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| | "How to Buy Quality Oriental
Rugs"
Here are some pointers provided by Oriental Rug Merchant
on rug purchasing. A short story is in
order, which my mentor, Caroline Bosly, who wrote "Rugs to Riches",
drilled in me early on. By the way, Caroline was one of the largest Independent
Rug Brokers in the world! A vacationer traveled to Turkey with his wife stopped in the local Bizarre to purchase some local wares and try his hand at
negotiating. First off, he picked what he liked an asked the merchant "how
much"? The merchant replied that it was a rare quality old piece and could
not accept less than $50.00 for the piece of Turkish copper. At that, he said it
was a real bargain. The man knowing he could do better decided to offer the
merchant $35.00 which represented a 30% discount. The merchant ranted he could
not go that low, offered them some tea, and after tea, the merchant decided he
would make an exception since he thought they are really nice people and
deserved a great deal @ $37.50. The deal was done. The husband and wife
left thinking they got a great deal. The neighbor merchant came over to the
copper merchant and asked how the copper merchant did? "The usual" he exclaimed!
"The only problem I have with these tourists is deciding on how much I'm
going to charge for these $5.00 bowels used by the Turkish army for
laundry." When buying rugs without knowledge the buyer is at
great risk. Doesn't it make sense to have knowledge on your side? So much for
this parable. Caroline often told me, "They (the Middle East oriental rug dealers)
will treat you with kindness, and take all your money!" So if you are going
to click-on the Internet an type in "buy oriental rug, oriental rug
discount, oriental rug online, discount oriental rug, persian rugs, oriental
rugs, oriental rug store, or your local oriental rug company, you must
deal with a position of knowledge, or have someone on your side who has the
knowledge, and who will protect your interests when buying oriental rugs,
antique persian rugs, or any oriental area rug. Knowledge is power when
negotiating with your local oriental rug store, oriental rug company, all
oriental rug dealers, and oriental rug importers. Why not skip all the added
cost, and go directly to the importing source, with a level playing field!
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To be successful you must have oriental rug knowledge on your side when buying
any oriental carpet, or antique oriental rug. Without this knowledge, you are at the
mercy of the oriental rug dealers and the local oriental rug store. This is
especially true for antique oriental rugs, antique persian rugs, oriental
rugs with natural dyes, and unique oriental textile rugs. |
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In many cases your local oriental rug store, oriental rug
company, and all the local oriental rug dealers have in excess of a million dollars in inventory. Who do you think pays for that idle cash,
let alone the building, advertising, employees, utilities, and insurance.
They need to get a good buck to survive, and the bucks come form YOU! |
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Who has a better chance of buying a rug at the right price?
A rug broker/merchant who buys hundreds to thousands of oriental rugs a year from
direct oriental rug importing companies, or a lone customer in a retail shop? Remember, the
oriental rug Broker not only has the buying power, but he also has the
knowledge like knowing what
any given oriental rug costs in the
country of origin! Why not ride the coat tails of the Rug Broker like Oriental
Rug Merchant , gain some
valuable oriental rug knowledge, learn "how to buy oriental rug
(s)", and save a tone of money buying persian rugs, antique oriental
rugs, and all oriental area rugs. |
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Using a knowledgeable oriental rug broker will be an
exciting experience. Wealthy society has purchased rugs this way for many
years. My mentor, Caroline Bosly, even directed oriental rug purchases for
the Royal Family. They have a few dollars! |
| Contacting your oriental rug broker, Oriental
Rug Merchant, is a easy as sending an
e-mail geoffrey_uhle@sbcglobal.net
. The vast majority of oriental rug brokers still deal exclusively with the
very wealthy, as they do not have to work very hard to earn a lot of
commission on big purchases. We want to change that by providing this great opportunity to
those who can afford a good quality oriental rug. |
You might want to think about your next oriental rug purchase
under a whole new light.
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When buying from your local oriental
rug store, do you have the knowledge to proceed? Do you know prices,
production capacity of a particular type of oriental rug? Do you know wool
quality? Do you know what type of dyes are being used. Do you know how to
properly evaluate a rug for quality? (note...this takes turning thousands of
rugs...) So how do you think you will do at your local oriental rug store,
or oriental rug company? It stands to reason that local oriental rug dealers
are at a steep advantage.
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So how about typing in "buy oriental rug" on your
computer and look for an oriental rug online? Now you can't even see
or touch the oriental rug. How do you determine the oriental rugs condition?
(note....many oriental rugs are used, especially antique oriental rugs, so
condition is VERY important! This is in addition to the problems above. We
have two exceptions to this online generalization: NUMBER ONE: If you find a
"machine made" oriental design rug on the Internet, you may find
it at your local rug, or oriental rug store, view it, and take notes. At
least then you have viewed it. Still, you have the problems in item number
one above. NUMBER TWO: You may buy from trusted oriental rug dealers with a
full return policy, paying the shipping/insurance both ways. This exercise
sometimes causes more problems than it is worth to any dealer, and it is why
Oriental Rug Merchant sells a very limited collection of oriental rugs. The
online oriental rug you see on this website is their because that are such a
good deal, that the odds of a return are minimal.
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So what is left? Buying direct through an oriental rug
broker like Oriental Rug Merchant. It has happened many times over the
past few years that we have placed true persian rugs for less money than
machine made rugs like Karastan. If the middle class can appreciate art on
the floor, something that may last over a hundred years with proper care,
and watch their oriental rugs become more valuable over time, then they have
found one of the keys to wealth accumulation. Here is one of many
examples... Heriz, a city in northern Iran, produces a very strong geometric
room size rug. The higher quality was known as "serapi", or serapi
oriental carpets". Back in the late 1800's to 1930's these rugs
could have been purchased for a few hundred dollars. In fact, many people on
the East Coast threw away these rugs when wall-to-wall carpeting became all
the rage. Quite a few European oriental rug dealers become millionaires
picking up these rugs out of the trash, or going door-to-door an asking for
old rugs! The average cost of a room size heriz antique oriental rug is now
about $15-20,000.00 wholesale! The average cost of room size serapi
oriental carpets are now $25-40,000.00 in good condition! Lessons
from the past, give us a good indication of what out children may inherit if
we learn how to play the game.
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