I am wondering how to get a start in importing silver jewelry from
Asia? I am in the Philippines now and approached one company about
wholesale prices for export and sales samples but all their
inventory was booked until June 2005. I want to be able to buy
samples, at least, to bring back to Canada in the new year.
What I want to know is is it the norm to buy silver jewelry (
without stones), based on a per gram value or at wholesale prices
for finished product? Are there general prices one tends to pay in
the Asian countries for silver? Is Thai jewelry still cheaper on a
whole than other asian countries? As you might infere from my
questions I am not sure where to start really. I would like info
specific to buying with resale in mind in North America or Europe
where I used to live. I hope this is enough info to get some sage
advice from experienced wholesalers or importers.
If anyone wants to email me offline I am at merkilegur at yahoo dot
com
Thank you
Peter
is it the norm to buy silver jewelry (without stones), based on a
per gram value ...?
peter, yes it is the economical way to buy finished jewelry with or
without stones - at tucson most dealers sell findings and finished
pieces by the gram, you will find the gram price with stones is not
that much more than without. quantity is what determines the price
so ask up front about the quantities for discount prices (there can
be more than one break & the prospect of repeat business can cut
some prices). as far as a ‘general’ price for asian silver pieces,
competition is what seems to fuel prices more than demographics.
when i last shopped thai silver was running a bit more than other
asian finished silver, in my opinion thai workmanship is better.
all this is based on closely observing my partner’s
transactions with chinese and subcontinent dealers for years - first
as a hobby & lately more seriously. (the transactions, not my
observations)
ive who knows that “life is a journey, not a destination”… and love
is the best road map.
Thankyou to those people who replied to my original post. I am
continuing to do my due dilegence here in the Philippines.
I was fortunate to get to talk with a local goldsmith who agreed to
be interviewed. Among other things he told me that they buy gold and
silver locally. It is not imported as the Philippines has plenty of
both. He pays 31 cents per gram Canadian (25 cents US) for gold when
he buys for his shop. He sells the gold jewelery at 44 cent a gram
CDN (36 cents US), plus labor costs.
Can anyone advise if these are good prices for Asia and/or
competitive prices for american markets ?
Thank you,
Peter
Peter,
Something here doesn’t add up. 25 cents (US) per gram us less than
$8 per ounce. Tell us all where we can buy gold for that price,
please.
Joel Schwalb
@Joel_Schwalb
www.schwalbstudio.com
Peter,
I am sure you must have mistaken what metal was priced at 44 cents
per gram.
The price of gold closed on Friday 1-8-2005 at $418.40 per ounce.
The following would be the melt value of various karats of gold and
of coarse you are not going to buy any new karat gold for melt, you
will pay a premium on top of melt depending on what form you buy it
in. You might find scrap gold or Silver at a pawn shop if you are
lucky for melt value.
Gold Close $418.40
Pure Gold $13.44 per gram melt value
18 karat gold $10.09 per gram melt value
14 karat gold $7.87 per gram melt value
Silver closed on Friday at $6.41 per ounce therefore the melt value
for Pure Silver is 20 cents per gram and Sterling Silver is 19 cents
per gram.
Once again you are not going to buy fabricated metal for melt value.
This includes gold or silver shot.
Greg DeMark
email: greg@demarkjewelry.com
Website: www.demarkjewelry.com
Custom Jewelry - Handmade Jewelry - Antique Jewelry
Peter, PAWN EVERYTHING YOU OWN.
If you can buy gold at that price I will ‘take it off your hands’ and
give you a handsome profit!
It cannot be true ! I just went online for the current quote on pure
gold. It is selling (pretty much worldwide) for US$418 per troy oz.
One troy oz. equals 31.1 grams, so one gram of pure gold should cost
US$13.44 (exclusive of small fees.) IF it was 14Karat gold, multiply
by .583 to get US$7.84 per gram.
SOMEONE IS NOT TELLING 100% OF THE TRUTH
David Barzilay
Lord of the Rings
607 S Hill St Ste 850
Los Angeles, CA 90014-1718
213-488-9157
Hi Peter,
I’m sure that you will have a flood of responses to this inquiry.
I’m don’t know about comparable prices in the phillippines- but that
is amazingly ‘cheap’. I’m actually rather scandalized. Since you
obviously have computer access, I would suggest that you monitor the
global gold and silver prices. You will imediately see how bizarrely
low that is. I am also from Canada, a jeweller, and I work in silver
- which I buy for 44 cents a gram after a ‘bulk’ discount + my
presumably higher labor costs. This can give you a frame of reference
if not actually answer your question.
I think this price maybe .44 per GRAIN not gram. There are 15.4324
grains per gram and 31.10348 grams per troy ounce. This works out to
about $362 /oz. At a $425 gold pirce 14kt carries a value of $248.
So what you may be looking at is 14kt, marked up 50% plus labor.
Steve Guyot
Guyot Brothers Co Inc
Decorative jewelry findings & ornamental stampings since 1904
http://guyotbrothers.com