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Thread: Hallmarking charges nearly doubled

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
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    Default Hallmarking charges nearly doubled

    Just had my first lot of hallmarking back since the change in prices in April. I must admit to not having checked the new rates but was cheered by the statement from Goldsmiths' Company of making charges easier to understand.
    They may well be easier to understand but the cost to me in March for a similar parcel was £48.00 this one was £87.72!!!! I do use the early hall service quite often but the boast to be "the lowest priced Assay Office" has to be a joke.
    Last edited by Anna Wales; 24-04-2015 at 12:49 PM.

  2. #2
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    The price list is available to view on the downloads section of the website...where it has always been.
    The charges for one or two items are the lowest of all the offices.
    Why don't you pm me the details and I'll be happy to go through the bill with you.....it might be a mistake!

  3. #3
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    I can empathise, had a big surprise myself with my last submission!

  4. #4
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    Apr 2013
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    Remember the price is now all inclusive....by that I mean the charge is per item and it doesn't matter what kind of precious metal, nor whether you have it struck or lasered. It includes the cost of the application of the sponsor mark, as well as the full traditional hallmark, and the charge for bag handling, all of which used to be extra.

  5. #5
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    The price list when you click on Hallmarking Price List doesn't come up. Only just found the useful downloads.The bill is not a mistake it's just a case of the Assay Office penalising makers abiding by the Hallmarking laws.
    4 bracelets,2 pendants,6 earrings and 18 rings in silver £87.72.

  6. #6
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    Nov 2012
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveLAO View Post
    Remember the price is now all inclusive....by that I mean the charge is per item and it doesn't matter what kind of precious metal, nor whether you have it struck or lasered. It includes the cost of the application of the sponsor mark, as well as the full traditional hallmark, and the charge for bag handling, all of which used to be extra.
    I'm happy to pay per item but there's now an £18.00 charge before the item is marked so a double charge.
    I mark my own items so I'm in effect being charged for that too even though I don't use the service and have no way of avoiding it.

  7. #7
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    Thanks for the heads up re the broken link. I'll get IT on to that straight away. It's available on the downloads page though (which is where the link takes you when it works!)

    I'm not sure that we're penalising makers for abiding by the law. We would certainly penalise makers for not abiding by the law, as you would expect! You could expect confiscation of the items, fines of up to £5K and a spell in prison!

    36 items (it doesn't matter what the metal is) is £18 plus 36 x 80p totalling £46.80 plus VAT.

  8. #8
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    London
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    Quote Originally Posted by Anna Wales View Post
    I'm happy to pay per item but there's now an £18.00 charge before the item is marked so a double charge.
    I mark my own items so I'm in effect being charged for that too even though I don't use the service and have no way of avoiding it.

    Yes there is no advantage to marking your own item. Having us put on all the marks actually makes for a better overall mark, as it is very difficult to pick up someone else's mark and try to ensure the depth of what we mark are the same as what you have marked!

    We always had minimum charges, this is just a different way of charging which includes the old minimum charge and puts all the extra charges into one unit charge

  9. #9
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    Nov 2012
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveLAO View Post
    Yes there is no advantage to marking your own item. Having us put on all the marks actually makes for a better overall mark, as it is very difficult to pick up someone else's mark and try to ensure the depth of what we mark are the same as what you have marked!

    We always had minimum charges, this is just a different way of charging which includes the old minimum charge and puts all the extra charges into one unit charge
    It's 30 items not 36.I don't want the assay Office to mark my items. Part of my pride as a maker is to mark my own things. I know there was a minimum charge before. I've been with London since 1981 and welcomed the news of a more straightforward way of charging but how naive of me to assume the charges might stay about the same or increase slightly.
    30 items 18.00
    Articles 24.00
    Postage& packing 10.10
    Early Hall 21.00

    Total + vat 87.72

  10. #10
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    ah, 6 earrings.....so 3 pairs! I thought you meant 6 pairs of earrings!

    I don't think I can do anything about the P&P charge nor the VAT

    The net charge then is £42.00. You requested early hall which incurs, as it always had, a 50% surcharge. Of course, that's not a compulsory charge...

    The general charges have actually stayed pretty much the same for many years without even inflationary rises, and so the price list was well overdue for an overhaul. We elected to introduce a completely new way of charging to make things easier, and yes it did include a modest general price rise, the first for many years.

    Of course you're welcome to continue to mark your own items if you wish to, but there is no financial advantage for doing so. I have to say though that I don't think the all inclusive price including the application of the sponsors mark is unique to our assay office.

    I'm sorry that you feel that we should have kept the pricing about the same. Everything has gone up over the years, apart from our general prices, and clearly this could not go on for ever. Sooner or later the prices had to go up, and over the last years, when business had been tough for everyone, we deliberately kept our prices unchanged to try to help the trade with their costs.

    We did give all our customers for whom we had up to date contact information fair warning, so it should not have been too much of a surprise that there was a price increase.
    Last edited by SteveLAO; 24-04-2015 at 01:50 PM.

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