You can’t charge a customer $200 to set a $65 stone!
I get lots of complaints with my book on this one subject.
“David, you’re nuts. How can I charge a lady $200 to set a stone I’d
sell for $65?”
You’re absolutely right…
I just paid a car dealer $200 to professionally install a $65
serrius radio.
They did a superb job.
But you’re right. only idiots would charge that.
only idiots would pay that.
Guilty.
David Geller
www.jewelerprofit.com
Kind of like paying a mechanic $200 to replace a $3 gasket.
It’s not the ‘end setting fee’, what about the training that went
into setting the $65.00 stone. Or ask my surgeon two months ago in
my ‘spinal-fusion operating fee’? Is the prescribed overall fee of
$50,000 too much for my provincial government to pay the hospital
and *the surgeons valuable 9 years of training and his experience?
Everything is relative!
Do not put the stone cost in front of the time involved in learning
how to set the stone! Did the setter/jeweller satisfactory accomplish
his feat? So please don’t balk at the fee, it just doesn’t hold water
with me.
Were you happy with the results? Could you have done it cheaper
without chipping the stone, what about his specialized setting tools?
Retail of $200.00 should be the ‘norm’… Don’t cheapen your fee,
lest you cheapen your reputation…
Gerry Lewy
Hello,
I’m not looking for getting somebody nailed for setting a stone and
ask $200 but some people do. Setting a stone nice and according the
rules is not that expensive.
My wife came to me with a story of two people a while a go. They
wanted to get married a few months later. This couple went to a
jeweller for weddingrings. The guy offert them two silver rings
wihtout stones for 1700, and they did it !!! Just two simple round
rings with a letter of their name on top of it. A zircon was not
within their capacity to pay for.
Who is the fool now, the jeweller asking so much or the two people
willing to pay for this kind of deal?
Enjoy and have fun
Pedro
David,
Just moved to California from Canada, I need a new copy of your
stuff.
Call me,
Gerry
949-365-0100
Thank you again David, maybe if you make your point often enough
people will begin to understand. The store I am working at was using
David’s book when I started, but not the current version. They were
using the $600 gold when gold was at $900. I finally got them to
update. Much argument about we can’t charge those kind of prices
here. All said and done they have started charging the higher prices
with very few “I won’t pay that kind of money for that work” so
things are more profitable. They still want to discount and back off
the price sheet wherever and whenever they can but I do my best to
make them hold the line. Profit is up and work is still more than I
can get done in a day. The kicker to all of this is that while they
didn’t want to raise prices to the customers they didn’t have any
problem cutting back on health care for the employee’s. They just
couldn’t afford the high prices. The discounts I see every WEEK would
pay for the MONTHLY health care cost increase. Make profit from your
customers NOT your employees that’s why we are in business.
I spent a lot of time and money learning how to set stones with no
more damage than I could afford. Might be just be a beach pebble but
if I say $200 that is it. Other jewellers maybe down the street may
be cheaper or just use your fat grubby fingers and do it yourself. I
really charge a lot more for repairs I warned you about 
jeffD
Kind of like paying a mechanic $200 to replace a $3 gasket.
Yea, but he’s got to know which gasket to replace!
Dave
I don’t see any problem with charging $200 to set a $65 stone. The
work hours for setting a stone have nothing whatsoever to do with the
value of the stone being set! The cost of this job is work hours plus
expenses. Period.
Janet in Jerusalem
Kind of like paying a mechanic $200 to replace a $3 gasket.
In the time it takes you to get someone to pay you $200 for ten
minutes of work, I will have set a hundred stones at $20 per…
You can't charge a customer $200 to set a $65 stone!
Hmmm. So the lawyer who charged $1,000 to draw up our new wills
should only have charged $3.50 for the cost of the paper? Never mind
that he answered an hour’s worth of our questions, and knows how to
construct an ironclad trust for our cats? 
Lorraine
Or a painter $400 to put a $19 gallon of paint on the wall.
The guy offert them two silver rings wihtout stones for 1700, and they did it !!! Just two simple round rings with a letter of their name on top of it. A zircon was not within their capacity to pay for.
Pedro, is that 1700 dollars, U.S. Or some other currency? If
Dollars, then I’d not call that a jeweler asking for his just and
fair pay anymore. I’d call it fraud and theft. It’s one thing to say
you can set your own prices, and if you feel you are or your work is,
worth a certain amount, you can fairly ask that amount. But it seems
to me that as a professional, a jeweler does also have an obligation
to the customer, as well as to the trade and it’s public reputation,
to deal fairly with a customer and give fair value for the price
paid. Unless there is something very much more to thise rings than
you descirbe, I cannot see that as having been the case.
Who is the fool now, the jeweller asking so much or the two people willing to pay for this kind of deal?
I’d say the customers are the naive ones, perhaps the fools. But
they have an expectation that the jeweler is a professional, and will
treat them fairly. When this isn’t the case, perhaps they are fools,
yes. But the jeweler is a thief if he/she takes blatant advantage of
a customer’s ignorance without making them fully aware of just what
they are getting for their money, and perhaps letting them know they
are paying a very high price…
If I were to walk into a toyota dealership and ask to buy a Prius,
and was told that the price, today, just for me, would be 250
thousand dollars, and I were to then say OK and buy that car, only
later to find the dealer down the streat sold them for a tenth of
that, I think I’d have a fair case to take to court for fraud, and I
suspect your two customers with their silver rings have the same.
That is, if your price was in U.S. dollars. Now, if it’s another
currency that converts to two hundred dollars, well, then it’s high,
but within the realm of possibility again…
Peter Rowe
That was my whole point. The mechanic has the experience, the
skills, and the tools to fix it properly. Filling the tank at a self
serve is about as far as I’m willing to go when it comes to
automobiles. I leave the important stuff to experts.
When I ask a skilled mason to set stones on a masonry wall I expect
to pay a lot more for the labour than for the stones.
If he gives me a product like Michaelangelo I will pay a bonus.
John,
Kind of like paying a mechanic $200 to replace a $3 gasket. In the time it takes you to get someone to pay you $200 for ten minutes of work, I will have set a hundred stones at $20 per........
I agree with you. Perhaps I’d rather do one or two of the stone
settings at $200 each than spend the time to set 100 stones at $20
each. It’s also a matter of what else I could be doing with that
time. Price it at the level you are willing to work and let the
customers decide whether it’s an acceptable price. Customers willing
to pay $200 are more likely to appreciate your skills and results
and may want to order/buy other items from you and tell their
friends about your work. Many people paying $20 for a stone setting
may not be as appreciative of your skill level.
Pat Gebes
Hello Peter,
I completely agree with your statement. To me it’s to far out of
price! The two persons however payed in advance and have no way to go
back on their steps without loosing this prepayed money (500 euro).
As a craftsmen and jeweller I can not agree with this standard of
dealing with customers even if Cartier was the original designer. The
weddingsbands are very basic and nothing special to it but even if,
that price is not serious for anybody. The currency is mentioned in
euro’s and not in US$. It is not fair and I’m having a hard time
because I really whould like to have a talk with this jeweller.
Another aspect of these weddinbands is that silver doesn’t last that
long compared with other precious metals. The customers did not
receive any directions or in order to highlight this
important aspect. A lack on togehter with this out of
range price is a punch in the face of any customer as far as I can
see.
I’m very happy that I’m in the position to give these customers all
the they needed via the voice of my wife to protect them
from this kind of jewellers.I can not make this undone but two
persons know from this point on perfectly what to do when they make
this kind of decisions. I did not charge them for anything because
they already have being ripped-of and even if, I can’t charge people
for passing this kind of I’m to honnest for this.
Peter, thank you for your reply… I’m serious! I’ve being watching
and followed this subject all the time and since nobody commented
this topic (this particular one), I started to believe that this
happening became normal in the understanding of the readers. In all
respect to everyone, please don’t feel offended.
Going to court will not change anything Peter. The costs of starting
a case and the costs of a lawyer are to much compared with the gain
you could have… if you win this case!
Have fun and enjoy but stay honnest and act to customers as you like
to recieve a fair treatment from your customers.
Pedro
I’ve never set a stone, and doubt I ever will, but if it takes the
same knowledge, time and effort to set an inexpensive stone as an
expensive one, then the charge should be the same. The customer
decides whether it is worth the charge. If the cheap stone was from
a cheap ring, then they’ve learned a valuable lesson about the
(hidden) cost of buying cheap.
Mary Partlan, White Branch Designs
whitebranchdesigns.com
...but if it takes the same knowledge, time and effort to set an inexpensive stone as an expensive one, then the charge should be the same.
I beg to differ. I have a base price for setting and the size/value
of the stone goes up from there. The risk is not the same setting a
.10 ct. stone vs. a 2.0 ct stone. I charge accordingly…
Teddy
I remember one retail store owner had a client state that certain
prices were way too high. So the “verbally inventive” manager
said…"Madam, may I suggest you come to my work-bench and do the
repairs on your ring yourself
… after which, he stuck to his price and offered no discounts…he
finished the repair himself at his own time…
Gerry Lewy