Icecap's Value Index Calculator
A Tool to Help You Price Your Diamonds Competitively
When you’re ready to sell, our Value Index Calculator makes it easy for you to price your diamonds so that they’ll rank at or near the top of the Value Index rankings. With this tool, you won’t need to know anything about diamonds to sell them at reasonable and competitive prices.
Below you can see what the calculator looks like, as well as two guides, one short and one detailed, about how to use it.
Click here to learn more about the value index.
Click here to learn more about how to sell your diamonds.
The Value Index Calculator
How to Use It: Short Version
To use the calculator, you’ll find it on the second tab of your personal portfolio spreadsheet. Enter a GIA Certificate # for your diamond in the upper left. The calculator will then determine what list prices you could sell that diamond at to get:
- A Fast Price: The best value index on the marketplace right now
- A Fair Price: A 0% value index (a.k.a. Par)
- A Comparable Price: The value index that you originally purchased the diamond at
For most users, these 3 listing prices are all they need to know to price their diamond fairly and competively on the marketplace. The faster you want to sell, the lower the price (and value index) you should choose.
Once you decide on a price to sell, click the “Sell Diamonds” button and enter in the GIA # and your chosen list price when prompted by the form.
Note: The Value Index Calculator is completely optional, you’re free to set whatever price for your diamonds that you’d like.
If you’d like to understand it in more depth, please read on…
How to Use It: Detailed Version
What is the value index calculator?
Icecap’s 2-way marketplace uses Value Index pricing to create “virtual-fungibility” between non-fungible items (diamonds). The Value Index means an investment buyer (as opposed to a jewelry consumer), can easily identify the diamond that is the best price for a given quality/size combination. That is typically the diamond that makes the most sense for them to buy, since an investor doesn’t particularly care what the quality/size combination is—since all Icecap diamonds are already tightly screened to be investment-grade. It’s the best price for a given quality/size combination that matters. Our marketplace showcases the diamonds available for sale, ranked by that value index scale, with the diamonds considered to be the “best deals” at the top. This makes it very easy for a buyer.
For a seller, it’s necessary to compute a listing price that both meets the seller’s needs and ranks as high as possible in the value index list. Icecap’s Value Index Calculator makes it easy for the seller to obtain this information.
How do I use it?
Step 1: Choose the Diamond.
After deciding which diamond you are interested in selling (generally, from your portfolio sheet), enter that diamond’s GIA Report # into this section on the upper left corner of the Calculator:
Step 2: Find your diamond’s suggested prices.
Notice how the Calculator automatically fills in the diamond’s details and today’s market data. Most importantly, in the upper left it provides the exact listing price needed for this diamond to rise to the top of the value index rankings (“Listing price to be VI leader.”) In this case, pricing it at $10,738 would make it the “best deal” on the marketplace. It also shows—if you do list it at that price—the value index it would have at that price, and what that means in terms of the dollar and percent change from your original purchase price. In the case below, if this diamond was listed with the best available VI (0.9%), that sell price would still be $284 higher than it was initially purchased for.
Finally, it provides two other pricing options: What the “par” price is for that diamond (0% VI), and what the price would be if you chose to list it at the same VI ratio at which you bought it.
While you, the seller, are under no obligation to sell at any of these prices, this is a useful tool that provides some reference points to start with. If, at this point, you already know what price at which to list your diamond, then copy that price, and proceed to Step 4. If you want to play around with other options, proceed to Step 3.
Step 3: Calculate alternative prices.
Using the Advanced Calculator in the lower right, you can play with different variables to see the effect produced. Specifically, you can enter your own Listing Price, Value Index number, % change from time of original purchase, or $ change from original purchase.
But you only can enter one of these at a time. For example, in the above image a chosen listing price has been entered ($10,500). The other boxes computed automatically, to show what that would mean in terms of how much gain/loss you’d have achieved, and other metrics. By selling this diamond at $10,500, the owner would be listing it at a price .4% or $46 higher than what they originally paid for it. And it would end up with a value index of -1.3%, which is still better than the current market leader of 1.0%.
Alternatively, the owner can target a specific value index (1.5% in this case) and see what that would do to the listing price vs. what they paid for the diamond.
And likewise, they can target a specific % change compared to the initial purchase price (5.0% in this example), or they could target a specific $ change from their initial purchase price. So here they see the numbers to sell the diamond for the same price they paid for it ($0 change).
Using this tool, you can decide what price you’re ready to list, for your diamond or—conversely—decide that perhaps you don’t wish to sell your diamond right now at all. If you do decide to list, copy (or write down somewhere) that asking price you’ve selected and go to Step 4.
Step 4: Complete the “Sell Diamonds” form.
When you know which diamond you want to sell (by GIA Report #), and the listing price you will offer it at (from the calculator tool), then click on the “Sell Diamonds” button or visit icecap.diamonds/sell and fill out the information accordingly. Once we confirm your request is valid, your diamond will soon take its place among the Icecap diamond listings. Please allow up to 24 hours (1 business day) for this change to take effect.