To check the price and look at historical charts, I follow Kitco.com. Most companies follow the London Fix. Below is a chart from their site showing the growth from 2000-2008. Click here to see other historical charts. You can also take a look at the News and Reports page at Kitco for a more technical (and political) explanation of why the market is doing what it is doing.

Here at Beaducation, and a lot of other companies, we have all our prices based on a $14 spot price. The market hung out at $14 per ounce for most of 2006 and 2007. That means that if one of our products weighs an ounce, we "should' up our prices quite a bit, since the spot has gone up over $4. Yikes, I don't want to do that!!! We have tried to keep our prices down, but the rise has continued and no one is predicting that it will stop.
So what does this mean to you, the consumer? Basically, you are going to see the retail and wholesale prices of most of your metal products go up, again. As we get in new shipments of products, you will see our prices increase. If you are reselling metals in your jewelry, you will need to up your prices as well. I have heard many designers say "copper is lookin' mighty pretty right about now". Maybe it is time to consider cheaper metals.
Most metal findings and products that you incorporate into your jewelry (ear wires, clasps, small amounts of wire, stamping blanks etc.) are quite light so you will only see their prices go up $.10-$2 depending on their weight.
Don't give up on Silver, Gold or Gold Filled yet. They are beautiful metals and so worth it. We just need to get used to higher prices and we need to start educating our customers to do the same.
1 comment:
Oooh, I love the blog! Thanks for the info on the price of silver. I've known that it was high & continuing to rise. You explained it so well.
Take care
Nerissa
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