Hello Everyone,

Although I am on the wholesale end of things with pearls, we have recently been tossing back and forth up the idea of setting up a retail end of our business. I was hoping to get some valued input from all of the users here on PG with such a great mix of pearl lovers, buyers and professional dealers with so much experience.

I have a few pictures of some freshwater pearls here from a recent buying trip that I'd love your opinion on. There hasn't been any colour correction or photoshopping done on the photos they're straight from the camera (I did modify the size though so everyone can view the pictures). I would be grade these at A - AA in quality, ranging from 5 - 11 mm in size.

Just looking for your input in the quality we have to offer and anything we could possible do better to provide future end users with what they need.. Just to clarify with recent posts as well, I am not trying to sell anything here not am I trying to step on anyones toes.. I am just looking for honest opinions from those on pearl guide.. Being that we are currently in the wholesale end of things, it's just an entirely different market and different way of doing things.

Regards & Happy Holidays....

Hi Drea,

Jeremy Shepherd has an excellent book available on Amazon.com about developing a business and selling online--that might be a good place to start. It is not available directly from him.

Speaking for myself, I buy unfinished strands, and finish them myself, occasionally purchase unusual pearls for my personal collection, and am especially fond of baroques.

Are you thinking of B&M or online? You would need to define what your A-AA quality mean. The pearls in the photos look quite nice.

I am not entirely sure what you mean by being in the wholesale end of things. Are you doing gem faires? Selling to jewelry stores, selling finished jewelry? Do you love pearls?

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

Hi Pattye,

Currently we import & wholesale raw as well as finished pearls. By being on the 'wholesale end of things' what I was meaning is that it's a completely different mindset than that of the retail business.

Our business is based on volume compared to per piece like in retail, so it's very different market all together, as well as much more fast pace. In the wholesale business volume is key and although the profit margins aren't the same as the retail business, the potential is huge. So basically changing your mind set from wholesale to retail requires some work.

As far as B&M or online, I would much prefer online as the market potential is so much greater, however just wasn’t sure if this was the place for us. Just trying to get an idea of what people were looking for to see if this is something that should be considered or not. Thank you for you recommendation on Jeremy’s book, I very much appreciate it.. At this point I don’t think that type of a book would be of much help though, as this isn’t a new business venture or start up company. We are just looking at establishing a retail focused division of our corporate structure.

Perhaps I was a little vague in my explanation of being involved in the wholesale end, my apologies.. And yes, I do love pearls!!

[Amrita]

Hi Drea and Pattye,

Thanks for letting me know about Jeremy Shepherd's book. I think it'll be handy for me. This is a great forum to be on, for people who are new to the pearls world like me.

I do love pearls and have my own humble little personal collection (living in China it is easy and relatively inexpensive to get one's own little treasure chest full of pearls), but professional knowledge is something else.

Thanks again, and I am really excited to be on this great forum!

Amrita
amrita_singh@beyondfrontiers.net

[tanakarn1]

The pearls are lovely clean surface, good luster & orient. The quality is OK. However, to me, they are not very round and some pearls are a little bit creamy.

Good luck!
Tanakarn

... which is why lots of large volume Web retailers show representative pictures of their items (you never know how many different things different folks can see in a picture until you ask!). Those standard images are terribly annoying on this side of the screen, but wholly understandable.

Side effect? If one wants choice, that means going for the higher price where products are represented individually. Or join forums like this, or just shop offline, darn.

Now, this is coming from someone who learned to make jewelry just for the sake of it, shops and writes online way more then reasonable, and lives well away from the parts of the world where your future customers are likely to come from anyway.

[quote=Valeria101]... which is why lots of large volume Web retailers show representative pictures of their items (you never know how many different things different folks can see in a picture until you ask!). Those standard images are terribly annoying on this side of the screen, but wholly understandable.

Drea,
the strands in the first 2 pics look very nice, I think they are more roundish than what I usually get when buying loose strandsfrom China or from Doug at Integrity. He has some times "super premium" pearls, they are almost round with medium luster and they command much higher prices than the usual potato shaped ones.

The luster in the first two strands is very nice and surface and shape is better than what I have bought, when taking AA.

As a customer of loose fwps strands I still search for really "round pearls to the eye", I would also be willing to pay more for them as I don´t want any more potatos but still would like to string some of my strands. Otherwise the quality I look for is AAA or Gem (Freshadama) as in Pearl Paradise (I mean finished strands of course).

Perhaps You could find a niche as a retailer/wholesaler online of unfinished high quality pearlstrands, if you can find a supplier of near round pearls for yourself first.
A - AA qualities are rather common to get from all over the place - China, US and so on.