Inflated price at booth on 47th - advice?

[Rosa]

Hi there,

There is an ebay storefront for a booth on 47th St & 5th. I have walked past this booth many times in the past while on my lunch hour and thought they had a nice selection. At first, when I saw the ebay storefront, I didn''t realize it was the same place, but then put 2 & 2 together. They had a pair of diamond and gold earrings I really liked, so, about a month ago, with some gift $$ from my grandma burning a hole in my pocket, I walked by and took a good look in the window display. Sure enough, I saw the earrings from online.

Even better, the earrings were hung sideways up the wall of the window display, so I was able to see the little white tag that listed 1.48 as the total carat weight & said 18kt. So, I was sure these were the ones from their website. On the ebay storefront they were offered as a "Buy now" for $2000. I thought the price should be more like $1300 or so, b/c the design was simple and the diamonds were small (i.e. melee) but maybe they would look amazing in person.

Anyway, when I went in to the front of the booth, all I said was I''d like to see those particular earrings from the window. They husband/wife team pulled them out, looked at the tag, and said, Oh, those are 1.75 carats & 18kt gold. I asked how much and they said $2500. I was shocked. First of all, I had just checked the weight without them knowing (they were facing in helping another customer when I was peering in the window), second, the earrings are listed online! I had not mentioned that I had seen them online or looked at the tag.

I asked if they had any others in the same design, trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they had two models with different carat weights or something? But they said no.

At that point, I was feeling pretty angry inside, so I thanked them nicely and said I''d think about it and left.

Here is my question (finally!): Should I go back and tell them I saw them on ebay for $2k and I am willing to offer $1300 and see what happens? Or, should I not shop there b/c they are just basically untrustworthy?

I have bought from several different booths on 47th St and expect to negotiate the price, but I was really put off by the inflation of the carat weight. For bigger purchases I would have the item sent directly to an appraiser before forking over the cash, but I wasn''t planning to add these to our insurance or have them appraised, so I felt especially vulnerable.

Thanks in advance for the input!

 

[denverappraiser]

I’m not understanding what you’re upset about. Is it the price or the concern about misrepresentation? They are offering the earrings for sale in two different venues for two different prices. What’s wrong with that? A hot dog costs more at the ball park than it does at the vending cart out front that's operated by the same company. Merchants routinely have 'factory outlet' type venues where they sell things at a discount. This is not evidence of either a bargain or a ripoff. I’m reasonably confident that if you mention their ebay advertisement they’ll honor the price for a local sale but the only way to tell for sure is to ask. Will they take even less? Maybe. Ask. If you can't agree on a price you can always walk away.

If you think they're lying about the weight or some other attribute before you even look at the piece, don't buy ANYTHING from them. It's not like there is a shortage of nearby competitors where you've been happy before. It's not the address that makes a merchant good or bad, it's the character of the people behind the counter/keyboard.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[Rosa]

Neil,

You make an interesting point about selling in 2 different venues. I guess I expected a company that offers something online to offer the same price in person automatically, but I will re-examine that assumption. I viewed it as the "advertised" price, so almost felt like in person (where I''ll pay cash and they don''t have to give ebay a cut of the sale) they should have at least cited me that same number.

However, I said in the original post, I do expect to negotiate, or even downright haggle (!) :-} for the best price whenever I go to 47th St, so the price inflation was not the main thing. What really bothered me was that in conjunction with the inflation of carat weight.

I just wondered what other people would do.

Thanks for your reply,

Angele

 

[lowphat]

Is it possible that they could have misread the tag? I don''t see any reason for them to lie about the ct weight when all you need to do is ask to take a look at the earrings up close and you see the tag for yourself. It''d be a pretty dumb move on their half to lie about something you can verify so easily.

As far as the price, all the storefronts inflate their prices because all the customers expect a discount.

 

[denverappraiser]

I’ve never been a big fan of the whole 47th street experience but some folks seem to love it. The #1 key is to understand what you’re buying and you are, to a large extent, relying on the merchant to be forthright in telling you. If you’ve got reason to believe they are misleading you it’s a far bigger problem than just that one piece of information. You must question everything else they say as well. Why do you believe what it says on the tag for example? Aren’t they the ones who put that tag there?

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[Todd Gray]

Neil brings up an interesting point about the item being offered for sale in two different venues and there is logic to his reasoning which is shared by many traditional brick and mortar retailers who also have a web presence. The reality is that it costs more to operate a B&M jewelry store than a click & mortar location, however there is also the argument that a product should not cost a consumer more simply because they happen to be standing in front of you - the fact that a vendor is willing to sell an item for less over the internet is something that often seems unreasonable to somebody who is attempting to support their local economy by buying local.

I don''t feel that there is a right or wrong way to address the issue of price for in-store and internet customers, but when we operated our traditional B&M jewelry store (separate from Wink''s operation which is different) we decided to incorporate a "one price" policy because we did not want to try to walk the lines between the two worlds... We felt that providing all of our clients with the same price whether they were standing in front of us or surfing our site online, they deserved our best price. But I have to say that there were times when we questioned that policy after spending all day selling a diamond to a client while a hundred email messages went unanswered and many more diamonds could have been sold online during the same amount of time... I think it reasonable to expect to pay a little more when buying an item in-person, but it is also reasonable for a customer to simply say "hey I''ve seen this item advertised on your web site for ''x'' and I''m willing to buy them for that price..." I think as small business owners, most people simply try to figure out a balance of what works for their business needs and what is reasonable for their customers.

Regarding the discrepancy of carat weight and all that, it is possible that the clerk mis-spoke and that it is an honest mistake. As vendors we often have multiple versions of a design and might get the details of one version stuck in our brains while referring to another option... For instance, if we sell more of the one carat version of a ring style and the accent stones happen to be 0.16 t.w. and then somebody asks us about the option for a 1.50 carat version and the accent t.w. is 0.19 carats - and we might still say 0.16 carats t.w., try something like "oh, I thought the t.w. was less than that" and give them the opportunity to catch their mistake - we''re human and all that

 

[phoenixgirl]

As you mentioned, people expect to negotiate prices on 47th street. The buy it now price doesn''t involve any negotation. You see price differences at Target in the store versus online. I don''t believe there is anything amiss by listing them for two different prices. The only question is why he misstated the carat weight. It was probably an honest mistake because what was he going to do if you asked to hold them, suddenly rip the tag off and pocket it?

 

[Rockit]

I'd walk away. Simple as that. There are a gazillion pairs of gold and diamond earrings out there and I'm sure that a lovely pair can be had without fretting about whether the transaction was on the up and up or not. Yes, this COULD have been an honest mistake in terms of the ct weight, and yes, the price COULD have been inflated just to give the vendor some bargaining room, and the fact that you were at a B&M location. However, my experience has been that I am always better off when I listen to my little voice. My advice: listen to yours.

OTOH, if you can't live without them, offer the $1300. If your offer or a negotiated amount is accepted, you should be willing to live with the fact that the diamonds may be the smaller ct weight AND, as has been mentioned, anything else communicated to you about the earrings may not be accurate.

 

[oldminer]

Neil has made a "good excuse" for their actions, but I personally find it unexcusable. Count to be sure they left you ten fingers on your hands. If they are willing to see how they can take advantage of a new customer that way, just think of what they might try on an old customer who they have more reason to believe trusts them..... yuck!. No doubt, if you want the earrings and go back and work them over, they will agree to sell them for the on-line asking price. Like doing you a favor. This lack of integrity is why there is so much distrust. Personally, I''d buy elsewhere, but it is your choice.

 

[Rosa]

Date: 6/16/2009 12:24:31 PM
Author: phoenixgirl
The only question is why he misstated the carat weight. It was probably an honest mistake because what was he going to do if you asked to hold them, suddenly rip the tag off and pocket it?

Ha, actually, I forgot to mention that, but he did remove the tag so I could put it in my ear, but I am somewhat willing to believe it was an honest mistake to mis-state the carat weight. Also, it is true that I could not have tried it on with the tag in it.

I can be kind of aggressive when looking at jewelry on 47th St but was clearly "off my game" that day (!) and didn''t ask to see it. I think after hearing 1.75cts and $2500 I was just kinda woozy.

 

[Rosa]

Neil, LowPhat, Todd, PhoenixGirl, Rockit, and David:

Hearing everyone''s point of view has been really helpful!

Part of the issue was definitely my unexamined expectations. There is another booth a little further down in a different exchange that also has an online ebay presence. When I last shopped there (back in January) with a friend (she was looking for something for her mom''s birthday, and she asked me to help) we saw online an amethyst (Feb birthstone) pendant she thought her mom would like. When we went to the brick & mortar, we saw the pendant, asked to see it without mentioning ebay, and were immediately quoted a LOWER price than the online one. We then hemmed and hawed a bit and they came down even further which made it possible for my friend to afford it. Needless to say, she has told all her friends about that place and sent them more business!

So that experience definitely set up my expectations in such a way that I probably over-reacted internally to this situation. I was unfailingly polite in person to the sellers, and also, I''ve been careful not to mention the store name b/c I don''t believe in potentially harming someone''s reputation over what could have been a simple mistake.

David, your point about how if it was intentional, they would possibly take even more advantage of an established client is really interesting and something I will bear in mind!

 

[Moh 10]

The seller did nothing wrong.
There is no "correct" price.

Every seller will get the highest price possible in each venue.
This is precisely why I will never buy a diamond that does not have a price published on the Internet.

When a seller sets a price on the Internet she/he knows that buyers are going to compare that price with other sites.
If the price is set too high it will not sell.