List of Vendors: Dead Links

[T L]

Speaking of this list, as an fyi, Ella said she would get back to me if we could increase the URL limit. It only allows for up to 100 URL's at the moment. I will keep you posted when she gets back to me, or someone can report this post to her and ask her to respond to it.

Thank you.

I reported your post asking her to respond, as you asked.

Hi ladies,

No need to report posts that I had already responded to, I just did not yet have an answer as I indicated to TL. Andrey believes he has increased it to 200, if it does not work please let us know.

Thank you very much Ella.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,


I see Alex Park has declared himself a trade member on the diamond board. He ought to have done so on here.


Annette

 

[VapidLapid]

Thank you Ella!

Roger, I did think you might be posting a little on LT to be able to show pricing. It is not the few stones that you put up, but others who seem to put nearly all their inventory up, and as a solid block sometimes taking up a complete page or two that I think people are exacerbated about.

How many more opinions does this thread need before someone goes and makes the changes, and is there anyone who particularly would like to do the copy, paste, and delete?

 

[MollyMalone]

Hi, I see Alex Park has declared himself a trade member on the diamond board. He ought to have done so here
Annette

All of his posts -- even his earliest posts here on the Colored Stones forum -- now clue you in that he is a Trade member.

 

[MollyMalone]

The' domain registration for FlawlessFacets.com expired just a week ago (so he's still got time to renew it) & the link still appears on the Facebook page -- on which there have been more recent posts than on Vance Gems' Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/flawlessfacets
Seems to me it might be premature to write him off just yet.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi Molly,


I guess I did miss it, otherwise I wouldn't have said it. I just didn't remember it being there, and it was only on Loupe Troupe that it occurred to me. I must become more alert!

Annette

 

[MollyMalone]

No, you're right, Annette -- Alex didn't own up to his Trade status for some time (think it was not until after he made his listings on DB/LT). But, like when you change your avatar, his Trade "badge" was imported retroactively into his earlier posts.

 

[WinkHPD]

Hi all,
As some of you know, we are not in a position to post pricing on our website due to our relationship with the jewelers we work with. Since LT was brought to my attention as an alternate way to show a few things with pricing visible, I don't want to be an irritant to how you all feel about a vendor exhibiting.

We planned to offer about one item per week, and diligently remove any item no longer available. If you feel our use of LT is inappropriate, I have no issue with removing the 3 listings we have. Thoughts?

Roger,

Nice to see you. I have never even visited Loupe Troup so far as I remember and I was invited by the webmaster some years ago to become a member of Diamond Bistro and I listed a few of my pre loved rings and some dogs that I wanted to kennel somewhere out of my normal plain of existence. Even at silly prices I got no takes and never went back. For me it just was not a success.

I think with your plan of listing only one item per week you may well find it successful for you, especially as the opinion of many of the ladies is that you will be welcome there. I may also list a few items, one a week or so on DB, as I have some nice color that never gets seen any more in my current iteration as a diamond vendor.

I remember fondly your round table at our store shortly before we closed and am glad to see you are so popular here.

Wink

P.S. For what it is worth, I also wish to say how much I respect your desire to support your vendors by not listing prices on your website.

 

[WinkHPD]

I wish LT did not allow trade members

And to be honest, I don't appreciate what appears to be highly photo-shopped pictures of their gems for sale. I understand that many of them have videos of their stones, but the initial photo-shopped gem pic always turns me off.

I am curious about what you consider photoshopping? Are they making the gems look like something they aren't?

It is normal for me, when I take a picture of a diamond or a ring to crop it and sharpen it. Is that what you are referring to? Or are some vendors improving colors or removing inclusions?

I agree that those choices would be inappropriate.

Wink

 

[LoversKites]

I wish LT did not allow trade members

And to be honest, I don't appreciate what appears to be highly photo-shopped pictures of their gems for sale. I understand that many of them have videos of their stones, but the initial photo-shopped gem pic always turns me off.

I am curious about what you consider photoshopping? Are they making the gems look like something they aren't?

It is normal for me, when I take a picture of a diamond or a ring to crop it and sharpen it. Is that what you are referring to? Or are some vendors improving colors or removing inclusions?

I agree that those choices would be inappropriate.

Wink

I won't speak for the previous posters but I don't like it when it makes gems look like something they aren't. Sometimes vendors will photoshop to raise a gem's saturation up a notch, lighten tone or to remove extinction. When there's a video it's less of a turn off. Also, i don't mind when vendors photoshop a gem's colour to make it more representative of what they see as long as they say they did so. Cropping and sharpening is totally ok.

Nice to see you in CS btw.

Thanks Ella for your comment.

 

[canuk-gal]

No, you're right, Annette -- Alex didn't own up to his Trade status for some time (think it was not until after he made his listings on DB/LT). But, like when you change your avatar, his Trade "badge" was imported retroactively into his earlier posts.

Not that it matters, but here is the post where a status change was requested...

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/thoughts-on-this-stone-yes-no.209773/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/thoughts-on-this-stone-yes-no.209773/[/URL]

As to the original topic--is Gary Dutton still in business?

cheers--Sharon

 

[minousbijoux]

I wish LT did not allow trade members

And to be honest, I don't appreciate what appears to be highly photo-shopped pictures of their gems for sale. I understand that many of them have videos of their stones, but the initial photo-shopped gem pic always turns me off.

I am curious about what you consider photoshopping? Are they making the gems look like something they aren't?

It is normal for me, when I take a picture of a diamond or a ring to crop it and sharpen it. Is that what you are referring to? Or are some vendors improving colors or removing inclusions?

I agree that those choices would be inappropriate.

Wink

Wink: thanks for weighing in. When we talk about photoshopping, we are not talking about cropping and sharpening the pics. We are talking about making the gems look better than they are - flooded with such strong light that the stone looks different than the way it will look 98% of the time in real life AND amping the saturation of the photos. Without naming names, its pretty apparent If you spend any time on LT. There are particular Trade sellers (not Roger) that do this. There are other Trade sellers that just flood the site with 10-15 of their listings in a row taking away from preloved items by PS members. HTH.

 

[WinkHPD]

I wish LT did not allow trade members

And to be honest, I don't appreciate what appears to be highly photo-shopped pictures of their gems for sale. I understand that many of them have videos of their stones, but the initial photo-shopped gem pic always turns me off.

I am curious about what you consider photoshopping? Are they making the gems look like something they aren't?

It is normal for me, when I take a picture of a diamond or a ring to crop it and sharpen it. Is that what you are referring to? Or are some vendors improving colors or removing inclusions?

I agree that those choices would be inappropriate.

Wink

I won't speak for the previous posters but I don't like it when it makes gems look like something they aren't. Sometimes vendors will photoshop to raise a gem's saturation up a notch, lighten tone or to remove extinction. When there's a video it's less of a turn off. Also, i don't mind when vendors photoshop a gem's colour to make it more representative of what they see as long as they say they did so. Cropping and sharpening is totally ok.

Nice to see you in CS btw.

Thanks Ella for your comment.

Thank you for your kind words. Have I told you how much I love your avatar? Sometimes I think I should come hang out in CS more often, just to see the fantastic avatars.

Wink

 

[WinkHPD]

I wish LT did not allow trade members

And to be honest, I don't appreciate what appears to be highly photo-shopped pictures of their gems for sale. I understand that many of them have videos of their stones, but the initial photo-shopped gem pic always turns me off.

I am curious about what you consider photoshopping? Are they making the gems look like something they aren't?

It is normal for me, when I take a picture of a diamond or a ring to crop it and sharpen it. Is that what you are referring to? Or are some vendors improving colors or removing inclusions?

I agree that those choices would be inappropriate.

Wink

Wink: thanks for weighing in. When we talk about photoshopping, we are not talking about cropping and sharpening the pics. We are talking about making the gems look better than they are - flooded with such strong light that the stone looks different than the way it will look 98% of the time in real life AND amping the saturation of the photos. Without naming names, its pretty apparent If you spend any time on LT. There are particular Trade sellers (not Roger) that do this. There are other Trade sellers that just flood the site with 10-15 of their listings in a row taking away from preloved items by PS members. HTH.

Not cool.

Reminds me of a deep green chrome tourmaline I used to have. I called it my garden party tourmaline.

People would ask me why. I would show them the stone under strong light, or in the sunlight if there was any, and then under normal light where it was nearly black green (navy green?). I would just tell them that at any occasion other than a Spring or Summer garden party it was going to be a lifeless blackish green lump on their finger. Finally sold it to a gentle couple who were visiting from Hawaii who threw a LOT of garden parties and loved it.

Wink

 

[minousbijoux]

Nice story!

 

[LoversKites]

Thank you for your kind words. Have I told you how much I love your avatar? Sometimes I think I should come hang out in CS more often, just to see the fantastic avatars.

Wink

The gem appreciates your compliment

 

[minousbijoux]

I didn't check DB, but right now on LT, of the 20 most recent listings, at least 14 of them are Trade members posting multiples of stones or jewelry.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

I wish LT did not allow trade members

And to be honest, I don't appreciate what appears to be highly photo-shopped pictures of their gems for sale. I understand that many of them have videos of their stones, but the initial photo-shopped gem pic always turns me off.

I am curious about what you consider photoshopping? Are they making the gems look like something they aren't?

It is normal for me, when I take a picture of a diamond or a ring to crop it and sharpen it. Is that what you are referring to? Or are some vendors improving colors or removing inclusions?

I agree that those choices would be inappropriate.

Wink

I am talking about pictures of stones that are color enhanced enough IMHO they barely resemble the "real" stone. I am not talking about stones shown in their best light or magnified.

 

[pregcurious]

Hi all,
As some of you know, we are not in a position to post pricing on our website due to our relationship with the jewelers we work with. Since LT was brought to my attention as an alternate way to show a few things with pricing visible, I don't want to be an irritant to how you all feel about a vendor exhibiting.

We planned to offer about one item per week, and diligently remove any item no longer available. If you feel our use of LT is inappropriate, I have no issue with removing the 3 listings we have. Thoughts?

Hi Roger, thanks for your question. I think I spoke too hastily when I said I did not want any vendors to list on LT. I think a few listings for everyone is fine.

The main issue is that LT is now inundated with vendor listings. It would be more reasonable for everyone to limit the number of listings they have, to a low number like 5? This would limit the magnitude of the effect that anyone can have, and also encourage all sellers to delete sold stones, and generally maintain their listings.

I don't think that the the creator of LT has time to make extensive changes, based on it being created as a free service out of the goodness of his/her heart(s). I tried to use the PS search engine to find the thread where it was mentioned that it was created by a PSer, but I cannot find it.

 

[pregcurious]

I am talking about pictures of stones that are color enhanced enough IMHO they barely resemble the "real" stone. I am not talking about stones shown in their best light or magnified.

I agree with this. Further, I generally want a picture of the stone with a hand in natural light, or a video. It's difficult for me to determine the real-life color and performance of the stone based solely on glamour shots taken in a studio.

 

[FrekeChild]

There is a vendor on LT with 79 listings (at the time of counting), none of which are marked as sold (meaning they are taken off the main queue), but they have "sold" in the title of 39 listings.

 

[Siameseroo]

I am talking about pictures of stones that are color enhanced enough IMHO they barely resemble the "real" stone. I am not talking about stones shown in their best light or magnified.

I agree with this. Further, I generally want a picture of the stone with a hand in natural light, or a video. It's difficult for me to determine the real-life color and performance of the stone based solely on glamour shots taken in a studio.

+1

 

[GliderPoss]

There is a vendor on LT with 79 listings (at the time of counting), none of which are marked as sold (meaning they are taken off the main queue), but they have "sold" in the title of 39 listings.

THIS! Driving me bonkers and to be honest always thought of DB & LT as a second-hand market place. I would prefer it they were split out as "New stones" - Trade members only section and "Pre-Loved" - everyone else. Then at least it's easy to wade through them all. If trade members are going to sell through these sites - perhaps just a few feature stones per week, not the entire inventory...

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

There is a vendor on LT with 79 listings (at the time of counting), none of which are marked as sold (meaning they are taken off the main queue), but they have "sold" in the title of 39 listings.

THIS! Driving me bonkers and to be honest always thought of DB & LT as a second-hand market place. I would prefer it they were split out as "New stones" - Trade members only section and "Pre-Loved" - everyone else. Then at least it's easy to wade through them all. If trade members are going to sell through these sites - perhaps just a few feature stones per week, not the entire inventory...

Yes, exactly. We love looking at gems for sale that is a given. But for the average collector who wants to sell a few items it is so discouraging to find your listing buried when a trade member posts multiple stones for sale. I agree that if we could separate pre-loved and trade member gems that this would be a good solution.

 

[pregcurious]

There is a vendor on LT with 79 listings (at the time of counting), none of which are marked as sold (meaning they are taken off the main queue), but they have "sold" in the title of 39 listings.

THIS! Driving me bonkers and to be honest always thought of DB & LT as a second-hand market place. I would prefer it they were split out as "New stones" - Trade members only section and "Pre-Loved" - everyone else. Then at least it's easy to wade through them all. If trade members are going to sell through these sites - perhaps just a few feature stones per week, not the entire inventory...

Yes, exactly. We love looking at gems for sale that is a given. But for the average collector who wants to sell a few items it is so discouraging to find your listing buried when a trade member posts multiple stones for sale. I agree that if we could separate pre-loved and trade member gems that this would be a good solution.

This is a great idea (creating Trade and Preloved sections). I put in a request with Loupe Troop.

PSers please also consider submitting feedback to LT if you agree.

 

[FrekeChild]

Lol. I would never go look at the Trade section.

I also messaged the PSer who started it. I don't know that much can be done without a lot of work on their part, honestly.

 

[chrono]

The' domain registration for FlawlessFacets.com expired just a week ago (so he's still got time to renew it) & the link still appears on the Facebook page -- on which there have been more recent posts than on Vance Gems' Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/flawlessfacets
Seems to me it might be premature to write him off just yet.

Flawlessfacets' recent activity is noted and will remain on the list.

As to the original topic--is Gary Dutton still in business?

Yes, he is even though his website has not been updated in years. I believe GreenWithEnvy contacted him recently to potentially call in stones from Pala.

It looks like the consensus is that Bob Kast has retired and I will remove him from the list.

 

[chrono]

This is a great idea (creating Trade and Preloved sections). I put in a request with Loupe Troop. PSers please also consider submitting feedback to LT if you agree.

Thank you. I am in agreement with this suggestion.