[Rant] selling watches is hard!

Blackpitts

during the last months I've been selling almost a dozen of my watches, as my collection was getting bigger and bigger and the most had no wrist time at all. My goal is to re-invest the money in an "upgrade", maybe a Sub 16610 or even a AP RO 15300 (if i win the lottery in the meantime)
anyway, selling watches on the net is one of the most frustrating experience of this hobby and I think I never will get used to it. :rolleyes:
I have had people asking my details for the payment and then sending only part of the money as they thought they deserved a discount without letting me know, I have had people who i have closed deals with after many calls and messages but they have disappeared completely while i was waiting for the payment (there is nothing wrong in changing your mind, just tell me ffs!), i have met people bitching about the selling price so they expect I must sell them my watch to the price they think is adequate (if you don't like the price, move ON!), I have got the abuse from many because I have picked the higher offer between many (...I don't know you, we are not friends, why I should do a favour and take your money if the other guy is willing to pay also for the delivery ), I've got ridicolous offers for very expensive watches (i mean less than 30% of the asking price) so I had to force myself to be polite and reply just with a "no thanks" - my fridge is full and I have still a job so I'm not so desperate to sell the watch at a fraction of the price - ...and I can go on and on ....
it's just me or people out there are getting mean so they expect to buy watch for almost nothing and get upset when they discover is not that easy???

rant over.

Wibbs

Not just watches either, though I've found any luxury type item really brings out the loons and muppets. I've had sellers email me shocked I actually sent the price asked on all sorts of stuff. Its not a new thing either. A vintage watch guy I used to deal with back in dial up days echoed your experience word for word.

Cyrus

do you mind me asking where you have been selling? ive sold lots of watches on tz-uk and have never had an issue, now the only watches ive ever bought at close to rrp are the ones ill never be selling,

everything else ive bought pre owned and the forum is a pretty good guide of the price the market will bear

can you give examples of what you are selling and the kind of offers you have recieved?

i dont think adverts is the place to sell a decent watch, people always tend to make ridiculous offers from the off and from there on the thread seems to disintegrate

Blackpitts

Cyrus wrote: »

do you mind me asking where you have been selling? ive sold lots of watches on tz-uk and have never had an issue, now the only watches ive ever bought at close to rrp are the ones ill never be selling,

everything else ive bought pre owned and the forum is a pretty good guide of the price the market will bear

can you give examples of what you are selling and the kind of offers you have recieved?

i dont think adverts is the place to sell a decent watch, people always tend to make ridiculous offers from the off and from there on the thread seems to disintegrate

I've tried the following:
- adverts.ie = it's the only place for selling stuff here in Ireland. Unfortunately you are right, 90% of offers are ridiculous. I've managed to seel only few cheap watches on it.
- Ebay = good experience with it, but just because I often put the "buy it now" option or a high starting price for bidding on my watches
- TZ-UK = it's a very good forum with decent people on it, but from time to time you can have some crazy request there too
- several italian forums: mixed experiences there, mostly bad
- Chrono24: useless website

let me give just few examples (i will omit those on adverts.ie, but you can check yourself my ads out there at the mo), I have an Eberhard Chrono4 (RRP 3600 euro) for sale at 1800 e but I've got one offer for 800 (of course the delivery cost would be on me as well) and another for 1600 from a woman whose brother in law bought the same watch for that price so she wanted to pay the same amount of money :rolleyes: ; i had one Omega Speedmaster sapphyre at a reasonable price (1700) and a lot of offers around 1200/1300...once I have agreed a price of 130 euro for a Seiko Atlas, but the guy sent me only 125 because (I quote) he deserved a discount for sending me the payment so quickly :eek:; 2 days ago i had a PM full of abuse from someone who has offered me 50 for a Disney watch but I've decided to sell it to a different guy for 55 euro...he said that he was not aware that the forum was a "bidding website" and I should have sold the watch to him instead because he was the first one to offer me the asked price
and i can go on and on...

Smokeyskelton

I agree it can be frustrating when you get such responses, but that is the free market in action. I'm aware you know this already, and it is scant comfort when you get a third loony speculative approach in a day. Patience can wear thin if you have to waste time with too much nonsense.

On a side note, I think, (I could well be wrong here), that if you are offered the full asking price on an item on adverts.ie that you cannot accept a higher offer. That is probably what one of your correspondents was referring to in relation to the Disney watch. So technically I think they may have been correct in relation to that point. I don't mean to rain on your post, I'm just trying to see it from both points of view.

Good luck with your sales.

Blackpitts

Smokeyskelton wrote: »

On a side note, I think, (I could well be wrong here), that if you are offered the full asking price on an item on adverts.ie that you cannot accept a higher offer. That is probably what one of your correspondents was referring to in relation to the Disney watch. So technically I think they may have been correct in relation to that point. I don't mean to rain on your post, I'm just trying to see it from both points of view.

i appreciate your opinion and I would agree with you, but my asking price was not including the delivery (it was clearly stated), the first guy said he was willing to give me the money but delivery was on me, so I've just picked the guy who has offered me what I've requested for my watch. I have not put it up for an auction .

flutered

from the end of july to the 2nd week of september one finds that the price of watches on the u.s. forums nosedive

Wibbs

Funny, on the vintage forums I trawled in the past the price tended to go down coming up to xmas. You would think they'd go up at that time.

HDMI

Blackpitts I have seen your ads on adverts and also liked your choice of style in watches, admittedly a little out of my price range. But the problem these days is that if you sell any item of high value, like watches or electricals, phones, people assume you must have fallen on hard times so they figure lets make you suffer a little more. The Meistersinger that you sold recently was probably the most original watch that I have seen in a long time and a real talking piece, a real suprise it didn't sell on adverts.

I went down to Tipp a couple of months ago and met with fluttered and I would like to think that on the day we both made a deal that was fair for both of us, even though it cost me a lot more in the long run ( wife wanted a day out and a meal ). Anyways Billy I have since had the Wittnauer dated on the NAWCC and it turned out to be from 1950, which was a nice suprise for me.

If honest people do deals then both should walk away feeling happy.

Blackpitts

HDMI wrote: »

Blackpitts I have seen your ads on adverts and also liked your choice of style in watches, admittedly a little out of my price range. But the problem these days is that if you sell any item of high value, like watches or electricals, phones, people assume you must have fallen on hard times so they figure lets make you suffer a little more. The Meistersinger that you sold recently was probably the most original watch that I have seen in a long time and a real talking piece, a real suprise it didn't sell on adverts.

thanks, to be honest I've lost 200 euro on that Meistersinger, it's a lovely watch with a high end finish, unfortunately I need to sell to get funds for the next big watch but I have the impression i will buy another one in future (maybe the Perigraph)
I think you are right, people on adverts really makes jokes and not real offers, i just do it because t's the only place i can advertise my watches if i want them to be seen on this forum with reputable people.

HDMI wrote: »

I went down to Tipp a couple of months ago and met with fluttered and I would like to think that on the day we both made a deal that was fair for both of us, even though it cost me a lot more in the long run ( wife wanted a day out and a meal ). Anyways Billy I have since had the Wittnauer dated on the NAWCC and it turned out to be from 1950, which was a nice suprise for me.

If honest people do deals then both should walk away feeling happy.

I agree with you 100%!