should anyone ever consider purchasing open stock jewelry?

A recent on line customer of mine felt very unhappy with an open stock design of a Laurel Burch Shambala Cat Earring I sold so I instantly agreed to take them back. I quickly learned that the customer had developed very strong ideas about collecting this particular brand of jewelry so to her I had done something terribly wrong, even though my listing never stated that the earrings contained the criteria she was apparently looking for in her purchase. As a jewelry designer I have always been concerned about ownership of any jewelry design as I have literally hundreds of pieces out there that are mine, so I cannot help but comment on and try to shed some light on "open stock". An open stock jewelry piece is a design which has made its way to the jewelry industry as a finding or as a supply for the industry. Generally and hopefully there is no copyright infringement involved, but once offered in this manner, there you have it available for jewelry making, but still with the same author or designer as no one should ever lay claim to the original creation other than the true designer of the piece. So now you may wonder how once original designs become open stock? One avenue is that items are often aquired as jewelry companies retire. If companies are no longer producing their own designs they very often decide not to continue in the defending of their ownership rights as time moves on. It may more than seem like part of a dog eat dog world, but this is how it works and has worked since the very beginning even though most of us never think about it. So whether or not you want to buy an open stock item is a personal choice as these items are a very normal part of the jewelry industry and its rotation, especially now due to so many items currently coming in from overseas, how can anyone stop that? Open stock does not change who the original designer is and it should never infringe on a copyright. It may also be important to some collectors to know that these days even a copyrighted signature cannot authenticate all jewelry, collecting depends on your own research and due diligence in the matter. So the question is, "should anyone ever consider purchasing open stock jewelry?" Answer: Only if it makes you happy! :) If you like a design and it is readily available as an open stock piece my recomendation for saavy buying any jewelry is to think less about the perceived value laid down by various sellers who promote "collecting" and more about what it is you like and will actually wear! Unless a seller states the rarity of a piece or the fact that it is retired the ad is not being targeted for the collector but rather for those potential buyers who just want some cute/nice jewelry. So in short buying open stock depends on whether a buyer is of the "collector mindset" or just likes what tthey see. Since open stock designs make up the vast majority of all jewelry available to consumers of course I like and recommend them, afterall they too were once designed by someone out there who very likely loved making it as much we all love wearing it.