Rules
Part of Handmade silver work business guide: records, care, repair
Underpricing, missing labor, vague alloy claims, repair scope creep, and weak records
Five silver jewelry problems: underpricing, missing bench labor, vague alloy claims, repair scope creep and weak records, with the checks, stop rules and corrections for each.
What to take away
- Check each piece's cost against actual bench hours and materials before changing a price.
- Owner hours at the bench are real cost, even though no wage is paid per job.
- A 925 stamp covers the sterling body, not the solder, findings or plating.
- Stop repair work at the first hidden problem, and get written approval before continuing.
- Correct records by adding a dated entry, never by editing the original.
These problems reinforce one another. A low quote encourages rushed labor entries, rushed entries hide rework, weak material records produce vague descriptions, and vague intake notes make repair disputes harder to resolve. Freeze the job record before correcting it.
Underpricing
Start with a price bridge:
Price bridge to contribution
- Quoted price
- Less discounts, commission, fees, returns, shipping
- Equals net revenue
- Less material and outside services
- Less actual labor
- Less allocated overhead and selling cost
- Equals actual contribution
Quoted price
- discounts, commission, fees, returns, and shipping absorbed
= net revenue
Net revenue
- actual material and outside services
- actual labor
- allocated overhead and selling cost
= actual contribution
Compare estimate with actual, line by line. For silver pieces, typical misses are silver price changes between quote and purchase, freight, scrap that was never recovered, design revisions, polishing and finishing time, and packing.
For example, a $300 pendant with $60 of marketplace fees and shipping nets $240. If materials cost $70, six bench hours at $30 cost $180, and overhead adds $25, the piece loses $35 before the maker is paid for anything else. The numbers are illustrative, but the arithmetic is the test a quote must pass.
Do not solve every negative margin by raising all prices equally. Correct the cause. A recurring finishing underestimate belongs in the estimating model. A one-time furnace failure may belong in maintenance or loss analysis. A design that cannot support its cost may need redesign or withdrawal.
Missing labor
Look for time before and after fabrication. Design, sourcing, sample making, photography, listing, email, cleanup, recordkeeping, packing, and correction all use the bench. Owner time is often left out because no paycheck is issued per job.
Reconstruct missing labor
- Calendars
- Machine logs
- Messages
- File timestamps
- Shipping records
- Maker notes
- Mark estimates as estimates
Reconstruct cautiously from calendars, workshop timers, messages, file timestamps, shipping records, and bench notes. Mark estimates as estimates. For future jobs, use simple stage codes such as "forming", "soldering", "finishing" and "packing", and require same-day entry. Review missing or rounded entries weekly.
Do not treat a target wage as the selling rate. Add overhead, nonbillable time such as sourcing and returns, and profit separately, then divide by realistic productive hours rather than by a full forty-hour week.
Alloy and construction claims
"Silver," "sterling," "solid," "925," "handmade," and "recycled" each make a claim. Sterling silver is 92.5 percent silver by weight, and the 925 mark records that. Fine silver is about 99.9 percent. Coin silver is 90 percent. Identify what evidence supports the entire object, not one component. A chain, clasp, solder, plating, or customer-supplied finding may differ from the main metal.
Test methods differ in reliability. An acid spot test reads only the surface and can miss plating. An X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer reads the composition of a small spot, so test several areas, including a solder joint. A laboratory fire assay gives the most complete answer for a piece sold as solid silver.
Alloy claim evidence
Claim
- Sterling body
- Supplier invoice, batch certificate, assay
- Silver plated
- Process spec, supplier record, base-metal record
- Handmade
- Defined production record
- Recycled content
- Chain-of-custody or supplier calculation
Evidence
- Sterling body
- Solder and findings may differ
- Silver plated
- Thickness and wear life need separate evidence
- Handmade
- Purchased findings and outsourced stages disclosed
- Recycled content
- Bench scrap alone does not prove percentage
Unresolved limit
- Sterling body
- Silver plated
- Handmade
- Recycled content
Build an evidence table:
| Claim | Possible evidence | Unresolved limit |
|---|---|---|
| Sterling body | Supplier invoice, batch mark record, XRF or fire-assay result | Solder, findings and clasps may differ |
| Silver plated | Plating process record, supplier record, base-metal record | Plating thickness and wear life need separate evidence |
| Handmade | Dated production record showing who made each stage | Purchased findings and outside work must be disclosed |
| Recycled content | Supplier chain-of-custody or a written calculation | Bench scrap alone does not prove a percentage |
The Federal Trade Commission's Guides for the Jewelry, Precious Metals, and Pewter Industries (16 CFR Part 23) cover claims about silver and other metals. Each objective claim needs a reasonable basis before it is published. If the evidence does not support the wording, narrow or remove the claim, and check current FTC guidance before writing new listings.
Repair scope creep
Scope creep starts when inspection reveals a hidden problem: soft solder in a joint, sheet worn thin where a file has cut through, plating over base metal, heat damage to a stone or adhesive, a worn or altered hallmark, or mixed metals that cannot be heated together. The wrong response is to continue because the customer already expects a date.
Repair discovery decision
Does inspection reveal unstable stone, hidden solder, plating, thinning, adhesive, damaged hallmark, mixed metal, or heat risk?
Stop, photograph, describe, offer options, get written approval
Continue only within original scope and assumptions
Stop, photograph, and describe the discovery. State why it affects method, risk, price, schedule, appearance, or feasibility. Offer options with their new costs and exclusions. Obtain written approval before proceeding. If no safe method exists, decline the work or refer it to a specialist.
Do not promise an invisible repair, an exact color match, a permanent patina, unchanged dimensions, or stone survival when the evidence cannot support it. Return removed parts according to the intake terms.
Weak records
IRS Publication 583, Starting a Business and Keeping Records, describes the supporting documents to keep. Those include supplier invoices, sales receipts and payment-processor reports. As a general rule, keep tax records for three years from the date the return was filed, and longer for some items. Confirm the period for your own situation with an accountant.
Reconstruct in order of reliability:
- bank, processor, invoice, purchase, and shipping records;
- supplier batch, assay, and outside-service documents;
- signed quotes, approvals, messages, and product listings;
- dated photographs, measurement sheets, and job travelers;
- clearly labeled recollection only where original evidence is absent.
Never backdate or silently alter a record. Add a correction entry with author, date, reason, source, and the original preserved.
Correction table
| Problem | Immediate hold | System correction |
|---|---|---|
| Price below cost | Pause repeat quote | Update cost driver and approval floor |
| Labor absent | Flag margin as provisional | Same-day stage time and weekly review |
| Alloy unclear | Stop claim or sale wording | Trace batch, test in several spots, narrow description |
| Repair discovery | Stop physical work | Written change and approval threshold |
| Missing invoice or approval | Pause fulfillment if rights are unclear | Required document gate before release |
Common questions
Should I hide owner labor to keep a competitive price?
No. Record it so the business sees the real result. Then change the design, the process, the sales channel, or the decision to sell the piece.
Does a 925 stamp prove the whole object is sterling?
Not alone. Scope, mixed components, plating and supporting records still matter.
Can a customer approve repair changes by phone?
Follow the agreed contract and applicable law, but keep a written confirmation of the changed scope, price, risk and schedule before work resumes.
Can I recreate missing records from memory?
Only as a clearly labeled reconstruction. Preserve original evidence, explain the method, and do not present estimates as contemporaneous facts.
