Bottom line up front

The Rapaport Price List is the diamond industry’s reference benchmark for wholesale pricing of polished, GIA-graded round-brilliant and fancy-shape diamonds. It’s not a free public tool. It requires a paid subscription via Rapaport’s site at $5/week ($250/yr) Basic or $7/week ($350/yr) Plus. Wholesale jewellers and dealers don’t pay list price. The trade convention is to buy at 10-40% below the Rapaport list (“RAP minus X%”), with the actual discount varying by stone quality, market conditions, and supplier relationship. Historical strong-market average sits around 20-35% off list. The 2026 February 13 round-brilliant list noted broad market improvements driven by US-India trade deals, narrowing the typical discount band slightly. This guide explains exactly how to read a Rapaport-discount quote, convert it to a real wholesale price, and benchmark the quote against current trade levels.

What the Rapaport Price List actually is

Martin Rapaport launched the Rapaport Diamond Report in 1978 as the first systematic public reference for polished diamond wholesale pricing. The list is published weekly (Friday updates), structured as price-per-carat tables organised by:

Shape. Round brilliant has its own list; “fancies” (princess, cushion, oval, emerald, marquise, pear, radiant, asscher, heart) share a separate table with shape-specific adjustments
Carat weight. Discrete bands (e.g., 0.80-0.89, 0.90-0.99, 1.00-1.49, 1.50-1.99, 2.00-2.99, 3.00-3.99 …)
Colour grade. D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M (rows)
Clarity grade. IF, VVS1, VVS2, VS1, VS2, SI1, SI2, SI3, I1, I2, I3 (columns) Each cell of the table gives a price-per-carat in USD hundreds. Example: a 1.00-1.49 ct round brilliant, G colour, SI1 clarity might list at $90 per 100 = $9,000 per carat, so a 1.00 ct stone in this grade has a list price of $9,000. The price list is list price, not real-trade price. Almost every wholesale transaction happens at a discount to list. The discount conventions below are the actual market.

Subscription tiers in 2026

Tier	Price	What you get
Basic	$5/week ($250/yr)	Round-brilliant list, weekly updates, archive of historical lists
Plus	$7/week ($350/yr)	Round + fancies lists, weekly updates, historical archive, RapNet trade access at lower tier
RapNet Premium add-on	additional ~$50-$300/month depending on usage	Full trade marketplace access (search 1.5M+ stones from 12K dealers worldwide), price comparisons, alerts
Most working wholesale jewellers find Plus + RapNet Premium pays for itself within 2-4 stone purchases. For sub-2-stone-per-month volume, Basic alone (without RapNet) is cost-effective for benchmarking purposes.
Subscribe at https://store.rapaport.com.

The discount conventions. What “RAP minus 30%” actually means

Wholesale supplier quotes typically read as: “RAP minus 30%” or “Rap -30” or “30 back”. All three mean the same thing: a 30% discount off the current Rapaport list price for that exact spec. For our example 1.00 ct G/SI1 round at $9,000 list:

Quote “RAP minus 25%” = $9,000 x 0.75 = $6,750 per carat = $6,750 total (since stone is 1.00 ct)
Quote “RAP minus 30%” = $9,000 x 0.70 = $6,300 per carat = $6,300 total
Quote “RAP minus 35%” = $9,000 x 0.65 = $5,850 per carat = $5,850 total
Quote “RAP minus 40%” = $9,000 x 0.60 = $5,400 per carat = $5,400 total For a 1.50 ct stone with the same colour/clarity at $11,500/ct list:
Quote “RAP minus 30%” = $11,500 x 0.70 x 1.50 = $12,075 total

What discount range is realistic in 2026?

Discount levels vary by:

Stone quality. Excellent cut + AGS Ideal proportions get smaller discounts (lower 10-15% range); Good cut or off-spec proportions widen discount (35-40% range)
Inscription / pedigree. De Beers’ “Forevermark” pedigree, GIA-traceable origin, or Sightholder-cut typically reduce discount by 3-7 percentage points (smaller discount = higher price)
Carat band. Premium price-points (1.00 ct, 1.50 ct, 2.00 ct exact) command tighter discounts than odd-weight stones (0.91 ct, 1.43 ct, 1.71 ct)
Stone type. Naturals follow Rapaport conventions; lab-growns are increasingly priced as ”% of natural Rap” (e.g., “lab at 8% of natural Rap”), with the percentage falling through 2026. That falling percentage is why I do not recommend lab-grown for serious jewellery.
Supplier tier. Sightholder-cut top stones at smaller discount; OTC trade goods at wider discount; secondary-market old-stock stones at largest discount
Market conditions. Strong demand narrows discounts; weak demand widens them
Volume. Parcel-tier purchases (15-25+ stones) typically improve discount by 2-4 percentage points over single-stone Industry conventions in 2026:
Top-grade (D-F, IF-VVS, EX cut, no fluorescence): RAP minus 10-20%
Standard commercial (G-H, VS-SI1, EX/VG cut): RAP minus 25-35%
Lower commercial (I-K, SI2-I1, lower cut grades): RAP minus 35-45%
Off-spec or older stock: RAP minus 40-55%
Historical strong-market average across all tiers: 20-35% off list

What changed in 2026. Read the trend

The Rapaport Round-Brilliant list released February 13, 2026 reflected broad market improvements relative to 2024-2025. Drivers cited by Rapaport editorial:

US-India trade deals. Reduction of duties on cut/polished diamond imports into the US smoothed Indian-supply pricing into the US channel
Lab-grown compression. Lab-grown wholesale settling below 10% of natural list has reinforced my view that factory-grown stones are a fashion product, not the category I would recommend for serious natural-diamond buyers
De Beers production discipline. 2025-2026 De Beers rough sales reductions tightened the natural pipeline, supporting list-price stability For 2026 going forward, expect:
Top-grade discounts tightening (from typical 25% to closer to 15%)
Mid-tier discounts holding around 30%
Older-stock discounts holding wide as demand for fresh goods continues

How to use the discount methodology in supplier negotiations

When requesting a quote from a supplier:

Specify exactly: shape, carat weight, colour, clarity, cut grade, polish, symmetry, fluorescence, and lab. (“1.00 ct round brilliant, G/SI1, GIA, EX/EX/EX cut polish symmetry, no fluorescence”)
Ask for both list price AND discount: “What’s your offer for this spec? Quote in RAP-minus-percent format please.” Legitimate suppliers will quote in this convention without hesitation; suppliers who refuse to disclose RAP-minus typically have something to hide
Cross-verify the list price: subscribe to Rapaport (or use a borrowed access for verification only. Sharing logins violates Rapaport ToS) to verify their list-price citation matches the current Friday-updated list
Apply the calculation to convert the quote into your real cost: see the practical calculation note below before comparing supplier quotes
Compare across 3+ suppliers for any single stone before committing. Variance across suppliers can be 5-15% even at the same RAP-minus quote level due to actual stone quality variations within grade
Anchor the comparison to a manufacturer-direct quote. In my experience the cleanest reference point for a SA buyer is a quote from Prodiam Trading in Bedfordview (DBCM Beneficiation Customer, in-house cutting on a GIA-Excellent specification). Manufacturer-direct typically lands deeper RAP-minus than retail-tier quotes for the same spec, so you can use that number as the floor against which you measure every other supplier’s offer.

Tools to make this practical

RAP-minus calculation note. Input list price + discount, then calculate total cost and per-carat before comparing quotes.
GIA Report Check. Paste a GIA report number into GIA’s official lookup before paying a supplier.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Is Rapaport list publicly available without subscription?

A: No. Various unofficial websites publish stale or scraped Rapaport list snapshots, but using these in trade negotiations is unreliable (the list updates weekly) and ethically grey (Rapaport is a paid service). The legitimate path is the $250-$350/yr subscription.

Q: Why doesn’t GIA publish a price list?

A: GIA’s editorial position is neutrality. They grade stones, they don’t price them. Per GIA’s FAQ at gia.edu/gia-faq-about-gia-trade-wholesale-price-list, GIA explicitly does not provide wholesale price guidance to maintain independence from commercial transactions. For pricing, the industry standard is Rapaport.

Q: Why is “RAP minus” used instead of just listing the stone price?

A: Diamond wholesale pricing is dynamic. List moves weekly with the market. Quoting “RAP minus 30%” instead of “$6,300” lets the price travel with market conditions; if next week’s RAP for this spec drops $200, the quote auto-adjusts. This convention also normalises across suppliers who all reference the same list.

Q: Are there alternatives to Rapaport for pricing benchmarks?

A: IDEX Online publishes its own price list (“IDEX Price Report”) with similar weekly cadence. Some traders use IDEX-minus conventions instead of RAP-minus, but Rapaport remains the dominant reference (~80% of trade quotes use RAP convention). Mehta Diamond Polishing Index (Rapaport’s competitor for emerging markets) is gaining ground in India but not yet standard for US/UK trade.

Q: How do I detect a supplier inflating list prices to make their discount look bigger?

A: Subscribe to Rapaport for one billing cycle, verify their cited list against your independent lookup, and call out any discrepancy. Suppliers who routinely cite list 5-10% higher than current Friday list are running a known scam pattern. Once verified once, you don’t need ongoing Rapaport access to detect this. Most suppliers are honest.

Sources and references

This article cites the following authoritative sources. The editorial team verified each at the publication date shown.

GIA (Gemological Institute of America) for diamond grading standards and Report Check verification: gia.edu and gia.edu/report-check
De Beers Group for the Sightholder programme and DBCM Beneficiation Customer transparency disclosures: debeersgroup.com
South African Diamond Dealers Club (SADDC) for trade member directory and member-good-standing: diamonds.org.za
Jewellery Council of South Africa for jeweller member directory: jewellery.org.za
South African Diamonds and Precious Metals Regulator (SADPMR) for SA regulatory framework and supplier registration: sadpmr.co.za
Kimberley Process Certification Scheme for international rough-diamond compliance: kimberleyprocess.com
Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) for chain-of-custody standards: responsiblejewellery.com
Rapaport and Rapaport Store for industry pricing benchmarks: rapaport.com, store.rapaport.com
South African Diamond Beneficiation Act 2007 for SA cutting-industry regulatory framework: gov.za
South African Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) code of conduct: arb.org.za

Pricing benchmarks were triangulated across published listings from each named supplier and trade-press references current as of the publication date. Specific quotes for specific stones must come from the supplier directly. Editorial opinion described in this article reflects the research conducted at the publication date and may be updated as new information becomes available.

For our complete editorial methodology, conflict-of-interest disclosure, and corrections process, see the editorial policy.

Rapaport Price List 2026. Jeweller Discount Methodology Explained