Everything buyers ask before a first order

316L stainless steel for most ranges. It does not tarnish, does not need a protective plating to be sold bare, does not stain skin, and at 150–190 HV it resists the deformation softer metals suffer in daily wear. Titanium is better where weight or a diagnosed nickel allergy decides it; 925 silver is better where fine cast detail or stone setting matters more than durability.

No — 316L contains 10–14% nickel. It still passes EN 1811 comfortably, because the alloy is austenitic and the nickel is bound in the crystal structure rather than free at the surface. EU law limits nickel release (0.5 µg/cm²/week for skin contact, 0.2 µg/cm²/week for pierced ears), not nickel content, and those two things do not correlate.

Yes. Sterling silver at 925 fineness is within our capability, and it is the right choice where a piece is sold on metal value or needs fine cast detail and stone setting. Note that silver is priced against the daily spot market, so quotations expire — usually within days — and a reorder three months later legitimately carries a different metal cost.

316L adds 2–3% molybdenum, which 304 does not contain, and holds carbon at or below 0.03%. Molybdenum sharply improves resistance to chloride pitting — sweat, seawater, pool water — and the low carbon prevents carbide precipitation at weld seams. Both are sold as "surgical steel", which is a marketing term with no standard behind it, so ask for the grade designation.

No. A PVD chamber runs hotter than Zamak's melting point of 381–387 °C, so the part would deform. Anything sold as "PVD zinc alloy" is electroplated. Where a PVD finish is required, the substrate has to be stainless steel or titanium.

A unit price is metal weight × metal cost, plus labour per operation, plus plating by surface area and micron thickness, plus finishing, packing and a 3–8% scrap allowance. At 1,000 pieces, a stamped 316L ring with gold PVD is in the region of $0.87–1.71 ex-works and a cast brass pendant with 1 µm gold plating $1.31–2.77. Those are industry-typical ranges, not a quotation for a specific design.

A silicone casting mold is roughly $30–80, a vulcanised rubber mold $50–120, a simple steel stamping die $150–500, a progressive die $500–2,000, and a zinc die-casting die $600–2,500. CNC machining needs no tooling at all — only programming and setup, which is why it suits small runs and designs still being revised.

Not here, and it should not be anywhere. Tooling is invoiced as its own one-off line, the buyer owns it, and there is no second charge on a reorder. When a supplier folds tooling into the unit price it is amortised across an assumed quantity — which is why a smaller reorder from that kind of supplier silently costs more per piece with no line item to point at.

Almost always because the two assumed different plating thickness, different metal grade or a different scrap allowance, and because one folded tooling into the unit price while the other quoted it separately. Two quotes both described as "18k gold plated" can mean 0.1 µm and 1.0 µm — a tenfold difference in deposited gold. Fix the grade, the microns and the tooling treatment in writing before comparing.

Metal cost per piece barely moves, because it is set by weight and market price. Labour and setup per piece fall sharply, because the same machine setup, plating bath preparation and first-article inspection are spread across more pieces. The steep part of the curve is roughly between 500 and 2,000 pieces; beyond a few thousand it flattens as metal comes to dominate.

Under REACH Annex XVII entry 27, jewelry sold in the EU and UK must release no more than 0.5 µg/cm²/week of nickel in prolonged skin contact, and no more than 0.2 µg/cm²/week for items inserted into pierced ears. Release is measured by EN 1811, after EN 12472 wear-and-corrosion simulation for coated items, and the limit must still hold after two years of normal use.

Titanium passes by composition, being nickel-free. 316L stainless steel passes despite containing 10–14% nickel, because the alloy is austenitic and the nickel is locked in the crystal structure. Brass and zinc alloy pass only where the plating barrier layer is specified nickel-free — the industry default barrier is nickel, sitting directly under the surface that touches skin.

California's jewelry materials law limits lead to 600 ppm in most materials and 200 ppm in surface coatings, with 100 ppm total lead for children's products under the federal CPSIA and 300 ppm cadmium in children's jewelry. Prop 65 itself sets no composition limit but requires a warning where exposure exceeds the safe-harbour level of 0.5 µg of lead per day.

Third-party testing is arranged on request. Which standards apply, what the laboratory charges and how long it takes depend on the market, the material and the batch size, so both are confirmed in writing in the quotation rather than quoted generically.

No. A report certifies the batch that was sampled. Plating chemistry, bath age and layer thickness vary between production runs, so a report from an earlier order is evidence of capability rather than proof of compliance for the current one. For regulated markets, agree at quotation stage which batches get tested and who bears the cost.

AQL 2.5 for major defects and 4.0 for minor, under ISO 2859-1 general inspection level II. At 1,000 pieces that is an 80-piece random sample accepting on 5 major defects and rejecting on 6. An inspection report travels with the shipment, and a lot failing against the agreed standard is remade at our cost including freight.