Selling expensive watches

art

For some reason, selling a watch worth over 1,000 is making me very anxious altogether. To the extent I pulled the ad I'm specifically referring to. Has anyone here actually sold a watch for over a thousand (i.e. on adverts.ie)? Did you just meet some guy/gal in a car park and get a sack of used notes!?? Can anyone share an experience - good or bad - that might put the thing in context?

Thanks....

fishguy

Did a few on ebay. The most convenient way imho. Payment with paypal. I received the money than I sent the watch with registered post. Never had any fuss. Sold over 200 watches on ebay. The most expensive ones were Rolex and Cartier pieces in the $4000-5000 range.

I guess paying with paypal secures both party even it's for a fee.

m4r10

fishguy wrote: »

Did a few on ebay. The most convenient way imho. Payment with paypal. I received the money than I sent the watch with registered post. Never had any fuss. Sold over 200 watches on ebay. The most expensive ones were Rolex and Cartier pieces in the $4000-5000 range.

I guess paying with paypal secures both party even it's for a fee.

How exactly do you send your watches by registered post as I see on their T&C that watches, jewelry and some other can't be insured?
Do you just take a chance with them and send only as registered?

Final Approach

I sold a Tag heuer a couple of years ago for 800. Arranged to meet in a local shopping centre car park during the day. Guy pulled up, hopped into my car, and I showed him the watch. He gave it a very quick look, and produced the cash. I counted it in front of him, we shook hands and he was on his way.

That was my experience anyway for what its worth

Cyrus

art wrote: »

For some reason, selling a watch worth over 1,000 is making me very anxious altogether. To the extent I pulled the ad I'm specifically referring to. Has anyone here actually sold a watch for over a thousand (i.e. on adverts.ie)? Did you just meet some guy/gal in a car park and get a sack of used notes!?? Can anyone share an experience - good or bad - that might put the thing in context?

Thanks....

join a forum where people sell expensive watches, like tz-uk

build up a decent post count and reputation and trade there, much more civilised. :P

Homer

My 0.2 cents has always been buy the seller as much as the watch and vibe versa when selling.. I bought a Panerai from Cyrus having never met before and all went smoothly based on my previous comment. I also purchased my submariner from a boards member having never met before and once I met the seller I knew within minutes that I wouldn't have any problems. Never parted or brought cash with me on the first meet!

Eoin

Remember that the buyer is realistically taking at least an equal risk by bringing a wad of cash, so it's important to arrange something that you're both confident with.

If the likes of TZ or a similar community isn't an option, then just use common sense. Meet somewhere safe where neither party can do a Usain Bolt impression (or worse).

As the seller, you might be asked to meet somewhere that will authenticate the watch. If it's during business hours, then maybe you could go to a branch of your bank and do the exchange there. You lodge the cash and handover the watch inside.

For what it's worth, I think TZ is great. I've bought 4 watches (one en-route - touch wood!) and sold 1 there. Everyone leaves feedback about the deals they've done about members in a dedicated forum, so it works well.

art

Thanks for all those comments folks, it's useful hearing perspectives like that.

I was put off TZ-UK as it takes two months (and an amount of posting) before you can even see what's for sale there so had no idea whether it was suitable or not. But I think I will register now alright and see how that goes, does sound good given what's been said here.

Eoin

art wrote: »

I was put off TZ-UK as it takes two months (and an amount of posting) before you can even see what's for sale there so had no idea whether it was suitable or not. But I think I will register now alright and see how that goes, does sound good given what's been said here.

I was put off at first too, but now that I'm there a while I can see how it's a good thing. As for what's for sale - everything from cheapies to £25K safe queens. Also lots of trades go on - and NOT the stupid adverts.ie swap offers either.

flutered

ebay to me is off limits, the last three items i sold ended in grief, sold an old co3 in great condition, the seller claimed that it was damage on arrival, asked for a refund, i said sure just return the watch, he replied if you do not reimburse me i will leave negative fed back, he did ebay refused to change it, next i sold a stereo, seller said it was not correct, asked for 60 sterling or else, he did, again ebay would not take down the feed back, my last venture was a wwi compass, sold, arrived and seller left positive feed back, 12 days later a refund was asked for as the item was not as described, as the pics were not great, the pics are good, four times i said in the description no returns, ebay ruled in the buyers favour, never a feckin again, i said it before but like the guy with the hangover i tried it, this time never again.

Eoin

I've not had that problem with eBay myself, but I am aware that it's a minefield for sellers.

That said, you should take the time to describe the item thoroughly and pre-empty as much of that as possible. I take close up photos of any scratches / issues and mention them in the listing.

HDMI

I have sold a good few watches on adverts.ie and as yet have had no problems at all, every buyer I have met has been 100% genuine.

One experience selling on eBay left me with a sour taste in my mouth when I got the bill for fees, both Paypal and eBay take a good size chunk off the sale price and I would never use them again.

Watch forums on the other hand if used correctly can provide you with a source of buyers with reliable reputations and I have not had a bad experience as yet. I recently sold 3 and traded 1 on watchuseek and all worked out well.

One thing though is shipping and no company will insure watches for shipping. FedEx charge a huge fee for shipping but when I phoned they said they would not insure any watch and I should take it up with my own insurance company, which makes their service no more secure than An Post. I constantly track my deliveries and do not relax until has arrived.

Shipping within the EU has no customs duty but make sure any buyer from outside the EU knows that they assume all fees for import. Earlier this week I had a watch arrive from LA and the seller declared a value of $500 on the box and a nice bill from customs came to me for €109.16.

emo72

HDMI wrote: »

and a nice bill from customs came to me for €109.16.

maybe you should consider selling your orca, to make up the shortfall like:pac:

HDMI

emo72 wrote: »

maybe you should consider selling your orca, to make up the shortfall like:pac:

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

fishguy

m4r10 wrote: »

How exactly do you send your watches by registered post as I see on their T&C that watches, jewelry and some other can't be insured?
Do you just take a chance with them and send only as registered?

Yes indeed. In the auction I state that the watch can't be insured, but it's registered. I never had one registered parcel lost. You have to be very careful on packaging as damaging the shipment is the real problem there. But as I said I never had any issues. I used UPS to send a watch (a old Seiko chrono) to Japan. UPS was the choice of the buyer. The watch was in the €300 range and he was happy to pay close to €125 for the shipping...