genuine falling price? yeah right!

just watched lynn attempt to flog c 100 pairs of mop star earrings in the under £20 premiere show. Might be wrong but i think they were the first item...the price fell to £9.99 at c80 items .....at 6.27pm (ie nearly half an hour into the show) we were still going .....still at £9.99....flogging a dead horse if you ask me.

Come on gems - lets be honest here - show us the price you want and give us a time limit - dont bore us with auctions that last forever and insult us with absolute rubbish about genuine falling prices ...even to £1????????????????????????

loobi said:

just watched lynn attempt to flog c 100 pairs of mop star earrings in the under £20 premiere show. Might be wrong but i think they were the first item...the price fell to £9.99 at c80 items .....at 6.27pm (ie nearly half an hour into the show) we were still going .....still at £9.99....flogging a dead horse if you ask me.

Come on gems - lets be honest here - show us the price you want and give us a time limit - dont bore us with auctions that last forever and insult us with absolute rubbish about genuine falling prices ...even to £1????????????????????????

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Hi Loobi,
Sorry you feel this way.
Below is an explanation of our auctions which i hope you will find helpfull and informative

Descending prices

Once a particular TV game begins, the price for the featured item will start to fall and will periodically be reduced until Gems TV, in its reasonable discretion, calculates that all of the items offered in that game will be allocated to bidders.

Placing your bid

If you see an item that you would like to bid on, you may place your bid when it reaches the price you are willing to pay. This can be done through this website or by calling the number displayed on-screen. By placing your bid - either on this website or via telephone - you agree that you are able and intend to purchase the item(s) you bid on at the final price (which may or may not be lower than the amount of your bid) - should your bid be accepted by Gems TV.

Termination of TV games

A particular TV game will end when Gems TV, in its reasonable discretion - based, where applicable, on the number of bids received through the website and its call centre - determines that the full number of items offered in the game will be allocated to bidders. By playing TV games, you consent to allowing Gems TV to exercise this discretion.

Final price

Unless the game ends prior to or upon entry of your bid, the price for the item may continue to fall even after you placed your bid until Gems TV, in its reasonable discretion, calculates that all of the items offered in that game will be allocated to bidders. Regardless of the price at the time of your bid, you will pay the same final low bid price as all the other successful bidders.


Sorry if this is a bit long winded, but i hope it goes some way to explaining what happened last night.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me on [email protected]

Kind regards
Jack

Hi Klosblue,

We dropped to £9.99 as the phone lines were Inundated with callers, and at the time there were more callers that items in stock, Instead of doing mutiple drops, we crashed staright away to give the final, best price.
The auction lasted as long as it did, as we had so many callers hanging on the line.

Kind regards
Jack.

but dont we often hear, press one and confirm and dont put the phone down, wait until your call is answered...you have been successful if you have pressed 1 ....so surely if all these people holding had all indicated their intention to buy - pressing their no 1, the number of items would have gone down...then all would have sold, auction would have ended. How many times do we hear - lets give the call centre time to catch up and we all watch the adverts. And also we are updated - as the item number drops - thank you so and so in london you just pressed 1 - isnt it automatic - isnt that what Steve tells us?

To be fair - I understand its a business and certain levels of revenue is needed per item to make it sustainable. I just find it patronising to be told we keep falling in price when clearly we dont. The hour with Lynn for example, and Jack will be able to confirm I'm sure - there were actually very few auctions, for an under £10 hour when items normally fly out. I would prefer to be treated like the adult I think I am with them saying this is the price, often its a very good price, buy it or dont. Rare these days to see things chipping away as they used to (I did see one yesterday for the first time in ages).

Sorry - long winded

JackBGemsTV said:

Hi Klosblue,

We dropped to £9.99 as the phone lines were Inundated with callers, and at the time there were more callers that items in stock, Instead of doing mutiple drops, we crashed staright away to give the final, best price.
The auction lasted as long as it did, as we had so many callers hanging on the line.

Kind regards
Jack.

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Maybe I am just missing the point, but if it was predetermined that there would be one crash to its "final, best price" before the auction started, then it isn't a truly falling price auction. The final, best price was set and it wasn't going to fall any lower. If that is the case, imho it would be better to put up a clock and sell whatever sells and then move on to the next item.

The way I see GemsTV at the moment is that they may as well change to fixed prices like QVC, IMO GemsTV isn't a true falling auction channel, otherwise Jewellery would not be withdrawn, this can only work if a reserve price is stated clearly on screen when the auction is started and not withdrawn at a whim.

Being fixed price would also stop once liked presenters screaming like banshees!

JackBGemsTV said:

Hi Klosblue,

We dropped to £9.99 as the phone lines were Inundated with callers, and at the time there were more callers that items in stock, Instead of doing mutiple drops, we crashed staright away to give the final, best price.
The auction lasted as long as it did, as we had so many callers hanging on the line.

Kind regards
Jack.

Click to expand...

Sorry Jack but that's just a huge cop out. How does the viewer know that to be true? You could hide behind this excuse for each and every auction.

We all know that this is a farce and GemsTV will only reduce to where they want to, to cover costs - which ultimately is good business sense. So why not be transparent about it? TJC are. They say "this is our final price" so that way you know and they will then yank the auction if the pieces don't sell. Fair enough. To hide behind "there were callers on the line" is just insulting.

Graham said:

The way I see GemsTV at the moment is that they may as well change to fixed prices like QVC, IMO GemsTV isn't a true falling auction channel, otherwise Jewellery would not be withdrawn, this can only work if a reserve price is stated clearly on screen when the auction is started and not withdrawn at a whim.

Being fixed price would also stop once liked presenters screaming like banshees!

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I totally agree Graham but others have said they would find it boring if it was a fixed price channel.

I would much prefer if it is was fixed price, so we can stop the presenters from looking like they are having heart failure at the price it goes down to.

Funny some presenters make out like they decide the price, and act like a director/producer and presenter all in one and others act the opposite....

These aren't falling price auctions in the literal sense but presumably legitimate under the rules of TV selling, God help us. The main point is that the Accountants seem to have taken over from Steve. Love him or loathe him he brought fun, craziness and controversy to his channels but we never see him now and the channels have descended into bog standard impersonal routines fronted by howling banshees and actors. Customer service seems to have collapsed as well by what I read on here.

Where is the novelty and colour of the early days? Gone forever I fear. Well I guess big isn't best as I have no desire to watch any more and I have bought thousands of quids worth of stuff from Steve over the years but no more.

I must say that I do agree with everything that has been said. The falling auctions are not what they are made out to be, and it would be easier to watch if you were just given a price. If then it does not sell it could be withdrawn. You could decide if you want to buy and everyone could move on to another item. Much too much time is spent on one item of jewellery, it is so boring to watch. A quick glimpse is all I can manage. Like Mr Jones ,I find I no longer have the desire to watch.

Graham said:

The way I see GemsTV at the moment is that they may as well change to fixed prices like QVC, IMO GemsTV isn't a true falling auction channel, otherwise Jewellery would not be withdrawn, this can only work if a reserve price is stated clearly on screen when the auction is started and not withdrawn at a whim.

Being fixed price would also stop once liked presenters screaming like banshees!

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Totally agree. what a load of old tosh this chap is spurting out. if it was TRUE falling price EVERYTHING would ALWAYS be sold. and the same items would close at different prices. is that the case? of course not. GEMS TV is a sales business and i would image they have a 'target' price for everything.

I dont mind this as long as they are transparent about it. but they are not. they try and treat us like dopes instead.

I agree Sootoo that too much time is often spent on one piece of jewellery. Steve Bennet has just been selling a sterling silver zircon bracelet and when the price dropped to £69.99, after saying "I'm not going to drop the price ... I know it's a reverse auction ..." He then went on to say "Set your watches it could be the longest auction in history here at Gems. I will not take another penny off". Admittedly he did then drop the price, but only by £1. Surprising to hear comments like these from Steve so soon after JackB has been trying to assure us all of the validity of Gems true reverse auction.

Ah yes, but don't forget that "Gems TV, in its reasonable discretion" can bliddy well say and do what it likes with a get out clause like that. xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Saffy said:

I agree Sootoo that too much time is often spent on one piece of jewellery. Steve Bennet has just been selling a sterling silver zircon bracelet and when the price dropped to £69.99, after saying "I'm not going to drop the price ... I know it's a reverse auction ..." He then went on to say "Set your watches it could be the longest auction in history here at Gems. I will not take another penny off". Admittedly he did then drop the price, but only by £1. Surprising to hear comments like these from Steve so soon after JackB has been trying to assure us all of the validity of Gems true reverse auction.

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Absolutely - and having a set price would stop all this "it's the lowest price ever" b0llocks as well... it's all very well telling us that there's a life-long price pledge if an item eventually gets sold at a lower price than previously "auctioned" at, but I for one would like my money back to spend somewhere else.....

Jack B; surname wouldn't be Bennett, by any chance, would it?

Jinny

jinnyjamjar said:

Absolutely - and having a set price would stop all this "it's the lowest price ever" b0llocks as well... it's all very well telling us that there's a life-long price pledge if an item eventually gets sold at a lower price than previously "auctioned" at, but I for one would like my money back to spend somewhere else.....

Jack B; surname wouldn't be Bennett, by any chance, would it?

Jinny

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Maybe it's time for some fresh genes in the pool. No offence to you Jack (Steve's son I believe), I'm sure you do your best but when a company becomes this family clogged, it's bound to fail at seeing things from the customer's angle. xxxxxxxxxxxxx

jinnyjamjar said:

Absolutely - and having a set price would stop all this "it's the lowest price ever" b0llocks as well... it's all very well telling us that there's a life-long price pledge if an item eventually gets sold at a lower price than previously "auctioned" at, but I for one would like my money back to spend somewhere else.....

Jack B; surname wouldn't be Bennett, by any chance, would it?

Jinny

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argeybargey said:

Maybe it's time for some fresh genes in the pool. No offence to you Jack (Steve's son I believe), I'm sure you do your best but when a company becomes this family clogged, it's bound to fail at seeing things from the customer's angle. xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Steve's son Jack is only about 10.

Sazza said:

Steve's son Jack is only about 10.

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Crikey, his grammar is excellent. I'll give him 3 stars. <a href="http://plugin.smileycentral.com/http%253A%252F%252Fwww.smileycentral.com%252F%253Fpartner%253DZSzeb008%255FZNxpt484YYGB%2526i%253D36%252F36%255F11%255F6%2526feat%253Dprof/page.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_11_6.gif" alt="SmileyCentral.com" border="0"><img border="0" src="http://plugin.smileycentral.com/http%253A%252F%252Fimgfarm%252Ecom%252Fimages%252Fnocache%252Ftr%252Ffw%252Fsmiley%252Fsocial%252Egif%253Fi%253D36%252F36_11_6%2526uiv%253D3.0/image.gif"></a> xxxxxxxxxxx

argeybargey said:

Crikey, his grammar is excellent. I'll give him 3 stars. <a href="http://plugin.smileycentral.com/http%253A%252F%252Fwww.smileycentral.com%252F%253Fpartner%253DZSzeb008%255FZNxpt484YYGB%2526i%253D36%252F36%255F11%255F6%2526feat%253Dprof/page.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_11_6.gif" alt="SmileyCentral.com" border="0"><img border="0" src="http://plugin.smileycentral.com/http%253A%252F%252Fimgfarm%252Ecom%252Fimages%252Fnocache%252Ftr%252Ffw%252Fsmiley%252Fsocial%252Egif%253Fi%253D36%252F36_11_6%2526uiv%253D3.0/image.gif"></a> xxxxxxxxxxx

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Me, too. Judging by his posts I thought he was at least 13...