Hi all,

I’ve been chasing a somewhat rare piece (non-Omega) for a bit, and found someone in another country who has one.

We connected in a FB group, and his photos look right, but I’m at a bit of a loss as to how I’d go about purchasing the watch from him safely.

He’s not a well-known-enough community member that I’d feel comfortable just sending him several thousand dollars, and I’m not going to be in his country anytime soon.

I’m sure some of you have experience in this area... how have you handled it?

Thanks!
J

 

Ask him to videochat with the watch in hand. Pay with regular PayPal. Have it shipped fully insured. Buy the seller though. If you don't trust him, you don't.

 

Difficult to say…i allways hear what my feeling tells me. In which country is the watch?

 

I hadn’t thought of videochatting. Such a good idea! Thank you.

 

I don’t want to be too specific in case the seller is on OF and might possibly be offended that I don’t trust them. But I agree that going with my gut will be key here.

 

Nightmare mate! This stuff still amazes me. I can't think of anything else that I would buy or sell in a process that involves sending large amounts of dosh around the world on the strength of a picture and a promise!

Do all the checks that the experienced members here do and don't pay anymore money than you can afford to lose. It happens and we read about it on this forum from time to time. I hope it all goes well and you get your lovely watch in good condition.

 

LOL

 

Same here. I've sent away loads of money on a gut feeling, never been disappointed.

 

Me too. But a few years ago I got scammed for a sizeable sum by someone I'd known and considered a friend for 30 years, who then vanished. There was no audit trail. This stuff sometimes comes from the direction you least expect.

 

My suggestions are:
- Ask him about feedbacks on fb markets, forum or Ebay.
- Ask him about a videochat with the watch, in a friendly way.
- Payment via Paypal.

The first point is the most important, at least 2/3 good feedbacks for watch sells. Then, if you still do not feels to go on, better renounce and find something else

 

As a seller, that's what I usually do and I make sure all functions of watch are videoed. e.g. date change, hack, moonrise etc. Use a date reference if sending/asking for video also, such as newspaper.

 

Nothing is 100% assured but attempt to optimize odds in your favor in case of scam or inadvertent shipping loss by acquiring seller feedback, video chatting, purchasing via PP invoice, paying via credit card, and paying for insurance.

 

Can you use escrow.com? I've used it before with a buyer who was not comfortable sending me funds directly. I've only used it once so the sample size is really low but it seemed to work fine and I received the funds very quickly once the buyer approved.

 

I'd never heard of escrow.com until just now. Looks pretty reasonable. Thanks.

 

An update: I asked for ebay/marketplace feedback and he had none. "Sorry i do not have traded via ebay/forums. I'm a collector." Suggested videochat, and his usual snappy response time has gone slow. Getting a not-great feeling about this, gonna move on. Thanks, all for the advice.

 

Perhaps ask the seller to do the sales through chrono24 or ebay?

 

I've never really got why people here would get offended if you wanted to some homework and extra verification on the purchase. We're dealing with large sums of money that is frequently sent across the world.

A) This is a forum, people can sign up as a they please and very few of us actually "know" other people here.
B) Even if I trust person A, and have met them in person 100x, how do you know the person you are talking with on this forum is actually person A and their account didn't get hijacked?

In the few times I've dealt with folks on OF, I always did some homework. I walked away from a few transactions because I didn't feel fully comfortable with the other person. In more than one case, the person was later involved with some, let's say less than stellar dealings here on OF and they were either banned or have a permanent black eye because of it.

Quite obviously we need to be extra vigilant of people not on OF.

 

i dont' have trust issues but a unknown seller in a unknown country would give me a lot of anxiety.

 

You can go trough Paypal and share with the seller the fees, it sounds really unusual that a trusted seller would not give that possibility.

 

This is probably one of the first things I tell people about when explaining how amazing this community is. But yes, how crazy it is too.