How to price handmade jewelry
Updated
A fair price pays for four things: your materials, your time, your overhead, and the fees where you sell. Then it adds some profit for the business.
How much should I charge for handmade jewelry?
Enough to cover all four, plus profit. With supplier prices from this month, the silver hoops above come to at least $21.84, the wire-wrapped pendant to $70.10, and the beaded bracelet to $14.41. Your numbers will differ, so use the calculator above.
Pricing beaded bracelets? The beaded bracelet pricing calculator takes beads by the strand, and prices stacks too.
Making earrings? Read how to price handmade earrings, with ear wire prices and a worked example.
Selling on Instagram? Read how to sell jewelry on Instagram, with what PayPal, Venmo and Square take from an order.
The pricing formula
- Add up what the materials for one piece cost, including a little for waste.
- Work out your time for one piece: hours × your hourly rate.
- Add your overhead for one piece: tools, electricity, your website. Divide a month of it by the pieces you make in a month.
- Price = (all costs + fixed fees) ÷ (1 − percentage fees − profit).
Percentage fees are taken from the final price. That's why the last step divides, instead of adding the fees on top.
How to price sterling silver and gold-filled jewelry
Price metal by what it costs to buy again, not what you paid last year. Suppliers sell silver and gold by the troy ounce (31.1 g), wire and chain by the foot, and sheet by weight. Enter each the way you buy it, then how much one piece uses, in grams, pennyweight or inches. The calculator converts between them.
Add a waste percentage for sawing, filing and offcuts. Scrap you sell back to a refiner brings some of it back, but count what you actually lose.
Wire and chain by the inch
The wire-wrapped pendant example uses wire bought by the foot and used by the inch. It makes 1 piece in 45 minutes. This covers your materials, your time at $20 an hour, your overhead and Etsy fees. It leaves $14.03 profit a piece.
Welding chain on a customer? The permanent jewelry pricing calculator prices bracelets, anklets and necklaces by the inch, with the jump ring and the weld.
One-of-a-kind pieces vs batches
A one-off piece carries all of its time. In a batch, your time and anything used once per batch are shared across every piece. The silver hoops example makes 10 pieces in 2 hours 30 minutes, which is why each pair costs less time than a pendant.
What to charge a shop (wholesale)
Shops usually pay half your retail price and double it to sell. For the pendant: At half your retail price, a shop order wouldn't cover your costs. Charge at least $97.93 retail to sell wholesale.
Consignment: what you keep
On consignment, the shop sells your piece at your retail price and keeps a commission. You're paid after it sells. Enter the commission under More settings to see what you'd be paid, and what that pays you an hour.
Silver went up. What do I charge now?
Enter what you pay now, and what you paid before under "Add waste or an old price". The result shows how much more each piece costs, and the new price. Reprice from what the metal costs to replace, even for pieces you made earlier.
Common pricing mistakes
- Leaving out your own time.
- Using ordinary ounces for silver or gold, instead of troy ounces.
- Forgetting jump rings, clasps, crimps, cards and bags.
- Forgetting the fees where you sell.
- Keeping old prices after metal costs more.
- Offering wholesale when half your retail price doesn't cover your costs.
Common questions
- What is a troy ounce?
- It's how gold and silver are weighed: 31.1 grams. An ordinary ounce is 28.35 grams, so mixing them up puts metal about 10% off. A pennyweight (dwt) is one twentieth of a troy ounce.
- How do I price wire-wrapped jewelry?
- Enter the wire the way you buy it, by the foot or spool, and how many inches one piece uses. Add stones, chain and findings by the piece, and the time the wrapping takes.
- How much should I charge for beaded bracelets?
- Use our beaded bracelet pricing calculator. Enter each strand you bought and how many beads one bracelet uses. Add cord or wire, the clasp, packaging and your time.
- What counts as overhead?
- Business costs that aren't for one piece: tools, electricity, your website, a booth tent. Add up a usual month and divide by the pieces you make in a month. Packaging goes in materials, because each piece uses its own.
- What do I charge a shop for wholesale?
- Most shops expect to pay half your retail price, so they can double it. The calculator shows that price, or tells you when half your retail price wouldn't cover your costs.
- What's a normal consignment split?
- It depends on the shop and is set in your agreement. Enter the shop's commission under More settings to see what you'd be paid and what that pays you an hour.
- My wire is sold by weight but I use it by the inch. What do I enter?
- Weigh what one piece uses, or use the feet per ounce your supplier lists. The calculator can't turn a weight into a length, because that depends on the wire's gauge.
Where the example prices come from
Each example uses the regular price of one pack on a US supplier's site, checked on September 24, 2026. Prices change, especially for silver.
- Sterling wire, 16 ga half hard (Beadaholique)
- Earring cards (Jewelry Supply)
- Sterling wire, 20 ga half hard (Jewelry Supply)
- Rose quartz cabochon, 12 mm (Fire Mountain Gems)
- Sterling box chain, 18 in (Jewelry Supply)
- Gift box (Jewelry Supply)
- Czech glass beads, 8 mm (Beadaholique)
- Opelon stretch cord, 0.7 mm (Beadaholique)
- Organza pouch (Fire Mountain Gems)
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