Gold Making Charge Explained: How It’s Calculated (Examples)

By P-Soft Expert Team October 10, 2026 10 min read

The making charge on gold jewelry is the amount charged on top of the gold’s own value for designing, manufacturing and finishing the piece, usually calculated as a percentage of the gold value or as a fixed amount per gram. There is no single answer to “what percentage is the making charge”; the type of work, the level of detail, any stone setting and the seller’s policy decide it.

In Iran the making charge is called ojrat, and it causes more debate at the counter than anything else. Customers ask why two necklaces of the same weight cost so differently, and sellers need to explain the figure clearly and defensibly. This guide is for both sides: what the making charge is, how it is calculated, how the daily gold rate affects it, where it belongs on the invoice and how it feeds into the shop’s profit. All figures are hypothetical, in Iranian toman (1 toman = 10 rials).

What Is the Making Charge on Gold, and What Does It Pay For?

When you buy a piece of gold jewelry you are buying two things: a quantity of gold at a stated purity, and the work done to turn that gold into a ring or bracelet. The price of the second part is the making charge, and it typically covers:

The maker’s and workshop’s labor, from casting and molding to assembly.
Design and mold-making, especially for new designs.
Polishing, finishing and sometimes plating or coloring.
Natural metal loss during manufacturing, which the maker factors in.
The distributor’s and wholesaler’s share along the way to the showcase.

So the making charge is not “extra profit” for the retailer; part of it is a cost the shop already paid when it bought the piece.

Why Do Two Pieces of the Same Weight Have Different Making Charges?

Weight tells you how much gold there is, not how much work went into it. Factors that push the making charge up or down:

Factor	Typical effect on making charge
Machine-made, mass-produced pieces	Lower, because each piece takes less work
Handmade and intricate designs	Higher, due to more time and skill
Stone and gem setting	Higher; the stones themselves are usually priced separately
Lightweight pieces with busy designs	The charge rises as a percentage of the gold value
Special or custom designs	Often a negotiated fixed fee

That’s why comparing two shops by “making charge percentage” alone isn’t enough; you also need to know whether the pieces are comparable in workmanship.

What Percentage Is the Making Charge on Gold Jewelry?

The honest answer is that there is no fixed rate for every piece. Simple machine-made work usually carries a lower percentage; handmade, delicate or stone-set work carries more. In some Iranian cities the jewelers’ guild may publish guidance; for exact local rules, ask your city’s gold and jewelry guild. What matters more to a buyer than the percentage itself is that the making charge is shown separately from the gold value, as a clear amount on the invoice.

How to Calculate the Making Charge: Percentage or Per Gram?

Retail sales mostly use two methods (a third, a fixed fee for the whole piece, is mostly used for custom orders):

Percentage method: making charge = gold value × making-charge percentage.
Per-gram method: making charge = weight × charge per gram.

The difference shows up when the gold rate moves. Hypothetical example: a 5 g piece at 750 purity, with a 15% percentage charge or a per-gram charge of 500,000 toman.

Scenario	Assumed rate per gram	Percentage charge (15%)	Per-gram charge
Today	4,000,000	3,000,000	2,500,000
After a 10% rate increase	4,400,000	3,300,000	2,500,000

With the percentage method the charge follows the gold rate; with the per-gram method it stays put until the seller updates it. Neither is inherently better, but a shop should know which method it uses for which product group and apply it consistently on every invoice.

A Full Worked Example: Making Charge, Profit and Tax Together

Take an 8.620 g bracelet at 750 purity, sold at an assumed 4,000,000 toman per gram, with a 14% making charge and 7% seller’s profit on gold plus making charge.

Gold value: 8.620 × 4,000,000 = 34,480,000 toman.
Making charge: 14% of 34,480,000 = 4,827,200 toman.
Profit: 7% of 39,307,200 = 2,751,504 toman.
Total before tax: 42,058,704 toman.
Making charge plus profit: 7,578,704 toman.

The fifth number matters because, under the rules commonly applied in Iran, value-added tax on gold jewelry is charged on the making charge and profit rather than on the gold itself. Rules and rates differ by country and can change, so confirm them each year with your accountant. The full price formula, with a calculator, is in our gold price calculation guide.

How Should the Making Charge Appear on a Gold Invoice?

An invoice that only shows a grand total causes trouble sooner or later. A transparent invoice shows these columns separately for each piece:

Weight to the milligram, and karat.
Rate per gram at the time of sale.
Gold value.
Making charge, both the percentage or per-gram rate and the final amount.
Seller’s profit.
Tax.
Stone or gem price, if charged separately.

This breakdown does three things: the customer understands what they are paying for, the tax base is calculated correctly, and if the customer ever returns or sells the piece, it is clear which part of the price was gold and which was labor.

Do You Get the Making Charge Back When You Sell Gold?

At most shops, when buying gold back from a customer, the price is based only on weight and purity; the making charge the customer paid originally is not refunded. The reason is that a worn piece is usually bought to be melted or resold at a lower price. For trade-ins (old gold against new), some shops offer different terms. Whatever your policy, tell the customer before the deal. We walk through buy-backs in buying used gold from customers.

Making Charge in the Shop’s Books: Purchase vs Sales Making Charge

For a shop owner, the making charge runs in two directions. When you buy a piece from a wholesaler or maker, you pay a making charge too, sometimes in money and sometimes in weight, meaning a percentage of the weight added to your gold debt with the wholesaler. When you sell the piece, you collect the sales making charge from the customer. Your real margin on making charge is the difference.

Hypothetical example: if the purchase making charge on the same 8.620 g bracelet was 5% of the gold value, or 1,724,000 toman, and the sales making charge was 4,827,200 toman, the making-charge margin on that piece is 3,103,200 toman. If you never record the purchase making charge, this number stays invisible and your profit and loss looks better than it is. Weight-based making charges with trade partners are covered in gold wholesale (bonakdari) accounting.

Negotiating the Making Charge: Rules for Sellers and Buyers

Discounting the making charge is common in the gold trade, but without rules it quietly eats your margin. Practical suggestions:

Set a maximum making-charge discount per product group and tell your sales staff.
Anything beyond that cap needs a manager’s approval.
Record discounts on the invoice as a lower making charge, never by adjusting weight or rate.
For buyers: instead of asking “what’s your best price?”, ask for the making charge per piece as a percentage or amount, and compare it across shops for similar pieces.

Recording the Making Charge in Gold Accounting Software

Working out the making charge on a calculator during busy hours is a main source of invoice errors. In Zaran, P-Soft’s gold accounting software (its interface is in Persian and it is built for the Iranian gold market), sales and purchase invoices calculate the making charge together with weight, karat and price from the Start plan onward, and the Pro plan adds wholesale (bonakdari) invoices. That way both purchase and sales making charges sit on the same document as the weight and karat.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the making charge on gold?

It is the amount charged, separately from the gold value, for designing, making and finishing a piece of jewelry.

What percentage is a typical gold making charge?

There is no fixed figure. It depends on how the piece is made, its detail, any stones and the shop’s policy; machine-made pieces usually carry a lower charge than handmade ones.

Is a percentage or per-gram making charge better?

Neither is always better. A percentage charge moves with the gold rate while a per-gram charge stays fixed; what matters is applying the chosen method consistently.

Is the making charge refunded when I sell my old gold?

Usually not. Most shops price a customer’s gold on weight and purity only and ignore the making charge paid at purchase.

Is tax charged on the gold making charge?

Under the rules commonly applied in Iran, VAT falls on the making charge and profit, not the gold value. Rules vary by country, so check current rates with your accountant.

To see invoices with percentage and per-gram making charges in action, explore Zaran gold and jewelry accounting software and request a demo.