[Jewelry making - Article 00298] - [Orchid] Silver jewelry "Made in Italy"

[Doug Dreyfus]

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    Last week a gentlemen stopped by my store, handed me a card, told me
    that he wholesaled Italian silver jewelry, and asked if he could make
    an appointment to show me his merchandise. 

    I'm located in a major mall, and people stop by all the time wanting
    to make an appointment to show me jewelry; the reality is that 90% of
    the time I end up not being interested, usually due to quality or
    design reasons, but sometimes price. As such, I nearly always ask
    them to mail me a catalog, photos, or even photocopies of their
    merchandise first before agreeing to meet with them, as again,
    normally it's a waste of my time. Or I tell them to drop by when the
    manager is on duty and show her some samples--based upon her
    recommendation (she knows what sells) I'll then agree to meet with
    the person.  (FYI to all traveling wholesalers--never walk into a
    store empty handed and try to get an appointment! Always bring a
    small tray of samples that you can quickly flash in front of a
    manager's/employee's eyes. If they like what they see you'll probably
    get an appointment, and if they don't you won't have wasted your time
    making another repeat visit!) 

    Anyway, I explained all this to the man, and then explained to him
    that due to the facts that A) I just got back from two trade shows
    where I bought a ton of jewelry and B) the increase in the price of
    silver AND strength of the EURO vs the dollar, it was highly unlikely
    that I'd be willing to buy at the prices he'd need to get. Here's
    where the conversation got interesting: 

    He tried to tell me how special his designs were, blah blah blah,
    but when I returned the conversation to price, he finally said that
    he'd be able to meet my price requirements because his "made in
    Italy" jewelry (with a "Made In Italy" stamp) was actually made
    somewhere in Asia and simply "finished" in Italy!! I posted a note
    about this practice before, and this person substantiated that a
    significant amount of the silver coming out of Italy is in fact
    primarily not being made there! Interesting, no?! 

Doug


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