David,

That is a great story. That approach to pricing applies to all of us.

A couple of years ago I bought a used New Hermes inside-ring engraver on Ebay. It worked fine and I was able to provide the service I wanted.

One day I was engraving a wedding band and didn't release the diamond cutter correctly, which resulted in a nice line drug from the last letter to the edge of the band.

I immediately took the ring to a local jeweler to have him remove the engraving. As I visited with him I discovered that he did his own inside-ring engraving and charged $5 whether the ring was purchased there or not. Their price has probably been $5 for 25 years.

After discovering his price schedule, I raised my price from $15 to $17.50 and began taking all of my ring engraving to him. It is great because he does the engraving and assumes all of the risk for errors.

That same day I listed my New Hermes engraver on Ebay and recouped that investment in about five days. That money is now invested in other equipment, giving me another profit center that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

Joe,

I hate to take advantage of someone who is charging about 25% of what the market will bare. He thinks I am an angel sent from heaven. Let's hope he doesn't figure out the real value of his labor anytime soon.

I think that passing on the risk is the best part of it. My insurance agent thinks so as well.

While I do plenty of customer supplied items, dealing with rings that are worth multi-thousands of dollars was a bit nerve racking for me.

The risk factor is the part of the pricing that I think most engravers are not figuring into their price. There are not a lot of engravers that want to assume that risk.

Mark,

My pricing rants are as much a reminder to myself as to others. I've been in John's position. He sees himself as a skilled artisan (which he is) and the customers merely look at him as the underling who jumps to their commands. I picked up on that, though I doubt he did.

I don't appreciate my friend being taken advantage of like that. Then again, nobody can be taken advantage of unless they allow it.

I also realize that nobody makes a crucial change in their business until they're ready. After 30+ years in this industry, it was only about 5 years ago that I decided I was ready to drive the bus.

I think because most of us have accumulated our knowledge over a span of years, (sometimes decades), we lose sight of just how much skill we've developed.

David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri
DGL Engraving
Port Hueneme, CA

David,

Words of wisdom, from a wise man :-)

David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri
DGL Engraving
Port Hueneme, CA

David,

Back on the subject of risk. I had a customer bring in a sterling silver child's cup that had names engraved on it dating back to 1846 (or maybe it was 1864, whatever it was, it was long ago). The only area remaining on the cup to engrave was an ornamental "ridge" that was about 3/32" wide and went all the way around the cup. Another option was to start adding names to the bottom of the cup. For me to engrave on the "ridge" it would have cost them $40 (more risk for error). Engraving a name on the bottom would have cost $15. They now have a name on the bottom of the cup.