[Jewelry making - Article 00206] - Re: [Orchid] Synthetic & Simulant Gem Nomenclature

[richard hart]

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>     they think all jewelers are thieves and liars because everyone
>     tells them something different. 

    Basically I believe that until you establish a relationship with a
    customer, as a jeweler you are suspect in your customers mind. My
    opinion is that our reputations are about on par with used car
    salesmen. When you deveope trust, people are very loyal, I believe
    because it is hard to find trustworthy people. "I am glad I found
    you, it is hard to find a jeweler you can trust" is what I hear. 

    I have been challenged by a customer, when I offer to clean their
    ring for free, they ask if I am going to switch their stone while I
    am back there. Handed it back to them and politely told them to go
    find a jeweler they can trust. Many salespeople, usually in a mall
    store, if you are looking at anything in the store, immediately offer
    to reduce the price by half. Name one business you know that does
    that. Think that inspires confidence? I believe that the jewelery
    business is one of the most misunderstood. People don't know the
    skill and patience needed in our profession to produce the work that
    we do when we make something, and they don't seem to understand why
    we should get paid what we ask for, for that object they want to pass
    down as an heirloom. 

    Misinformation is rampant. My customers get so much misinformation,
    and so little disclosure. 

    They are not informed that platinum gets a "patina"(scratches). Those
    who have white gold are not informed that it is plated, and the
    plating will wear off. 

    My wife asked about an expensive piece at Nordstrom's fine jewelery
    salon, and the stone was misidentified by the sales person. Unusual
    occurrence, like hardly. 

    A customer comes in and wants earrings to match her "citrine smoky
    quartz". She acts like I don't know what I am doing when I tell her
    I can't match them, because the person who sold them told her she
    would be able to find something. I believe we have more colored
    stones that any other store in Colorado People who are in this
    business because it is their passion, are usually are well informed,
    over time. Then there are people who are in this business because it
    can be lucrative without knowing much. 

    There are stories we hear about what to ask and how to protect
    yourself when buying a car, to see if it was in a wreck. There are
    exposes on jewelry to show how you can get cheated, but I fail to see
    where consumers are taught to ask, and what to ask to know the
    difference between natural, treated, synthetic, simulant, how diamond
    color, clarity ect affects price. We are taught to use this
    information as a sales technique to gain confidence. 

    SI-3 nomenclature should not exist. Eye visible inclusion with naked
    eye SI3... b.s. There is a moral reponsibility that was abandoned by
    an entire industry, in my not so humble opinion. 

    I won't sell one. I adhere strictly to G.I.A. standards, and I have
    never sold below SI-2, G.I.A. cert., E.G.L. cert has to have no eye
    visible inclusion face up no matter what nomenclature the cert says,
    because it don't relate to G.I.A. standards. Why? So people can get
    more money for lower quality. 

    When you think about it, don't you think it would be reasonable that
    customers be held accountable for mitigating damages by at least
    asking questions? They might receive misinformation, but most people
    don't assume a responsible role by wanting to know what they need to
    to make an informed decision. There are people who come in my store,
    they went online and these people invested themselves and it is so
    much easier to have some foundation of knowledge to work with, rather
    that having to have customer kindergarden, and listen to them recount
    what they had been told by someone else, and I have to go over why it
    ain't true. 

    If you are a small mom and pop store, and sell 20-80 pieces of
    sterling jewelry a day, you don't always have time with every
    customer todo all the disclosure required by JVC, and I don't think
    the customer is holding us to the standard JVC sets when they are not
    spending much. Technically wrong, practically right. 

    And for those who have waded thru my rant, when you sell a pieceof
    jewelry, is it disclosure if you do not verbally tell them, but have
    the appropriate info printed on their receipt? 

Richard Hart


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