Loupe Troop is down 01 July 2024 - would anyone know for how long please?

[OboeGal]

Reddit is another place I buy and sell things.

Same!

 

[Home73]

Reddit is another place I buy and sell things.

I think Reddit could be an alternative. But we would create our own subreddit, right? It is a little bit a learning curve at first. But you can post photos through imgur anonymous and the chat function in reddit is great for contacting each other without needing email.

 

[Jax172]

I think Reddit could be an alternative. But we would create our own subreddit, right? It is a little bit a learning curve at first. But you can post photos through imgur anonymous and the chat function in reddit is great for contacting each other without needing email.

Yes, our own subreddit would be good if you only want to buy and sell from PS members. There are currently other jewelry buy and sell subreddits already but it’s like loupetroop in that anyone can sell and buy so you would be at more risk of scamming.

 

[HS4S_2]

So we cannot list right now until LT is back up or have to find another place to list? Hopefully it's up quickly.

 

[Redwoods-hiker-girl]

Reddit is another place I buy and sell things.

Same!

 

[SCL]

The way you could do it, it make the subreddit “restricted” or “private” (explanation of the difference below) and have pricescope-rs join the subreddit using the same pricescope user name for ease of understand who is posting what.

Restricted: only users on the approved list & moderators can post; anyone can comment.

Private: only users on the approved list & moderators can see the subreddit and its content; anyone who can see the subreddit can post & comment.

 

[Ella]

Folks we do not allow links to other forums. That would include Reddit.

 

[Avondale]

Folks we do not allow links to other forums. That would include Reddit.

Well teeeechnically it doesn’t need to be linked…

Just a hypothetical question, purely… is the name “pricescope” trademarked as in, would it be a problem if someone were to hypothetically create a subreddit for pricescope? Only hypothetically.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Who runs LT?

My memory is that someone on PS started the website back when the preloved forum started. I can't recall who or whether they even still run it!

 

[Ella]

Well teeeechnically it doesn’t need to be linked…

Just a hypothetical question, purely… is the name “pricescope” trademarked as in, would it be a problem if someone were to hypothetically create a subreddit for pricescope? Only hypothetically.

We will not allow links or pseudo linking/directing to another forum, sorry.

It's meant to keep everyone safe here when sharing their very expensive jewelry collections and to avoid flame wars between forums that used to happen fairly regularly many moons ago.

The Preloved section as is takes a significant amount of time to monitor and moderate, keeping links to just a handful of other official marketplaces helps us keep that manageable.

 

[Starfacet]

Is Craigslist anonymous? At least for the purpose of giving information as to how/where to purchase our items?

 

[Ella]

Is Craigslist anonymous? At least for the purpose of giving information as to how/where to purchase our items?

Anything not attached to social media or another forum is fine. The goal is to have it be somewhere relatively anonymous where someone isn’t inadvertently sharing significant personal information by mistake, like they might on social media or forums. This is the best arrangement we can find that does not require many hours of monitoring by us and at least on the surface provides some protection against certain types of bad actors.

 

[Avondale]

Well, my only other suggestion left is:

Post on Etsy. Price for everyone else: 50 000$. PS members get a special discount. DM for further details.

 

[Redwoods-hiker-girl]

Well, my only other suggestion left is:

Post on Etsy. Price for everyone else: 50 000$. PS members get a special discount. DM for further details.

I like the way you think.

 

[Home73]

I like the way you think.

Me too! I think this is a good alternative.

I have a few small things and as soon as I have time I will create a listing there. Have to do it from scratch as the listing descriptions are all stuck in LT. Ugh.

Etsy charges 6.5% from sales price and will also issue 1099 forms but it also gives some protections. I guess we have to come to this realization that we just can not have totally free listings and websites. They cost money and time to run and we were lucky that we had that for so long in PS and LT.

 

[Lookinagain]

Me too! I think this is a good alternative.

I have a few small things and as soon as I have time I will create a listing there. Have to do it from scratch as the listing descriptions are all stuck in LT. Ugh.

Etsy charges 6.5% from sales price and will also issue 1099 forms but it also gives some protections. I guess we have to come to this realization that we just can not have totally free listings and websites. They cost money and time to run and we were lucky that we had that for so long in PS and LT.

I don't sell on Etsy, so I'm just wondering how they determine the purchase price that they charge the 6.5% on if it's not on the listed price?

 

[Home73]

I don't sell on Etsy, so I'm just wondering how they determine the purchase price that they charge the 6.5% on if it's not on the listed price?

You are right. I just read through some of their rules. They calculate the fee based on List price.....so this might not work for us either.

 

[Lookinagain]

You are right. I just read through some of their rules. They calculate the fee based on List price.....so this might not work for us either.

I thought that might be the case, so Etsy is only an option if you're selling to the public.

 

[Rfisher]

I started looking into setting up a LoupeTroop alternative, and then LT came back online and my plans fell by the wayside. I’ll dive back in.

Have you done something like this before?
Do you know time and cost estimates for setup /maint?
Do you envision needing /wanting helpers?

would having both up and running be a negative thing?

Just curious

 

[Home73]

I thought that might be the case, so Etsy is only an option if you're selling to the public.

LT was always public. I think all of us did a mix of sales. I had items listed on LT and they would sometimes sell to non-pricescope members. Or I would buy on LT from non PS members.
It just was set up that you did not need to enter your email address. The system would contact you through a "contact us" feature. (And often that did not work and people would put there email in the listing directly) I think that is the issue here. How to stay anonymous here and not expose PS to our info.

 

[Avondale]

I don't sell on Etsy, so I'm just wondering how they determine the purchase price that they charge the 6.5% on if it's not on the listed price?

Etsy can only charge a percentage if the sale is going through Etsy. *wink-wink*

 

[Lookinagain]

LT was always public. I think all of us did a mix of sales. I had items listed on LT and they would sometimes sell to non-pricescope members. Or I would buy on LT from non PS members.
It just was set up that you did not need to enter your email address. The system would contact you through a "contact us" feature. (And often that did not work and people would put there email in the listing directly) I think that is the issue here. How to stay anonymous here and not expose PS to our info.

Yes, I understand that. People want the anonymity. Does Etsy provide that? I figured that offering for 50K and then having a PS discount via DM was a work around to keep your identity private, or otherwise it would be public.

 

[Mreader]

Same!

I’ve never tried this before - I have an acct but I’m not on it much. Will have to check it out for this!

 

[Rfisher]

Yes, I understand that. People want the anonymity. Does Etsy provide that? I figured that offering for 50K and then having a PS discount via DM was a work around to keep your identity private, or otherwise it would be public.

A few Etsy items I’ve seen listed for 50k now makes sence

 

[Home73]

Etsy can only charge a percentage if the sale is going through Etsy. *wink-wink*

I understand what you are trying to say.
The same applies to ebay. But ebay can still insist on their fees even if you did not end up going through them to pay. The policy is that if you learned about the listing through them they still get their cut. Even if you use a different service to email or pay.
Etsy is the same and it would be a violation of their terms. Some might be okay with it, but some probably not. Again, you are talking now also tax evasion and that is no joke.....
I am not sure how strict Etsy is in finding and enforcing this but Ebay has very sophisticated systems to detect outside sales. You can not share a email address. You can get in touch with someone after the sale. So you could do that for repeat customers. Ebay can do other things i.e. ban you.

 

[Dee*Jay]

A little clarification on Etsy fees if anyone decides to go that route:

9.5% is charged on the entire price paid (so item price plus shipping if shipping is charged through that platform). That's a 6.5% processing fee and a 3% transaction fee. There's also a $0.20 fee for every listing.

In addition to the 9.5% mandatory fee, there can be ANOTHER 15% fee if the buyer comes from "outside ads." The reason I'm pointing this out is because if you go clicking around the magic internet using search terms for a piece and click through to Etsy on that piece (or any other piece in the seller's store) at any point in the process the additional fee will kick in. Neither the buyer or seller know in advance if this additional fee is going to hit. t's a real kick in the teeth! (As you might be able to tell, I've been hit with this on my Etsy store a few times and it results in copious and colorful swearing!) The 15% does go down to 12% if a seller sells more than $10K in a twelve month period, but I don't think that would apply here.)

There is also a small fee now to open an Etsy store (I think it's $15; my store was opened before this kicked in so I'm not 100% sure). And the verification process for identity and financial (i.e., bank/credit) info -- for the seller-- is a REAL b!tch.

Not trying to take away any options from people, but I just wanted to mention some things to consider about the Etsy platform.

And just to be clear: My Etsy store has nothing to do with gems or jewelry, I'm just providing this info about fees because it would apply no matter what the merchandise is.

 

[Dee*Jay]

I understand what you are trying to say.
The same applies to ebay. But ebay can still insist on their fees even if you did not end up going through them to pay. The policy is that if you learned about the listing through them they still get their cut. Even if you use a different service to email or pay.
Etsy is the same and it would be a violation of their terms. Some might be okay with it, but some probably not. Again, you are talking now also tax evasion and that is no joke.....
I am not sure how strict Etsy is in finding and enforcing this but Ebay has very sophisticated systems to detect outside sales. You can not share a email address. You can get in touch with someone after the sale. So you could do that for repeat customers. Ebay can do other things i.e. ban you.

There is message monitoring on Etsy and if the determination is made that the sale was being direct off of the site (they call this "fee avoidance") the store is shut down. Immediately. And with no warning. They are pretty rabid about this.

If someone sends a seller a message through the Etsy system the seller then does have the person's email address (it's embedded in the info we get), but again, the monitoring of messages is pretty thorough for any indication of off-channel communication.

Regarding taxes, I didn't even think to address this in my prior post, but applicable sales tax is charged on the FULL amount of an order (price + shipping). Why charge on shipping you might ask?! Because in the "old days" people would sell an item for $10 and charge $100 for shipping (which was not subject to Etsy fees or tax back then.)

 

[OboeGal]

There is message monitoring on Etsy and if the determination is made that the sale was being direct off of the site (they call this "fee avoidance") the store is shut down. Immediately. And with no warning. They are pretty rabid about this.

If someone sends a seller a message through the Etsy system the seller then does have the person's email address (it's embedded in the info we get), but again, the monitoring of messages is pretty thorough for any indication of off-channel communication.

Regarding taxes, I didn't even think to address this in my prior post, but applicable sales tax is charged on the FULL amount of an order (price + shipping). Why charge on shipping you might ask?! Because in the "old days" people would sell an item for $10 and charge $100 for shipping (which was not subject to Etsy fees or tax back then.)

Thank you for all this info re Etsy! I had no idea about all of this, and it's very good to know before one decides to use it as a platform or not, for anything really.

 

[luckygreen317]

My David Yurman 18K Hampton bracelet sat available on LoupeTroop for over 2 months with no interest.

I listed it on eBay and it sold in one month. It’s going through the “Authenticity Guarantee” process which, as a buyer, I really like this process especially on designer pieces.

As a seller, I am required to send insured with direct signature to the Authenticator ($28.00). Funds will not be released until item is inspected. I was charged 15% transaction fees on item including sales tax.

 

[Mreader]

A little clarification on Etsy fees if anyone decides to go that route:

9.5% is charged on the entire price paid (so item price plus shipping if shipping is charged through that platform). That's a 6.5% processing fee and a 3% transaction fee. There's also a $0.20 fee for every listing.

In addition to the 9.5% mandatory fee, there can be ANOTHER 15% fee if the buyer comes from "outside ads." The reason I'm pointing this out is because if you go clicking around the magic internet using search terms for a piece and click through to Etsy on that piece (or any other piece in the seller's store) at any point in the process the additional fee will kick in. Neither the buyer or seller know in advance if this additional fee is going to hit. t's a real kick in the teeth! (As you might be able to tell, I've been hit with this on my Etsy store a few times and it results in copious and colorful swearing!) The 15% does go down to 12% if a seller sells more than $10K in a twelve month period, but I don't think that would apply here.)

There is also a small fee now to open an Etsy store (I think it's $15; my store was opened before this kicked in so I'm not 100% sure). And the verification process for identity and financial (i.e., bank/credit) info -- for the seller-- is a REAL b!tch.

Not trying to take away any options from people, but I just wanted to mention some things to consider about the Etsy platform.

And just to be clear: My Etsy store has nothing to do with gems or jewelry, I'm just providing this info about fees because it would apply no matter what the merchandise is.

I remember closing my Etsy because of all those fees and it was so confusing and you never knew what type of fee would be applied. It was so annoying. I opted out of the ad part and nothing got any views.