There are many reasons why you would need to resize a ring – it is, after all, one of the most common types of jewelry alterations. Whether you lost weight and your ring is too loose, or the ring is too tight and you need it a size up, or maybe the ring previously belonged to someone else. Whatever the reason is, resizing a ring is almost always very simple and inexpensive.

The typical price that you’re likely to pay to have a ring resized tends to be around $35. Keep in mind, though, the price can fluctuate a lot. Simple resizing may not be too dissimilar in price between jewelry shops but the city/state, type of metal, and other factors can greatly influence the price. Depending on whether there’s a design on the band or the ring has an intricate setting, it can increase the cost significantly.

Bigger is Better? Or, Just More Expensive

Resizing a ring up is almost always going to be more expensive than sizing down. If you’re only sizing up by 1 or 2, you may get away with the lower price, but sizing up 3 or more is always going to cost more. Stretching a band out that much causes the metal to become too thin and likely to break or crack. If the band needs to be sized up that much, the jeweler will likely need to add additional material to the band.

In other words, adding more precious metal to a band is going to increase the cost. And not just because of the added metal, but also because the work becomes more complex and takes longer to complete.

So, keep in mind when trying to find a cost for resizing your ring, if you’re going up in size, expect to pay more than the average. If your ring has an intricate setting, expect to pay more.