Maintaining an H relationship

[papertiger]

Please focus on the title of this thread rather than each other, TY

If you find it very hard to ignore certain people, please feel free in adding them to your 'Ignore' list.

For advice on how to obtain a B/K/C please go to the reading room in the Reading Room The Newbie's HOW DO I GET A BIRKIN (or other bag) Reading Room

For advice on how to shop at your local store please do a search in Hermes Shopping sub-forum and look for your store/region/country.

 

[Gabs007]

Thanks for the very detailed response! It's a little difficult for me to establish a relationship since the nearest boutique is quite a drive away (and traffic is a nightmare), so I never venture over that way. I wish there was a boutique closer and hopefully one day there will be! And I have been collecting bags for about 15 years, but Chanel and Dior have been the brands I have always gravitated towards. So, I completely understand the "H relationship" process b/c I have that with Chanel and my local SA's. They will call and text whenever they get WL items into the store and see if I want them first...

Anyways, after reading all these responses I think my best bet will likely be the pre-loved market. Is there any place you recommend for Kelly's? I have bought a few pieces from Fashionphile before (all lower priced items, definitely all have been under $4k each). I always liked their service, but I get so skeptical / paranoid with accidentally buying a the super fake that I hear about these days

The way to go would be to contact a well respected authentication service prior to buying, maybe even with a deposit, pay with the credit card, so you remove any possible danger as if you have the paperwork that it is not authentic, you can contest ASAP.

Basically SA's get less of a commission on items everybody wants, like certain bags, so it makes sense that they are keeping the people happy who they can rely on for regular income, rather than the one person coming in and wanting the bag.

 

[Bambs]

The H process (buy some other stuff first then you can get a bag offer) is more or less unique to H in terms of the bag world, but I think similar things also happen with Rolex on popular watch models, and also certain luxury cars? (sorry no personal experience here lol).

https://forum.purseblog.com/threads/discuss-hermes-resale-ebay-sellers.643531/page-534#post-34064456 is the thread to check for pre-loved sellers. FP is definitely an ok choice, but just letting you know: in pre-loved, for store-fresh, not opened Kellys (and Birkins), you will see them going for ABOVE the store retail price. This is because of the aforementioned process where you have to purchase other things to get offered the bag, so while the bag itself is, say $10K, your total spend will be more than that and for people unwilling to purchase things they do not want, they go reseller, and the reseller knows this and marks the bags up. The more popular a bag spec is the more above store price it will be (currently small bags are popular so size 25 means higher markup, and classic colors like black will often be more expensive than less popular colors).

As for super fakes - we all trust one person and that's https://bababebi.com/
She also volunteers and helps authenticate in our Authenticate thread, but note that there are requirements on what she will authenticate there & it is completely volunteer work she does out of her kindness. Her paid authentication fee is very very reasonable, and she is the one person we will all recommend & trust in this forum. So I would not hesitate to use her service for authentication when purchasing pre-loved. Best of luck to you!

thank you so much again your responses have been quite helpful!

 

[Love Of My Life]

Thanks for the very detailed response! It's a little difficult for me to establish a relationship since the nearest boutique is quite a drive away (and traffic is a nightmare), so I never venture over that way. I wish there was a boutique closer and hopefully one day there will be! And I have been collecting bags for about 15 years, but Chanel and Dior have been the brands I have always gravitated towards. So, I completely understand the "H relationship" process b/c I have that with Chanel and my local SA's. They will call and text whenever they get WL items into the store and see if I want them first...

Anyways, after reading all these responses I think my best bet will likely be the pre-loved market. Is there any place you recommend for Kelly's? I have bought a few pieces from Fashionphile before (all lower priced items, definitely all have been under $4k each). I always liked their service, but I get so skeptical / paranoid with accidentally buying a the super fake that I hear about these days

If you decide to go the reseller route, for your own peace of mind, authenticate the bag & only deal with a reseller that will stand
behind the sale. I would also suggest NO wire transfers. Use a credit card for your protection.
There are some really savvy resellers where you can find a bag but as mentioned be prepared to pay a premium
Having a relationship with H requires a history & luck of the draw to get your bag. If you travel outside the US,
an unexpected bag may come your way. It can happen & does happen.
Have fun exploring the reseller market & hope the bag of your dreams turns up..

 

[Bambs]

If you decide to go the reseller route, for your own peace of mind, authenticate the bag & only deal with a reseller that will stand
behind the sale. I would also suggest NO wire transfers. Use a credit card for your protection.
There are some really savvy resellers where you can find a bag but as mentioned be prepared to pay a premium
Having a relationship with H requires a history & luck of the draw to get your bag. If you travel outside the US,
an unexpected bag may come your way. It can happen & does happen.
Have fun exploring the reseller market & hope the bag of your dreams turns up..

I figured it would be close to double for resale, but the SA that I was "working" with at Hermes said she could get me one w/o having to buy anything else at the store. I specifically asked her about it b/c I had heard about this before from other people. Maybe she was just saying that b/c the store had just recently opened, so she didn't have a vast client base yet. But I just took her word for it and was just patiently waiting....

When the boutique first opened, I actually lived in the area, finishing grad school. I have since moved back home b/c I've graduated. So it's no longer convenient or practical for me to just drive over there and buy items to build a relationship to possibly, maybe get a bag Maybe resale won't be so bad though! And I can stumble across the precise color and hdw combo that makes my heart sing! I will DEF get it authenticated beforehand and use my cc that always protects me

 

[GreenBagsOnly]

The posts from @momoc @acrowcounted @lulilu @Etriers sum up my experience at Hermes. I've been shopping with the same SA for over 10 years and I've never once thought about spend, better categories to shop in, or whatever else to game the system. I've taken a pandemic hiatus from Hermes and PurseForum, reread a lot of this thread, and I can feel the anxiety from people eager to get a BKC. How are you suppose to enjoy the H 'experience' if you're constantly plotting/fretting about how to get a bag? Shopping is suppose to be FUN!

Here's my 2020 anecdotal H experience: In February I was picking up a Twilly, and was idly chatting away when I mentioned how it has been a while since I bought a K. My SA immediately told me that if I wanted one I could have one within a week. I said thanks but no thanks and went on my way.

Fast forward to August - I popped in to pick up a few things and I mentioned I wanted to chat but was short on time. I forgot something and went in a week later and my SA asked what I wanted to chat about. I asked about a B and said the same thing that has never failed me all these years: "please keep me in mind if one becomes available." I'm confident I'll have one by year end.

Datapoints:
1) When I was offered a K my spend was...a Twilly. So, 0.02:1?
2) I don't have my B yet but I'm not anticipating my spend to be anywhere near 1:1, maybe 0.5:1
3) I actually went through old credit card year end summaries to look at my previous spend, and it ranges from 0.5:1 to 3:1
4) I primarily buy leather goods, footwear, tableware, silks/scarves, fragrances/soaps (all things I want)

Bottom line: While I'm not naive enough to think that my spend is irrelevant, I feel being loyal, patient and (hopefully) nice has gotten me what I've wanted all these years.

I guess the TL;DR of my long post is...stop overanalyzing shopping at Hermes. Have zero expectations. Be pleasant, upfront, and genuinely enjoy the product, and it'll be raining BKC's.

Agree with what you have said. However, one can also argue that it was a different shopping experience than it was 10 years ago. Ten years ago, I loved Birkin bags from afar, but was drowning in graduate school debt (along with my husband who I met in business school so 2x the debt). Now, we have finally stopped moving countries and have taken care of our kids and retirement needs, etc.

And now... One can see children carrying B/K/C bags, people have closets of dozens of them, global popularity, etc. I know that jealousy green does not suit me (but almost everything I buy at H is green- hee hee!!!), but I do feel like I missed the boat of opportunity by a few years. The Birkin in my profile pic took gamble of a trip to Paris without an appointment. That being said, I found a nice SA at my local store, I am enjoying shopping at the boutique (a nice break from Covid nightmare) and will be patient unless I break and go back to the reseller market (rather not, but I have had one positive experience so far).

 

[londongal2009]

Looking for advice:
I have managed to locate through the online Hermes concierge a shawl that I had been looking for a while, and there is limited availability in one of the store in my city, but not the store where I usually shop. I have the option of either having the first store ship it to me or they can transfer it to my usual store for me to get there. Now I am slowly trying to build a relationship in my home store, and so I wanted to check whether the latter option was the better one?
Thanks in advance!

 

[momoc]

Looking for advice:
I have managed to locate through the online Hermes concierge a shawl that I had been looking for a while, and there is limited availability in one of the store in my city, but not the store where I usually shop. I have the option of either having the first store ship it to me or they can transfer it to my usual store for me to get there. Now I am slowly trying to build a relationship in my home store, and so I wanted to check whether the latter option was the better one?
Thanks in advance!

Depends on how it works specifically in your country / store but I believe the latter is better generally speaking - because then it counts as a sale from your store whereas the former counts as a sale from the original store, so it’s a matter of which one gets the credit. That being said sometimes they don’t mind it either way (and a shawl isn’t a very big ticket item). I would contact your home store SA and ask if they are happy to help you with a charge send or if they want to transfer it I would first make sure you are quite likely to get the shawl if you want to do the transfer though.

 

[londongal2009]

Depends on how it works specifically in your country / store but I believe the latter is better generally speaking - because then it counts as a sale from your store whereas the former counts as a sale from the original store, so it’s a matter of which one gets the credit. That being said sometimes they don’t mind it either way (and a shawl isn’t a very big ticket item). I would contact your home store SA and ask if they are happy to help you with a charge send or if they want to transfer it I would first make sure you are quite likely to get the shawl if you want to do the transfer though.

Thank you for your reply
I am based in the UK and was recently told by my SA that their system regarding quota bags had changed, and was no longer done on an SA recommendation basis, but through a different department, where apparently purchase history was not the main factor (though I am quite dubious about this). I would like to get a K one day, but am in no rush and have no intention of spending £££ for the sake of being offered a bag. That being said, my rationale is if I’m going to make a purchase, I might as well do it from my home store?
Would you mind clarifying what you meant by charge send (I am not familiar with that - I usually either buy from H online or the store, never had anything transferred)?

in any case thank you for taking the time to reply!

 

[momoc]

Thank you for your reply
I am based in the UK and was recently told by my SA that their system regarding quota bags had changed, and was no longer done on an SA recommendation basis, but through a different department, where apparently purchase history was not the main factor (though I am quite dubious about this). I would like to get a K one day, but am in no rush and have no intention of spending £££ for the sake of being offered a bag. That being said, my rationale is if I’m going to make a purchase, I might as well do it from my home store?
Would you mind clarifying what you meant by charge send (I am not familiar with that - I usually either buy from H online or the store, never had anything transferred)?

in any case thank you for taking the time to reply!

Charge send means your home store SA helps you with purchasing the shawl from the other store (charges your card and sends it to you). This normally means *your SA* gets the credit for the sale but the store that gets the credit is the original store. This is still not quite the same as a transfer which means the item goes to your store first. Depending on how things work specifically you can see why the SM would prefer the latter for the sake of your store but for your SA either option is a credit to them. Altogether different is calling the original store and have one of the SAs there help you in which case neither your SA or store has anything to do with it. Again they may not mind this at all but I personally always try my SA first. HTH!

 

[momoc]

To add more information regarding transfer : sometimes the original store with the item may be unwilling to transfer it to your store, eg it’s a very popular item they will have no trouble selling so they don’t want to give it to someone else. In such cases sometimes they will allow charge send (since again they are going to get the sale credit at their store) but will not give your store the option of getting it transferred unless your store convinces them somehow (eg trading them a popular item or helping them with something else in return). This is why we recommend that you be quite certain that you want the item if you need your SA to get the transfer in for you in case they had to make quite an effort for it to happen.

 

[londongal2009]

To add more information regarding transfer : sometimes the original store with the item may be unwilling to transfer it to your store, eg it’s a very popular item they will have no trouble selling so they don’t want to give it to someone else. In such cases sometimes they will allow charge send (since again they are going to get the sale credit at their store) but will not give your store the option of getting it transferred unless your store convinces them somehow (eg trading them a popular item or helping them with something else in return). This is why we recommend that you be quite certain that you want the item if you need your SA to get the transfer in for you in case they had to make quite an effort for it to happen.

Thank you, that is very helpful!
I will contact my SA and see what he suggests ☺️

 

[momoc]

Thank you, that is very helpful!
I will contact my SA and see what he suggests ☺

I have a feeling that for a shawl it shouldn't be a big issue in any case! Also I think? in Europe (as opposed to the USA where I am) SAs may not have personal commissions like they do here, so they will likely be okay with you doing whatever is most convenient for you. Doesn't hurt to check though. Hope you are able to get it soon!

 

[buluuuu]

After a 2 year H hiatus, I recently reconnected with my SA who has been helpful as long as I’m physically present but less responsive when it comes to email (though he keeps encouraging me to send him loads of photos of the items I’m interested in). My store has reopened, but I’m limiting any physical shopping given the current situation, so it’s kinda difficult to communicate with my SA. I love the store and has built a certain degree of relationship with most SAs in the store already (it’s a small store) and am working towards a quota bag. Would appreciate any comments/ suggestions.

 

[momoc]

After a 2 year H hiatus, I recently reconnected with my SA who has been helpful as long as I’m physically present but less responsive when it comes to email (though he keeps encouraging me to send him loads of photos of the items I’m interested in). My store has reopened, but I’m limiting any physical shopping given the current situation, so it’s kinda difficult to communicate with my SA. I love the store and has built a certain degree of relationship with most SAs in the store already (it’s a small store) and am working towards a quota bag. Would appreciate any comments/ suggestions.

I think most stores are very understanding of customers who prefer to limit physical shopping at this time & willing to work with shipping / phone orders / remote shopping. I would just start by shooting an email to your SA (whoever it is you want to work on getting a quota bag with) and I'd probably do it like the following:
Start with saying hi, maybe even gently remind them of who you are (e.g. mention some past purchase) especially if there's been like no communications in 2 years, and some good wishes that they are doing well in the current situation, which easily transitions to mentioning your desire to shop remotely and asking them if that's possible / how it works.

Then I would not hesitate to make it clear that you are looking to start shopping H again after the hiatus - probably you can include list of things you are looking for, anywhere from very specific things to general ideas of types of things you are looking for (the latter makes it easier for them to send photos of what they might have in store), and I may hold off on mentioning a quota bag for the first contact unless it's a topic you've talked about before.

Then wait and see how they respond and if you can start working from there.

As a side-note, I would not worry too much if it takes some time for the SA to respond to emails. It's actually a very commonly mentioned thing in this thread / forum, but some good SAs may take a couple days to respond, because they are busy in stores, limit work email to work hours so they can have work life balance, etc. While they are the only SA you are talking to, you are one of the many clients the are communicating with so it's not too unreasonable for it to take a while.

Wishing you good luck!