Hi all,

This morning, a new member who joined earlier today, started three different conversations with me asking to buy my watch. He did´t mention wich watch. He used poor english, short messages and provided e-mail and phone number.

I actually don't have any watch for sale, although there's an old listing from last year where I was offering a watch that I still own, but you have to look through many pages to see it.

How safe is accepting a bank transfer from an unknown person and send the watch insured and sign required?
What´s the risk behind sharing your bank account number with a potential scammer?

Thanks for reading.

 

If you're paid by direct bank transfer there's no way of the money being refunded without your knowledge. I'm almost certain.

If it's a scam I'd say there's probably another development to come yet.

 

If you give details on an account with no credit nor balance to it, what could possibly happen? Also, if you move the funds directly when they have been deposited, so the balance goes back to zero, before you ship the watch, it shouldn't be any danger involved. What you can do also, is to check with your bank, so that the payment has been irrevokably deposited, and cannot be charged back, due to any regulation in the money transfer systems between banks that you're not aware of.

But it DO sound fishy the whole thing you're describing, so I would be very cautious before I would proceed any further. Is it worth a lot of trouble to sell that watch?

 

I've heard that a demand draft can be created if someone has your bank info, so as with any transaction it's good to build trust. When I completed a sale via bank transfer last week (via another forum) I moved the funds out immediately in case there was a problem. In these situations, I've learned from other sellers to be very thorough about documenting payment received, ship dates, tracking numbers etc. Even to the point of photographing the packing of the watch, and the shipping label etc.
I was stressed out about it all last weekend, expecting to wake up to a drained bank account, until the buyer shared a photo of the watch received, sitting next to another beautiful watch of his

 

It does sound fishy, and I was not even thinking of selling the watch before he contacted me. So maybe the answer is no, it doesn´t worth the trouble

 

Is your watch a rather uncommon piece? It could be that he found your watch in the for-sale aggregator mywatchmart and followed the cookie crumbs to here. If I look in there for an Enicar Sherpa, by the 6th watch I'm already looking at posts that are a year old.

 

A fake demand draft can only happen with checking accounts. You should be safe giving out a savings account number that's set up for inbound-only wires.

When I sell watches, I always photograph the watch with the current time and date set, with the shipping label. Never had to need it though.. yet. I also keep all my purchase receipts.

OP, though a wire can be safely received , some people are duped into thinking that they received a wire, but in reality received a deposit from a bogus check. Once the check bounces, you're out of money and watch.

OP, finally, that cold call from the new member sounds real fishy. Better to just pass on this.

 

I was that guy, as this was effectively my first sale. If I ever start to sell regularly (which I doubt, because I love my watches too much ) I'll take your advice!

This is good advice. I waited until the funds cleared in my account and were transferable to another account (my investment account, of all things) before I shipped the watch. I'm confident enough in that situation. (Also the incoming wire was marked as such, with all the sender's info).

Agreed on this one :/

 

Oh and @WatchVaultNYC , is said vault available for in-person perusal, perhaps as a storefront? I'm hurting for vintage watch experiences here in the city

 

Thanks for the shout-out @abrod520, you're my kind of brod. Due to insurance purposes, we don't keep inventory in-premises. Once inspected and photographed, they're sent out to the same 3rd party fulfillment facility that handles shipments for our non-watch business. And the "vault" is really more like a security cage with video surveillance, than anything else.

 

Some banks request the receivers name and address in addition to the receiving banks info to ensure it gets to the right person - request, but don't require. Obviously, sharing your home address is a bad idea. Check with your bank on what info is absolutely necessary for the transfer and share no more than that.

But otherwise, if you'd rather have the money and take some precautions, why not?

Edit: I'll add to that.. I contacted a seller on another forum on a listing that was two years old asking if his watch had been sold. Turned out it hadn't and we eventually closed a deal for a very nice Ranchero (which has since passed on to another member).

 

Thanks for all the replies

In conclusion to all your answers, it seems like bank transfer is safe, as far as you get a confirmation from your bank that it was indeed a transfer and not a deposit, and better if you move the funds to another account, then do the shipment with all the relevant records.

I take note, and will maybe use this payment method in the future if it´s ever needed.

For now I think I will pass and wait for a smoother transaction like the ones I had here before, with more fluid comunication and no doubts about the other party.

 

It is easy enought to create a separate account for the sole purpose of the transfer... Once the money clears you can transfer into your regular account and close the temporary account you just created... There is typically no cost associated with this and in case of BofA it can be done online...

This way the buyer will not have an account number that has any money in it should it turn out to be a scam... More importantly, they will not actually have a valid account number...

In this particular case I would pass... Sounds suspicious and you never know what is possible these days...

 

I bought a watch on a another Forum and used bank transfer. To put the seller at ease I actually sent him a copy of my passport and of my identity card. He checked on LinkedIn and Facebook to make sure it was really me. Once the money was transferred I told him to wait for a week before sending the watch.

In other words you can never be too careful. Ask for a copy of his passport and as much information as possible. If the guy doesn't want to give it to you then he's got something to hide. I'm not sure it's safe to give your account number away unless you are using a IBAN?

 

I'm all for being safe, but the bottom line is that no one can remove funds electronically from an account without access to personal data that no seller would ever divulge. In other words, account number, IBAN, BIC, routing numbers, etc. would never be sufficient to allow electronic fraud.

 

Just to clarify, you are NOT safe with money withdrawn from your account or a closed account, if the bank reverses the transaction due to a bounced deposit check, or a Paypal or credit card chargeback. It's only safe when an individual tries to withdraw from your account (not possible because insufficient funds or closed account)

Specifically, if it's a Paypal transaction, you'll end up with calls from the collection agency / leg breakers.