Guide · Jewellers
How to track custom orders, advances and old-gold exchange in a jewellery shop
Give every custom order a number and a slip that records the design, purity, estimated weight, making charges, advance paid, which day’s rate the final bill will use, and the promised delivery date, and have the customer confirm it. Record each old-gold exchange with gross weight, tested purity, deductions and the value credited. Keep it all in one register you can search by customer, and check due dates every morning in the wedding season.
In short
- Every custom order needs a written slip with design, purity, estimated weight, making charges, advance and delivery date.
- Agree in writing whether the final bill uses the rate on the advance day or the delivery day.
- An old-gold exchange entry should show gross weight, tested purity, deductions and the value given, with the customer’s agreement.
- A delivery list checked every morning matters most before Dhanteras, Akshaya Tritiya and the wedding season.
Why custom orders go wrong
A custom order lives for weeks. A customer chooses a design from a photo on her phone in September, pays an advance, and comes back in November for her daughter’s wedding. In between, the karigar has the gold, the rate has moved, and the slip is somewhere in the drawer. Most arguments at delivery are not about honesty. They are about what was agreed, because nobody wrote it down clearly.
The fix is boring and it works: the same slip for every order, a confirmation the customer also has, and one register you look at every day.
What to write on a custom order slip
Give each order a number, even in a small shop. “Order 214” is easier to find than “Sharma ji ka kangan”. Then record:
- Customer name and mobile number
- Design: a photo or catalogue reference, size, and any changes asked for
- Metal and purity: 22K, 18K or silver, and whether it will be hallmarked
- Estimated weight, with the variation allowed (for example 2 grams either way)
- Making charges: per gram or a fixed amount
- Stones, if any, and how they are charged
- Advance paid, how (cash, UPI, old gold), and the receipt number
- Which day’s rate the final bill will use
- Promised delivery date, and which karigar has the work
Advances and the gold rate question
One argument every jeweller knows is about the rate. Some shops fix the rate on the day the advance is paid; others bill at the rate on the day of delivery. Both are common. What causes trouble is leaving it unsaid. Write the rule on the slip, say it out loud, and send it to the customer on WhatsApp.
Record every payment against the order number, not just the customer’s name. One family can have three orders running before a wedding. When the second instalment arrives on UPI from the son’s phone, it must land against the right order. At delivery, the bill should show the advance and each instalment, so the balance is never a surprise.
How to record an old-gold exchange
Old-gold exchange is where trust is won or lost. Test in front of the customer and write the numbers down, every time. Keep the entry with the sale or order it was adjusted against, not in a separate book, so your CA sees both sides at month end.
- Gross weight of the old piece, on a scale the customer can see
- Tested purity, and how it was tested
- Deductions for stones, lac or melting loss, as your shop’s policy says
- Net weight and the value credited against the new purchase
- Customer name, phone number, and ID details wherever your rules require them
- The bill or order number it was adjusted against
Delivery dates in the wedding and festival rush
From Navratri to the end of the wedding season, and again around Akshaya Tritiya, orders pile up. Keep one list of every open order, sorted by delivery date. Each morning, look at the next seven days: what is ready, what is still with the karigar, and which customer needs a call because something will be late.
Tell a customer about a delay early. A call a week before, saying the piece will come three days late, is forgiven. Finding out at the counter on the day of the function is not.
Doing this on WhatsApp with Kalki
Kalki for Business, goKalki’s business assistant on WhatsApp, keeps the order register from the messages you send after closing. “Sharma ji, kangan order, 25,000 advance mila, 12 March delivery” becomes an entry with the customer, the piece, the advance and the date. Later instalments and old-gold exchanges are recorded alongside the sale, and you can ask about any customer and get the advance and the balance. Every bill photo becomes an entry, and the month’s GST working is ready for your CA, who files it.
If you want customers answered on your shop’s own WhatsApp number about designs and orders, from the list you give it, that is the front desk, a custom add-on the goKalki team sets up for you; talk to us at hello@gokalki.com. It can send the design photos you have shared with it, and passes anything unusual to you. It never quotes a gold rate you have not set, and it does not look up or guess one. Kalki for Business is ₹1,999 a month with 3,000 messages, and the first 3 days are free.
Kalki for Business
Your business assistant
Money, bookings and stock. Said once.
Meet Kalki for BusinessQuestions
What should a jewellery custom order slip include?
Order number, customer name and phone, design reference, purity, estimated weight with the allowed variation, making charges, advance paid, which day’s rate applies, and the delivery date. Send the customer a copy on WhatsApp.
Should the gold rate be fixed on the advance day or the delivery day?
Both are common practice. What matters is that the rule is written on the slip and agreed by the customer before you take the advance.
Does Kalki tell customers today’s gold rate?
Only through the front desk add-on, and only the rates you give it. It does not look up or guess prices on its own, and anything it cannot answer comes to you.
Can Kalki for Business record old-gold exchange entries?
Yes. Tell Kalki the details and it records the exchange alongside the sale.