Tough question. One certainly with no one right or wrong answer.
Let me start by saying that, if we were still in the business of selling the service of engraving, I'd have a black and white policy and live with it for better or worse. Being wishy-washy will lead to a he-said/she-said situation between you and a customer somewhere along the way. I suggest any engraver should think hard about this, write out a policy, put it up on your wall for customers and employees to see and never vary from it.
Now, the two sides of the story as I see them. First, it hurts to tell a customer "No" at any time. You hate to see a customer leave disappointed. You hate to see money walk out the door. You hate to see a customer go to your competitor. You hate the idea that, with all the money you spent on engraving equipment, there are jobs you still can't do.
The other point of view says that, if you take the job you risk several issues. Regardless how certain you feel you know what the product is made of, what if you're wrong? How sure are you that the set up in CorelDraw will be as "easy" as you think? Regardless how certain you are that you can fixture the item, what if it slips? If you do have a problem with the engraving, how sure are you that the customer gave you an accurate replacement price and was honest with you about how easy finding a replacement would be?
I could go on and on making arguments for or against either approach but I'll go back to what I said earlier. There is certainly good money to be made by engraving things customers bring to you so if you choose to take these jobs, YOU get to set the rules. Set them once, clearly, and don't make any exceptions. If you are going to engrave things people bring to you, bill the job accordingly. Charge for what it takes to set up the job. If it takes you 15 minutes to set text and edit a photo, figure that in to your price. If you need to buy or use some engraving material to make a jig or fixture to do the job, figure that in to your price. If the job is going to require a good amount of clean up after engraving, figure that in to your price. Finally when figuring price, guess high. A customer will always be thankful if you give them an invoice lower than the original quote but you know what happens if it goes the other way.
Last, if you mess up and have to replace the piece, do it without making a fuss to the customer. Behind the scenes you can throw whatever kind of fit you see necessary but don't let the customer see you sweat. It looks unprofessional and besides, it's not their fault. They don't deserve to be made to feel guilty for your flub.
To close this post, please let me say that I'm not suggesting either side of this debate, you must decide for yourself, but we DID engrave items that folks brought to us. My father wouldn't pass up a buck if it was covered with stink so we simply got good at learning how to use our equipment and learning how to research new materials. In the end it was very profitable for us. A giant pain in the neck at times, but profitable.
Good luck with your decision!
