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How Mirpur jewellers set the price: gold rate, making charge and wastage

Two shops in the same bazaar can quote different totals for bangles of the same weight. Usually the gold rate is close; the difference is in the other parts of the price. This guide breaks a gold price into its parts, so you can compare quotes and ask the right questions.

The daily Sarafa gold rate

  • It is quoted per tola. In Pakistan the gold rate is usually given per tola (about 11.66 grams), mostly for 24K. Shops usually work out their 22K, 21K and 18K rates from it by purity: ask which rate the shop uses.
  • It changes every day. It moves with the world gold price and the rupee’s exchange rate. Sarafa (bullion) associations publish a daily reference rate, and each jeweller sets its own selling rate, so rates on the same day can differ a little.
  • Check the unit. Some websites quote per 10 grams, which is a smaller number than the per-tola rate. Compare like with like.

A jewellery price, part by part

Ask for each part separately, in writing:

Gold valueNet gold weight × the day’s rate for the karat, per gram.
WastageA charge for gold estimated to be lost while making the piece, usually a percentage.
Making chargeThe jeweller’s charge for the work: per gram, a percentage, or a fixed amount.
Other chargesAnything else, such as stone setting, listed on its own line.
DiscountShown as its own line, taken off the total.

Wastage and making charges depend on the design and how it was made. There is no standard figure, so ask each shop how it works out its own.

Why the tested karat matters

The gold value should use the rate for the karat the piece actually is. That is why the machine test matters before you pay. On KompasMove shops, the price uses the karat from the machine test, and never a higher karat than the piece was listed as: a piece listed as 22K that tests as 21K is priced at the 21K rate. How the machine test works.

A worked example

Example numbers only, not today’s rate

22K rateRs 400,000 per tola ÷ 11.6638 g = Rs 34,294 per gram (rounded)
Gold value20 g × Rs 34,294 = Rs 685,880
Wastage5% of the gold value (in this example) = Rs 34,294
Making chargeRs 1,500 per gram × 20 g = Rs 30,000
Discount− Rs 4,000
TotalRs 746,174

The wastage and making figures here are made up to show the sum, not a real Mirpur quote. Shops may work out wastage differently, and real figures differ by shop and design.

Online price or shop price?

  • An online price is an estimate. On KompasMove shops it is worked out from the rate the shop entered that day, and it is hidden if the rate is out of date.
  • The final price is set in the shop on the day you buy, from that day’s rate, the weight measured in front of you and the tested karat. A reservation holds the piece, not the price.
  • Visiting from the UK? Any “≈ £” figure is only a guide: you pay in rupees. Buying gold in Mirpur from the UK.

Comparing two quotes: checklist

  1. 1Same karat and same net gold weight?
  2. 2Is the rate per tola or per 10 grams?
  3. 3Wastage and making charge each written down, and how they are worked out.
  4. 4Any discount on its own line.
  5. 5Ask about the exchange and buy-back policy, and what rate applies if you sell it back.

Aksar pooche jane wale sawal

Wastage aur making charges mein kya farq hai?
Wastage zewar banate waqt sone ki kami (zaya hone wale sone) ka charge hai. Making charge karigar ki mehnat ka charge hai. Dono alag alag likhwa kar lein.

Online qeemat aur dukaan ki qeemat mein farq kyun ho sakta hai?
Online qeemat sirf andaza hoti hai. Asal qeemat dukaan par usi din ke rate, samne tole gaye wazan aur machine test wale karat se tay hoti hai.

Ek tola kitne gram ka hota hai?
Takreeban 11.66 gram. Kuch websites rate 10 gram ke hisab se deti hain, is liye muqabla karte waqt unit zaroor dekhein.

More guides

Next: Gold testing in Mirpur: what the machine actually shows.

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