- Joined
- Jul 21, 2004
- Messages
- 9,150
Labs and appraisers are chosen strategically by sellers. Jewelers buy pre-sale paperwork for 4 basic reasons.
1) Sometimes things with paperwork sell better, faster, and for money than things without. It reduces arguments about grades, it reduces cognitive dissonance and returns because shoppers see it as evidence of a bargain or of quality (or both). There is no correct answer for what is 'best'. It depends on your objectives. Your objectives probably aren't the same as theirs.
2) Insurance companies often require it, and if the seller doesn’t provide it the customer is at risk of going into a competitor. That has all sorts of downsides, some real and some imaginary.
3) There are lots of liabilities and risk exposures in this business. Put bluntly, people can get sued for misrepresentation. Paperwork helps this.
4) It improves the overall credibility of the jeweler to align themselves with a highly credible source.
This is why to hire GIA. These are also the reasons to hire AGI. Or me. Or someone in-house. Anyone really. Not every item needs to follow the same path, not every client needs to be given the same paperwork. It's about the money.
1) Sometimes things with paperwork sell better, faster, and for money than things without. It reduces arguments about grades, it reduces cognitive dissonance and returns because shoppers see it as evidence of a bargain or of quality (or both). There is no correct answer for what is 'best'. It depends on your objectives. Your objectives probably aren't the same as theirs.
2) Insurance companies often require it, and if the seller doesn’t provide it the customer is at risk of going into a competitor. That has all sorts of downsides, some real and some imaginary.
3) There are lots of liabilities and risk exposures in this business. Put bluntly, people can get sued for misrepresentation. Paperwork helps this.
4) It improves the overall credibility of the jeweler to align themselves with a highly credible source.
This is why to hire GIA. These are also the reasons to hire AGI. Or me. Or someone in-house. Anyone really. Not every item needs to follow the same path, not every client needs to be given the same paperwork. It's about the money.