A haunting thing happened to me a few weeks back and I was curious about members opinions.

We often get people here asking about what they got from their crazy uncle and things range from the absurdly fake to the exceedingly rare. Many chime in with their two cents and one of the obvious questions is, what is to be done with the watch? I tend to side with the 'keep it and treasure your heirloom camp' but in this market, with such demand for certain models, some owners look to sell. I've DM'd people to ask about the watch if it's something that particularly strikes me and I want to know more. In an occasional case, after talking with the person, they have offered it to me. I think, in total, I have bought one watch that way.

I post when I have something to say or advice to offer and have made a website to help collectors understand a model that is close to my heart (though not an Omega, sorry), the GMT 1675. As a contributing member to a forum, I feel like the practice mentioned above is above-board and I am not frantically messaging every first-owner who pops up with a watch asking, "will you sell? I pay top dollar!"

With this framing for my story: I was on another forum and ended up talking to a guy who'd gotten a watch from his father. He wasn't much attached to it and no one had really responded to his post so I we ended up chatting and he intimated that he would rather have money than the watch; not one to pass up a nice watch, I said that I'd be interested. He sent some pictures, we agreed on a price, and then .... silence, followed by "sorry the watch sold." Three days later, on instagram, the watch pops up as a dealer's "barn find" - a dealer who never posts on the forum but to sell things. And, it turns out, it was a rarer iteration of the watch than could be known by the blurry pictures that were sent. I'm sure the dealer made a good 500% profit and the watch was sold within hours.

Yes, I know that this is a lot of hang wringing and I'm "licking my wounds," but I always felt like forums were the purview of the collector - that dealers had enough means to not invade our little area of the WIS world. In the end, if they are contributing members of the particular forum then, in my opinion, they have as much right as I to talk to people on here as me. I guess what irks me is the lack of contribution to the community followed by the pillaging of the natives. And yes, the seller wasn't the most upstanding in the end.

Would love to hear your thoughts - should everyone leave the owners alone, should it be like I have mentioned above, or since everyone has access, is it the free-for-all it now appears to be?

 

If the dealer made 500% profit after paying more than you offered it would seem that you offered an awful lot less than market value, so I don't think you have much to moan about.

 

Even worse I’ve had watch dealers do this on Ebay. I was the top bidder (auction format) and they PM’d the seller to offer a buy it now price (again, strictly auction format). This was a watch I had waited over a year looking for. I lost out on a watch and the seller made far less than I would have paid. Even after I pleaded with the buyer (watch dealer) they wouldn’t sell it to me for a profit (claimed they wanted it for their private collection). 2 months later I saw it on their website as sold.

Long story short now I always PM the seller on eBay and see if they are accepting offers.

With that said I’ve never considered making an offer on an inherited watch that was posted as an inquiry. I guess if it was the “right watch” I probably would but I would make a fair offer.

 

I PM the sellers on ebay warning them not to accept any offers because it will go for more if they ride out the auction

 

Good point re: the dealer, it was more that the dealer does nothing to contribute to the forum. I'm more than fine getting sniped on eBay and such but didn't know it was rampant through the forums. Agreed, no grudge being held, just was surprised to see. Cheers.

I offered market for what I thought it was - turned out to be a rare variant that you can't see without the dial outside the watch. So, no, I wasn't trying to offer a lot less than I thought it was worth.

Nothing! Hence my "I know that this is a lot of hang wringing and I'm "licking my wounds"." Just figured others may have had a similar experience, like @westmtn - that sucks dude.

 

I find this a very interesting conversation as it brings up several interesting points. What is "honorable" behavior for community members buying and selling? While nothing in the transaction seems faintly unsavory, my first thought when reading the initial post was that the seller acted rather shabbily in not respecting the pre-sale negotiations he and ahantel had or at least informing him that another party was interested and giving him the opportunity to best the ultimate buyer's offer. Perhaps, that's too much to ask in the free for all of the open market and an approach that could itself be exploited to jack up the price by claiming to have another interested buyer, etc.

More specifically to what I think irked ahantel the most, is the sense that this should be primarily a gathering place of like minded, dedicated enthusiasts who actively participate in the exchange of information, opinion, and friendly fellowship. The fact that someone, dealer or otherwise, would troll through the threads, contributing nothing to the community, merely fishing for watches to flip for a quick buck feels very violating. I certainly can sympathize with that feeling and share your desire for less commercial corruptible space but Im not sure it can be avoided in an open forum setting. I wish I had something more concrete to add to the discussion but it seems to me that this is an unavoidable pitfall for a open community dedicated to an object that has real and recently shocking increases in value.

 

Have given a few things away for free here.
Was giving the original colour cover of the Sydney newspaper the day after the moon landing as it would have meant more to others than me putting it in a draw

The amount of non posters and people that joined just to PM me to ask for it was crazy I mean 20-30 crazy...
( yet only a few mentioned anything on the thread )
https://omegaforums.net/threads/free-postage.20474/

A lot of dealers are lurkers on all forums
I have had dealers pm and offer spare change for a few watches that I have posted.
Doesn't happen since my post count is a lot higher

 

I recently bought a pretty fantastic Certina DS (a focus of mine) and was ecstatic at finding one that had all correct parts at a good price. Might have done a celebratory dance, who knows.

After a few hours, the seller contacted me, saying that the deal was cancelled as her father had accidentally sold the watch (!)... A few days later @Tony C. PM'd me "isn't this your watch?"

It was back on eBay, doing the rounds first at a ridiculous BIN, then slightly less, then as an auction the seller cancelled shortly before ending naturally. Then back on lower BIN, then finally sold via normal auction. Both auctions smelled, no reeked, of shilling. In the end, I don't think the seller earned more than €100 on more than a months listing on eBay... Well done, that man

Meanwhile, I am still slightly pissed that the opportunity went past me and that I was cheated out of one of the few watches that I actively try to seek out. Oh well, in a year or so I have probably forgotten about it. Unless it is relisted again soon, which wouldn't surprise me one bit.

 

While there are plenty of sneaky dealers about (and some up front ones) as noted above there are also sellers with zero morals or ethics who will bend any rule or even law (in the case of shilling) to get an extra buck. There isnt an easy answer but I would suggest in the OP’s case he just clearly just didn’t offer enough, perhaps the dealer spotted something he didn’t. As Spacefruit has said on a couple of occasions, if you really want something be prepared to bid so big that the dealer offers don’t look more attractive and that way the seller isn’t tempted to forget their morals. Easier said than done perhaps. It is for this reason that watching FS listings or eBay like a hawk is maybe preferable to direct approaches on Uncle watches. I suspect many of those Uncle watch posters are car boot sale Del Boys with zero ethics, or occasionally in fact dealers.

 

I understand your point and nonconfributing dealers selling or 'sniping via pm' as you put it, irks me as much as one post members complaining that they can't sell a watch on the forum.

However, although the seller should really have gotten back to you about the other buyer, and it's frustrating from your point of view, its probable they simply offered more.

 

It happened to me recently on a Speedy. A "dealer" struck a deal with me, I was sending out the wire and he just emailed "sorry I cancel the sale, there was a mistake in the ad". The mistake was the price. I'm going to wait & see what the new price will be, and then when I'll see that it will have doubled for no reason, I'll call them out.
Nowadays, it seems that poor practices is the norm...

 

You can call them out but if as I suspect they have an E&OE statement somewhere on their website then they are not obliged to sell you anything if there has been a mistake in the listing. He might be a money grabber who got greedy or he may have made a genuine mistake. Same as if you visit a bricks and mortar store where the price label has been mixed up with another, they can apologise and smile politely but they are not obliged to sell it to you at the wrong price if they feel there has been a mistake.

 

It's a difficult and emotive subject. If often boils down to an individuals sense of honour and morals. Personally my word is my bond and If I've agreed to sell something at an agreed price I'll stick to it even if other offers come.
I often get PM's on ebay asking for quick sell private deals..I NEVER accept these as seller protection in some form or another (ebay or paypal for what they are worth) is important to me (Paypal in particular has helped me in the past for non watch purchases that never arrived). ...and more often than not the price these PM guys are offering is so far undervalue.
Naturally on forums such as these there is a lot more inherent honesty and trust between members and enthusiasts. If I had the money I'd probably choose to buy only on this forum, but here although quality is brilliant, bargains are alas , hard to come by.
Many times I see watches withdrawn at the last minute "because there is something wrong with the listing" or "they have been damaged" and are no longer as described. As far as i recall, ebay has made it a lot easier to withdraw an item than it used to be. I sometimes wonder if watches are posted and withdrawn just to test the market or to get folks to "see members other articles".
On a side note I hate that folk post "NOT omega, Lecoultre, Rolex " in their main item descriptions to garner more views for a poor no name watch...It causes unnecessary hassle and I wouldn't buy anything from them out of principal.

 

@LouS has it just about right.

My advice.....Lick wounds. Move on and upward. Otherwise we’ll all be staring into a black hole.....




Trust me, there’s nothing there (in some sellers)

 

It's interesting, since I mainly sell bits and pieces on eBay. I still haven't had the pleasure of being offered a PM for Buy-It-Now pricing. I do make sure to answer questions to the best of my ability...

It is ridiculously easy to pull things from eBay. I was tempted to pull the plug on a few of my listings due to not having put international postage, by that point though it had already garnered a few bids so I let it run rather than take a financial hit (and reputation points.)

 

Why no love for black holes?

A kind member here on OF called me the black hole of Europe...

 

Certainly sympathize with you @ahantel and here's not really a dealer story....bought a 1459/808 bracelet from a forum member a while back. It was listed in USD and he meant to list in Euros, I PM'd that I would buy it before he noticed the error but he honoured the listing. Not so similarly had an offer for a different bracelet accepted but then reversed when the seller noted that he had done some research and the price changed.

Like @STANDY I have left money on the table with some trades on the forum here but between OF members does not feel so painful.