Does anyone know of Divina Pearls?

[coco1]

Just saw some some pieces labeled estate pieces, on their website some of which looked very interesting. Does anyone know of them or have used them?, there is no information on where they are based on their site, just on line orders., any info would be greatly appreciated, TIA.

[Bodecia]

Hi coco1,

Just had a look at Divina Pearls and a look through some of their estate pieces. Not bad. I had not heard of them before but wait I am sure someone will have. I like their items and think their prices are reasonable.

It would be nice to find someone who had bought from them.

Bye the way love your big South Sea pearl strand. Beautiful and I would also keep the clasp as is. Why mess with perfection.

Dawn
http://shop.ebay.com/dawncee333/m.html
Pearl lover and Natural Pearl collector

[coco1]

Thanks for your reply, yes it would be great to hear from someone who has dealt with them, and thanks for the compliment on the necklace, yes the clasp is staying for sure.

[magstar]

Hi, I purchased 3 gorgeous pieces from Christina last year and couldn't be happier. Stunning stock at fantastic value. This seller is all about quality and great service.

[Caitlin]

Magstar
That is nice for your very first post. The bland, unspecific and generic comments are actually not helpful and make me wonder who you are, that this is your first post. No description of what you bought or photos... But, I did go look at the site. I see Renee Newman was cited as having included Divina pieces in her books. That says something.

So I started looking through her designs starting with the estate sale pieces. I think they are new pieces- perhaps just destined to be part of estates. I did not see anything that looked old, to me, though I am no expert- but some of the designs were very nice. There is no real explanation of what they are or where they come from. If they are Cristina's designs, we should know that. If they are actually old, we should know that too. Maybe there was some of each in there. So now- I still like the stuff, but wonder why the descriptions, though long, say so little.

One thing, navigating that site is a bitch. When I ran out of options, say in the Tahitian lines, there was no way to get back to the main page. There should be links to get there on every page- just in case you don't want to go to the end, then have to right click the back arrow and try to figure out where you started.....in a list of 20 things, none of them is the main page. In fact, I got tired of it and came back here to write my first impressions. I would have to go to her front page, myself, if I were to bother with looking at more stuff. I am too busy to do Cristina's work for her, so I am moving on.

She seems OK, maybe even quite good, but I have lost my patience trying to see her entire site. And I would like magstar to come back and give a real review, if not show us what she bought!!!

[Caitlin]

Well, I went back to Google and saw several divina designs. I clicked on a different one, than above, but it had the same layout where you can't get back to the main page. OK to the next distinct web address, and the different front page picture of a fork with some pearl, but the same, exasperating layout. They are all the same company, but why all the web addresses?

Now I am really confused. Why three distinct domains with the same stuff in the same layout? Who is Christina Gregory? Is she REALLY in charge?

Would someone else please comment?

[morphius]

Well, I went back to Google and saw several divina designs. I clicked on a different one, than above, but it had the same layout where you can't get back to the main page. OK to the next distinct web address, and the different front page picture of a fork with some pearl, but the same, exasperating layout. They are all the same company, but why all the web addresses?

Now I am really confused. Why three distinct domains with the same stuff in the same layout? Who is Christina Gregory? Is she REALLY in charge?

Would someone else please comment?

Multiple website addresses is often used by companies attempting to increase their exposure on the internet...thinking that "the more websites I have, the better the chances are that I'll be found..."

In most instances, the websites have the exact same layout and same images.

Unfortunately, most of the companies today that use this tactic should not be trusted. Before I state 'why'...consider this...why honestly invest time and money and energy into duplicating or triplicating and entire website?

First, duplicate websites are viewed as spam...(keeping in mind that we are not referring to a website with sub-domains (a single website with several sub-websites tailored for a specific purpose)...so multiple websites of the exact same content is spamming the internet...but because search engines still favor local results first, having multiple websites increases your chance of ranking better. Sadly, the search engines have not yet addressed this issue.

Second, in most instances, companies using this tactic employ different pricing strategies; each website will have some items at lower prices while others at higher...but not the same items on each site...this is done in an attempt to get more money overall.

Third, in most instances, companies using this tactic are attempting to appear as though they operate within a specific country. For instance, "Pearls Only" has a lot of country specific domain names (eg. .ca, .com, .co.uk, and so on)...and they use these sites to appear as though they have operations within each country...even going so far as to list local addresses (which don't accept orders, returns or phone calls). In most instances, each domain is priced according to the country currency...but not according to currency conversion...for instance their "AAAA" 8-9mm FWP necklace on the .com site sells for $739 USD, but sells for $759 CDN on the .ca site...even though the Canadian dollar is worth more than the USA dollar...not to mention the fact that there's no "AAAA" grade.

Overall though - in most instances, companies that employ this type of multiple website tactic are usually trying to pull a scam or overcharge for what they're selling...and they use multiple websites to increase their rate or success.

[morphius]

Just re-reading what i wrote and thought I might need to make a couple clarifications regarding multiple domain names just to prevent confusion or misunderstanding...

Domain Redirects - this is where the company owns multiple variations of the same domain for the purpose of preventing others from buying it...OR owns different names because it offers strategic advantage...but all addresses point to a single website...such as www.pearls.com and www.imperialpearls.com

Country Domains - many countries offer country specific domain codes (.ca, .com, .us, .co.uk, etc) for people/businesses with operations or locations actually within the borders of that country. In many instances, the person/business must actually have a physical location in that country in order to legally qualify for such a domain code. The advantage of the domain code, is that if you search for "pearl necklaces" (for instance), the search engine should list the websites that reside within your country, closer to the top of the list.

Non-Duplicate Website Domains - this is where a business may offer specific niches of products or services. The multiple websites are owned by one company and may even reference the other websites, but each sells distinctly different products for the most part (maybe you sell both pearls and gemstone jewelry, but keep the two halves of the business separate).

[Bacca]

Caitlin, can you please post the links you saw? It's possible someone was making gateway sites, trying to increase search engine visibility. Given the recent Google changes, it's not a wise tactic, but it's usually innocent. (I Googled "divina designs" and got some variations on the name, e.g., divina-designs, but nothing else that was jewelry.)

I agree, the site design isn't the best and doesn't give me confidence in the seller. There is a little gold arrow on the bottom of the pages that takes you back to the home page. You often need to scroll down to see it.

[morphius]

Divina Pearls owns at least the following web domains...some are gateway domains, others are copy sites...

divinadiamonds.com
divinafinejewelry.com
divinagold.com
divinajewelry.com
divinajewelrydesign.com
divinapearl.com
divinapearls.com
divinajewelry.net
divinapearls.net
tahitianpearlsjewelry.com
bestplacetobuypearls.com
sofiamoniquejewelry.com
pearlforless.com
tahitianpearls.net

[jshepherd]

This is quite an old tactic that was once used a lot on the net. My guess is that most of these sites are legacy sites for a SEM plan from the early 2000s. It's funny using the terms "old tactic" and "legacy" since it was just a few years ago, but in Internet years, think dog years on speed. The thinking behind having multiple sites was sort of like having multiple stores - the more real estate you own, the more you sell. And since real estate on the Internet was basically free ... well, you can see what happened.

These days this doesn't really work. One major reason is that Google decided around 2005 that only one site with a similar offering could be advertised by one owner. For example, if we started a site called Pearl Paradise Outlet.com, we couldn't use Googles PPC advertising platform for both. Some companies still get away with it and slip through the cracks like Source and Laguna, but eventually they will get noticed and then one will likely be gone. Also, where you rank in Google and Bing search results depends heavily on linking. That's why we get so much attempted spam on Pearl-Guide. Sites wants links. So some marketers would build multiple sites and then link them all together, each giving the other "link" juice. That is now considered a black hat technique and will get the sites blacklisted.

There are good reasons, however, for having multiple domains. We, for example, have five very important domains, Pearl-Guide.com being one of them. But it's because the purpose and or product mix doesn't fit within Pearl Paradise. Our Pearl Collective is a good example of that.

[Bacca]

I think morphius and Jeremy nailed the most likely possibilities. My guess is the sites that are duplicates were domain names that should have all redirected to one. Maybe more a case of sloppy design than nefarious intent. One site exists to promote eBay auctions.

morphius, thank you for providing the domain names. It was very helpful.

[Caitlin]

And what about the site content? Do you think anything could be "estate" jewelry? Or is it new manufactured with vintage inspired designs? The workmanship on the pieces doesn't look old to me, but I am no expert on vintage jewelry. Would you trust the website enough to buy from? If so which website of the multitude?

[morphius]

And what about the site content? Do you think anything could be "estate" jewelry? Or is it new manufactured with vintage inspired designs? The workmanship on the pieces doesn't look old to me, but I am no expert on vintage jewelry. Would you trust the website enough to buy from? If so which website of the multitude?

Honestly...unless it's an actual Auction House website...or a company of high reputation (and/or also advertises that is buys/sells estate jewelry), I would have a really tough time believing any claim regarding 'estate' jewelry. I believe they're vintage inspired designs that are being branded as 'estate' similar to designs branded as 'collection', 'honora', 'black label'.

[Caitlin]

So Magpie did not help Divina's cause at all, by drawing this attention to it!