Custom work has fallen off

Jewelry Discussion
21 
I must admit that i have never tried to get the amount that David
has mentioned so i may raise some of my prices to test that level.
Over the past several years I have charged anywhere from $85.00 to
$125.00 to cast and finish a piece at the retail level depending on
the amount of finish work that is required

I figured the cost to cast a wax from a mold at $35.

The REASON you charge $85 to 4125 and not the $175 I was charging 7
years ago or the $195 now, is because you are too afraid to ask,
Open mouth, speak the words “and it’s only $195.”

8 out of 10 will say OK

David Geller

David Geller
JewelerProfit
510 Sutters Point
Sandy Springs, GA. 30328
(404) 255-9565
www.JewelerProfit.com

22

I would be interested in what you folks who do custom do in your
advertising.

David Geller

23

David- did you hallmark and mark the gold quality on the new ring
cast with the customers old gold ?

Don’t take life to seriously – you’ll never live throught it…

24 
He noticed that when gas prices are up, less people come into his
shop. When gas prices are down, they show up with more frequency.

Yes, I have said this, however there is a lot more that I have said
about it as well. The interesting thing about the impact the gas
prices have had is that in my price range (average price point is
about $1500) most of my customers aren’t really impacted by the
increase in the price of gas because if they can afford me they can
afford the gas. My feeling, along with a number of my fellow local
small businesspeople, is that there is a psychological effect of
seeing the prices in that range. The prices certainly didn’t make
people drive less (actually it seems as if the traffic got heavier).
It just simply got into their heads that things weren’t going well.
What is also interesting is that while I saw distinctive drops in
foot traffic and a certain amount of drop in actual sales both times
that gas hit $3/gallon my total annual sales don’t seem to be
impacted much–after Kristina in Oct and Nov of 05 my sales plummeted
but we had a really strong December— (in other words it’s more of a
temporary psychological condition and eventually people get back into
their buying habits—and if they really wanted something they are
going to get it sooner or later).

However, I think the bigger issue here, and more related to the
original posting in this thread, is the misperception by those in
power in the country that low unemployment rates and strong profit
postings by large corporations are an indication that all is well in
the country economically. In reality everyone’s cost of living has
skyrocketed and left a lot of people with less to spend. I spend
around $15,000 annually now to pay for health insurance and the
copays I have to pick up to cover myself, my wife and one son. That’s
$15k of basically after tax dollars. It also used to be that you were
told that your housing should cost about 25% of your salary, but the
reality now is that housing costs are running as high as 60-70% of
income for a large portion of the country. Gas and energy costs? Well
you know what that’s doing. So what has happened is that a lot of
large companies continue to rake it in (gas companies, health
insurers, computer manufacturers) and make the overall picture appear
quite rosy, but in fact most small businesses (and I define that as
companies with less than 10 employees–not the 100 that the
government defines as small) are hurting on all fronts.

So then there’s the question of what to do about it? Well for one
thing you should all raise your prices. You need more money to live!
Your costs have gone up! And remember someone who comes in and says I
was only thinking of spending $500 on this (wedding band, earrings,
whatever) may not be swayed to spend $1000 but they sure aren’t going
to walk away from $575 (a 15% increase) if they like the product they
are seeing. Of course that means you DO have to have a product they
like.

Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, LLC
1780 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140

25

I just had a thought (first for the day). Could it be that the Baby
Boomers are refocusing on retirement purchases and investments
instead of excess spending which has been the norm?

Just a thought. I’m curious what others think of this theory.

Veronica

26 
New rings we only used new gold. But if you need more gold, we sold
you "more" scrap gold.

David, was the price higher for the scrap gold you sold them,
compared to the scrap gold you bought from them?

M’lou Brubaker

27

David,

I would be interested in what you folks who do custom do in your
advertising.

I have not chimed in on this thread yet, as I’ve not wanted to jinx
my relatively good flow of work :0) I have not felt the downturn
here in Colorado Springs, CO, and in fact my business has continued
to grow over the last 7 years. And I feel that the last 2 years have
been especially good due to the advertising I do.

I advertise in the local independent newspaper, aptly named the
Colorado Springs Independent (David, you are in Atlanta, right? It’s
like the Creative Loafing…left-leaning, slightly irreverent, art
friendly). The paper is a free weekly, and I run an ad 39 weeks a
year, which works out to my ad being in the paper 3 out of every 4
weeks. The ad appears in the same location in the paper each week,
which is great for the repetition needed to make advertising pay off.
It hits the demographic I’m looking for, and it sits around for a
week, increasing the odds that more than one person will read each
copy.

Another thing which helps keep the ad visible is that the layout does
not change, but the image in the ad does. I have a new image each
week, and ideally I like the image in the ad to be found on my
website in color, as the ads I run are b/w. As I meet new clients,
they tell me that they can’t wait to see the next ad, and what the
next piece of jewelry will look like (and “Will my ring be in the ad
some day?”). Otherwise, the ad is very simply laid out, listing my
business name, phone number, and web address.

Dimensionally, the ad is only 2.5" wide x 4" tall, so it’s not all
that big, but it has created a new client base for me that adds to
the word-of-mouth which drove my business for the first 6 years. And
it has paid for itself many times over for the two years I’ve been
running it.

If anyone would like to see what it looks like, I can email a copy to
you offlist (or I can send one to be posted on Orchid?).

Matthew Crawford
www.MatthewDesigns.com

28 
did you hallmark and mark the gold quality on the new ring cast
with the customers old gold ?

This is a question I’ve been wondering for a long time. If you make
something form used gold, can you truly hallmark a gold quality on
it? Even if you mixed it with new gold or casting grain, how do you
truly know? The only way I would know is to have it tested. I guess,
you could guess, but guessing isn’t truthful, it’s a guess. And legal
standards usually don’t accept a guess as facts.

So in todays world of rampant litigation, how to CYA ones self is
nessicary if one is to honestly and truthfully approach using, a
quality mark on the finished product made of used metals? Maybe use
hallmark stamps that read something like. (14k?) (Quazi Sterl) (Gold)
(925ish)

Dan

29

David,

with a web site I don’t do any advertising - just try to keep it
listed well on the search engines and all the work I can handle
comes to me - which would probably not be enough work for many on
this list but I do keep busy. Of course doing the website takes a lot
of time also. At your and other’s suggestion I just finished upping
my prices so hopefully this will have a positive effect and allow me
more time to work on what I want to make.

Thanks for all the helpful you share on this list. Orchid
is the greatest!

Jan
www.designjewel.com

30 
Could it be that the Baby Boomers are refocusing on retirement
purchases and investments instead of excess spending which has
been the norm? Just a thought. I'm curious what others think of
this theory.

Funny you should mention that - as I was reading the posts yesterday,
I was thinking how my husband, friends, and I (all Baby Boomers) in
the last couple years have rethought what we feel we need to buy.
We’ve scaled back holiday and birthday gifts, often choosing instead
to spend time together. Time seems now to be the important commodity
we seem to have less and less of each passing year, so it’s become
more of a gift than tangible things we don’t need. I bet a lot of
others feel the same way, yes? I wonder how much this is having an
impact on sales.

But I gotta say, I sure am glad most of my customers don’t feel this
way!

Cindy Crounse
www.refineddesigns.com

31

We “assumed” right or wrong that most NICE things were what they
were stamped. If we melted all 14kt, we stamped it 14kt.

it if we melted 10kt & 14kt, we didn’t stamp it at all. You are not
required to stamp it, only IF you stamp it, it must be correct.

David Geller

32 
Even if you mixed it with new gold or casting grain, how do you
truly know? The only way I would know is to have it tested. I
guess, you could guess, but guessing isn't truthful, it's a guess.
And  legal standards usually don't accept a guess as facts.

Gold testing kit.

Rubbing stone, fresh acids, known comparison examples, knowledge.
Good electronic tester.

These are part of the tools of the trade. How can one be an adequate
craftsperson without a full toolbox?

If you’d like to know where to get a GOOD kit, with full
instructions, contact me off-list at @Wayne_Emery1. No
affiliation and no profit for me…

Wayne

33

Dan,

Do not quality or trademark stamp an item made with a customers scrap
gold. If you explain to the client that you can not stamp the item
because you can not stand behind the true karat of the gold without
sending it to a refiner for testing at a cost of $50.00 to $100.00
they will understand. I know since I have done this type of work for
34 years without ever losing a job because I would not stamp it. By
the way I think it is legal to stamp a piece with your hallmark
without a quality karat mark but I would not recommend it since
anyone could come along later and stamp a quality mark next to your
hallmark and hold you responsible.

Greg DeMark
www.demarkjewelry.com

34

David,

Only partly accurate:

You are not required to stamp it, only IF you stamp it, it must be
correct.

If you stamp the new item, it must be accurate to within 1/10 of a
karat, and it must include your trademark. Cast jewelry made prior to
the 1981 stamping act was almost always 13.5 karat, and re-using that
metal today will result in underkarated goods. The only method, to be
safe, is to not stamp these items at all.

Jon Michael Fuja

35

Wayne,

Once again, I have to respectfully dissagree.

Rubbing stone, fresh acids, known comparison examples, knowledge.
Good electronic tester. These are part of the tools of the trade.
How can one be an adequate craftsperson without a full toolbox?

I know of no method, electronic or otherwise, that will test to 1/10
karat, and that is what the law here in the U.S. holds us to.

Jon Michael Fuja

36 
You are not required to stamp it, only IF you stamp it, it must be
correct.

If you put a quality mark on a piece of jewelry it must also have a
makers mark. The feds have to know who to hold accountable.

Larry

37

Greg,

Do not quality or trademark stamp an item made with a customers
scrap gold.

I agree. There’s also the problem of solder content. Chains are
allowed more solder content than other jewelry. If a chain is
included in a melt that you cast into a ring, that ring might have
more solder in it than is legally allowed. Platinum chain is
especially bad in this respect, though I doubt anyone is casting
platinum scrap into new jewelry.

Larry

38

Stamp whatever you want in there. Just remember it’s your
you-know-what that “could” get in the proverbial crack. If the
customer insists on a quality stamp, simply stamp the lowest karat
that’s in the mix - with an explanation to the customer if required.
Keep and file away the original job envelope that lists mixed carat
from the customer as what was used to make the piece and get on with
business.

39 
I know of no method, electronic or otherwise, that will test to
1/10 karat, and that is what the law here in the U.S. holds us to.

Which means that no one can verify that it ISN’T what it says that
close either, without destroying the piece. And what would be the
point of that?

Lee Cornelius
Vegas Jewelers

40 
Stamp whatever you want in there. Just remember it's your
you-know-what that "could" get in the proverbial crack. If the
customer insists on a quality stamp, simply stamp the lowest karat
that's in the mix - with an explanation to the customer if
required. Keep and file away the original job envelope that lists
mixed carat from the customer as what was used to make the piece
and get on with business.

Every now and then there is someone who cuts through the fat and
applies the ‘kiss’ principle ‘Keep it Straight and Simple.’

Hans Meevis