How this calculator works
Two things make jewellery costing distinctive. Metal is bought by weight at a market price that moves, so a piece costed six months ago may be priced against a rate that no longer exists. And a meaningful fraction of that metal ends up as dust on the bench.
Enter the finished weight and your metal loss rate, and this prices from what you actually consume rather than what ends up in the piece.
The formula
- Metal = finished weight × cost per gram ÷ (1 − metal loss %)
- Bench labour = fabrication + finishing minutes, at their own rates
- Reject allowance = (materials + bench labour) ÷ (1 − reject %) − those costs
- Price = (cost per piece + fixed fee ÷ quantity) ÷ (1 − target margin − fee %)
What to watch for
- Metal loss is applied as a replacement cost, because to end up with eight grams in a finished ring you have to buy more than eight grams. Ten to fifteen percent is normal for fabricated silver work.
- Scrap is recoverable but not at purchase price — refiners pay well below spot and charge to process. Treating filings as a full offset overstates your recovery.
- Finishing is usually a third or more of bench time and is the line most consistently under-estimated. Filing, sanding through grits and polishing is slow.
- Re-check your metal cost per gram when the market moves. A piece costed against last year’s silver price is being sold against this year’s replacement cost.
Common mistakes
- Costing metal at the finished weight with no allowance for what is lost at the bench.
- Using the spot rate rather than what you actually pay for fabricated sheet and wire.
- Under-counting finishing time, which frequently exceeds fabrication on small pieces.
- Using a mailer-grade packaging cost for a product customers expect to arrive presented.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I charge for handmade jewellery?
Work from metal weight plus bench time rather than a multiplier. A sterling silver ring using 5g of metal and 75 minutes of bench and finishing time typically costs $50 to $65 to produce once loss, consumables, packaging and overhead are counted — which is why silver rings selling at $45 are usually being made at a loss.
How much metal do I lose when making jewellery?
Ten to fifteen percent is typical for fabricated silver work once sawing, filing, sanding and polishing are counted, and more on heavily carved or textured pieces. It is recoverable as scrap, but refiners pay meaningfully below spot and charge to process, so it is a real cost rather than a wash.
Should I use the spot price for metal?
No — use what you actually pay. Fabricated sheet, wire and tubing carry a substantial premium over spot for the milling, and small quantities carry more. Costing at spot systematically understates your metal by a meaningful margin, particularly on silver where the fabrication premium is proportionally larger.
How do I price a batch versus a one-off?
Set the quantity and the calculator spreads design and bench setup across the run while keeping fabrication and finishing per piece. That is exactly how the work behaves — the setup is once, the filing is every time — which is why batches of earrings scale far better than one-off commissions.