Just asked for a few more pictures of a pipe I'm looking at on SP, and got a response that they only do extra pictures for $300-$500 pipes now. Is this relatively new?
SP Doesn't Do Extra Pictures Anymore?
- Thread starter mikethompson
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I didn't even know they did extra pics.
At least a couple of years. I emailed in early 2022 to ask for a picture of the rim of an estate pipe and was told no.
They were very accommodating in the early years. People were much less inclined in the days before the interwebs to buy used stuff sight unseen.
Yep. I’ve noticed. Don’t like it
It’s really bad when some pipes only have one side showing
It’s really bad when some pipes only have one side showing
Yeah, I've been told no at least a couple of times now over the phone and via email... "Pipes are in other building, can't leave my desk." Would settle for a quick phone pic. Not picky. Obviously, they must get a lot of requests so. Cigarstandard here in Los Angeles will bend over backwards to sell a pipe. Mult. phone pics, no problem.
They seem to have a “policy”: $50-75 pipes, one pic only. For $100 +\- pipes, 2 pics. And so on up this hierarchy.
This makes me reluctant to buy the pipe, partly because I cannot view the pipe from all sides, and also because I find the underlying message offputting. Their competitors offer many pics, from all sides, even if it’s just a cob
This makes me reluctant to buy the pipe, partly because I cannot view the pipe from all sides, and also because I find the underlying message offputting. Their competitors offer many pics, from all sides, even if it’s just a cob
I guess this is a good time to bring up the importance of return policy’s for online retailers.
I've never had an issue with Sp.eu but then I am dealing directly with the employees of the Peterson Shop in Dublin.
I think this is a perfectly reasonable policy. Only one of the seven estates I've bought from SmokingPipes had any issues, and they promptly refunded it. Everything else has been fairly priced and graded. I can't imagine someone sending multiple pics of a $15 cob is making much profit!
Wow. Lots of changes at SP over the last few years.
They used to pull all the inventory of a certain Savinelli 320 pipes and look for uncoated chambers for me.
Then send me pics of the various option to choose. These were sub-$100 pipes at the time.
Sad to hear the level of customer service has changed.
Most recently they did take a certain pipe to the Vegas show for me to inspect and purchase. So not sure if the recent changes started for 2024.
They used to pull all the inventory of a certain Savinelli 320 pipes and look for uncoated chambers for me.
Then send me pics of the various option to choose. These were sub-$100 pipes at the time.
Sad to hear the level of customer service has changed.
Most recently they did take a certain pipe to the Vegas show for me to inspect and purchase. So not sure if the recent changes started for 2024.
I suspect the changes started with staffing issues during COVID.
Never mind that images require server space. Looking right now, there's 848 "fresh pipes" on site now. That's JUST fresh pipes, not ALL pipes.
Just searching for pipes, not specifying anything is 495 pages with 24 per page, though the last page might not be full... that's 11,856 pipes in stock not counting the last page. Last page has 3 pipes so 11,859 in total.
If they were to have an average of 3 pics per pipe, that's 35,577 images.
This is also just based on what's in stock. When I bought a pipe from them, I add it to my favorites. I clicked on one I bought a little over a year ago, says "sold out" but still has a page with 2 pics. So, there's even more images that aren't even counted yet. How many pipes have been sold in that year that have images? And what's more, each tobacco blend gets an image for each size in which it is offered.
Beyond the cost of storage space for all these images, look at how much they do. Aside from having to catalog and manage all of those pipes, there's also tins and bulks, tons of orders, estate processing, importing and about a million other things probably.
I honestly don't blame them and wouldn't expect them to go take an additional picture of a pipe that someone might not even buy, nor would I expect them to give the same high level of personal service as a company that's 1/10th of its size, especially at the relatively fair prices most things seem set at.
I don't know how many employees they have, but certainly the busy ratio per employee is higher than at a B&M. Generally the larger a business is, the less free time they have to do extra stuff, and they do a lot of business (relatively speaking for the pipe world).
I’ve never asked for extra pictures before, maybe that’s why the people at smokingpipes are so nice to me? I guess that will change going forward.
The amount of time involved in listing an estate pipe is much longer than we take into consideration. Each pipe requires a thorough cleaning and inspection, before it gets to the photographer.
I, recently helped a fellow catalogue his Fathers pipe collection. Well over 300 pipes. That would be about 300 hours of labor just for the cleaning and polishing.
When I had the website we posted six images of each pipe. About three minutes to photograph each pipe, and another five to edit each image.
Loading the images, detailing all the dimensions, condition, etc was at least another five minutes per pipe.
The only difference between an estate and new pipe is the cleaning time.
Look at how many pipes smoking pipes lists per upload. For what they do a team is needed to get everything done on time and done well.
The descriptions posted are well done and concise.
Time is money. Someone needs to go to the inventory room, find the pipe you've asked about, bring it back to their desk, take a photo of what you've asked about, send the image to you, wait for a confirmation you've received the image /s, and then return the item to inventory.
If the retailer has 100 pipes, it's not a big deal ..... if they have a few thousand, it's a different story.
I, recently helped a fellow catalogue his Fathers pipe collection. Well over 300 pipes. That would be about 300 hours of labor just for the cleaning and polishing.
When I had the website we posted six images of each pipe. About three minutes to photograph each pipe, and another five to edit each image.
Loading the images, detailing all the dimensions, condition, etc was at least another five minutes per pipe.
The only difference between an estate and new pipe is the cleaning time.
Look at how many pipes smoking pipes lists per upload. For what they do a team is needed to get everything done on time and done well.
The descriptions posted are well done and concise.
Time is money. Someone needs to go to the inventory room, find the pipe you've asked about, bring it back to their desk, take a photo of what you've asked about, send the image to you, wait for a confirmation you've received the image /s, and then return the item to inventory.
If the retailer has 100 pipes, it's not a big deal ..... if they have a few thousand, it's a different story.
To be clear, I completely understand why they've stopped. It was a surprise when I read on these forums for the first time that they did it at all.
Yes, many pens are exact duplicates, the miracle of modern manufacturing, therefore one picture can be reused many times.Sheesh, even Jetpens takes multiple pictures of the $2.50 pens!
I noticed some time ago that the number of pictures and videos provided was proportional to the price of the pipe SP's return policy is pretty good so fewer photos don't bother me.
I've the years I've requested specific extra photos of certain pipes. Last one was early last year that I recall.
I was told the separate building line, but he could have them for me in about a day. Sure enough, I had an email the next day with the pics I requested.
I was told the separate building line, but he could have them for me in about a day. Sure enough, I had an email the next day with the pics I requested.