Why Every Jewelry Maker Needs a Warranty

I know the pieces I make are $60+, but one thing I have learnt along my jewelry journey is the importance of having a customer warranty in place for your pieces. If you’re selling your jewelry direct to customers and your pieces are $40+ and above, I honestly think it’s something worth considering.

What Do I Mean By A Warranty?

I don’t mean promising your jewelry will survive being eaten by the dog or anything!

I just mean giving your customers confidence that if something goes wrong because of a fault in the making of the piece, you’ll sort it out and repair it. It’s a way of saying, ‘I stand behind my work‘.

A warranty doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as simple as offering repairs for genuine faults within a set period of time.

Why have it?

A lot of people assume warranties are something you introduce once you’re selling hundreds of pieces a month or charging luxury prices. I’d would disagree. If you’re selling jewelry direct to customers and you’re confident in your work, introducing a simple warranty can make sense from your very first sale.

The real question isn’t ‘Am I big enough for a warranty?‘ It’s ‘Can I afford the occasional repair if something goes wrong?‘

For most small handmade jewelry businesses, the answer is yes.

A warranty can:

• Build trust with first-time buyers
• Show confidence in your work
• Differentiate you from hobby sellers
• Increase perceived value
• Give customers peace of mind
• Create a cut off date for further repairs

But don’t ever offer a lifetime warranty! 🤯

What I offer:

• A one year warranty
• Covering: faults, loose findings, failed crimps, broken jump rings, that sort of thing (I personally avoid covering accidental damage or loss.)

In over 20 years of making and selling jewelry, the vast majority of repairs I’ve seen haven’t been caused by the piece itself. They’ve been caused by customers loving and wearing their jewelry too much that they barely take it off.

I’m talking about necklaces worn in the shower, bracelets worn to bed every night, pieces worn while swimming, gardening, exercising, and generally living a very full life. You can usually tell the moment a repair arrives back. These aren’t pieces that have failed. They’re pieces that have been well …loved shall we say.

That’s actually one of the reasons I’m comfortable offering a warranty. When you put care and attention into making your jewelry properly, genuine faults become the exception rather than the rule.