Making charges, explained without the sales pitch

The price of a gold piece is metal value plus making charges plus GST. Metal value is arithmetic: today's rate for the purity, times the weight. Making charges are where the variation lives, and they are usually quoted either as a percentage of metal value or as rupees per gram.

Handwork costs more than casting, and it should. A cast chain is poured into a mould in minutes. A hand-drawn rope chain is pulled, twisted, cut and soldered link by link — sometimes four hundred solder joints in a 20-inch chain. You are paying for hours, and the piece will outlast the cast one.

Where making charges are hard to defend is on plain machine-made items sold at handwork rates. If a 22K plain band carries 22% making charges, ask what the work was. A straight answer is a good sign; a change of subject is also information.

Our rule: making charges are printed on every product page alongside metal value, before you add to cart. You should never have to reverse-engineer them from a total.