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Has anyone used Hodinkee to sell your watch?

  1. leetse2 May 17, 2016

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    Not trying to create a firestorm here, just curious if anyone has used their consignment services to sell your watch. They seem to get strong prices on everything they sell. Just curious about their service and your feedback if you've sold a watch.
     
  2. citizenrich Metal Mixer! May 17, 2016

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    Each watch listed there is worth exactly 2x's FMV.


    Are the prices negotiable? If not, you're (((literally))) better off buying a new watch.


    Hodinkee is like a cult so nothing would surprise me.

    On balance, I suppose I'm happy for the birth of that outfit because I already was in the watch acquisition racket for a long time before the domain name appeared.

    I've stopped buying 5 to 10 watches per quarter because I feel like I've been blown out of this market. I hate selling, so I guess I'm stuck with what I've got.

    *edit - I've only purchased (3) watches so far, for the year.
     
    Edited May 22, 2016
    Jwit, Larry S, Tubber and 3 others like this.
  3. Ludi May 17, 2016

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    So true !
     
    Tubber, ELV web, khmt2 and 3 others like this.
  4. leetse2 May 17, 2016

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    This is exactly why I was wondering if anyone has sold a watch with them. It seems like they get really high asking prices so the watch owner would seem to get a decent price.
     
  5. ELV web May 18, 2016

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    I tried to sell my first ever watch (as in first time I ever sold) through them (doesn't fit with other watches I have), Louis actually answered my query to sell directly and asked for details and stuff, at the end it didn't go through as I didnt have any papers and it is a decommissioned military piece + the serial numbers were scraped off along with the metal....

    All u got to do is go to their sell page and just fill in the email with some pictures to them and Louis will probably get back to you in a couple of days....
     
  6. trackpad May 18, 2016

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    One of the things you presumably pay for when you buy a watch from any dealer (Hodinkee, analogshift, et al.) is a sort of implied insurance policy on the authenticity and correctness of the piece. So they spend some amount of extra time (or apply some amount of already accumulated experience) in verifying the watch – it's condition, correctness, etc. – so that buyers can buy with a higher level of confidence. And they pay extra for that confidence...or that is how it is supposed to work anyway.

    But I would not assume that these higher retail prices translate into higher purchase prices at the other end. Not at all. Though, and this may be terribly naive, but I imagine that a reputable dealer/reseller would be *less* likely to outright lie or lowball an offer to a widow or person lacking in knowledge about the market worth of what they have.

    So in this sense, maybe a place like Hodinkee or A/S wouldn't be a terrible place to go.
     
    Drawarms likes this.
  7. Tri-national-man May 19, 2016

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    ...Their selling commision is 20%
     
  8. trackpad May 19, 2016

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    Seems completely reasonable. Especially if you have a high dollar value item that is in demand, then you can easily just build that into the price.
     
  9. leetse2 May 19, 2016

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    The 20% commission is very reasonable considering their competition and the premium price they seem to get from buyers.
     
  10. Tony C. Ωf Jury member May 19, 2016

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    20% to let them be the ones to trumpet "Calatrava", and ignore an inappropriate replacement crown, represents excellent value. :D
     
    Perseus likes this.
  11. Drawarms Sep 19, 2016

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    Exactly, I've seen both of these groups make mistakes in the past. The only way to truly be safe is do your homework because thats what drew me into this hobby in the first place - wanting to know more about the watch.
     
    trackpad and Foo2rama like this.
  12. Traveler Sep 20, 2016

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    I can't work out if this is a troll, a robot, or brilliant irony .... wrong on so many levels, but it did make me laugh so I'm leaning towards the latter ....
     
    Larry S and trackpad like this.
  13. ELV web Nov 20, 2016

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    I just want to give a quick summary of my experience.

    I used hodinkee for the following reasons:

    -I am afraid to ship out the watch on my own
    -their strong out reach to potential buyers
    -this is my first time selling watches....

    I didn't even set the price myself and just leave it all to Louis and Cara to decide. I had a chance to go to NewYork in Jul and I brought and consigned five of my watches to them.

    The experience has been nothing but positive, from day one when I consigned the watches they didn't have any proper container with them so I just pass along my watch roll and within the next day, a despatch was sent to my hotel to return the roll, nice touch.

    Louis wasn't as active as when I initially contacted them but understandable given his other commitments (participate in designing the zenith etc. Etc.), but Cara has always been very courteous as well as responsive and extremely polite.

    My watches were listed every other week and one at a time with the last one seeing a bit of a GAP in between but no big deal and they are very fast in crediting the payment back to your account (mine is overseas in Singapore) once you provide them with all the banking details. The 20% fee was worth the hassle free experience, only caveat is if you need to list your stuff immediately for cash then this might not be the most optimal channel time wise but apart from that, I think they are really a really great channel for selling watches. Especially for someone like myself who is a total noob in shipping watches and a first timer in selling....

    Eric
     
  14. Larry S Color Commentator for the Hyperbole. Nov 20, 2016

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    Given the horror stories about dealing on E bay this sounds like the way to go. Has any one sold thru Crown and Caliber? I've bought through them and found the experience to be very positive.