Fine Jewelry should mean Fine Jewelry

[ElegantScraps]

Hi Merlin - I think the US are the ones who search for 'fine jewelry' - not us!

I think the annoyance they show is because if they search for 'gold' etc, they find loads of things that are not the real article!

I think if admin REMOVED the 'fine jewellery' wording in the categories, then the confusion would disappear.

Am I missing something here? What confusion would disappear? 'Cause now it's sounding like a cultural stance and I'm confused! I don't understand resistance to the term 'fine'.

I don't see how removing a defining term will change anything by itself. The whole idea was to think of a way to prevent plated, EP, filled, rolled etc. from being listed amongst certified high-end precious metals...I thought.

Oh well......... I tried.

[JudesNiceThings]

I don't understand resistance to the term 'fine'.

My only resistance to the term is:-

Because there are many people who want to sell jewellery on here that is NOT particularly valuable, and because, (either by ignorance or design) will call it 'fine' not knowing a correct definition of the term.
Because an item may LOOK particularly attractive, the uninformed will think it can be described as 'fine' - and will list it under that heading. BTW - I have no particular axe to grind - I rarely sell jewellery online any more(In part because of what OP describes!)

[ElegantScraps]

Ok, so rather than set a standard and educate, you propose catering to the uninformed?

[1840clb]

It is not difficult to have a fine jewelry section and a jewelry section. For the fine jewelry section add a statement that all jewelry in this section must be all precious metal and mined gemstones, not man made. I don't think that statement is to hard to understand.

[bykimbo]

It is not difficult to have a fine jewelry section and a jewelry section. For the fine jewelry section add a statement that all jewelry in this section must be all precious metal and mined gemstones, not man made. I don't think that statement is to hard to understand.

I don't have a horse in this race, since I don't sell or buy jewellery, but I've been following the discussion with some interest since it's been very informative.

With the proposal above, what does one do about high-end pearls? That's once area that I've seen a variety of opinions on - what's yours? (Sorry if I've already missed it, interesting though it's been, I haven't managed to keep up with *everything* I don't think).

[1840clb]

If they are not man made and good quality {hand knotted} fashioned with precious metal closer or do not have a closer because of being very long and hand knotted, then they would go in fine jewelry. In a sense they are mined, you do have to hunt for them and they are natural.

[pearlygirl555]

I'm a wee bit hesitant to chime in here, since this seems to be a heated discussion, but here we go.....

When we sell things online, *most* of our buyers are looking for something that matches the description in their head. They aren't thinking of the category something might fall into, they are merely looking for "tiger eye" or "sterling silver", etc. According to the tracking information through our website, they have entered some fairly narrow search parameters to find what they want, which leads me to think that *some* of the category distinctions wil always be less important than an accurate description of an individual item.

Those who buy from us in person have behaviors which are more to do with where they make their purchase. If they are at a pow-wow or craft fair they are more likely to purchase something that "catches their eye," while those who are at a metaphysical fair or health expo are looking for a particular stone; these are the same customers who buy from us online, and who have the narrow search definitions.

In my experience, then, online buyers will generally be able to find what they are looking for if we sellers give an accurate title to our listing, and flesh it out with the best description we can. As a seller, this is my aim. As a buyer, I assume responsibility for asking questions, reading the full listing, and doing whatever research is necessary to make sure the item I select is what I'm looking for. I'm (woefully) aware that not all buyers think this way, but I doubt that any revamping of categories will ever be able to spoon-feed every single buyer.

[bykimbo]

If they are not man made and good quality {hand knotted} fashioned with precious metal closer or do not have a closer because of being very long and hand knotted, then they would go in fine jewelry. In a sense they are mined, you do have to hunt for them and they are natural.

Thanks. As I say, not something I know about so I'm just using this discussion as an opportunity to learn (and be nosey, of course!)

[1840clb]

I'm a wee bit hesitant to chime in here, since this seems to be a heated discussion, but here we go.....

When we sell things online, *most* of our buyers are looking for something that matches the description in their head. They aren't thinking of the category something might fall into, they are merely looking for "tiger eye" or "sterling silver", etc. According to the tracking information through our website, they have entered some fairly narrow search parameters to find what they want, which leads me to think that *some* of the category distinctions wil always be less important than an accurate description of an individual item.

Those who buy from us in person have behaviors which are more to do with where they make their purchase. If they are at a pow-wow or craft fair they are more likely to purchase something that "catches their eye," while those who are at a metaphysical fair or health expo are looking for a particular stone; these are the same customers who buy from us online, and who have the narrow search definitions.

In my experience, then, online buyers will generally be able to find what they are looking for if we sellers give an accurate title to our listing, and flesh it out with the best description we can. As a seller, this is my aim. As a buyer, I assume responsibility for asking questions, reading the full listing, and doing whatever research is necessary to make sure the item I select is what I'm looking for. I'm (woefully) aware that not all buyers think this way, but I doubt that any revamping of categories will ever be able to spoon-feed every single buyer.

The problem is when I am searching for gold jewelry, I am looking for REAL gold jewelry not rolled , plated or colored gold. Type in ruby gold ring and see what you come up with, I am looking for real rubies not CZ's or man made in plated, the real stuff gets buried in with all of the imitation, it takes for every having to read each description to find the real stuff. Putting things in the right category would make things easier to find. One big problem is keyword spamming that gets the fakes listed with the real stuff. Just taking control of that would help some but it would be better to have the Fine Jewelry category for just that and nothing else.

[pearlygirl555]

When you write in your post, "it takes forever having to read each description to find the real stuff," are you just going by the title of the item, and making a purchase on that information alone? Even in the most complex scheme of categories, if a seller has 55 characters to compose a title, they are going to choose some key words that will attract your attention, such as "ruby gold ring." Each of those 3 words can mean a host of things, even assuming the seller is as knowledgeable as you are about jewelry, and never makes a mistake in identifying what they offer. No matter how you break the categories down, spamming will be a problem and the buyer always bears some responsibility for how they spend their money.

It seems from reading the earlier posts that there is no globally-accepted definition for the term "fine jewelry." There will always be a level of confusion, and it is possible to fragment the categories to the point where a buyer looks at slew of options, and goes elsewhere.