Wickett/Craig

[YinTx]

On 3/14/2019 at 8:55 AM, JLSleather said:

Discounted poop? Still poop

Then there is this, full price poo.  The world we live in.  Apologies to the seller if they are on this forum, lol.

kinda lookin like a piece of copper tubing from the plumbing section, if I must say so myself...

 

YinTx

 

[JLSleather]

Solid brass?  At the shop, we had BINS full of those.. used for short-run bushings... for about the price of the shipping on that one
 

[bermudahwin]

6 hours ago, YinTx said:

Apologies to the seller if they are on this forum, lol. 

I am not saying this is a scam

but there are scams whereby some  sellers on some marketplaces have goods extortionately priced, to only sell to their own associates and possibly not even deliver goods but refund, either way dirty money can be cleaned, as its passed through a legitimate transaction.

Many of these have been cleared recently.

H

 

[fredk]

another use for extremely high prices on items on ebay is as a place holder. It holds the space for the seller and also they don't have to fill in the selling list every time they need to relist after an item went out of stock and then came into stock again.

[JLSleather]

5 hours ago, hwinbermuda said:

either way dirty money can be cleaned, as its passed through a legitimate transaction.

over here we call those mexican restaurants

[bermudahwin]

37 minutes ago, JLSleather said:

over here we call those mexican restaurants

The historic case example from the 50's and 60's, for anti-money laundering was 'insert nationality here' restautant actually owned by 'insert crime organisation here' being observed as having 10 to 15 'cash' covers a day but banking thousands and thousands of dollars, which was then paid to owners as dividends etc....

I am not silly enough to enter a sydicate that rhymes with raffia.

Fredk's comment was found to be true, when I was working for a major international electronic payments firm, as worldwide compliance manager, last year, but not as often as the 'oddly mispriced' scenario. We removed service from many in the far east, and reported to home and european tax authorities, one storefront alone was churning $1million per annum, and they had 20 mirrored storefonts, it beggars belief. When we queried it, it was all innocence and 'what? little me?'

H

[TheNorthldahokid]

Have any of you ever ordered from Weaver Leather Craft? I came across them the other day and was just wondering. They also have good videos, google Weaver Leather Craft youtube. 

[JLSleather]

I ordered leather from Weaver ONCE.  I will not do it again.

I did not return it, didn't even contact them to complain about it.  What I got was advertised as Herman Oak's better grade, but the grain side was not good, and the flesh side was far worse.  There was clearly a splitter problem -- the entire back side looked like that washboard you find on the highway when you're coming up on a stop.

Now, some are going to say "well, how can they fix the problem if you don't let them know?".  This - clearly - is ridiculous.  They CLAIM to know leather.  So one of these things is happening:

1. They really DON'T know leather, and had no idea what they were sending me was below acceptable. OR
2. They really DO know leather, but thought I DON'T know the difference.  Sadly, this has become widespread... send out the dregs and if the customer doesn't complain you "got away with it". OR
3. They really DO know leather, and they didn't care if I knew the difference or not.  Send it out, and if he sends it back we'll send a different piece.  If he's out a week or two, not our problem. OR
4. They really DO know leather, but can't be bothered to either check what they are sending out, or train their help to check it.

Regardless of the reason, I do not object to PAYING premium price as long as I'm GETTING premium stuff.  Fortunately, I only ordered a couple of sides, kind of test the water to see what they stock.  Now that I know, I avoid them.

NOTE: What I got could have easily been SPLIT AGAIN once the splitter was adjusted, they could have simply sold it as a lighter weight.  They'd only be out the time to split it.  But they didn't.

Edited March 24, 2019 by JLSleather

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

For what it's worth, I ordered 6 sides of chocolate skirting from Hermann last fall, supposed to be "A"s, had a heck of a time getting a saddle seat out of even one.  I think it's an industry wide problem.  The vast majority of the hides generated in this country go out of this country and are tanned for the upholstery industry.  They get their pick of hides, the best hides, because they need large, clean blemish free hides for upholstery leather.  Our only two veg tan tanneries left in this country more or less get the leftovers.  Or so I'm told.  I haven't bought from Wickett in quite awhile.  I was getting too much leather that I couldn't use.  I've gotten some really mushy garbage from them, and it just will not work for equine equipment.  Also, something in their process has  changed.  Twenty-five years ago, I loved their harness leather.  It had a soft hand, which some people don't care for, but it wasn't mush, and it had a nice somewhat waxy feel.  The last few years, their harness leather has been different, but they claim nothing has changed.  If I didn't still have a few random pieces of their old leather, I'd wonder if it was my imagination.  Last fall I bought 3 brand new sides at an auction, still wrapped in paper, and in the original box.  I had no idea what I was buying, except it was black harness.  I got it home and opened it up and the original invoice from Wickett and Craig was in the box.  It was dated 2004.  And THAT leather was a lot closer to the leather I remember cutting years ago.  The fact that they won't admit they changed something pisses me off as much as anything.  Their skirting has become a nightmare to carve.  Afrer about 10" with a swivel knife, it drags so bad it takes forever to get anything done because I'm constantly having to stop and strop my knife.  Same knife, Hermann Oak, carves like butter.  It really is a darn shame, because if Wickett quits tanning leather, then there's only ONE tannery left in this country, and that would be very bad for our trade indeed.

Edited March 25, 2019 by Big Sioux Saddlery

[JLSleather]

7 hours ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

The fact that they won't admit they changed something pisses me off as much as anything. 

Such is the process these days. Don't fix the problem... just market to "new guys" who don't know the difference.  Get 'em early, convince them that the poop they're chewing is good for you   

Of course, it's a matter of time. You use a "name" to sell your poop, pretty soon you've got poop on the name.