How To Price Jewelry Repairs Without Undervaluing Your Time

Pricing jewelry repairs is a bit of a tightrope walk.

If you price too high or fail to communicate your value appropriately, you’ll watch repair jobs walk out the door. But if you underprice your expertise, you’ll be stuck with lost profits and an unsustainable repair business.

When you learn how to price jewelry repairs the right way, you can turn the repair arm of your shop from a break-even courtesy into a bonus revenue stream. This guide walks you through everything you need to know, starting with how to calculate true costs and covering everything from selling value to building customer trust.

Why Learning How To Price Jewelry Repairs Matters for Your Bottom Line

Many jewelry stores treat repair services as a nice perk for customers, but when you run them the right way, they can become a legitimate revenue stream. When you approach repairs in this strategic way, you can:

• Build customer loyalty: When customers trust you to repair their most sentimental pieces (and you deliver), you build stronger relationships.
• Generate consistent revenue: Repairs can provide steady income year-round, even during slower retail seasons.
• Create upselling opportunities: Customers who originally came for a simple repair can easily be upsold into cleaning services and protection plans.

Jewelry repairs aren't a particularly price-sensitive offering, but they are trust-sensitive. When a customer needs a sentimental piece repaired, they’re not just looking for the shop that can do it the cheapest. They're looking for a jeweler they trust to do the job right.

With these key advantages and considerations in mind, let’s walk through the steps to price jewelry repairs the right way for your store.

Understanding Your True Costs Before You Price

Before you can set prices, you need to know what it costs to run the repair side of your business.

Start by calculating your true hourly operating cost. This includes your bench jeweler's wages, of course, as well as studio overhead such as rent, utilities, and jewelry store insurance. Don't forget tools, equipment maintenance, and depreciation. Add it all up, divide by your operating hours, and you get a clear picture of what each hour in your shop actually costs.

These calculations get you close to your true costs, but you need to consider a few details. Most importantly, your bench jeweler won’t spend all eight hours of their workday cranking out repairs. Industry studies show that jewelers tend to work about 5.5 productive hours per day. The other 2.5 hours are spent answering staff questions, restocking their workstations, or taking breaks.

This is why you need to add a 25% time buffer to every repair estimate. If a sizing job takes 15 minutes of actual bench time, plan on 20 minutes total. To stay profitable, your target hourly rate should be $100–$125 per hour. Keep that figure in mind as we walk through the rest of this post.

The 3 Components of Every Repair Price

Every jewelry repair quote should include three essential components.

1. Labor

Calculate the actual time to complete the repair, then add that crucial 25% buffer we talked about earlier. Remember that labor isn’t just the bench time required for the repair. It also includes setup and finishing (cleaning, polishing, quality checks), plus the time your sales team spends consulting with the customer, explaining the repair, and managing customer service.

2. Materials

Materials include everything that goes into the repair: the metal you use to size a ring, solder, flux, polishing compounds, replacement stones, and findings. Some jewelers price based on what they originally paid for materials rather than on what it will cost to replace them, so be sure to use current replacement costs for all quotes.

3. Check-and-Tighten Fee

This is the most overlooked charge in the repair business. For rings with five or more stones, add a check-and-tighten fee (typically around $28) regardless of whether the stones are currently loose. This fee is critical because once you accept a repair, you take responsibility for those stones. You need to guarantee them against loosening or loss for 12 months following your repair to maintain customer trust.

Related Read: What To Say When a Jewelry Repair Takes Longer Than Expected

Pricing Common Jewelry Repairs

Now that we’ve discussed costs and core pricing components, let’s walk through a few common jewelry repairs with estimated price ranges:

• Ring sizing: Sizing down typically runs $40–$90, since you're removing metal and the job is relatively straightforward. Sizing up costs more, around $90–$140 or higher, because you're adding new metal to the ring. Complex designs, intricate engravings, or wide bands should be priced higher based on the labor and materials required.

• Prong retipping: The first prong always costs more because setup time is the same whether you're tipping one prong or 10. After that, your per-prong pricing drops because you're moving faster. A typical structure might look like this: higher charge for the first tip, reduced pricing for tips two through 10, and an even lower rate for 11+ stones.

• Chain and clasp repairs: Basic chain soldering for simple gold or silver chains generally costs $30–$35, but intricate chain styles like snake, Cuban, or rope chains cost more because the repair requires more precision. Clasp replacements vary based on the clasp type. A simple spring ring might be $30 to replace, while a lobster clasp in precious metal can run $65–$250+.

• Stone resetting: You want to price your resetting fees based on stone type. Round-cut stones are the easiest to reset, so you can price those lowest at around $100–$175. Fancier cuts like ovals, emeralds, or marquise should cost more. And if you’re working with pavé settings, charge $50–$60 per stone.

• Cleaning and polishing: Professional ultrasonic and steam cleaning should run $25–$45 for most pieces. Polishing services that remove scratches and restore a mirror finish typically cost quite a bit more because they involve repair rather than simple cleaning.

Your specific pricing will vary depending on your region, audience, bench jeweler’s experience, and more. But these baselines are a good place to start when setting your pricing.

Related Read: Pricing Jewelry: 9 Strategies To Boost Sales

Selling the Value, Not Just the Price

Jewelry repairs are not a super price-sensitive offering, so when customers question your repair pricing, it's rarely about the actual number. If a customer balks at your quote, it's because they don't understand the value they're getting.

During the consultation process, take your customers to the bench. Show them the gold stock you'll use for their ring resizing or the tools you’ll use for their clasp repair. Letting them see your jeweler at work also helps communicate the value of the repair and boost trust through transparency.

You need to train your sales team to communicate your bench jeweler’s expertise in a way that builds trust and sets expectations that justify a higher price point. You should also have your staff reference industry-standard pricing guides like Geller's Blue Book during the consultation process. Having an approved source for your pricing proves you're not just pulling numbers out of thin air.

Using Technology To Streamline Repair Pricing and Management

Managing repairs manually with paper tickets and sticky notes is a recipe for disaster. If you want to run a profitable and efficient jewelry repair business, you need the right tools and technology.

Your best bet is to invest in a point of sale (POS) system with built-in repair tracking features. Let’s highlight a few of the features you need to succeed:

• Work order management: First and foremost, you need a robust work order management system that lets you track your repairs and work orders in a centralized system. With a tool like Jewel360, you can easily see where every piece is at any time, making it easier to keep repairs on track and customers informed.

• Automated notifications: Your repair management system should automate customer notifications when repairs are completed or parts are ordered. Instead of relying on reminders or sticky notes to call customers (or worse, waiting for them to call for an update), your customers receive updates at every stage of the repair process.

• Digital record-keeping: Digital record-keeping for guarantees and service history lets you instantly pull up a customer's repair records, see what work was done, and honor warranties without digging through paper files.

• Marketing automation: Make the most of your repair services by retargeting those customers with future offers. Automatically follow up with repair customers a few months after a repair to remind them about maintenance, inspections, or seasonal promotions.

Jewel360 handles all these tasks and more. Our work order management feature, automated notifications, and marketing tools are built specifically for jewelry stores, so you can focus on craftsmanship while we handle the logistics.

Master How To Price Jewelry Repairs and Build a Profitable Repair Business

Pricing jewelry repairs profitably is simple once you know what to include in your calculation. Once you know your true costs, value your time and expertise, and communicate that value to your customers, the rest is easy.

The biggest point to remember is, when you’re offering jewelry repair services, you’re not competing on price — you’re competing on trust. Customers look for a jeweler they know they can trust to do exceptional work. You just have to show them that’s you.

Charge what you're worth. Guarantee your work. Educate your customers about the craftsmanship that goes into the repair process. When they understand the value, they'll gladly pay for it.

And when you're ready to take your repair business to the next level, Jewel360 makes it incredibly easy. Schedule a demo today to see how our all-in-one POS solution can transform your jewelry repair business.