is what we call ‘First Time Buyer Confidence’.

 12 months ago our researchers performed a manual check of purchases of zero 0 Buyers and was what the median top price they would pay.

The results were that $3,000 per stone was the top confidence level for a buyers first purchase.

In March 2019 we reassessed the first time buyers’ results going back 6 months and found this threshold has now risen to $5,000 per stone as the top entry level.

 These results show buyers have a lot more confidence in our Verified Sellers, several purchases were over $20,000 and nearly all were certified gemstones.

Every few hours $1,000 Gemstones is sold by our Verified Sellers. Buyers now have over 6,700 certified gemstones to choose from.

Audit Watch

Last month we had a staggering amount of 57,000 items added to Item Watch by our buyers. This shows that buyers are well informed and are doing their research on our gemstones. This feature also allows the buyers an opportunity to compare sellers against each other in order to obtain for the best possible product available. It is a strong buying tool to keep buyers in the loop with the recent market trends. Buyers can also view the shipping costs of sellers and compare if they can combine items or not. This is important for repeat B2B buyers.

New Auction Category

The new $15 No Reserve has been an instant success. It is now ranking high for auction buyers with over 700 auctions commencing. Since the $15 No Reserve has started, it has already reached the second most popular category various times. The demand for No Reserve $1 or $15 has been increasing in popularity so we have created subcategories for a mobile users to view specific gems they require. We aim for a better experience for our buyers.

Gemstone Buyers Age

For 2018 the age group 25-45 was the strongest buyers for our Gemstones. However, in the last quarter the age group 55-64 are the strongest buyers and have bought expensive gemstones. This is due to several factors, these buyers favour gemstones that are priced up to $5,000 and increase in B2B buyers now purchasing from Gemrock Auctions. The second strongest age group was the 25 - 34 years.

B2B

The last quarter has seen gradual rise in retail buyers and jewelry manufacturers buying. We have added the new category Calibrated Gemstones for these jewelry B2B buyers and Jewelry Semi Mounts so the buyers can purchase gemstones and place them in the gold setting. This segment of B2B buyers have a lot of purchases and feedback, and most don’t leave feedbacks as they are too busy purchasing and running a business.

Our surveys always indicate that people like to see feedback. Unfortunately buyers feedbacks are slowing down with many of the B2B buyers not filling in this crucial information. The system on Gemrock Auctions provides an automatic positive feedback on sales after 60 days.

Now less than 40% of buyers are leaving feedback, as buyers show confidence and keep purchasing from Gemrock Auctions verified sellers. One buyer with 1,500 feedbacks confirmed this by stating, “Gemrock Auctions keeps all sellers on equal footing so I don’t waste my time on other sites now”.

The Gemrock Auctions Sheriff keeps all sellers updated so repeat buyers are now strong. First time buyers will purchase on average 4 lots over 90 days.

Buyers Strategy

Our site is now in three equal segments that buyers prefer. No Reserve Auctions - Buy It Now - Make an Offer. Gemstone buyers have preference for a type of purchase and three segments are equal for repeat or new buyers.

Gemstone Trends March 2019

Our Verified Sellers have sold 9,944 gemstones for the month of February compare to 5,154 for the same period last year. That is an increase of 92.93% from last year’s sales for the same period.

Sales have increased to 84.12% for the same month last year. March was another record month for Gemrock Auctions.

The top categories remains constant and in order except for Sapphires sales which overtook Tourmaline as the top category, followed by Diamonds, Emerald, Tanzanite and Garnet

The surprise category has been the increased demand for cabochon gemstones in oval or freeform shapes that are popular with our wire wrapping buyers.

Cabochon are popular with resellers who make their jewelry and sold on other sites, or Buyers who want the holistic aspect of owning their beautiful cabochon stone for metaphysical purposes.

Gemstone Trends February 2019

Our Verified Sellers sold 7,361 gemstones for the month of March compared to 4,603 for same period last year. An increase of 49% from last years sales for the same period.

The top No Reserve category sale was a GIA Certified Alexandrite gemstone which sold for $7,007.

Gemrock Auctions classification is as a leading gemstone Market Place. EBay is classed as a wholesaler’s marketplace and Amazon is classed as retailer. Wholesale classification means selling in large quantities and Retail as selling small quantities.

B2B is the acronym for business to business sales and B2C is the acronym business to consumer. Gemrock Auctions platform is combination B2B and B2C.

Gemstones sales to the end consumer, directly from Gemstone wholesale business has been the core to our business B2C.

In the last 18 months we have seen massive increase in B2B sales. The average buyer will purchase 4 items over 90 days. 79% of the buyers purchase 1-10 lots and we can assume that the majority are retail buyers.

B2B buyers are increasing with many buyers having over 1,000 feedback and several over 3,000. 

Resellers, retail shops, market sellers and other online sites now see Gemrock Auctions as the market place to buy gemstones.

Pie Chart: Shows percentage of feedback for buyers with over 10 feedbacks who are classed as B2B buyers.

Gemstone Trends January 2019

The gemstones sales for the month of January are predictably slower after the busy Christmas period. However this year, we experienced strong demand across all categories making this month our best on record.

Our Verified Sellers sold 7,916 gemstones for the month January compared to 5,727 for same period last year.

Gemstone purchases for this month were similar to our last quarterly report for the top 24 gemstones sold.

The $15 No Reserve Auctions are very popular with buyers who do not have the time to bid in the No Reserve gemstone auctions.

Top Gemstone sales were spread over many sellers as we now have over 200 verified sellers.

Gem Rock Auctions allow the buyer a huge advantage when selecting their item, by allowing gemstone comparisons from each seller. This allows the buyers to view the stones on an even level playing field.

Gemstone Trends Quarterly Report Oct - Dec 2018

Gem Rock Auctions broke sale records.

A record 21,599 gemstones were sold last quarter with the highest ever average price as buyers demanded quality gemstones.

The dollar value of sales was up 54% for the quarter compared to same quarter last year.

Top 24 categories for last quarter.

1.	Paraiba
2.	Sapphire
3.	Spinel
4.	Tanzanite
5.	Diamonds
6.	Aquamarine
7.	Alexandrite
8.	Garnet
9.	Colored Diamonds
10.	Topaz
11.	Zircon
12.	Amethyst
13.	Sphene
14.	Diamonds
15.	White Diamonds
16.	Emerald
17.	Morganite
18.	Ruby
19.	Peridot
20.	Ammolite
21.	Mineral Specimens
22.	Moldavite
23.	Citrine
24.	Morganite

There are 1,300 different gemstone categories so the top categories can change significantly. Rare gemstones make up 30 of these categories. The top four categories were Paraiba, Sapphire, Spinel and Tanzanite.

Paraiba

Paraiba had several high-end sales to make it the number one category, experiencing high demand at $500 to $1,500 price points.

Diamonds

Searches are showing good demand for colored diamonds.

There are 1,300 colored diamonds listed accounting for 61% of all diamond sales (including white diamonds).

Many colored diamonds are sold in our No reserve category. We expect high growth in colored diamonds over next few years.

Buyers Age groups

General trend has been millennials aged 22-37 dominating purchases for most of quarter but in the last month 60 + year old’s purchased strongly in $1,000 and above.

Gemstone Trends December 2018

Gemstone sales saw strong demand this month resulting in 7,334 Gemstones sold in December up 53% on the same month last year.

Quality Certified gemstones priced between $1,000 to $3,500 had strong demand across many categories.

No reserve continues to gain in popularity as Gem Rock Auctions pre-screens sellers maintaining and allowing only reputable sellers with good products and accurate listings.

No Reserve gemstones account for over 30% of sales and $15 minimum bid adds an extra 7% in sales. Over 1,000 gems are now listed end December in these categories.

Seller Trends

Many sellers now work on 3 X 3 system in No Reserve sales. 

• One-third gems sell below cost or at cost
• One-third sellers at cost or just above cost
• One-third sells at good profit margins

B2B buyers are strong in this category as so many resellers and retailers bid in no reserve. Item watch attracts many re-sellers with a large number of items watched as gemstone prices vary for many reasons from supply to demand and buyer’s preference.

Buyer Trends

Product knowledge is important in the Gemstone category.   New buyers are recommended to use:

• Item watch and 
• Our search variant bar 

That can be set to time left or changed to most bids, high or low and most viewed.

Most viewed informs new buyers what gem is in demand and many have over 1,000 views in short 3-5-day listings.

Gemstone Trends November 2018

Gem Rock Auctions had a record month in November with a staggering 7,628 stunning gemstones sold worldwide.

In the last three months the sales have increased by a massive 54% in comparison to the  same period last year. The sales for November this year is up by 37% on last years figures. 

Top 10 Categories

Out of 1315 categories listed on Gem Rock Auctions, we have observed the top ten categories that showed a great demand.

1. Sapphires

2. Diamonds

3. Tourmaline

4. Spinel

5. Tanzanite

6. Zircon

7. Garnet

8. Emerald

9. Beryl

10. Mineral specimens

Certified Gemstones 

Currently we have a record of 6300 colored gemstones listed on Gem Rock Auctions and 450 gemstones were sold in the month of November.

No Reserve Auctions

No reserve auctions have greatly increased from 400 to 500 items to over 700 auctions in November. The new No Reserve category of $15 items has an average of 200 items listed which resulted in 25% of the items sold. We expect No reserve to keep increasing due to the increased usage of mobile phones.

Gem Rock Auction Mobile App

In 2019 our mobile app will greatly help these bidders and we expect the No Reserve to increase in popularity as buyers have the confidence in our verified sellers.

B2B- Business to Business

In Gem Rock Auctions, the B2B sales are increasing as our sellers have received hundreds of positive feedback from our buyers. Some of our sellers have over 100 feedback from sales in their store, while others have over 5,000 or even 10,000 feedbacks.

The range of our wonderful buyers such as online resellers, market stalls owners and retail shops have confidence buying from our verified sellers, so they can resell their gemstones with confidence.

We have exhibited a trend that our B2B buyers are heavy users of the function ‘Item watch’. For more information see this link. This tool helps our buyers trace market prices and also to follow their favourite seller. B2B are also heavy users of ‘Audit Requests’ as a result our Gemstone Sheriff program have had over 1,000 requests for November.

Our massive advantage on Gem Rock Auctions is that all our sellers are on the same level playing field and this helps buyers to compare all the stock from our in one convenient platform.

SHOP FOR GEMSTONES