**Paris January 2011 SALEEE!**

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#136
hanyeu said:
Just want to pipe in regarding resellers. Not all resellers behave that way nor do they sell only S mark items.

There are reputable resellers who sell vintage Hermes items bought from actual store by people like us. I think it is best to think rationally before making such generalization.

Note: I am not affiliated with any resellers.
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Of course you are right ! I was "talking" about the mass sale resellers , those who act like hoodlums ;)
 
#137
hanyeu said:
Just want to pipe in regarding resellers. Not all resellers behave that way nor do they sell only S mark items.

There are reputable resellers who sell vintage Hermes items bought from actual store by people like us. I think it is best to think rationally before making such generalization.

Note: I am not affiliated with any resellers.
Click to expand...

Not sure if your comment was meant for me but just wanted to say that my comment was only meant to be for those resellers at Paris sale who can't behave or wait for their turn, who are rude and who are grabbing everything in sight (and in the meantime pushing and shoving people to get what they want just that they can make a big profit on it).
I can't stand that, that behavior is unacceptable IMO.

Off course there are also good resellers who have good manners, who are reputable and very friendly and you don't hear me speak about them ;).
This was only about that group of resellers at Paris sale that can't behave.
 
#138
**Chanel** said:
Not sure if your comment was meant for me but just wanted to say that my comment was only meant to be for those resellers at Paris sale who can't behave or wait for their turn, who are rude and who are grabbing everything in sight (and in the meantime pushing and shoving people to get what they want just that they can make a big profit on it).
I can't stand that, that behavior is unacceptable IMO.

Off course there are also good resellers who have good manners, who are reputable and very friendly and you don't hear me speak about them ;).
This was only about that group of resellers at Paris sale that can't behave.
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:tup: Thank you , you expressed it better than I did :graucho:
 
#139
And the choice of silk scarves early on the first day, even after surviving the mass stampede and standing in the next line to have access to the scarf area, was cr*p. Have been to the sale 10-12 times before, this selection was so limited and basically second-rate.
 
#140
ggrggr24 said:
And the choice of silk scarves early on the first day, even after surviving the mass stampede and standing in the next line to have access to the scarf area, was cr*p. Have been to the sale 10-12 times before, this selection was so limited and basically second-rate.
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I totally agree with that! Last time I went was a few years ago and it had so many selections and loads of stocks under the counter too. This year, nothing under the counter. Very poor indeed!
 
#141
There was limitations for certain items, for instance one can only buy 5 cashmere shawls etc, I guess people going there with friends always benefits from using their friends' quota. As for the scarves, I think the SS09 collection was quite weak to begin with, which got reflected in the inventory of this sale.
 
#142
I am piping in here for a minute.... Jet lag has claimed my brain and I promise a better update.

Three quick comments.

First--a happy hi to all my friends here. So glad to be back in the threads!!

Second--the reseller question... I hate to see them all lumped together. Because of all the insanity, some of us grab a few nice things simply because in five more minutes the stuff will all be gone. We buy a little more than we truly need, but the conditions are so insane we have to grab first and think second. Yes, some items wind up online, but only after thoughtful time spent in front of this mirror trying to decide what really suits us best, and what would be best on someone else. We go because we love to find things, and when safely home we finally get to reflect.

The real problem, like others have said, is the behavior of those who walk to the head of the line, shove others to the point of pain, and buy enough to stock a store.

Third--I was one of the first in line, ahead of Bienchen (wish I knew who she was!!) and can give my impressions. The initial problem with the crush was not due to Hermes--their security was not even there yet that early, and they are not responsible for the outer area where it all started. It was the fault of, I believe, Palais de Congres. Normally PdeC is responsible for the security of the area where we were waiting and normally their security guards are there. Outer doors that should have stayed locked until 7 or so were accidentally left unlocked. When the crowd discovered this, they opened the doors on their own and started the mad dash for the escalator.

I made it to the escalator early because of my place in line, but as we got to the top we found the entrance barred. Everyone was still heading up the escalator and those of us who were there first were being crushed. At the top we were screaming STOP to those still on the escalator, but they did not understand and kept coming. It was the only time in my life when I felt real "I could die here" fear. A woman next to me thought she might have broken a wrist. I was hurt just enough that I was coughing for some hours afterwards. I was one of those people mentioned by Bienchen who got there painfully early, only to wind up far further back in the final line because I had to escape up another escalotor and got lost in the mob.

I have been to sales for nearly 20 years. This one exceeded all level of previous violence on the first day, at the outer entrance at the first dash, and later when the inner doors finally opened. People there had been placed in an "s" shaped line by Hermes, and lines were taped off on the floor. At the moment when the inner doors opened, all the most aggressive people left their places in line and just started shoving their way forward, while those who had arrived earlier started screaming "NO" and trying to push them back. The whole line broke apart.

While Hermes security was clearly outgunned at the inner entrance that morning, I do have to say that security took measures and made changes early in the day inside the store. At the very beginning I was pushed over onto the glass display case at small leathers and had to call to security for help. The glass case was coming apart and people were actually hitting my back. Incredible. An hour later, security had installed roped lines at small leathers and scarves. The wait was long, but it curtailed the madness and the danger.

Adding to the disappointment was the fact that the selection just did not feel as good this year. From the perspective of someone who got in very early, I can say there were far fewer interesting bags, far fewer shawls, and far fewer small leather goods.

Looking back at it all, I would love to see Hermes come up with measures to make it fairer for those who do try to arrive early. We inevitably wait patiently and politely in line only to get trampled by people who come hours later and who have no decency. Yes, they would have killed me for a keychain.

Will chime in more when I have slept....

Will I go back? Probably--I am a sucker and I cannot resist it. There is also a lot I love about Paris in the winter, sale or no sale. It is just that I am still a bit stunned by the whole experience.
 
#144
wow .. welcome back perigord .. was contemplating to go but kind glad i didnt .. dont like this temporary loss of sanity .. takes the fun out of it ..

although, on a brighter note .. congrats to those who made it thru and cant wait to see your treasures:nuts:
 
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#145
OMG Perigord, I am glad you are OK. One of my fantasies in my life is to go one day to the Paris sale. But this is worse than the running of the brides at Filene's basement.

I truly hope that someone in Hermes management sees yours and others reviews of their experiences at the sale and comes up with a truly fair way to orchestrate the sale, where persons enter the sale in the order in which they came.

I hope you found some wonderful things on sale and will wear them in the best of health.
 
#147
Bienchen said:
Thank you Chanel, I had a great time but I did not buy a lot at the sale.

I arrived at 5:30 in the morning (having taken the night bus) and made friends with a lovely Parisian lady. There were about 40 or 50 people ahead of us. All very civilised so for. Then, just before 6am the outer doors were opened and the people at the back of the queue surged forward to get to the door before everyone else. I could not be bothered to run, just walked briskly. One man fell over turning a corner, people were just crazed.

Everyone headed for the elevator upstairs which was running. There is another door upstairs just where the elevator ends and this is where we needed to queue until about 7am but the elevator was running and all these people were coming upstairs crushing the people already on the first floor. Some people got so scared, they took the elevator to the second floor but then realised that this way they missed their place in the queue and had to get all the way back to the end.

I was at the back of the queue on the elevator and heard the screams, saw people turning round and trying to run down the escalator and joined them. I did not know the portals on the first floor were still closed, I thought there was some incident because there was genuine panic.

Finally the elevator came to a standstill and I could walk up and found myself probably back where I would have been if the people from the end of the queue had not all over taken us.

I took not much pleasure from this as the last which temporarily had been first were now last again and were cursing in foreign tongues......

Security finally appeared around 7am to let us into the second entrance, making us walk in single file, still much shoving and pushing. Queue jumping continued and one lady proudly exclaimed she had been doing the sales since the late 70's appeared all of a sudden next to me and a few minutes later she was right at the front.

When I handed my coat in, I was given ticket # 39, so I reckon I was roughly where I should have been.

At 9am we were finally let in in groups of about a 20 at a time, I went in with the second batch. The cashmeres where I was headed first had already been cleared out a fair bit. I picked one but it was not my best pick, so I went back a few times later and finally got Brazil in cream background with red and blue.

There was a good selection of 90 silks with a queueing system. I had to wait about 15 minutes and picked 3 scarves plus a 70 for a fellow TPF'er.

I went to RTW as the SA's there were not busy to try on my scarves and to get advice re colourways. I decided to keep the 140 and only the 90 Onde de Chic, perfect c/w for me.

Belts were already gone by then (10am!) and there was still a selection of SLG but I was not desparate for anything and did not face more queues.

The worst behaviour IMO was demonstrated by the resellers; not only were they pushing and shoving, they also grabbed absolutely everything in sight, ie 10 cashmeres often 3 or 4 of the same design and c/w, dozens of scarves, some of them had client wish lists that spanned six pages, closely typed!!!

Would I do it again? Possibly, but it was scary and badly organised, so I have to balance that against any possible savings.
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Bienchen: I am so happy you got nice scarves and came out in one healthy piece! I wish I could have joined you, I know we would have had some laughs...You are strong smart lady and are to be admired. Thanks for this thorough reporting. You need strong guts to go to this sale!
 
#149
**Chanel** said:
Not sure if your comment was meant for me but just wanted to say that my comment was only meant to be for those resellers at Paris sale who can't behave or wait for their turn, who are rude and who are grabbing everything in sight (and in the meantime pushing and shoving people to get what they want just that they can make a big profit on it).
I can't stand that, that behavior is unacceptable IMO.

Off course there are also good resellers who have good manners, who are reputable and very friendly and you don't hear me speak about them ;).
This was only about that group of resellers at Paris sale that can't behave.
Click to expand...

I meant my comments for everyone. From my viewpoint, unless we know who these resellers are, it is difficult to boycott them (and I agree with you that the behaviors of some people, resellers or not, are simply unacceptable!) I experienced these obnoxious resellers as well in my previous H sale (i think we were at same sale together :smile1:), as well as other buyers who acted just as rude and obnoxious ( i remembered people were pushing so hard that the SLG counter almost toppled over). It was literally SCARY.

To be honest, I am not sure exactly whom to boycott but from my personal experience, I cannot attribute rude behavior only to resellers, but also to other buyers as well. Just my 2 cents. Hope no one takes it personally.
 
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