Groupon offer for My Pacific Pearls

[Amanda]

Is it an American company? Could the way to stop their descriptions be via the "gold" issue? I don't know about American law, at all, but here in England & Wales hallmarking is taken very seriously. It's a criminal offence to describe something as gold or silver or platinum if it's over a certain weight, and not hallmarked. It's an offence even if the item is actually the metal and purity stated, but not hallmarked. Certainly the rules about precious metals are much stricter than about pearls or stones, etc.

It's not a new rule here, either. Hallmarking goes back to the very end of the 12th century. So if I pick up a Victorian silver necklace, I know what purity it is, where it was hallmarked (which Assay Office), what year the hallmarking was done, and usually can find out who made it, from the manufacturer's mark. (Platinum is much more recent, only about 30 years ago, I think).

If this lot were operating in the UK, the quickest and easiest way to sort 'em out would be to get the local Assay office on to them, and they would sort it out. I've prosecuted cases for them a few times, and they are thorough.

[Amanda]

Didn't your mother ever teach you that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all? If any of you continue to go down this path, we will strongly consider moving forward with suing you for defamation. The choice is yours.

Can't answer for the others, but my mother always preferred:

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing

[Caitlin]

MyPacific Pearls is on the verge of ending. They will quit this company and pick another name and start up again. These people have nothing invested in pearls as a career. They are a schlock outfit that prevaricates about the quality and type of their pearls and findings to fool unwary buyers. Not to build a clientele and friends, but to make top dollar on the cheapest pearls possible.

[Amanda]

I actually like freshwater pearls a lot, and wear loads of gorgeous weird-shaped ones. But no-one tried to sell them to me as massively valuable, which makes a difference.

I assume they'll be a phoenix company doing the same thing ASAP.

[Caitlin]

I love them too. I often use commercial grade- bead store quality- pearls in creations. I do not see the need to try to pump up what they are to get more money. They speak for themselves.

[Amanda]

"commercial grade- bead store quality- pearls"

Sorry to be thick, what do you mean by this phrase?

[lilliefuzzysocks]

This thread really is interesting. You leave town for a few days and really miss out on a lot. Much better than a soap opera.

[Caitlin]

I mean you will get real high quality pearls from places like Pearl Paradise and the like. Round, really lustrous etc. Well what happens to all the off rounds and potatoes that are also very lustrous? They can not compete in the top round market, so they go to commercial manufacturers of fashion jewelry. They are often dyed as well. If you use a AAA, AA, A, for the best pearls a b for the commercial pearls, you will find mos of the A's and all the B's in the commercial grade. Trade shows such as the G&LW sell most of these kinds of pearls. You will not find them at the AGTA show. They are in huge tent outside the main circle of shows, and they have literally acres of pearls in those tents! Sometimes a type of pearl will move up to the top shows- such as the large rice pearls were once only in the tents, but now you can get the best of them, sometimes, at the top pearl sites. Reborn keshis have moved up too and some baroques, as peoples taste get educated.

[Ashley]

This thread really is interesting. You leave town for a few days and really miss out on a lot. Much better than a soap opera.

No Kidding! I can't believe they bought the domain Pearls-Guide.com!! My jaw dropped open reading that little tidbit! Whoa.

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

I can't believe they bought the domain Pearls-Guide.com!!

Despite their empty denials, it only goes to show MPP's willingness and effort to co-opt names, styles, locations etc. at the drop of a hat. They had the audacity to insist they never heard of Pacific Pearls and don't do that, yet in the same breath co-optioned this forum name. P-G has been around a while, so their attempt to hijack genuine pearl questions and contributions will fail, miserably.

Speaks volumes.

[jshepherd]

Speaks volumes.

Ditto that. Wow~

[Amanda]

Thanks Caitlin, with you now. I'm definitely at the low end of the market, myself (-:

[Alex]

Ditto that. Wow~

speaks...... the unspeakable - excpet that P-G SPEAKS OUT !!

[Caitlin]

They are name-stealers, for sure. I bet a lot of people will see this article though. I'm going to track that.

[Michael.Betz]

Greetings, all!

I got sucked in by the Groupon for MyPacificPearls.com yesterday. Strike one was when I realized I couldn't use the Groupon until after February 16. It was noted on the Groupon, but not very prominently.

Then I started having second thoughts, the old "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." Even with Groupon behind it.

So I did my due diligence and found lots of posts on the web about MPP. Luckily, I hadn't yet printed the Groupon. I was able to cancel and get a refund, with no trouble. (Thanks, Groupon!)

And, based on comments in this thread, I went to PearlParadise.com. I was impressed enough by their website and their (apparent) forthrightness, that I purchased TWO necklaces (my daughter will be quite surprised).

Thanks for the guidance!

Michael