In this guide 6 sections
Test jewellery software with your own tagged pieces. It must hold gross, net and stone weight per item, apply the day’s metal rate, add making charges, take old gold in exchange and run advance schemes. It should also print hallmark details. Run a week of real sales first.
Start with the tagged piece, not the bill
Every ring, chain and bangle in your showcase carries a tag. That tag is the unit of stock. It points to a record holding the design code, metal, purity, gross weight, stone weight and net weight.
During the trial, have the vendor key in ten of your real tags and watch how the screen treats a piece set with three different stones. Look for separate fields for diamond, coloured stone and pearl.
Each is weighed and priced on its own terms. Weak software stores one weight and one price, and the arithmetic behind the figure vanishes.
- Gross, net and stone weight on every tag
- Metal, purity and design code
- Stone details with count and weight per type
- Tag printing with barcode for the label gun
- Location: showcase, tray, safe or with the karigar
Daily metal rate and making charges
Gold and silver prices move through the day. The software must let one authorised person set the rate each morning and revise it when the market shifts. Every bill then freezes the rate used at that moment.
That lets you explain a price six months later. Making charges come in several shapes. Some pieces are charged per gram, some as a flat amount and some as a share of metal value, with wastage added on top. Test one bill for each style.
Then change the rate and confirm old bills stay untouched. Ask who may change the rate, and where the change is logged. An edit at the wrong hour should record who made it and when.
Old gold exchange and advance schemes
Customers bring old jewellery against a new purchase. The software should record the weight, note the tested purity, apply a melting deduction and credit the net value on the same bill. The old piece then enters scrap stock for the refiner.
Advance schemes are the second trap. A customer pays a fixed sum monthly for eleven months and redeems a piece in the twelfth. You need instalment tracking, reminder messages, a redemption screen and a clear rule for lapsed members.
Ask to see the whole life of one scheme account.
Hallmark details and what the bill must print
Each country runs its own hallmarking regime, so confirm the one that applies to your showroom. Wherever it applies, the bill should print purity, hallmark centre details and any unique identification number stamped on the piece.
The tag record should hold that number from the day of receipt. Ask how the bill layout can change without a developer, because a local rule that shifts next year should not need a new software release.
Test repairs too. A mended chain comes back lighter or heavier than it left, and the job card must show the difference in grams.
- Hallmark number stored against each tag
- Bill prints purity and weights clearly
- Repair job card with weight out and weight in
- Return and exchange rules for hallmarked pieces
Run a week-long trial with real sales
A demo proves nothing. Load a section of your stock and bill a real week of sales alongside your current method, then compare the closing figures. Weigh the safe on the final evening and check it against the software.
Ask your closing cashier, not the owner, to judge it. If a tired person at nine in the evening can finish the day-end without help, the software fits your showroom.
Score each test on a single sheet as pass or fail. Do not sign until the vendor has fixed every fail.
Jewellery software trial scorecard
This scorecard devotes one row to each test. Rows cover multi-stone tag entry, morning rate change, making charge styles, old gold exchange, advance scheme redemption, hallmark bill print, repair job card and day-end weight tally. Columns give the expected result, the actual result, who tested it and whether it passed or failed.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Why do jewellers need three weights on each item?
Gross weight includes stones and fittings. Stone weight is deducted to give net metal weight, which is priced at the day’s rate. Stones are priced separately, so all three figures must stay visible on the tag and the bill.
Can general retail software work for a jeweller?
Rarely. Ordinary retail tools hold one quantity and one price per item. They cannot calculate by weight, apply metal rates or handle old gold and scheme accounts.
How should old gold be recorded?
Record weight, tested purity, deduction and net value on the sales bill. Then move the piece into scrap stock. This keeps the metal account balanced.
What should I check about hallmarking?
Confirm with the regulator or your trade body what your country requires. Then make sure the software stores the identification number per tag and prints it on the bill.