You’ve walked into a jewellery store, picked a necklace you love, and the bill is higher than expected. The gold rate checks out. So what’s the difference?
Most of the time, it’s making charges.
They sit quietly in the invoice, often unexplained, and buyers either accept them or feel vaguely shortchanged. Neither is ideal. Once you understand how making charges actually work, jewellery pricing stops feeling like a mystery and you start making smarter decisions.
What Are Making Charges in Gold Jewellery?
Making charges are the fees a jeweller adds for the labour and skill involved in turning raw gold into a finished piece.
Gold in its raw form bars, granules, and alloy doesn’t just become a necklace on its own. Someone designs it, casts it, sets the stones, polishes every surface, and inspects the final result. Making charges pay for all of that.
They’re separate from the gold rate, which is determined by market prices and changes daily. The making charge is set by the jeweller based on the work involved in crafting your specific piece.
Why Making Charges Vary So Much Between Designs
This is where most buyers get confused. Two necklaces in the same window, similar weight, different prices, the making charge is usually why.
A plain gold bangle takes minimal craftsmanship. A temple jewellery necklace with intricate filigree work, stone settings, and detailed engravings takes hours of skilled artisan time. The materials may cost the same, the work doesn’t.
Other factors that influence making charges:
- Design complexity More detailed work means higher labour costs
- Jewellery type Chains, earrings, bangles, and necklaces each have different production processes
- Handmade vs. machine-made Handcrafted pieces almost always carry higher charges
- Stone setting Pieces with Kundan, polki, or meenakari work involve specialised craftspeople
So when a piece has high making charges, it’s not automatically a red flag. Often, it means more skilled work went into it.
Fixed vs. Percentage-Based Making Charges
Jewellers calculate making charges in one of two ways.
Fixed (per gram): A flat fee per gram of gold say AED 15 per gram regardless of design. Simpler to calculate and easier to compare across jewellers. In Dubai, fixed making charges can start as low as AED 10–15 per gram for simpler pieces.
Percentage-based: A percentage of the total gold value. In Dubai’s Gold Souq, making charges typically range from 5% to 8% for standard pieces, though handcrafted rings run 8–12%, and detailed bridal sets can go from 15–25%. The catch: making charges rise automatically when gold prices rise, even if the design hasn’t changed.
Percentage-based charges can work in your favour for lightweight, lower-value pieces but on heavier or intricate jewellery, they add up fast.
Before you buy, always ask which method applies. The difference in cost on a 20-gram necklace can be significant.
How Gold Jewellery Price Is Actually Calculated
Here’s the basic formula most jewellers follow:
Total Price = (Gold Weight × Current Gold Rate) + Making Charges + GST
Some jewellers also add a wastage charge, particularly for handcrafted work, which accounts for gold lost during the manufacturing process. This is legitimate but worth confirming separately.
For example, on a 10-gram 22K gold necklace:
- Gold value at AED 280/gram = AED 2,800
- Making charges at 12% = AED 336
- VAT (5%) on gold + making charges = AED 156.80
- Approximate total: AED 3,292.80
The same necklace with 18% making charges would cost nearly AED 175 more. That’s the number worth negotiating.
A bonus for tourists: If you’re visiting Dubai, you can reclaim most of the 5% VAT through the Tax Refund for Tourists Scheme at the airport
What to Check Before You Buy
If you want to buy gold without leaving money on the table, ask three things before agreeing to a price:
- What are the making charges fixed per gram or a percentage?
- Is wastage charged separately, and how much?
- Are making charges negotiable? (For plain or lightly worked designs, they often are.)
For a complete breakdown of what to look for across the entire buying process , hallmarking, gold purity, pricing, and more the Complete Guide to Buying Gold Jewellery covers it all in one place.
Common Mistakes Buyers Make
Comparing prices without checking making charges. A lower sticker price doesn’t mean better value if the making charge is significantly higher per gram.
Ignoring wastage charges. Some jewellers include this in making charges; others list it separately. Always clarify.
Not asking about a buyback policy on making charges. When you sell back gold jewellery, most jewellers buy it at the gold rate only the making charges are non-recoverable. Knowing this upfront shapes how much you should pay.
A Few Tips Before You Walk In
- For everyday jewellery you’ll wear regularly, prioritise design and durability over low making charges.
- If you’re buying purely as an investment, simpler designs with lower making charges make more financial sense.
Making charges are part of buying gold. They’re not a trap, they pay real people for real craft. But knowing what they cover, and how to evaluate them, is the difference between buying confidently and buying blind.
If you’d like to explore more, visit Thangals to discover our full collection.
