Jewellers Ark?
Discussion
Scam site or not?
I fancy a cheap daily to stop my Omegas getting too much abuse and they have the Rotary Aquaspeed range at very competitive prices. Almost too good to be true prices which sets alarm bells ringing.
Google search suggests they're ok but even that seems too good to be true. Is it just a credit card harvesting site?!!!
Anyone used them?
I fancy a cheap daily to stop my Omegas getting too much abuse and they have the Rotary Aquaspeed range at very competitive prices. Almost too good to be true prices which sets alarm bells ringing.
Google search suggests they're ok but even that seems too good to be true. Is it just a credit card harvesting site?!!!
Anyone used them?
They look like a network of independent jewellers, rather than purely an online only concern.
Check the About Us page, and there's phone numbers and addresses – ring one of them and use Google Street View to see the location/store exists.
If you're using your CC and the value of the purchase is over £100, then you're covered with Consumer Credit Act Section 75.
I'd have a chat, for the sake of a bit of time or money, to get a true gut instinct about whether they're worth giving your custom to, or steering well clear of.
For me, the website's too elaborate to be a scam – people don't need that level of detail to be sure they're dealing with a legitimate business.
Check the About Us page, and there's phone numbers and addresses – ring one of them and use Google Street View to see the location/store exists.
If you're using your CC and the value of the purchase is over £100, then you're covered with Consumer Credit Act Section 75.
I'd have a chat, for the sake of a bit of time or money, to get a true gut instinct about whether they're worth giving your custom to, or steering well clear of.
For me, the website's too elaborate to be a scam – people don't need that level of detail to be sure they're dealing with a legitimate business.
Turns out I needn't have worried - even though I may have reservations about the longevity of their business.
All perfectly fine and as you say a website setup by a group of independent high street jewellers to combat the online only watch retailers taking their business. They appear to sell their stock at just below online retailer prices and share the sales around their co-operative group. Can't see that beating online retailers on price whilst maintaining the costs of a high street operation makes a whole lot of sense to me in the long run.
Still I was able to get this Rotary Aquaspeed from them for £133 inc. Saturday Special Delivery. Just the cheap daily I was after and actually very impressed with the watch. Not a lot on their site grabbed me other than this particular watch but for something to stop my other watches taking a battering I'm pretty pleased. It feels a far greater quality watch than all in the £200-300 range I had tried and rejected.
All perfectly fine and as you say a website setup by a group of independent high street jewellers to combat the online only watch retailers taking their business. They appear to sell their stock at just below online retailer prices and share the sales around their co-operative group. Can't see that beating online retailers on price whilst maintaining the costs of a high street operation makes a whole lot of sense to me in the long run.
Still I was able to get this Rotary Aquaspeed from them for £133 inc. Saturday Special Delivery. Just the cheap daily I was after and actually very impressed with the watch. Not a lot on their site grabbed me other than this particular watch but for something to stop my other watches taking a battering I'm pretty pleased. It feels a far greater quality watch than all in the £200-300 range I had tried and rejected.
Agent Orange said:
Turns out I needn't have worried - even though I may have reservations about the longevity of their business.
All perfectly fine and as you say a website setup by a group of independent high street jewellers to combat the online only watch retailers taking their business. They appear to sell their stock at just below online retailer prices and share the sales around their co-operative group. Can't see that beating online retailers on price whilst maintaining the costs of a high street operation makes a whole lot of sense to me in the long run.
That depends on how viable the rest of their high street business is. A lot of jewellers could operate without any watch sales, but it still hurts when online markets take business away. All perfectly fine and as you say a website setup by a group of independent high street jewellers to combat the online only watch retailers taking their business. They appear to sell their stock at just below online retailer prices and share the sales around their co-operative group. Can't see that beating online retailers on price whilst maintaining the costs of a high street operation makes a whole lot of sense to me in the long run.
This is quite an interesting idea to tackle that. Presumably they share stock for the website sales, so no individual business is committing to hold all the lines, and if someone else is taking your sales then any sale (even at a big discount) is better than no sale at all. If your underlying business is sound enough to keep you alive then every sale is a bonus anyway
Especially if the same stock can be used to service both markets.
In your case, one of the jewellers involved buys in half a dozen of those watches. As long as their stock keeping is good, they can sell over the counter to someone at normal discount from RRP, or they can stick it in the post at a minimal margin.
By the time that margin's split between the site partners they may only make a £1 or so for that watch, but they also receive payment for the brands and models that the other partners have invested in so should average full (discounted) margin per sale as long as all the partners are "pulling their weight" in terms of online sales.
It makes more sense than having individual websites as well. Say I decide to push more for online business and turn our site into a full ecomerce affair. That's going to cost me the whole of the site development and maintenance costs, which will be split if it's a co-operative like this.
To be competetive online I have to at least try to match the other online-only sales. But, if I do that, a lot of my local customers will eventually notice that I'm selling cheaper online and want those prices in-store.
This way, it's far less obvious that a watch bought from Jewellers Ark is, in fact, coming from Bloggs Jewellers and, if anyone does notice, it's far easier to explain in terms of it being a benefit of the co-operative nature of the site.
Definitely a promising idea and I'll be watching with interest to see how it develops!
In your case, one of the jewellers involved buys in half a dozen of those watches. As long as their stock keeping is good, they can sell over the counter to someone at normal discount from RRP, or they can stick it in the post at a minimal margin.
By the time that margin's split between the site partners they may only make a £1 or so for that watch, but they also receive payment for the brands and models that the other partners have invested in so should average full (discounted) margin per sale as long as all the partners are "pulling their weight" in terms of online sales.
It makes more sense than having individual websites as well. Say I decide to push more for online business and turn our site into a full ecomerce affair. That's going to cost me the whole of the site development and maintenance costs, which will be split if it's a co-operative like this.
To be competetive online I have to at least try to match the other online-only sales. But, if I do that, a lot of my local customers will eventually notice that I'm selling cheaper online and want those prices in-store.
This way, it's far less obvious that a watch bought from Jewellers Ark is, in fact, coming from Bloggs Jewellers and, if anyone does notice, it's far easier to explain in terms of it being a benefit of the co-operative nature of the site.
Definitely a promising idea and I'll be watching with interest to see how it develops!
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