All Posts Tagged With: "jewelry store"
Bartering might be making a comeback, but not that I can tell
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Mon, Sep 07 2009 | 4 Comments
When it comes to making purchases, cash is (and will always be) king. Reader’s Digest just put out an article saying that bartering (exchanging goods for other goods or services) is trying to make a comeback. They go through a lengthy story about how a man works for an ad agency and was able to go to Monterey in the spring for $350 thanks to all the bartering he can do.
Here are two examples that the magazine gave:
Trejo did $2,000 worth of advertising work for a trendy local restaurant. “It’s not my favorite place,” he says. “But it’s popular.” So rather than dine like a king, he hired a housepainter for his living room and kitchen and paid him in restaurant credits. The painter turned around and got his car serviced using those same restaurant credits to “pay” the garage. Weeks later, some of that free dining was still circulating around the local barter crowd.
Heidi Pliam, a lawyer in Minneapolis, has seen more people looking to exchange goods and services— rather than money—for her counsel. “People need legal services and don’t have the money,” she says. She recently arranged a trade with a small printing company that was being sued. She donated 14 hours of legal services and received a printing credit of $2,500. With that, she made up promotional banners for her business.
Sure, Craigslist has certain sections devoted to bartering, which makes it one of the best places you can go to fulfill your desire to trade something you don’t want for something you do without spending any money, but even the amount of traffic that goes through the bartering sections of the site is nothing when compared to the traffic ebay sees; where people trade goods for actual money.
I believe that in the recession, people are looking for ways to save money here and there, but I haven’t seen a lot of bartering going on. I haven’t even seen a lot of haggling either.
Stores that are hurting right now, like jewelry stores should be more willing to haggle on prices, but as Chris has recently seen, that’s not always the case, even when it comes to jewelry that is grossly overpriced.
Related posts:Small things your business can do to bring in more customers :: Printing
Tags: car service, jewelry store, recession
The business of Scrap Gold
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Mon, Jun 01 2009 | 5 Comments
I’m sure you’ve seen the ads all over tv, the “Cash 4 Gold” commercials where the company offers you money for used or unwanted gold scrap.
In reality, you’re getting pennies on the dollar for what was paid for the gold because the scrap value for the gold is small, then the buyer takes his cut from what he pays you.
Whatever the reality of selling gold for scrap prices, the business is booming and many jewelry stores are cashing in on the trend. The trend has caused increased competition in the field and since gold has reached and hovered around $950 an ounce, it has become a very lucrative business for gold buyers.
It has become so popular that some jewelry stores have been holding gold selling parties and certain websites are able to advertise during the Superbowl.
One seller, Richard Stalter, has owned a jeweler, South Side Jewelers & More, for 19 years and now there is new competition for him too.
“I used to be the only one down here that did that,” said Stalter, whose business model has always been largely based on generating most of its revenue from buying gold to sell for scrap. “Now, I have three competitors.”
Selling any gold that you may have in your house could be a potentially disastrous situation. I personally don’t trust anyone that I have to mail my valuables to then expect them to mail me a check. That is too much trust in a company or person that I don’t know. I would rather go to a jewelry store to sell any unwanted jewelry.
I don’t think I’m alone in that.
I have noticed a huge jump in the amount of commercials for gold buyers and jewelry stores that are accepting gold from customers as scrap. I know the jump in price is a huge incentive for more and more people to get out there and try to sell their gold, but I would think that more people would have some sort of sentimental value associated with their jewelry than what the scrappers are willing to give them for it.
However, I do suppose if times are tough enough then most people will do whatever they have to to keep food on the table, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but if you are at the point where you are going to sell your valuables, please do some research first.
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Tags: gold, pennies on the dollar, jewelry store
