A gram scale, a light box, gift boxes and Large Letter postage for makers selling their own rings, studs and pendants from a bench in the corner.
Built forYou make silver and gold-filled pieces at a small bench, list them on Etsy with a second shopfront on Depop, and post 8 to 40 orders a week, most of them in a box that slips through a letterbox.
Kit total
£202 to £330
Running cost
£92 to £153 a month
Consumables at 24 orders a week
- Orders a week
- 8–40
- Space
- Corner of a room
- Budget
- £250
Why this setup
You make silver and gold-filled pieces at a small bench, list them on Etsy with a second shopfront on Depop, and post 8 to 40 orders a week, most of them in a box that slips through a letterbox.
Many rings are bought as presents, so the box your buyer opens is part of the piece. Spend your budget on presentation and photography, and little on bulky packaging.
If you make silver jewellery, you have one legal step that resellers of costume pieces skip: hallmarking. Weigh each design as you develop it and you'll know which pieces can go out unmarked and which need a trip to an Assay Office first.
The kit
Every item, why it’s here and what it typically costs in the UK.
500 g precision pocket scale
Card orders often sit within a few grams of a Royal Mail weight limit. A precise small scale tells you whether a mailer goes as a Large Letter or a parcel.
Typical price£8 to £14
See on Amazon
40 cm photo light box
Consistent white-background photos make your listings look like a shop. The box folds flat when you need the desk back.
Typical price£25 to £40
See on AmazonPocket LED video light
Clips to a phone mount or sits on the desk to lift the shadow side of a card or a piece of jewellery. It costs little as a first light and works as a fill once you add panels.
Typical price£15 to £25
See on AmazonGooseneck phone holder
Bends to any angle for an overhead or side shot. It wobbles more than a jointed arm when you bump the desk, so it suits short shows and listing photos.
Typical price£12 to £20
See on AmazonPhomemo thermal label printer
Costs less than most thermal printers and fits on a shelf. It prints the same 100 x 150 mm labels, so your label stock carries over if you upgrade later.
Typical price£70 to £110
See on Amazon
Royal Mail Click & Drop
Imports orders from eBay, Etsy and other marketplaces, buys postage and prints to a thermal printer. Use it for the orders where you choose the courier; the platform labels its own.
Typical priceFree
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Copy the full list to take shopping, or print it.
Postage per order
What most orders like these go by, at today’s published prices. Prices checked 6 October 2026.
Royal Mail 2nd Class Large LetterUsual£1.55 to £2.70
Not trackedUp to 750 gSingle cards in a rigid mailer, jewellery and other flat items up to 750 g that fit through a letterbox.
- Royal Mail Tracked 48 Large Letter
£2.90
TrackedUp to 1 kgHigher-value cards and flat items up to 1 kg that need tracking and a delivery photo.
- Royal Mail Tracked 48 Small Parcel
£3.75
TrackedUp to 2 kgClothing and small boxed items up to 2 kg, with tracking for less than untracked 2nd Class.
About £161 to £281 a month in postage at 24 orders a week On most marketplaces the buyer pays postage; this is the cost when you pay it.
How to lay it out
Where everything goes, so each order moves one way through the room.
- 1
Bench on the left, shop on the right
Keep the soldering and polishing kit on its own side of the desk. Dust from a polishing mop ruins a white light box, so move finished pieces to the right before you photograph them.
- 2
Light box with a gooseneck above
Clip the gooseneck holder to the desk edge and bend the phone down over the open top of the box. One small LED at a low angle shows hammered texture and the curve of a band.
- 3
Gift boxes stacked by size
Ring boxes, earring cards and pendant boxes sit in a short stack beside the scale. Pick, fill and close a box without standing up.
- 4
Label printer behind the screen
The small thermal printer sits behind the laptop on a roll of 100 × 150 mm labels. Print the day’s labels in one go after the Etsy orders close at lunchtime.
The guide
Each step in the order you'll need it.
Weigh every design before you price it
Put each new design on the pocket scale once the findings are on. The weight tells you your postage and whether a silver piece crosses the 7.78 g hallmarking threshold.
Write the weight on the design card in your notebook. When you remake it in a heavier gauge, weigh it again.
Kit for this step
Hallmarking heavier pieces
Send pieces over the exemption weight to an Assay Office before you list them as silver or gold. Check your Assay Office’s current turnaround times before Christmas and send heavy pieces early.
Lighter pieces need no hallmark, and you still describe the metal accurately. A 925 stamp from your own punch is not a hallmark.
Photographs that show scale
Take one shot in the light box, one on a hand or ear, and one beside a ruler or coin. Buyers who can’t judge size may send the piece back.
Keep the same white background for every listing so the Etsy shop grid looks like one maker. On Depop, a styled photo on a wrist works better as the first image.
Kit for this step
Packing a gift buyers can hand straight over
Seat the piece in its box, wrap the box in tissue and seal it with a sticker. Then slide it into a Large Letter box, which keeps the corners of the gift box sharp.
Leave prices out of the parcel. Many Etsy orders go to someone other than the buyer.
Posting and tracking
Buy postage through Click & Drop or through Etsy’s own labels and print it on the thermal printer. For pieces above about £50, pay for a tracked service and keep the receipt.
Set a dispatch time you can meet for personalised and made-to-order pieces, and update it in Etsy before a busy fortnight.
Kit for this step
Busy weeks before Christmas and Valentine’s Day
Make stock ahead in the quiet weeks. At a corner bench you can make twenty stacking rings in an evening, but you can't polish forty the day before the last posting date.
Put Royal Mail’s last recommended posting dates in your Etsy shop announcement and your Depop bio at the start of December.
Common mistakes
Each one costs you money or reviews, and each has a fix.
- Describing a 10 g silver cuff as sterling without a hallmark breaks the Hallmarking Act, so weigh first and send heavy pieces to an Assay Office.
- Posting a deep ring box as a Large Letter gets the parcel surcharged or returned, so measure the packed box against Royal Mail’s limits.
- Leaving finished silver loose in a drawer means you polish it twice, so bag it as soon as it cools.
- Photographing on a bright white background with no reference makes studs look like coins, so add a shot on an ear or beside a ruler.
- Promising next-day dispatch on made-to-order pieces in December leads to late orders and poor reviews, so lengthen the processing time in November.
When to upgrade
At around 20 orders a week, branded tissue and a printed sticker make the unboxing match your Etsy photos. At 30, add a pair of LED panels so a dull winter afternoon photographs like noon in June.
- 20+ noissue
- 30+ Two LED video panels with stands
Questions
Do I need to hallmark silver jewellery I make and sell in the UK?
Under the Hallmarking Act, silver pieces over 7.78 g and gold over 1 g must carry a UK hallmark before you describe them as silver or gold. Those weights count the precious metal only, not stones. Check the current rules with one of the four UK Assay Offices.
Can a ring go as a Large Letter?
A boxed ring often fits if the box is shallow. Measure the finished parcel against Royal Mail’s current Large Letter size and weight limits, since a deep ring box can push it into Small Parcel.
Should I list the same piece on Etsy and Depop?
For one-off pieces, yes, but delist the second copy the moment one sells. For a design you can make again, keep both live and note the making time in each listing.
How do I photograph polished silver without seeing my phone in it?
Shoot from directly above through the top of the light box and angle the piece a few degrees. Polished curves reflect whatever sits opposite, so stand a white card in front to hide the phone.
How do I stop silver tarnishing before it sells?
Bag each finished piece in a small resealable bag with the air pressed out. Tarnish needs air, so press the air out and seal the bag.
What should go in the parcel besides the jewellery?
A care card telling the buyer the metal and how to clean it, and a sticker sealing the tissue. Etsy buyers often ask for gift wrapping, so keep a way to leave the receipt out.
Do I tell buyers about nickel?
State the metal and the findings on every listing, for example sterling silver posts. Many earring buyers search for nickel free, and you must be able to back up that claim.
More setups
Updated 6 October 2026
