Hello Jim. D'ya know what mate? The more I read this stuff and learn from you blokes exactly how these trades happen, the more determined I am to try to avoid this.
At some point, I am going to have to sell my own 321, pre moon, Speedmaster and I want to replace it with a later watch that I can afford to own and maintain. When that time arrives, I'm going to try to work out some way of doing this to protect both myself and my buyer.
I know I can get a good price for my watch but I also want the purchaser to be as sure as possible that the item is of good quality and that it's a genuine, scam free, sale.
The way I see it, the two most obvious points to address are as follows:
A) The transactions often take place across international borders between parties who are unknown to one another.
B) The transactions often involve purchasing valuable, complex, functional items (watches) based on photographic and written information.
Fakk my old boots!!! When I see this written, down the combination of A) and B) is terrifying!
I've been buying and selling vintage US guitars for the last 35 years and I've never bought an instrument that I've not inspected and played at least once. Having said that, I do only buy and sell within the UK as shipping electric guitars and heavy amplifiers around the world is obviously not the same thing as posting a wrist watch.
Now I know this isn't practical for regular collectors who buy and sell all the time, but If it's possible, I'm going to try to combine my watch sale with a nice holiday to the US, Oz or where ever.
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I would really like to sit down with the buyer and say "have a good look at the watch, here is the STS service document and Omega extract. If you are happy with everything, let's do the deal." I've often sold cars and guitars that way. We did the deal actually in a bank. The payment went across to my account, we shook hands and they took the item with it's documents home. Everybody's happy.
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I know this obviously isn't a workable option for international collectors or sales involving lower value items, but I think (where watches are placed for sale on this site) this forum can serve to assist both parties to reduce the risk.
From what I've read, the more 'known' a vendor is the more confident members are when they see their sales post. I have seen watch sales on here where another reputable, respected member recommends the vendor or the item having actually seen it. I suppose It kind of places an unfair responsibility on the respected member to evaluate it accurately??? Maybe that kind of arrangement is too risky to implement for international sales transactions?
No doubt you blokes have pondered this many times and not solved it or else we wouldn't still be tiptoeing, worryingly through this internet trade minefield.
I'm just thinking aloud Jim???
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