Further to my previous message.
For over 20 years, I have been buying, selling and mostly trading watches on-line, within this global watch community. I have built lasting, lifelong friendships over those years. Some of these friends I have traded with multiple times. In fact, I have been the recipient of lopsided deals and I have been on the flip-side of those lopsided deals as well. In my opinion, a deal is fair when both parties trading are happy. If that means trading a more expensive watch for something less expensive, but something I will enjoy, then that is fair in my books.
What hurts most is my confidence in this community is now shaken to its core. The scammer sounded so convincing. The pictures he sent me were spot on, with my own DM in the background in real time. He was exceptionally communicative and followed up every email. We had a string of over 40 messages before we even shipped anything. He knew his watches and even asked if I wanted the NATO strap he had already ordered and paid for from the Tudor AD.
Anyway, WUS, the OF, Robin and all of you have gone a very long way to restoring my faith in our community, but I cannot help but feel like I may fall prey again or worse, someone else may fall prey. I am sad that people are becoming victims. I know this is the world we live in, but for so long, the watch community has been an oasis away from "real life" for me. I do not post or participate as much as I used to. Heck, I barely BLOG anymore, though I plan on taking that up again very soon. That said, up until this happened, IG was the place for me, but even that feels hollow now...
Hopefully, if/when I get my watch back, I will feel better about everything. Until then, I feel like a part of me was stolen from me...
p.s. I just read all that I just wrote and I'm an idiot for writing it all... but what the hell, I will hit reply anyway....
