Before you order
Delivery and lead times
Nothing here is stock. Every piece is made after you order it, so the honest answer to “when will it arrive” is a range, built from parts we can name.
We quote that range on the docket before you pay, and we do not promise a delivery date on work that has to go to an assay office.
Version 2026-08-12 · PRIVATE JEWELLER LIMITED · Governing law: England and Wales
How the lead time is built
Four components, all shown separately in the studio:
- Workshop time for the blank — 3 to 8 working days depending on the piece.
- The engraving method — laser adds 1–2 working days, machine and diamond drag 2–3, hand engraving 5–8.
- The metal — gold adds a day, platinum two. Harder metal, slower cutting.
- Hallmarking — three working days when the piece is above the exemption weight and has to be submitted and struck. See hallmarking.
Delivery time sits on top of that. Working days exclude weekends and UK bank holidays. A piece that needs an upload reviewed does not enter the production queue until a person has approved the artwork, which we do within one working day.
Where an assay office queue is running long, or a piece needs a second attempt at the bench, we email you rather than let the estimate quietly slip.
UK delivery
| Service | Transit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Tracked and signed, insured to full value | 1–2 working days after dispatch | £6.50 |
| Tracked and signed, orders over £150 | 1–2 working days after dispatch | Free |
| Special Delivery by 1pm next working day | Next working day after dispatch | £11 |
Free delivery applies automatically once the order total, including VAT and excluding delivery, reaches £150. It is not a limited offer and there is no code to enter.
Everything is dispatched in plain, unbranded outer packaging with no indication of the contents. Inside, the piece comes in a boxwood-coloured card box with the docket for your piece: metal, weight, method, character height and whether it was hallmarked.
International delivery
| Destination | Transit | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Ireland and EU | 3–7 working days after dispatch | £16 |
| Switzerland, Norway, USA, Canada | 5–10 working days after dispatch | £24 |
| Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore | 7–14 working days after dispatch | £28 |
International parcels are tracked and insured, and require a signature. Prices shown on the site include UK VAT; where we ship outside the UK, VAT is removed at checkout and the destination country's own taxes apply instead.
Where we cannot ship
We ship precious metal, which some carriers and some countries treat as restricted. We cannot currently send to:
- Any destination subject to UK financial or trade sanctions, or where the carrier will not insure precious metal.
- PO boxes, poste restante, freight-forwarding addresses and parcel lockers — the insurance requires a signature at a street address.
- Countries where the import of precious metal by post is prohibited or requires an import licence the recipient does not hold.
If your address is affected, we will tell you before taking payment and cancel the order at no cost. Because our pieces are personalised, we do not ship on to a third-party address you add after the order is placed.
Customs, duty and import VAT
Orders leaving the UK may attract import duty, local VAT and a handling fee in the destination country. Those charges are set by that country and collected by its customs authority or the carrier, not by us, and they are the recipient's responsibility.
We declare every parcel accurately, at the price paid, as jewellery. We will not under-declare a value or mark a sold item as a gift; both are illegal and would void the insurance. If a parcel is refused because the recipient will not pay the local charges, we refund the piece less the outbound and return shipping — but for a personalised piece there is nothing we can resell, so please check your local thresholds first.
Tracking and signature
You get a dispatch email with the tracking number the moment the parcel leaves us. Everything requires a signature; nothing is left in a safe place, and we cannot authorise a carrier to do so, because the insurance on precious metal depends on a signature.
If you will not be in, redirect the parcel through the carrier's own tracking page. We cannot change a delivery address once a parcel is in the network.
If a parcel is late or missing
- UK — we open a claim with the carrier once a tracked parcel is 5 working days past its due date. Once the carrier accepts it is lost, we remake your piece at no charge, or refund it in full if you would rather.
- International — the same, at 15 working days.
- Signed for but not by you — tell us immediately. We treat that as a missing parcel and take it up with the carrier.
The parcel is our risk until it reaches you. You do not have to chase the carrier — email support@privatejewelleruk.shop and we will.
If you need it by a particular date
Tell the studio. There is a field for it on the review step, and if your date falls before the later end of our estimate we say so plainly and suggest what would shorten it — usually a faster method, or a metal that stays under the exemption weight and skips the submission. We do not block the order; we simply will not promise the date.
If it is genuinely tight, write to us before ordering. Sometimes we can move a piece up the bench queue, and it costs nothing to ask.