As a lot of you know by now, Pandora has just rolled out a price increase, and although it’s only $5 to $10 more, it’s going to affect us Pandora fans and in a negative way.

Warning: this post is going to be more of a rant, so some opinions may be negative in nature, if you do not agree or like any of my opinions I understand, this is more of a sounding board for me now as this price increase has not only taken me by surprise, but has also upset me for various reasons.

I have been collecting Pandora since 2008, I became addicted the minute my husband bought me a second bracelet, as I never even thought of having a second bracelet, it was all downhill from there 😉 ! I started avidly collecting charms, then it moved onto rings and earrings, and everything else. I never thought my addiction would get me to the point where I would start blogging about it, and as I started to blog about charm jewelry and the like, I realize I do enjoy it immensely. Having said this, I understand that Pandora is a business and like all business, they want to make money. I can also understand that inflation takes a toll and therefore sometimes prices must be changed in order to make up for that.

This is also not the first time Pandora has raised prices, back in 2010 or 2011 Pandora raised the prices on some charms, not all, SOME. I remember I had my eye on the I Love You charm, the two tone cube with the words engraved on it and the little gold heart on of the sides. Back in the day, that charm was $65, now it’s $75. I also remember when the bracelet events used to be spend $85 and get a free bracelet, not $100. I also remember the two tone bracelets costing $180, not $325. I say all this because it angers me that Pandora didn’t bother to let their customers know about the price increase. They didn’t bother to tell customers back in 2011 either, but I figured since they have grown exponentially and have garnered a loyal following, they would at least bother to give their loyal customers a heads up.

I understand that the price of gold skyrocketed back in the day, but I heard a couple of years ago that it’s gone back down. In doing research for this post I came across this graph:

Now I know that Pandora is running a business, and a business is in the business of making money. I’m not saying that Pandora should lower the price of the two tone bracelet back to $180, but it angers me to see that the price of gold at least for right now, is almost the same as it was back in 2011 if not a tad lower. It makes me feel like Pandora is taking advantage of it’s customers because they know full well that the price of their two toned bracelets are completely inflated right now. I won’t even talk about their gold charms, I know those prices are ridiculous. So having said that, I don’t see the necessity of raising the prices for ANY of their charms. If they are raising the prices because of the cubic zirconia content of their new charms, then maybe they should consider not covering every square millimeter of their charms in cz’s.

It is very disappointing to see that Pandora doesn’t care enough about their customers to at least send a couple of emails out warning us about the price increase. I remember Trollbeads did the same thing last year I think, they warned us that their prices were going to increase slightly, and even gave us, the customers, the date it would happen to encourage anyone to try to buy their charms before the increase took effect. All it would’ve taken was one lousy email Pandora, you dropped the ball on that one.

I also see that the muranos are going through the price hike. With those I can sort of see the raised prices. I took a glass bead making class last year, and I have new found respect for those artisans who create the murano glass beads. It’s extremely hard to get those beads to look uniform and I couldn’t imagine making two of the exact same bead. So my respects to them, and although I don’t like the increased prices for the muranos, I can at least understand why.

In any event, I thought the price increase would take time to be rolled out, well I was wrong. I called my usual Pandora concept store and they confirmed the price increase. The hilarious part of this is that not even their own employees knew of the increase, I informed them of it, and they had to ring up a pave charm to see that the price had indeed changed from $65 to $70. Another strike against Pandora.

In my opinion, I believe that Pandora should at least offer some sales here and there. It would be nice to go into the store and be told that they are having a 25% off sale or maybe offer a promotion more often. I’ve often asked the Pandora staff why Pandora never goes on sale, and I’ve been told it’s because it would cheapen the brand, and that like Tiffany, Pandora does not go on sale. WELL EXCUSE ME, but Pandora is far from being Tiffany. Tiffany’s has been around since the mid 1800’s, they have a legacy! One could propose with a Tiffany engagement ring, what can Pandora offer? A sterling silver ring with a cubic zirconia? No, Pandora pales in comparison to Tiffany’s and it shows as slowly but surely Pandora has replaced all of their genuine precious and semi precious stones with synthetic stones, colored crystals, and of course cubic zirconia.

In conclusion, I am extremely saddened and disappointed that Pandora thinks so little of their customers. We are not all made of money, some of use have to really save in order to splurge or wait for the holidays to receive Pandora pieces. The end result from this will be that most Pandora customers will have to slow down on their Pandora spending or turn to other more affordable brands such as Ohm or Novobeads. What do you think of this price increase?