Apparently they don't like us....

[Rare gem lover]

@Rare gem lover
Thank you for now changing your account to trade status.

It’s been a trade account for very long now actually...

 

[Rare gem lover]

Interesting.
i appreciate some points of debate here, even coming from just a silly American.

@Rare gem lover
Did you ever treat a vendor publicly here on PS the way you yourself now don’t like to be treated?
Did you ever get notified as to why your previous PS account was banned?

If I ever treated a PS vendor badly, it was very wrong of me and I truly apologise for acting like I know everything. I made a huge error in judgement then and acted irrationally and I just should not have done it. Being on the other end for a while now I can appreciate the vendors points of view.

 

[Rfisher]

I apologize.
I’m rarely on mobile and it looks different as I’m used to.

It’s been a trade account for very long now actually...

 

[Rare gem lover]

I guess I'll jump into the fire,

When I was looking for a lavender spinel I reached out to @Rare gem lover and posted the price quoted as well as sharing the information provided in an email about a stone. I did this because as someone who wasn't a colored stone person, I wanted to make sure what I was being told was accurate and that the price was appropriate for the material.

That is the great thing about PS, it provides a safety net of sorts, if the price was way off then someone would have alerted me and I would then have the necessary information to make a decision.

In the end I did not end up purchasing the stone because it was out of my budget. I think it is unreasonable to ask permission to share information about particular stones on PS, what is the secret? I assume the price quoted to me is the price for everyone but maybe that's not how it works.

I "stay in my lane" now in the vintage and antique forum but I had to comment on this because I don't think it's appropriate to school PS members as a vendor on how they should behave or communicate when making a purchase.

I am not sure what the question of price change came from. In general I change my prices on and off both ways based on market changes. You’re right no one needs to ask permission it’s just the decent thing to do when sharing on a public forum. I know a few vendors on instagram who have a problem with it and since the question was about why vendors don’t like psers, I offered it as a point of view/ answer to a question.

One of the reasons we don’t like prices disclosed too openly are we don’t want the original vendor who we bought that gem from (often in bulk) to know the price at which we are selling their gem. Half of my suppliers are online so I do have a problem with that as well. If we wanted it to be extremely open we would post the prices on every post. PS is very public, it’s not a small private club of people anymore like a whatsapp group. Again no one has to ask, it’s just a nice thing to do.

Now coming to the lavender spinel. If one of the very famous premium cutters on this forum had cut that lavender spinel then honestly no one would have questioned the price. It sold a while back and it was from nomads. You can imagine that nomads being one of two biggest brands in gems in the world is not exactly inexpensive.

You think it’s not appropriate to tell pricescopers how their behaviour affects vendors- fair enough. You don’t seem to want vendor participation on this thread- okay as well. But a large part of this is about behaviour.

I figured this thread at least some people seemed genuinely curious about why the vendors have an issue with them. No one else piped in and I having been on both sides. So I frankly know the answer.

Psers who I speak to regularly on instagram chat actually do agree with me on some aspects. We don’t all have to agree and have the exact same view but a debate is generally okay.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@Rare gem lover, for the record I was told that the spinel was a fair price so there was no issue there and it was a beautiful stone, I just was not familiar with the market and had no idea what that type of material was selling for.

Never said I didn't want vendor participation but your posts can come off a bit condescending at points. Honestly if you put a picture on IG then it really is pretty much public information and posting it on a gem forum does not seem out of line even if the poster doesn't ask permission,

It also seems like you have taken issue with a recent thread outside of this one and have come to vent your frustrations here. I don't know the rules for trade people but it would seem much more efficient to address the poster you have taken issue with rather then come here to passively vent.

I agree that a little healthy debate is good and to see things from another's perspective is important.

 

[Rare gem lover]

@Rare gem lover, for the record I was told that the spinel was a fair price so there was no issue there and it was a beautiful stone, I just was not familiar with the market and had no idea what that type of material was selling for.

Never said I didn't want vendor participation but your posts can come off a bit condescending at points. Honestly if you put a picture on IG then it really is pretty much public information and posting it on a gem forum does not seem out of line even if the poster doesn't ask permission,

It also seems like you have taken issue with a recent thread outside of this one and have come to vent your frustrations here. I don't know the rules for trade people but it would seem much more efficient to address the poster you have taken issue with rather then come here to passively vent.

I agree that a little healthy debate is good and to see things from another's perspective is important.

I actually did reply on that thread. And I’m not sure who it is who messaged me on instagram who is also the poster here because many reached out to me about the same stones. So I can’t reach out to her/him directly. If you know who it is please feel free to share!

Some debate is good- then why don’t you welcome my point of view? You don’t have to use strong words - “condescending “ and are calling my opinions “ passive venting”.

I mean does it matter if there is a trigger which made me share my opinions?

I never singled any one person out and called them something. I addressed a topic / thread. I simply offered a point of view on a thread which is quite literally about why vendors are unhappy with PS.

You seem to very simply just not open to vendor opinions because you think PS is only for you and only for customers. Customer is king etc, Vendors are people too you know ! and we talk.

You’re also wondering how I can even share my opinion here and what the trade rules are. That’s fine with me and I will respectfully leave this thread and continue to look at PS for gem eye candy.

 

[mrs-b]

Since this was my thread, let me speak to your concerns, @Rare gem lover.

At no point did I even ASK prices on all the gems I wanted to see before meeting with the vendor, nor did I ask for discounts or anything along that line. Would I have, had I settled on a specific gem? Probably. And that's my right as a consumer. His right as a retailer is to say no. No harm no foul on either side. Do retailers ever bargain with their wholesalers? I'm gonna guess YES on that one.

As for 'asking before posting on PS because it's polite' - no. It's not. It's convenient to you, but a person is not bad mannered because they post an item, publicly for sale, on a forum for like-minded individuals. What if it was a piece from Tiffany? Or a pair of shoes from Nordstrom? Should we call Nordy's before posting them to 'get permission'? This is one of those situations where your position is based on it suiting *you*.

My initial comment was based on the lunacy of a vendor telling a customer "I don't like your group" (ie you) as one of their initial comments / before they meet / on the basis of some issue unspecified / EVER. Anyone who can't get that isn't living in the real world.

 

[PreRaphaelite]

I’m sorry that there are some hurt feelings. The thing about putting photos of items for sale online is that once it is out there, it is there forever. This is the nature of the internet, which is both loved and hated. It’s just part of the cost of doing business, I suppose.

That said, I’m never ever ever going to ‘ask permission’ to share a photo; I will always cite the source. It works in academia. One would not ask permission to share an article from JAMA, but would cite the author and the publication, and include a link if applicable.

Now, I realize that we are talking about photos, and that’s where artwork copyrights come into play, but again, I will not ask permission and will cite the source. The reason this works is that I will never misrepresent the photo or the artwork (stone or setting portrayed therein) as being mine. So I’m ethically unimpeachable as it were. If someone wants to learn more, they can click the link.

Public forums are so valuable, and the increased visibility and discussion is of benefit to both sellers and buyers, but especially to those who come to learn from the exchange of ideas.

 

[Polabowla]

@Rare gem lover you seem pretty determined to police what people say here & it's pretty off putting.
So is your demand for people not to display your prices. If you don't want them online, don't do business online.

Customer service has always been of utmost importance & even more so in today's world where there are so many online places to get the word out .
Dismissing people for any reason- whether they're part of PS, whether they're dressed simply, etc (unless they're being rude/nasty) just should not happen.

 

[2Neezers]

One of the reasons we don’t like prices disclosed too openly are we don’t want the original vendor who we bought that gem from (often in bulk) to know the price at which we are selling their gem. Half of my suppliers are online so I do have a problem with that as well. If we wanted it to be extremely open we would post the prices on every post. PS is very public, it’s not a small private club of people anymore like a whatsapp group. Again no one has to ask, it’s just a nice thing to do.

Are you worried they will see your prices mentioned here on PS and stop selling to you? Some of the people you buy from aren’t wholesale suppliers, but are faceters or collectors who sell direct to the public at very good prices. Since they aren’t wholesale sellers, meaning the do sell direct to the public, I could see how they might not like it if you bought a stone from them and then they see you selling it for example, 2X the original price. In the long run, it could even cause their prices to go up.
I owned a local retail store for over 20 years and I understand the wholesale/retail relationship, the cost involved and mark-ups. I also know that you can’t please everyone all of the time. We had great reviews and terrible reviews, and both were true. You are doing what you love to do, so keep doing the best that you can and try not to worry yourself if someone says your price on a stone is high. The truth may be that the price is high by PS standards, and it is okay for us to say so. If you are selling full retail, your target audience is most likely not a PS’er anyways.
I do miss seeing you and your lovely gems on the forum and I’m so sorry to hear about your husband’s health.

 

[Rare gem lover]

Wow I woke up to this and this is my reply to all psers here who have replied.


In your replies I see so many distortions of what I’ve said and mean that I wouldn’t even know where to begin to explain to defend.

You’re just not open to another point of view even when it’s the collective view of people you work so closely with.

I barely (if ever) sell to PS so this makes no difference to me, but it’ll make a difference to you to hear out your vendors who you buy so much from.

I did not form my opinions in a bubble, I lived it, discussed it with other ps vendors and it’s a collective opinion. You shut it down and then you wonder why they don’t like you....

I’m done now and will not engage further because healthy debate is not being encouraged here and us versus them mentality will clearly continue.


Thanks @2Neezers I will miss seeing your lovely gems too.

 

[arkieb1]

I see both sides of the argument on the one hand my husband's family all work in the trade, I don't work in the trade, but I have collected gemstones for many decades.

@Rare gem lover - considering you work out of Asia, your prices for many of your stones are on the higher side. I'm stating that not as someone who bought stones long ago, as someone who still buys stones today. That being said you have a really lovely collection of stones, some of which I'd pay a higher price for because of their colour.

I've sold my own personal items on LT, 99% of PSers are lovely people that I'd happily sell my stuff to. 1% want to lowball me, are obnoxious and are generally a pain in the butt to deal with. I don't own a store, if I did I figure I'd probably be dealing with a higher % of pain in the butt customers and it would be my job to put up with them.

My mother in law owns a retail store in Australia, she said a number of people go into her store every day and some of them try and haggle with her over price. She doesn't haggle btw she simply tells them if you don't want it don't buy it. None of them are PSers.

My conclusion is that the internet particularly places like Instagram have normalised bargaining or haggling so customers all over the world are used to it. So if you own a retail shop or work in retail rather than blaming PSers, it's a trend that will continue due to the way people are buying gemstones online.

You, Alex Park and anyone else that is a vendor should stop blaming PSers for being educated, for sending stones back and forth and for haggling when I think most people these days (we are talking non PSers) expect to haggle and all of the other s@#* you have to put up with, because you signed up to be retailers. Most of the good retailers simply take all of that in their stride with a smile on their faces.

 

[Arcadian]

so like.... I don't even know what happened....lol