Stauer - TNSTAAFL?

[Nora]

Does anyone know anything about the mail-order firm Stauer offering an 18" necklace of 5.5-6mm. pearls for free?

www.stauer.com

http://www.stauer.com/itemd.asp?ItemNo=17068

 

[Nerida]

Hi Nora,
I don't know anything about Stauer, but the pearls would not be very valuable at all.. from the photo they look eggy and slightly ringed, so at that small size would be considered of very little worth. I wonder if they are knotted? Anyway, a free pearl necklace is a free pearl necklace, and they would probably still look quite pretty. Making a small loss by giving away these pearls would probably be more than made up for by an increase in orders because of the free gift.

 

[Nora]

Hi Nerida, probably so. I just wanted to pass this on.

 

[jshepherd]

I just checked their standard shippinng rate. The minimum rate is $26, or a lot more than the value of the strand.

 

[pearlescence]

naughty - and possibly more likely to irritate customers than draw them in

 

[Mka4972]

I've seen this before also. Strand is commercial grade, the money is being made in the shipping.

 

[pattye]

Nothing like a whole page explaining how wonderful they are to give this amazing pearl necklace away!

 

[KAC]

yup a very poor way to introduce customers to their brand. At best they get a poor quality necklace and at worst they feel ripped off when they see the high shipping rates.

 

[dkan 168]

I've seen this before also. Strand is commercial grade, the money is being made in the shipping.

There are lots of eBay sellers that use this tactic to use money.

I once bought 2 memory cards using Buy It Now, and discovered I had to pay 2 lots of shipping charges, each more than the card itself!!!

My fault for not reading the small prints, have not made that mistake again since

DK

 

[barbie biggs]

I wonder if people who don't look at pearls often realize how small a 5.5-6mm pearl is? I use that size for spacers on the occasional design. Or as gifts for little girls.
They are perfect at the back of a graduated necklace.

 

[Raisondetre]

Well, they claim it's $295 so the shipping would still be "worth" it for someone who doesn't know about pearls. What really irks me is the long story about how generous Stauer is.

 

[laurenb]

There are lots of eBay sellers that use this tactic to use money.
DK

I think their main motivation is actually dodging eBay fees applied to sales totals, but not final totals. Shipping has showed up in search results for a couple of years now and is listed right below the auction/BIN price, so it's much harder to overlook than before, but sellers still do this.

Can't say I blame them... eBay's fees have gotten really steep. IIRC, the new fixed price auction fee is at least 12% of the sale price. PayPal still takes their cut of the total, but it's not as much.