Wedding Band Priced per Gram

[sfxc13]

Pricescope was so helpful for picking the engagement ring I am hoping I can get some help/info on wedding bands.

Last week we went to the jeweler to pick out wedding bands. For my band the jeweler said he wouldn't know the exact cost until it is made but that they charge $50/gram white gold and $90/gram platinum (he gave me an estimate on the amount needed to make the wring I wanted). I am pretty sure I want the platinum band but am having a little trouble justifying the price. Long story short I was looking up market prices for gold and platinum and now have a host of questions.

Price per gram of gold on market right now $38.45x.75 for 18k gold is $28.84
Price per gram of platinum on market right now $48x.9 for 900PT is $43.2

So profit/labor on gold $22.16/g or 77%
and profit/labor on platinum $46.8/g or 108%

Is platinum that much more labor intensive than gold?
Is $50/g for gold and more importantly $90/g for platinum a reasonable price?

 

[oldminer]

There are other costs than profit and labor involved. Platinum is a bit more costly to work with. In the USA and Canada, there is a need to get quite a bit more than the cost of raw metal. In many low labo cost countries a high karat gold band is virtually the price of the metal, but not here.

There are alternative metals that make a ring cost less, but the metal has virtually no value and they are impossible re-size.

 

[sfxc13]

There are other costs than profit and labor involved. Platinum is a bit more costly to work with. In the USA and Canada, there is a need to get quite a bit more than the cost of raw metal. In many low labo cost countries a high karat gold band is virtually the price of the metal, but not here.

There are alternative metals that make a ring cost less, but the metal has virtually no value and they are impossible re-size.

Thanks for the information. I assumed there were other costs involved which is why I was mainly comparing the difference between the jeweler's mark up on gold and their mark up on platinum (over market price). Assuming the other costs are relatively even for both gold and platinum it seems to me the only reason platinum has a larger increase over market price would be that "platinum is a bit more costly to work with".

I have no idea if that would make up the $24/g difference in price over market rate. Assuming one can quantify the difficulty in hours of labor, roughly how many more hours of labor does it take to make a platinum band than a white gold band? Since I imagine this depends on the complexity of band, I am looking at a band like this one http://www.bluenile.com/wedding-ring-white-gold_8121 but with a wider center section and narrower outside sections.

For example they charge $22.16/g over market price for gold. Assuming the same mark up on market price of platinum a 13g ring would cost $849.68 (13*(43.2+22.16)). Comparing that to the quoted $90/g cost of $1170 (90x13) gives us a difference of $320.32. Would it take 6 hours more time to make the above ring in platinum than in white gold (assuming a $50/hr rate)?

 

[oldminer]

The very analyitcal differences in asking price reflect the market reality that platinum buyers have a higher willingness to pay and gold buyers tend to be a bit more price conscious. As long as sellers feel they can get a greater premium for platinum they will tend to try to get it. There is no extra 6 hours of labor in a platinum band over an identical gold band. There is a higher cost of materials, a higher cost of manufacturing, but not physcially enough to justify the differences when calculated carefully. The free market just does not always function with pure logical outcome. Judging the willingness to pay is a study of marketing more so than cost analysis.