# Handmade silver jewellery studio for Etsy and Depop > 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 for: 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. - Platforms: Etsy, Depop - Orders a week: 8–40 - Space: Corner of a room - Kit total: £202 to £330 - Running cost: £92 to £153 (Consumables at 24 orders a week) - Updated 6 October 2026 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 - **[500 g precision pocket scale](https://sellersetups.com/product/pocket-scale-500g)** (£8 to £14): 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. - **[40 cm photo light box](https://sellersetups.com/product/light-tent)** (£25 to £40): Consistent white-background photos make your listings look like a shop. The box folds flat when you need the desk back. - **[Pocket LED video light](https://sellersetups.com/product/mini-led-light)** (£15 to £25): 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. - **[Gooseneck phone holder](https://sellersetups.com/product/gooseneck-phone-holder)** (£12 to £20): 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. - ×2 **[Small jewellery boxes, 50 pack](https://sellersetups.com/product/jewellery-boxes)** (£8 to £14): A foam insert holds the piece still in the box. The box fits in a padded envelope, so most orders still go as a Large Letter. - **[Rigid presentation boxes, 10 pack](https://sellersetups.com/product/presentation-boxes)** (£18 to £30): A rigid presentation box keeps its corners square, so a higher-value piece arrives as you packed it. Put the presentation box inside a plain outer box. - **[Large Letter postal boxes, 50 pack](https://sellersetups.com/product/large-letter-boxes)** (£14 to £22): A slim box under 25 mm deep protects a small item better than an envelope and can still go at Large Letter postage. Measure the packed box before you buy postage. - **[Acid-free tissue paper, 100 sheets](https://sellersetups.com/product/tissue-paper)** (£7 to £11): A sheet of tissue costs pennies and changes how a £15 vintage shirt feels on arrival. Buyers mention it in reviews. - **[Grip seal bags, 100 × 150 mm, 100 pack](https://sellersetups.com/product/resealable-cable-bags)** (£4 to £8): A coiled charger, a set of earrings or a bag of spare game pieces fits a 100 × 150 mm grip seal bag, and you can write the stock code on the white panel. Pick a larger size if you bag laptop power bricks or whole controllers. - **[Thank-you stickers, roll of 500](https://sellersetups.com/product/thank-you-stickers)** (£5 to £9): A sticker sealing the tissue makes the parcel look finished before the buyer opens it. Swap to custom stickers with your shop name once the brand settles. - **[Phomemo thermal label printer](https://sellersetups.com/product/phomemo-thermal-printer)** (£70 to £110): 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. - **[100 x 150 mm thermal labels, 250 roll](https://sellersetups.com/product/thermal-labels-roll)** (£8 to £13): Put a roll on a holder or inside a printer with a roll bay to save space on a crowded desk. Each label costs about 3p to 5p, a little more than fanfold. - **[Royal Mail Click & Drop](https://sellersetups.com/product/royal-mail-click-and-drop)** (£0 a month): 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. ## How to lay it out ### 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. ### 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. ### 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. ### 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. ## 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. ## 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. ## 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. ## 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 - 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+ orders a week: **[noissue](https://sellersetups.com/product/noissue-custom-packaging)**: Suits a small clothing or jewellery shop that wants branded tissue and stickers without ordering a pallet. noissue says its custom tissue paper is compostable. - 30+ orders a week: **[Two LED video panels with stands](https://sellersetups.com/product/led-panel-pair)** (£45 to £75): Holo cards, foiled boxes and glossy packaging reflect a ring light straight back at the camera. With two panels angled in from each side, the glare falls outside the frame. ## 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.