What Markup Should You Charge on Custom Jewelry?
Ask five jewellers what markup they charge and you will get five different answers. The range is wide for a reason: the right number depends on your costs, your market and what your work is worth. Here is how to find yours.
Markup vs margin: the distinction that matters
These two terms get mixed up constantly, and the confusion leads to miscalculating your price.
Markup
Percentage added on top of your cost.
100% markup = 2× cost
Margin
Profit as a percentage of the selling price.
50% margin = 2× cost
A 100% markup and a 50% margin produce the same selling price — they just measure it differently. When jewellers say "I aim for a 50% margin," they mean they want half of the retail price to be profit after covering all costs. When they say "I mark up 2x," they mean the same thing. Know which one you are quoting in so you do not undercut yourself.
What the industry actually charges
There is no universal standard, but here is a realistic picture of what independent custom jewelry shops charge across different markets:
| Work type | Typical markup range | Gross margin |
|---|---|---|
| Custom design work | 2.5× – 4× | 60–75% |
| Repair & resizing | 2× – 3× | 50–67% |
| Casting from client's design | 2× – 2.5× | 50–60% |
| Production / batch work | 1.5× – 2× | 33–50% |
| Diamond solitaires (retail) | 1.5× – 2.5× on stones | 33–60% |
These numbers cover your total cost — materials, labour and overhead combined. If you are only marking up materials and forgetting labour, you are selling your time for free.
The floor: what you cannot go below
Before worrying about the ideal markup, calculate your floor. This is the price at which you cover all costs and pay yourself a liveable wage — but earn nothing on top.
Floor price calculation
Material cost: $350
Labour (3 hrs × $70/hr): $210
Overhead allocation: $160
Total floor: $720
Never quote below your floor. Any job priced below cost is a guaranteed loss, not a marketing investment or a relationship builder.
The ceiling: what the market bears
The ceiling is what a client in your market will pay for the work. It depends on your reputation, your location, your niche and how well you communicate value.
A jeweller with a strong Instagram presence, a clean presentation and a professional PDF quote can charge more than one who hands over a handwritten number on a card. The price is the same calculation — the presentation changes what the client perceives as reasonable.
The other factor is your positioning. If you are the only custom jeweller in a mid-sized city, you have more pricing power than someone competing in a dense urban jewelry district. Price to your actual competitive position, not to what you imagine the market wants.
Should you charge the same markup on everything?
No. A common approach among experienced independent jewellers is tiered markup by material value:
High-cost materials (expensive stones, heavy gold pieces) — lower percentage markup, but higher absolute dollar margin. A $5,000 stone does not need a 3x markup to generate a meaningful profit contribution.
Labour-intensive work (engraving, filigree, complex settings) — higher markup to reflect the skill premium. This work is hard to compare shop-to-shop, so price resistance is lower.
Commodity repairs (ring sizing, soldering, prong retipping) — price these against the market because clients will compare. Competing here on quality and speed is more effective than competing on price.
How to know if your markup is right
If every client accepts your quote without hesitation, you are probably undercharging. If you are losing more than one in four quotes on price, you may be overcharging for your market or not communicating value effectively.
The signal is not a specific number — it is the direction. If every client accepts your quote without hesitation, you have room to raise prices. If you are losing more than one in four on price alone, investigate whether it is pricing or presentation before cutting margin. Consistent 100% acceptance almost always means you are leaving money on the table.
The other signal is your time. If you are consistently busy but not building savings, review your cost calculation — especially overhead and your own labour rate. Those two numbers are chronically underestimated.
Know your numbers before you quote
GemQuote calculates your full cost — materials, labour, overhead — and applies your target margin in real time. Every quote reflects today's gold price, your stone costs and the markup you set.
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