Woo Hoo Alexandrite Bracelet is here.........

[AprilBaby]

The color is fabulous!

 

[Bron357]

You have such a wealth of knowledge Bron! I recently visited a lovely little shop that sells pre-loved jewelry pieces with my mother. The owner had been working in the field for over 40 years and it truly showed. My mum thinks that even if a youngster would try to learn everything from online, books, whatever, she/he will never appear the same. The experience brings an unrivaled confidence and knowledge. It's different to read about jewelry of the past than actually living through that period of time and learning on the go. This woman started reminiscing about her work, the different decades, makers and styles. Sadly however, for her, more and more people are buying from online in her town and she's being slowly forced out of business. I hope she embraces the new era and brings her wealth of knowledge to the online world and shares her wisdom to an even wider audience than she does now - like you do here. I apologize for my ramblings but you reminded me of her and her stories. All I wanted to say is: thank you for sharing your wisdom with me and the PS community, once again. Perhaps there is a genuine alexandrite waiting for me in the eBay Jungle - at least now I know what to look for

I like to support local people as much as I can but it’s the choice out there online that can’t be beat.
On eBay there’s a Pawnbroker who is in South Australia who has really worked eBay to his advantage. I’ve bought quite a few items from him.
After chatting he told me that basically no one was coming into his shop to “buy” jewellery so that side of his business was struggling. He worked out that by paying a bit more for better jewellery and then listing it on eBay for a modest amount more he starting selling basically everything.
He takes good photos, writes a good and accurate description, sets a buy it now and because eBay is free to list on and listings can stay “alive” until it sells, he says it’s really easy and he wished he’d started earlier!
So I think that’s what little shops need to do, expand their market to online. Use eBay, use Etsy, use whatever online platforms are out there, no harm in trying it and it means people anywhere and everywhere can be your customer.