what a line sheet tells you, and what it leaves out

A line sheet is the one page a wholesaler uses to sell you a style — a SKU, a photo, a spec, a price, and a minimum — and reading one well is the difference between a clean reorder and a surprise on the invoice. I've written them from the Surat side and read them from the buying side, and the same rule holds on both: a line sheet is a summary, not a contract. Here is how to take one apart field by field, and where each field stops telling you the whole truth.

the style code

The first column is a SKU or style code, and it is an index, not information — its only job is to make a reorder land on the same piece twice. What matters is what the code is tied to. Does one code cover a family — the same ring offered in 10k, 14k, and 18k under variant suffixes — or a single fixed configuration? And is it stable: will the same code mean the same metal, the same stone grade, and the same finish next season? A well-built sheet pins the design with the code and specs the metal and stone on their own lines, because one setting can be built in 10k, 14k, or 18k. A code that carries the shape but not the spec can land a reorder in a different karat than the one you sold last season.

the description, and the two words that aren't there

The description names the style and usually the dimensions. Read it hardest for what it leaves out. "Diamond ring" with neither "natural" nor "lab-grown" on the line is an unanswered question, not a detail — the two are different products at different prices, and a sheet that blurs them is hiding the single fact that moves the cost most. Watch the same way for "gold" with no karat beside it, and "set with diamonds" with no stone count or carat weight. On a line sheet, the words that aren't printed are the ones to ask for.

the metal line — karat, colour, and weight

Three facts live here, and only one of them is fixed. Karat is a claim you can verify: 10k is 41.7% gold, 14k is 58.3%, 18k is 75% — a stamp to check, not an adjective to take on faith. Colour — yellow, white, rose — is an alloy choice, not a price driver on its own. Weight is the one that moves. The grams of gold in the piece, times the karat fraction, times the day's spot price, is the metal cost, and that figure floats every day the market is open. A sheet that quotes a gold piece at one flat price has fixed either the weight or a date behind that number.

the stone line, and the cert behind it

For a diamond piece the spec is carat, cut, colour, clarity — the 4Cs — and then the line that actually backs them. The cert should be named: natural diamonds are GIA-certified, lab-grown are IGI-certified, and the papers come on request. Two things to read slowly. First, whether a carat figure is one centre stone or a total weight across melee — "1.00 ct" can mean a single diamond or forty of them, and the price gap between those is enormous. Second, what the certificate actually certifies: it grades the stone in front of you, not how the finished piece was set. The paper proves the diamond. The bench and the QC prove the ring.

the price, and what floats inside it

A line-sheet price is a starting point, not a posted retail number, and it carries three questions. Is it per piece or per gram? Is it the price at one quantity, or does it step down at volume — most sheets carry tiers, and the real figure is quoted per buyer, not printed in the grid. And does it move: the metal inside it does, as above, which is why we don't post fixed prices on product pages at all. The honest version of a price is a quote with a date on it.

the minimum, read twice

The MOQ column looks simple and usually isn't. Read whether the minimum is per style or per order — "MOQ 1" per style and "MOQ 1" per order are two different businesses to run. On most of our styles the minimum is a single unit, so a retailer can test a design without committing to a full tray; a few specific styles carry a higher minimum, and a clear sheet flags that on the line rather than burying it in a footnote.

the fine print — payment, shipping, returns

The block at the bottom is where the sheet stops describing a product and starts describing the deal, and four lines decide most of it. Payment, read as how and when: we take wire, card, and PayPal Business, a first order runs on a 50% deposit, and established accounts can move to Net-15. Shipping, read as who insures it and who carries the duty: our North American orders ship insured by FedEx or UPS with a signature on delivery, while anything shipping internationally goes DAP, so the buyer owns the import duties and taxes. Returns: ours are final-sale, the trade norm on made-to-spec gold, and the reason to put a paid sample in front of a bulk run. Warranty: ours covers free repairs for defects in our own craftsmanship, with no fixed term.

what the sheet can't tell you

A line sheet is built to be read in ten seconds and trusted on faith. The whole skill is in not doing the second part. Three cross-checks turn a sheet into something you can stand behind on your own counter. Match the karat on the sheet to the stamp on the piece and the karat on the invoice — one number, three places. Match the stone on the certificate to the stone in the setting — the GIA or IGI paper names a specific diamond, so its carat and grade should be the carat and grade you were sold. And match the quoted price to a date, because a gold price without a date is a guess. A supplier's sheet earns its place when it survives all three: not whether the page looks complete, but whether every number on it still holds when you check it against the paper that proves it.