Hi,
I would like to inquire…what is your opinion on a good price to charge for ring resizing…
sterling silver
stone-in (bezel set cabochon- turquoise, lapis, etc)
sizing down 2 sizes
using a welder (high capitol expense)
finishing, etc
i hesitate to mention/ factor in actual time spent, as i am not fast…
julie
For me it depends a bit on the customer. If it was a ring that I made for a good customer, I might not charge a thing. I might, however, wonder why it had to go down two sizes. If it is a stranger walking in off the street with a ring that I knew nothing about, I might charge a lot or even not take the job. I am still trying to figure out how to pay off my welder, but I didn’t buy it to do repairs. As for time, while I used to account for all of it one way or the other, now I don’t worry a lot about it. Sorry, I know that I am not a lot of help. I do tell my customer that it might cost a lot and that I might even wreck the piece fixing it. If they still leave it, then they can’t complain. Good luck…Rob
Hi Rob,
i do not think i will ever do enough repairs to pay for my welder! haha!
just curious what the going rate would be for sterling silver ring re-size repairs of this nature…usually easily going from size 8.5 to 6.75…
the jewelry is usually inexpensive but i do not want to factor that into the repair price, because that does not really affect the work involved…
julie
The last jewelry store that I worked at charged $70 to size rings down and $90 to size up. That didn’t include the price of gold when sizing up. With silver they didn’t charge an extra materials charge for sizing up. Platinum rings added $10, so $80 for down and $100 for up, plus the cost of added platinum when sizing up.
We estimated the amount of gold or platinum that was to be used before sizing to give the customer an estimated charge. Then we weighed what actually got put into the ring (before soldering) to give an accurate final charge.
Within that price structure, it didn’t matter whether we laser welded the ring (they had a laser, not a pulse arc welder) or torch soldered it. They charged the same amount of labor for silver rings as they did for gold rings.
An exception would be if for some reason the stone had to be pulled. Then there would be an additional charge to pull and reset a stone.
Hope that helps!
Jeff
One other thing this jewelry store did with ring sizing that I had never seen before, is that if you bought a ring from them, you got free labor for ring sizing as long as you owned the ring. Folks still had to pay for any added gold, platinum or palladium. (I forgot about palladium in my last post.)
We’d get folks who owned rings for 20-30 years, came back and got their rings sized for free. The jewelry store owners always remembered each customer, which still totally amazes me.
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
ok, great! thats exactly the range i was thinking it would be…i was recalling that my jeweler charged around $100 to size up my gold and rings a size…years ago…
this helps to know what the customer might have to pay if they went elsewhere…
but, i am also considering that jewelry store prices also factor in overhead…rent…employees…insurance…taxes…etc…
and then, for myself, i am considering also what “the cost” is to me…in terms of time taken away from doing something else…
so…that helps me think about what i would charge…i am contemplating the $40-50 range right now…
thank you!
julie
Hi,
the above question arose because i have a friend who is a prolific thrift shopper…
at first, she would ask me to repair the odd necklace or bracelet…missing costume necklace clasp…loose lapis cab on a bracelet…re-sizing a sterling ring from TJ Maxx…
she wanted to pay me…but at the time it was just the odd item now and then…and the items were very inexpensive…so i never charged her…
she has continued to bring me things, and wants to pay me for the work
so, i figured…i should either say no…or figure out a price that would be worthwhile to me and reasonable for her as a cost in general…not so much as compared to the cost of the item…
julie
In every jewelry store that I ever worked for and every custom piece we now make for clients, the first sizing is for free. Any work I have done as an employee or a contract laborer was marked up 2-3 times the shop charge.
Any skilled journeyman craftsman should in this day and age should charge $50-$100 per for for their time. I seems like a lot but this also covers the cost of things like electricity, gas, solder, pickle, buffing supplies, wear and tear on the tools etc. One should also double the cost of metals that need to be added. Plumbers and car mechanics start at $75 to $100 per hour, and they charge extra for parts.
If one feels that folks are wasting our time with cheap jewelry bought else where,( as does your client in question ), I’d raise my prices enough to make it worthwhile or gently send that person else where. “I am so sorry but my present workload is keeping me so busy that don’t have the time to take on repairs any more.”
Jo
I do mostly trade repair work these days, and I
base my charges on 1/3 of the Geller Blue Book prices.
For a down sizing of a SS ring I would generally charge the same as for a 14KY ( same goes for 10KY, which as trade work would be roughly $25.
Tightening, and or protecting stones can add $.
The end customer pays roughly 3X this.
If I was asked to do such a sizing for a friend, I’d probably split the difference, and charge roughly 1 1/2 X the Trade price.
Family, and close friends usually skate.
Even though I use the laser for much of my work, I would probably size the described SS ring with the torch, rather than the laser. Just my training and preference.
Thank you RoyJohn!
julie
Hi,
i was contemplating $40-50 in this prolific friend situation…i decided upon $45…
it’s kinda weird because i have been doing the work, and then quote the price…
we will see how this works out…
julie
Hi Jo,
Thank you!
julie
Hi RingDoctor,
I erroneously said thank you to RoyJohn…i meant to thank you!
Julie
That’s about ballpark what I charge as well, $40 - 50 plus materials with appropriate markup on the material to cover things like shipping, taxes etc getting said materials to me.
Hi Sonja,
Thank you!
My friend was fine with $45…and i feel like i gave her a $5 discount! so all good…for now!
julie
Hi,
Geller Blue Book
julie
Thanks Julie posting the Geller Blue Book link! Lots of jewelers use that system.
To clarify what I wrote. In my post, I told the retail prices that the jewelry store charged for ring sizing, but I did piece work for that store and got paid by the job. My cut was 1/3 of retail. So they got 2/3 and I got 1/3 of whatever was charged to the customer for labor. Specifically with ring sizing I’d get $23 to size a ring down and $30 to size a ring up for most rings.
Jeff
Hello Jeff,Thanks for the clarification. Thats what i was thinking you meant.
jylie
how about asking her what she considers a fair charge for labor, supplies extra…
Hi,
I thought about that as well…but was not sure i would like the answer! haha!
my inquiry was to understand the “going rate” she might expect to pay for a retail repair…ie: what most jewelry stores/ jewelry repair shops would charge…
understanding this retail price range, and the commonly used retail markups (and jeweler charges too) would help me to triangulate on a charge i could use…
i figured she would be getting a “savings” from this retail, and i could still comfortably charge a price i felt good with…
julie