Setting charges

[ps_bond]

I have a favour to ask... Never having actually had any stones set, I don't know what the current charges are like. Could I be really cheeky and ask what people are being charged for the service?
(Yes, I'm trying to sort a pricing structure; at the moment I can't really do it using my usual methods cos I'm slower than I ought to be - partly through trying to be a ruddy perfectionist - so I need some benchmarks)
PM is fine if people prefer!
TIA

[Wallace]

ooooh, excellent question and well done for getting that far.


can't wait to see what comes up :D

[Lucie]

I'll give my setter a call tomorrow. My bills usually arrive with everything added together (the stone / setting / engraving, etc) & it's been a while since I asked for a breakdown :)

[Lucie]

Hi. Apologies for the delay.
Setting a 1.5 pt diamond into a ring / pendant / charm is currently £15. This is price of the stone & the setting.
The example below was a yellow sapphire he set into an order for Christmas - sorry for the lousy photo.

I only ever get 1 or 2 stones set into things. I'd imagine the cost might go down if you were having loads set?
I've had other birthstones set locally for about £8, but to be honest, I stick with my regular guy because his work is flawless. I've been using him for years & he's super reliable (& very very busy, which I take as a good sign).5569

[LydiaNiz]

I would love to get any recommendations for setters. I know it is a cheeky ask.

[ps_bond]

Fantastic, thank you - that'll go into my deliberations.

Time costs are in part setup/teardown for the job - setting 10 stones in 1 ring takes a lot less time than 10 stones in 10 rings.

[Lucie]

Inboxed you sweetie. x

[Lucie]

Peter - All of my stuff is similar to the above. I send off batches of half a dozen items at a time that each need only one or two stones. So I'd imagine a lot of the cost is indeed the set-up charge.
The price seems to go down for microsetting, but as I don't ever get this sort of thing done, it's probably a bit cheeky to ask.

[ps_bond]

The assumption with microsetting is that there'll be a lot more stones as a result - 1 stone gets a bit lost. 100 starts to look more interesting.

[medusa]

Hi. Apologies for the delay.
Setting a 1.5 pt diamond into a ring / pendant / charm is currently £15. This is price of the stone & the setting.


I'm confused, the setter provides the stone and sets it for £15? that seems insanely cheap! Actually it seems cheap to me even if it were just the setting cost. How much prep do you have to do up front?

[Goldsmith]

I'm confused, the setter provides the stone and sets it for £15? that seems insanely cheap! Actually it seems cheap to me even if it were just the setting cost. How much prep do you have to do up front?

1.5pt diamonds are tiny and you would get approximately 66 in a carat. I buy good quality diamonds and my dealer would charge me about £5 per stone for this size of diamond when buying a packet.So that gives a charge of £10 for setting a stone. Any professional setter would be very happy with this rate per stone for this type of setting.

James

[Lucie]

That's my regular price - a 1.5 pt diamond is pretty titchy? This actually seems to be a bit more than most folk pay - my local guy will set a birthstone (half pearl / yellow topaz, etc) for roughly £8, but most people ask for diamonds.

[ps_bond]

With the last carat pack I bought I paid more than that - but a) there are a number of larger stones in the packet and b) they're VVS.

[Lucie]

Medusa - James has it exactly; £5 for the diamond & £10 for the setting.

[Goldsmith]

With the last carat pack I bought I paid more than that - but a) there are a number of larger stones in the packet and b) they're VVS.

For small stones I buy VS, I only buy VVS when buying 10 pointers or larger. As to setting costs, it really depends on the size of job, the last multi stone grain setting job I paid to be done for me cost me approx. £3 per stone, based on 140 stones set.
This was the job;

James

[ps_bond]

I only had the option of VVS or SI - and I don't much like SI; don't think there's anything quite at 10pt there (close though). £3 per stone is more-or-less what I'd expect for a decent amount of grain setting, possibly a bit more for micropave depending. Nice to have a job like that to work through.

[medusa]

is VVS, SI etc a way of grading the diamonds?

[ps_bond]

Part of it - the clarity of the 4Cs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_clarity

[Gemsetterchris]

Pricing can be tricky, mine vary quite abit depending on the customer...volume they send you, quality expected, time..ect.
Marking out spacing & drilling takes time before the setting, so if you need to do that add some.
Just keep it reasonable, don`t underprice your time nor take hours fussing over stuff at x 20 magnification.

[ps_bond]

...nor take hours fussing over stuff at x 20 magnification.

:D Who, me?

[Tabby66]

Prices you've been discussing are pretty much in line with what I pay. Micro-pave is towards the premium end of cost, a basic rub over is around £5, depending on volume and amount of work remaining for the setter to do. The more accurate the setting, less marking out drilling, etc, I nearly always supply my own stones, I often use stones which are unique and not standard sizes/shapes, hence the additional importance in the accuracy of the setting that I've made, keeping costs and breakages down!!

[Gemsetterchris]

I somehow think the jewellery/engraving/setting trade gets abit too carried away with minute details & wastes so much unecessary time & expense.
A good clean job done at a fair price in reasonable time is what I think matters.
Microscopes are to help your eyes see that you do a good job, not to get carried away on details no-one can see in reality.

You don`t see people in other trades messing about do you?

[ps_bond]

I somehow think the jewellery/engraving/setting trade gets abit too carried away with minute details & wastes so much unecessary time & expense.

Perhaps - but there's the issue of competing against yourself as much as with peers/


You don`t see people in other trades messing about do you?

Actually... In software, there's 2 approaches I see quite often. Those who lash something together quickly that more-or-less does the job, and those who will design something more structured that can be maintained. At delivery, both approaches seem to hold up (but the former takes less time) - but the maintenance costs on the former are *always* much higher than the up-front costs on the structured, designed work.

The language alone tells you which approach I favour :)

[Gemsetterchris]

Yes you need to do a good job & yes you should always try to better yourself, but that`s abit different from wasting time.
You need to learn when to stop & get on with the next job.

[Dennis]

You need to learn when to stop & get on with the next job.

That's the hardest bit of all, Chris. Hope you are well, Dennis.

[theresa]

Hi Lydia
Before Christmas I used this guy for a rush job of 3 tiny stones in a row and his work was flawless. Better than I could have managed, tho' I am improving with practice.
www.smith-diamond-setting.co.uk
Channel set rounds, up to 2.5mm, including cutting channel, £4.50;
Princess cuts £6.50-£8.50
Flush set rounds including marking out £4+
Princess £10+
Fancy shapes £12+
Basic thread and grain with marking out and pre drilling £3.50 per stone
Melee pave £4
Micro pave (1.2mm and under) £4
Fishtail pave £4
Castile pave £4
Rubover £8-£25 depending on size and shape.
Claw single stone £8+ depending on size and shape, type of claw i.e. corner claws, round claws, flat thumb nail etc.

I would certainly use him again.

Theresa

[ps_bond]

Thanks Theresa; I did find this as well - http://www.pesho-diamonds.com/prices.html

[LydiaNiz]

Thanks so much from me too! :-)