Buying online

March 11th 2012

I try to give better service online than most people receive in a physical store. The story of the creation of a skull ring for Mark in Western Australia is a good example of the process I use. 

Just because you buy something via the internet does not mean that the service you receive has to be less than you would expect from a bricks and mortar retail outlet. In fact with the costs of service staff and expensive retail rent absent from an online purchase their should be more money available for sellers to service their online customers.

Recently I purchased an item online and was amazed at how this seller operated.

I purchased the item from this sellers website via a link to a Paypal portal and a day later got an email advising that my payment had been received and my order had been sent to the manufacturer!

That was the last I heard from the seller I had given my money to. Nowhere on their site did they say that the item was not in stock nor that they were a drop shipper. Three weeks later I received my goods directly from the manufacturer in Thailand.

I like to treat my online customers the same way I expect to be treated and the above experience is not an example of that. The majority of my customers are from outside the Cairns area and using the internet and fully insured freight I am able to service their needs without them being physically in my studio. I just finished the ring pictured above for Mark in Western Australia and how we designed and made his ring is a very good example of the process I use for online purchases.

Mark firstly emailed me a picture of a skull ring design he liked but had been unable to find online for sale in gold. I sent him a quote to make the ring and he paid a deposit on the ring. I then set about making a silver draft for him which I then posted to WA for his approval.

In this case the draft was exactly how Mark wanted the ring to be but he decided on seeing the physical draft that he wanted to do something with the eye cavities. I digitally edited up some photos showing the skull ring with black/blue sapphires set into it and emailed them to him. He loved the concept and we were now ready to make the ring.

If Mark had wanted any changes made to the draft he would have simply posted it back to me and changes would have been made until the ring met his approval. This is exactly the same process I use with customers who come into my studio, the only difference is the use of freight bags to deliver the draft and the use of the phone or email to discuss any changes required.

Mark`s ring was made in 9ct yellow gold and is a huge size Z+5. The sapphires are 6x4ml oval cut Australian sapphires. In this case we wanted them as dark as possible, closer to black than blue.