Gyrogami Blog - Precious Metals, Jewelry, Artwork

About That Price...

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Categories: Experiences and daily life; Commerce and business

Word count/read time: 493 words; 2 minutes

With silver and gold, it's easy to find scrap or whatever form it's in and do all of the refining, processing, and manufacturing myself. I have been spoiled in that sense, being a self-contained entity from the beginning.

As additional metals are added to my wardrobe, it's a different story. They cannot be worked and/or processed like the precious metals. It's not from a lack of desire, rest assured. The equipment is prohibitively expensive, large, and usually specialized for a particular function and/or metal.

I have to buy them new and they can be quite costly. Given the niche market, there are scant suppliers. If someone is getting rid of old stock, I'd gladly snatch it up because it would be more affordable.

What is frustrating? Most companies don't list prices. They want you to register, confirm, submit a quote request, turn over your first born, etc. At this stage, I am researching and don't want to give my email and phone number to every lunatic company who'll sell it to countless data brokers and share it with hundreds of corporate partners!

Calling isn't much better. Usually they ask for a phone number, email, company name, what it's for, blah blah blah. Again, sell your soul. They'll work up a quote within a week and get back to you. If I wanted to wait that long I'd send the request via snail mail! Enough with the major production.

Annoyed by this common response, I asked one company why. The rep said a rapidly fluctuating market made it impossible to redo pricing for every product. Pathetic excuse. Maybe thirty years ago I'd believe it. Plenty of websites selling precious metals and related products have clearly displayed up-to-the-second pricing.

He argued, "That's not how things are done in the industry! Every product is different." Not true. I could understand if it was a totally custom request but not if it's listed as a stock item. To not have a general idea of pricing...you're a professional effing idiot, not an industry asset.

I mentioned that computers do a fantastic job of updating websites with little if any human intervention, simple code for any programmer. Even my dysfunctional website can be updated with a few mouse clicks.

Do these companies know how many customers they lose from such a bass-ackwards approach? Get with the digital age already! It reminds me of another chap who must've been born and bred by the same institution. I don't know which is worse.

Pricing can be a PITA, I get it. Each craft show I do basically requires new prices since (precious) metal prices fluctuate constantly. Redoing 1000+ price tags isn't feasible.

Therefore, prices are usually listed on a separate sheet or sign rather than the item itself. It's as simple as reading a menu at a restaurant. Still, some leave instead of asking or looking at the sheet. Having prices grouped together makes comparing easier, but that's just my thought.

Posted by M: July 11, 2026

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