In my next book looking to incorporate micro pave setting prices.
Would anyone here mind sharing what they charge, either
wholesale/trade shop prices or retail micro pave
Many Thanks
David S. Geller
JewelerProfit
Toronto’s micro-pave setting is $5.00 per stone. As competition is
great, so the actual prices should be double this number. This is for
the wholesale/trade level only.
Gerry Lewy
Gerry, I was wondering what you are starting with, a blank piece of
metal that has to be laid out and drilled or are these pieces that
are basically ready to go and just require the stones to be set?
Thanks, Tim
In the NYC wholesale scene, Pave can cost anywhere from $3.00 to
$8.00 a stone depending on the setter. I know there are some master
setters who are able to charge $10.00 per stone on their work, but
that is very rare.
All the best,
Alex Poh
jeanandalex.com
I’m hoping that when you guys are talking about $3 and $5 per stone,
you’re talking about pin setting or similar in which all of the
layout is done and no cutting and bead raising is involved so all
that’s left is to cut the seats and run a beading tool over the pins?
When I think of pave’, I think of starting with a blank piece of
metal and a tray full of small diamonds. For pave’ that requires
layout, I refer to David Geller’s Blue Book and charge $35 a stone.
$40 if the stones are anything other than perfectly matched diamonds
or if there is any graduation in stone size due to the shape of the
piece. I get up to $50 per stone if they are anything other than
diamonds. I don’t have any problem getting it. I charge my wholesale
clients 60% of Geller pricing. They have no problem getting it
either.
I’m in Central North Carolina, not the poorest area in America, but
it’s not the wealthiest either. I own a 10 year old retail custom
shop in a major university town with Duke, NC State and UNC Chapel
Hill all within my market. It is a highly competitive market with no
less than a half dozen custom shops and dozens of retail jewelry
stores within about ten miles. I use the Geller Blue Book for all
shop pricing and have found it to be extremely helpful. It’s not an
overstatement to say that it saved my business. Prior to using it, my
accountant half-jokingly told me at one point that I might be better
off to just stand out in the parking lot and hand out hundred dollar
bills to anyone walking by.
After having had to make payroll for 10 years, I wouldn’t even set
an “S bar” tennis bracelet for $5 a stone, let alone pave’. My time
(and the time of the people that work for me) is worth far more than
that, and I dare say that the time of anyone capable of doing real
pave’ to any degree of high craftsmanship is worth far more than that
too.
I have to get a minimum of $125 to $150 per hour per goldsmith to
pay them what they’re worth and still get above just breaking even,
and we live pretty cheap in my shop comparatively speaking. I can’t
imagine how someone can charge $3 to $8 a stone for true pave’ and
live in NYC. You can’t even get your windshield washed by a homeless
guy for that in New York. Surely your skills are worth more than
that.
Dave Phelps
David Phelps
Good post, made me feel good reading it.
Before I made my book for MY STORE (not to sell) I figure i gave
away in teh first 15 years over 1 million dollars in money because
of my way of pricing.
You mention $125 to $150 an hour for labor. thats what my book is
based upon.
ALSO…A jewelers wooden work bench, doing repairand
custom should produce between $185,000 to $250,000 a year in income
PER BENCH. Low to high number is based upon low to high jewelers
wages. My book is based upon a jeweler being paid in the mid $40,000
to high $50,000 a year.
I started in 1974, almost went bankrupt in 1986-87. An accountant
who was also a watchmaker taught me how to price and I perfected the
rest on my own. In Jan 2000 I sold my store to an employee, the year
before (1999) we did $1,800,000+ in sales25% was product sales
($425,000) the 75% remainder (about $1.4 million) was repairs and
custom designGross profit % on product = 48% (average)gross profit
from the shop =63% (way above average) Over the years found out two
things1. Repairs are not price sensitive they are trust sensitive2.
No matter what you quote for a price 8090% of people will say “OK,
do it”. if you charge $24or $40 to size a ring smaller you’ll both
have a 90% closing ratio Good Job David David S. Geller JewelerProfit
www. JewelerProfit.com 510 Sutters Point Atlanta, GA 30328
I guess we’re sorely underpricing our services. My father has been a
manufacturer in NYC for the past 30 years. I just joined him two to
three years ago.
I am also convinced that we are underselling our services, however
he insists that we will lose all of our customers if we raise our
prices to the level that I have suggested repeatedly.
We charge $5 per stone for pave where a guide hole is already built
into the casting, however we still need to open seats, raise prongs
etc. For pave created out of blank gold surfaces we charge maybe $8
per stone. For some of our rush private orders we will outsource some
of our pave to the master setter at Vancleef here in NY and he
charges us $12 per stone for true pave as well. He has helped us pave
set tsavorite, emeralds, diamonds, you name it.
However, I believe that NY is a different beast entirely than most
jewelry markets. Here there are probably no less than half a dozen
custom jewelry shops and retailers on a single floor of a building.
If you consider that there roughly 20 to 30 buildings along the 47th
street diamond district (which is probably an underestimate) and an
average of 15 floors per building. That is a lot of custom jewelry
and retail stores on a single block! Obviously this is probably an
overestimate as there are a lot of wholesale jewelers, casters,
diamond dealers, gem stone cutters etc that I’m not taking into
account. It’s hard to deny the fact though that there is way more
supply of jewelry labor than there is demand for such a small area. I
suppose that is what drives the stone setting prices down here.
In summary, maybe I should move to North Carolina!
All the best,
Alex Poh
jeanandalex.com
I almost feel insulted after spending over 54 years Bright-Cutting &
all I get is a mediocre $5.00 per stone? Gimmee a break! I’d rather
not do setting for anyone, than to be subjected to this R. O.I.
(Return Of Investment)…Initial Rough-Cutting, then the
Bright-Cutting for only $5-$12. I’d let my tools go rusty, I am told
I charge too much, my answer is “then go elsewhere!”. I am not in any
competition to NYC or anyone here in Toronto. You want excellent
quality? Then be prepared to pay the price. again three
words…“Price, Quality, Speed. Pick two!” In Pave setting or
Bright-Cutting, there is no such word as speed in my equation. Will
you have a brain surgeon, heart specialist offer speed or how about a
Rolls-Royce crafts-person? Speed doesn’t work with them. neither do
we offer speed. only quality!!! - It took me 5 years to learn
Bright-Cutting & another few decades to perfect it-…$5.00 per
stonee?*Gerry…:>