Although there are many jewelry store chains out there, one of the most popular is Pandora.
Pandora has a bunch of different jewelry types, ensuring that it has something for everyone.
However, the average price of its bracelets, for example, ranges from $30 to $80 with its most expensive reaching heights of $1,400 and above.
Considering Pandora’s popularity, you may wonder why some of its products are so expensive.
Here are 10 reasons Pandora is expensive.
Why Is Pandora So Expensive? (Top 10 Reasons)
1. Expert Craftsmanship
When it comes to jewelry, craftsmanship matters.
No one is going to buy earrings or a bracelet that looks as though their child put it together.
Pandora is also aware of the stiff competition among jewelers and crafters.
They need to employ the best crafters to ensure they’re producing the type of quality that their customers expect and want from them.
One of the things that Pandora is best known for is its customization and uniqueness.
Part of the reason its jewelry tends to be all different from one another is that it passes through several different hands before reaching the store.
Each crafter adds or works on the piece to give it its unique elements.
Since there are so many steps involved and so many crafters involved in the making of the piece, it becomes quite expensive.
That’s because all the crafters need to be paid for their services.
The more unique or special a jewelry piece is, the more expensive it’s going to be.
That’s because the crafters probably spent more time on it.
Since they spent more time on it, the cost of producing that particular jewelry piece is high.
To make up for its cost of operations, Pandora puts an expensive price tag on each piece of jewelry.
Pandora is expensive because it employs several expert craftsmen.
2. Limited Collections
Another reason that Pandora is expensive is that it often releases certain charms or jewelry pieces in collections.
These collections are only available for a limited time.
This means that customers who love Pandora or love its charms are in a rush to get their hands on them.
There’s never enough for everyone who wants one.
By making the charms or pieces scarce, Pandora can drive up the price for those particular items.
That’s because everybody knows that Pandora enthusiasts are going to pay what they can to get their hands on them.
The charms, in particular, are a big hit when Pandora unveils a new collection.
Even if someone isn’t a collector, they may see a unique charm that fits their style.
They’re willing to pay a high price, too, to complete their style.
Pandora continues to release new collections throughout the years.
Each time they do, it encourages customers to spend more money on expensive charms and jewelry pieces.
Then the collection is discontinued and Pandora unveils a new one.
Pandora is expensive because it releases charms and jewelry pieces in collections that are only available for a limited time.
3. Gold Jewelry
If you’re going to buy gold jewelry at Pandora, then you can expect to pay a high price.
Gold is expensive.
Pandora uses 14- and 18-karat gold to make its jewelry.
For example, if you want one of its gold bracelets, then you can expect to pay anywhere from $2,050 to $2,895.
The reason it’s so expensive is that gold is a highly-valued metal.
There’s also a limited amount of gold in the world.
That makes gold scarce, which means anything made of gold is going to fetch a high price.
Gold is also used to show off one’s social status and wealth.
If you have a lot of gold jewelry, then it means you’re wealthy.
You can afford to spend your money on frivolous pieces like gold bracelets that demonstrate your wealth.
Wearing gold often means success.
Even those who aren’t wealthy may want to at least look as though they are.
That drives them to pay the high price for Pandora’s golden jewelry pieces.
Pandora also knows that it can raise the price ever so slightly to make it more luxurious.
Gold is luxurious, and it’s not meant to be cheap or affordable.
It’s not something that should be in the hands of everyone, or so gold jewelry enthusiasts might believe.
The high price of the gold jewelry pieces ensures that only those with extra money can buy them.
Pandora is expensive because its pieces of jewelry are made of 14K and 18K gold.
4. Uniqueness
One of the selling points of Pandora jewelry is its uniqueness.
The company strives to ensure that no two jewelry pieces are ever exactly the same.
Part of the reason that it’s able to do that is that it uses craftsmen to handcraft each piece.
Due to human error or just human artistry, each piece comes out slightly different from all others.
It’s almost impossible for humans to do the same thing over and over, especially when working on the same pieces.
As such, each piece comes out unique.
Pandora celebrates this uniqueness and places a higher price tag on it.
When it comes to jewelry, no one likes to think that someone else is wearing the same thing that they are.
Most people buy jewelry to stand out and accessorize.
It’s a part of their style that they use to create their identity.
If someone has the same jewelry piece as they do, then it calls their identity into question.
The allure of Pandora is that you can buy a piece and never have to worry about someone having the same piece as you.
Pandora celebrates this uniqueness even more by allowing you to customize your jewelry pieces even further.
The company knows that people are willing to pay a little more to stay unique.
That’s why its jewelry pieces come at high prices.
You’re essentially buying a unique piece that no one else will ever have.
Pandora is expensive because it sells unique jewelry pieces that people can’t get anywhere else.
5. Lost Wax Casting Technique
One of the reasons that Pandora is popular and expensive is that it uses the lost wax casting technique to make its jewelry.
The lost wax casting technique has been in use since the third millennium BC.
It essentially takes a wax mold of a model and then fills it with the molten material.
The wax mold is destroyed in the process, but the result is a piece that takes its shape exactly.
Back in the day, artisans would have to make new wax molds each time.
Thanks to modern technology, that’s no longer the case.
Instead, jewelers make a model of the jewelry piece that they want to make.
Then they cover the model with wax to make a mold out of it.
The craftsman has to brush melted wax into the mold until it has the right thickness that they want.
Clearly, for larger pieces, this can take a lot of melted wax.
The craftsman then removes the model from the wax and uses a heat-resistant mixture on the wax mold.
Tubes are then attached to the wax mold to allow the particular material to fill it.
The craftsman then secures the mold with metal pins and covers it in plaster.
The mold goes into the oven where the wax drips out of the tubes.
The craftsmen then pack the plaster with sand and can pour the material into the mold.
It may be sterling silver, gold, or another type of metal.
Once it hardens, they break the mold open and extract the jewelry piece.
Clearly, there are several steps involved in the process.
Since the production for this type of method is long and costly, it’s expensive to make.
However, the quality of the piece is incredible.
There’s a reason, after all, that people still use this method to create jewelry to this day.
Pandora is expensive because it uses the lost wax casting technique to make some of its jewelry.
6. Flameworking Technique
The lost wax casting technique isn’t the only thing that adds cost to Pandora’s operations.
They also use an expensive technique called flameworking to make some extremely unique shapes and colors.
Flameworking is the art of using flame or a lantern to bend glass into unique shapes.
The flame heats the glass and makes it malleable.
Then the craftsman quickly cools the glass to make it harden into shape.
Flameworking allows craftsmen to create truly unique pieces since they’re able to warp glass into practically any shape that they want.
Pandora specifically uses flameworking to make unique shapes and add some color to their pieces.
Like lost wax crafting, flameworking is another type of art that’s been around for thousands of years.
Flameworking is the same as lampworking except lampworking often uses a torch or oil lamp to heat the glass.
Most jewelers today use an oxygen-propane torch to bend and create glass beads or other pieces of jewelry.
You can also cast glass through flameworking which enables Pandora to mass-produce beads and other jewelry pieces.
You do so by pressing the hot glass into a mold while it’s still hot.
The mold takes the shape of the glass and is then filled with the material to be cast.
The reason that flameworking makes Pandora expensive is that it takes a lot of skill and experience to make unique jewelry pieces.
The artisans first need to understand how to do flameworking.
Then they need to build up their skills to the point where they can start crafting unique pieces.
Adding color is another skill in itself.
Since not everyone has the patience or ability to learn this particular art, it means there’s a limited number of available workers for this craft.
Pandora has to pay the artisans well to keep them working for Pandora rather than for another jewelry company.
Pandora is expensive because it uses flameworking to create unique jewelry pieces.
7. Disney Theme Charms
One of the big reasons that Pandora is expensive is because it has a few licenses with certain brands.
One of its biggest brands is Disney.
Pandora partners with Disney to offer a few charms that feature some of the most famous Disney characters of all time.
Disney fans will want to add these charms to their jewelry because they love to show off their love for Disney.
Some might choose specific charms from Disney to represent parts of themselves.
Others might just want to choose their favorite Disney character.
Regardless of the reason, Disney charms tend to be expensive.
That’s because Pandora is partnering with Disney.
It has to give Disney some of the cut of their profits since it’s licensing those characters from Disney.
Since Pandora can’t keep all the money for itself, the company must raise the price to get the same amount of profit that it would normally.
In addition, it knows that because the Disney brand is strong, people are going to be willing to pay a bit more to get their favorite Disney characters on their jewelry.
Collectors, especially, will want to get their hands on rare or limited edition charms.
Pandora is expensive because it partners with Disney to create exclusive and rare charms.
8. Collector’s Items
A big reason that Pandora is expensive is that its charms are collectible.
While some of its charms remain around forever, some special charms are only available for a limited time.
Collectors will want to grab them up to add to their collections.
Pandora jewelry collections are a real thing.
Certain charms also have high values on their own.
Even if someone isn’t a fan of jewelry, they may have an interest in collecting some of the rare charms that Pandora produces.
That’s because they know that the charm might have a greater value down the line.
The problem with collector’s items is that they all tend to have high prices from the get-go.
That’s because these items are usually in limited supply.
With normal customers wanting them for their jewelry pieces and collectors wanting them for their collections, you have a lot of demand for a small supply of items.
That makes the price increase substantially.
Pandora knows this and does what it can to encourage collectors.
Pandora wants its customers to race to get to the charm before it sells out.
The company can put a higher price on it because they know it will only dissuade a few people from wanting to buy it.
Pandora is expensive because many of its charms are collectible.
9. Diamonds
Another reason Pandora is expensive is its use of diamonds.
Whether it’s in bracelets, necklaces, rings, or any other type of jewelry, you can often find charms that have diamonds on them.
Like gold, diamonds are extremely valuable.
They make a simple piece of jewelry into something expensive.
The better the diamond is, the more expensive the jewelry piece will become.
A diamond receives its value through its grade.
There are a few factors that contribute to grading a diamond.
Those factors include:
- Carat weight
- Clarity
- Cut
- Color
In most cases, the heavier and clearer a diamond is, the better.
While color tends to be up to personal tastes, the most popular are white diamonds.
The whiter the diamonds are, the more value they have.
If you have several valuable diamonds on a single jewelry piece, then it’s going to impact its final price tag.
Not only does the cost of production go into the price tag, but the presence of diamonds can easily add another $100 to $1,000 to it.
Rare diamonds, especially, can add a lot of value to a jewelry piece.
If Pandora has a limited number of charms with high-value diamonds on them, then you can expect the price tag to be quite high.
Pandora is expensive because it uses diamonds in some of its jewelry pieces.
10. Oxidizing Finishes
A final reason that Pandora jewelry is expensive is that it uses an oxidizing finish on its pieces.
The problem with some metals, like silver, is that it becomes tarnished over time.
When it becomes exposed to oxygen, it starts to degrade.
In fact, it starts to turn black.
It does this because the silver interacts with the sulfur that exists in the air.
The chemical reaction turns silver black in the process.
No one wants their expensive jewelry pieces from Pandora to turn black with time.
Pandora helped protect its customers by implementing an oxidizing finish on its silver pieces.
This finish makes it harder for silver to interact with sulfur.
The result is that the silver pieces maintain their color and shine for far longer.
If the customer continues to put the oxidizing finish on their jewelry pieces over time, then the silver will continue to look its best.
This makes Pandora more expensive because it’s another step in the production process.
It costs the company a bit more money to add to this step and use the finish.
As a result, it makes the cost of operations a bit more expensive.
To make up for this cost, Pandora puts a slightly higher price on its silver pieces.
Pandora is expensive because it uses an oxidizing finish to keep its silver pieces looking timeless.
How To Save Money At Pandora
It’s easy to spend a lot of money at Pandora.
However, there are a few things that you can do to save a little money when shopping at Pandora.
The first is to stick with sterling silver.
This, as well as copper, is the cheapest type of metal that you can find at Pandora.
The pieces look great, and they come at cheaper prices.
Another thing you can do is buy limited edition charms when they first come out.
If you miss out, then you may find yourself paying higher prices from resellers later.
Finally, stay aware of any sales or discounts that Pandora runs through its store.
You can often find sales that can get you beautiful charms without having to pay the full price for them.
Conclusion
Pandora offers unique charms and jewelry pieces that can complete anyone’s wardrobe.
However, due to the types of techniques and production costs associated with their jewelry, the store is often quite expensive.
By keeping a close eye on sales and promotions, it’s possible to get jewelry at a discounted price.
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