| Original Message: "Opalite" - Chinese marketing tactic all over eBay and elsewhere... |
|---|
|
See item # 180325728380
"6mm Fire Opal Opalite Round Gemstone Loose Beads 15inch" This all sounds so exciting for a 3.00 strand of Chinese glass beads. But this is how the term "opalite" has been popularized. The seller actually states the material is opal. A stand of pretty crummy genuine opal is 100.00. This stuff is the same genre as "strawberry quartz","pineapple quartz", "raspberry quartz", etc...Most people realize it's glass, but not all.....you often don't even need your glasses to spot the air bubbles... The internet really is just one aspect of the scammery... I asked a little bead store girl a few years ago what her favorite stone was. She thought for a second...and said, "Pineapple quartz!".....I love how bead store owners train their staff! Sad thing is, the stuff is shipped in piles from China with the labels in English already on the bunches of beads strung on 16" monofilament strands. "Opalite", etc....and it's easier for the bead store owners paying employees retail wages to make them leave the labels on than to educate them, and consequently the buying public. They don't want to work any harder for their 3 - 5X markup than they have to and in the short run they don't see the advantage of educating their customer base about the materials they are peddling. In the long run, they could educate and nurture a much higher standard of customer interest, and therefore be able to generate interest in much nicer and higher-end product. Hey! Sorry about my ramblings. I have been pondering this stuff more than a short while. Just to clarify - I don't hate the so-called "opalite" glass. It's not nearly as nice as antique Venetian moonbeads or opalescent Czech glass of various kinds. But it is pretty. But wishing the Chinese material was marketed in a more direct and honest way.
All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
|
|