[Jewelry making - Article 01076] - Re: [Orchid] [Michigan] Repair trade shops?

[David Geller]

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>     I am interested in starting a repair shop. not a jewelry store,
>     here in Michigan. Anyone have information that would help me?
>     Who's written a book? 

    Well I would tell you not to get into that field. It pays slave
    wages. You can smile, look nice, be good and basically charge what
    you need to make a very, very good living doing retail. 

    Of course the overhead is high. But repairs in retail are not price
    sensitive, they are trust sensitive. 

    But when it comes to trade work, it is PRICE sensitive. 

    I spoke to a guy last week, had been getting $10 wholesale to size a
    ring smaller. After a few years of doing a chain store's work, they
    gave HIM the list they were going to pay: 

    $4.55 to size a ring smaller. 

    You can't make living for less than $7. 

    But you asked 

    1. You should give them a repair list that is a 3 time markup over
    your cost. That will make it easy for them. 

    2. You should guarantee your labor. You cannot guarantee stone loss
    above a 10 point diamond. You can't charge enough. This is ONE of
    your policies and you MUST have the manager sign a copy of your
    polices before doing work otherwise they will blames you and make you
    pay for every small stones loss. You could pay for a 1/2 carat that
    fell out for a friggin $5 ring sizing. 

    3. You need insurance, go to www.jewelersmutual.com 

    4. You need a safe. Ask jewelers mutual what they'd require. 

    5. You need QuickBooks Pro 2006 to keep you books and for billing. 

    6. You'll need (if in town) a schedule for pick up and delivery. 

    7. You'll have to knock on people's doors to sell this
    "relationship" you want with them. You should dress nicely and bring
    some examples of your sizing, shank, tipping, soldering and setting
    work. 

    8. YOU SHOULD SET THEM UP FOR BILLING. Getting paid within 30 days
    is a must. Many of my trade shop buddies took my advice and signs all
    trade shops up with charging their credit cards when work is
    delivered. NO BILLING. Then the store can take their sweet time
    paying MasterCard rather than stringing you along. Don't fret, many
    of your accounts are ALREADY C.O.D. or on credit card buying with
    Stuller. 

    9. if you can't get a Stuller account, big deal. There are other
    wonderful suppliers. Southeastern Findings, R Findings, Agem, etc. 

    10. Deliver your work on time and don't be afraid to charge
    correctly. I'd suggest also, being part of your job is to help the
    STORE make money from you, offer 20 minutes of free training once a
    month to their sales staff on how repairs are done and selling
    repairs. For some stores it's the only training they get. 

    I did an analysis for a 90 store chain on their trade shop prices.
    Compiled 88 trade shops last year in what they charged, the high, the
    low and the average and then made a column for what I THOUGHT they
    should charge. I'll send it to you offline from Orchid. 

Good luck

David Geller
JewelerProfit, Inc.
510 Sutters Point
Atlanta, GA. 30328
(404) 255-9565 Voice
(404) 252-9835 Fax
david AT JewelerProfit.com
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