[Jewelry making - Article 00950] - Re: [Orchid] Setting customer stones

[Bruce Holmgrain]

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    Not being particularly gifted in doing business, the labor community
    being what it is and the economy have conspired to set me up with an
    employer that offered me a pretty nice job a couple of years ago.
    Since that time, I have been pretty unresponsive to this list. I
    also started a new job with a new employer a couple of days ago that
    I believe will provide an even better experience. What I post here is
    just from my own experience. 

    I usually spend about fifteen minutes setting a one carat diamond.
    Larger stones I will spend a little more time with. 

    A while ago I set an 11 carat emerald cut. Something like $330,000.
    When I set it, I cleaned off my bench. I laid down a towel in my
    benchpan. It was a simple four prong setting. None-the-less, I spent
    a couple of hours prepping the setting. I took my time. I took my
    bosses time. In my book, by taking the extra time, I reduced the odds
    of chipping the stone. That extra time is worth some extra money.

    I think that it is important to note that a chip in that stone is not
    a $330,000 loss. The real loss is the difference between the $330,000
    and the market value of the reset stone plus the incidental costs of
    liquidating the freshly cut stone. This could range anywhere between
    $1,000 and $100,000, but is almost certainly not a total loss. A
    total loss might come at the hands of someone that tried to PMC the
    thing or someone that dropped a sledge on it. I have seen people that
    have even turned a profit from a chip by selling an upgrade.

    It is important also to note that the online sellers seem to be
    running into a stone wall. When I took a job a couple of years ago,
    that employer was emulating Blue Nile. In the previous three years,
    he was showing a reasonable profit. That company was buying in
    Belgium and Israel. Their listed goods were goods that they had on
    hand. Since that time, they have largely withdrawn from the Internet
    because of the costs involved in promoting that business and
    difficulties in resolving price differences between the Internet
    prices and the B&M prices. Recently, my daughter did a report for her
    middle school civics class. She chose to investigate Blue Nile. I
    found myself listening to a speech by the president. In it he
    described difficulties in promotion. The Internet is now going into a
    phase where online advertising is overpriced and those involved are
    trying to find new ways to grow. This is certainly not the end of the
    Internet, but real values are in flux and are correcting themselves.
    Brick and mortar stores will also certainly be with us for quite a
    while to come.
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