Instagram any good for selling vintage Omegas?

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Just need a few opinions from Instagram users. Is Instagram only good for looking at pictures? Showing off what you have or even pretend to have ? Give Thieves an idea to rob you ? Or can you actually sell your watches on Instagram? Who has sold there? eBay has too many Idiots lately. Thanks for sharing practical experiences. Kind regards. Achim
 
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I have tried once before with advertisements and I got some productive engagement, but they didn't materialize into sales. I think it depends on how big your follower base is and the brand of the item. In my experience, anything Universal Geneve seems to do well on instagram from an engagement perceptive. I'm sure that could be translated into some sales.

Have you considered/tried Reddit? I personally haven't, but I've been equally annoyed by the eBay crowd and It seems like some people do well selling on there.
 
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From my point of view with vintage watches, IG is a good way to communicate with your customers, who already knew who you are, bought from you before or followed you for a long time. Then it would be a quick, easy and free way to promote the watches to your audiences, and potentialy with some sales. For those who dont know who you are, I doubt you can sell anything to them through IG. I'm also interested someone to chime in with effective IG stategies.
For ebay, my last 5 listing was months ago, 3 bidders back out for no reason, 2 when smoothly untill I found out that buyers opened cases and claimed back the money with paypal (watches were shipped as describe, quick and fully trackable). Watches are gone, Paypal gave them back the money, now I owed Paypal $. I gave up with ebay and paypal since then 😵‍💫😵‍💫.
 
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I have the sense that IG is one of the primary ways that well-known dealers are selling watches these days, but I've only had modest success. I have listed a number of watches on IG, often in conjunction with listing them in the forum classifieds. I can only recall one sale that actually resulted from an IG contact, and a huge number of tire-kickers and low-ballers telling me that my price is unrealistic. Like all social media, it probably works best for people who manage to get a lot of followers and "likes".

I've also purchased a couple of watches on IG, but from other collectors, not dealers. It's definitely an effective way to market and find watches, and there is quite an active community of collectors there. However, overall, I still have more success on eBay if I'm really looking to sell something.
 
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I have only sold watches here, nothing very expensive, but I have sold every one. It’s a much smaller market than IG or eBay obviously, but the listings pop on Watchrecon so enthusiasts from other fora see them too and I have sold to a few who people who joined to chat with me about the watches, and some have gone on to become active members here.
If you’re looking for top dollar then obviously you gotta do what you gotta do. But if you just want to move along some watches that are collecting dust, and can be very flexible on price, or wait for the right buyer- I see no reason to not list anything watch related here.
 
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There are definitely a lot of sellers but that includes a who’s who of scumbags that have been booted from here and elsewhere that have nowhere else to grift. I’ve often listed both here and on IG and haven’t made a sale on IG yet but I’m sure there are many that happen. Buying off low resolution photos with filters definitely isn’t how I would go about buying though.
 
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I think IG is a good networking tool to find people interested in a niche watch. If you sell super blinged/iced out rolex and AP, then it's an ideal place.
 
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I’ve never sold, but as a buyer, I’d say I find it hard to discover sellers - at least I can’t distinguish versus the community sharing pics.

I find forums, especially this one has the best experience. I’ve also started following Reddit and bought there too, but again it’s a bit clunky.
 
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As with previous posts I’ve had limited success with IG as it tends to work for those more established collectors and dealers. The appeal though is the zero fees associated with selling on this platform as opposed to eBay although the downside for the buyer is the lack of protection that eBay and PayPal offers. There are other platforms like Chrono24 but again they charge a fee. I am also seeing other watch selling platforms being materialising such as Watchfid which is using blockchain technology to help with authenticity. There are also lots of watch forums such as this one. Anyhow interested to know what works for others.
 
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I’ve never sold, but as a buyer, I’d say I find it hard to discover sellers - at least I can’t distinguish versus the community sharing pics.

I find forums, especially this one has the best experience. I’ve also started following Reddit and bought there too, but again it’s a bit clunky.
I agree with this statement.
 
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Sold some watches in the past on ebay but stopped with that. Fee's are way too high and the new PP rules are not ok anymore as well.

Insta is nice but effectively the same as selling on forums I think
 
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What DanS said about the dealers. I can’t understand however why most people don’t put their price in the listing. Will save a lot of unnecessary to and fro.
 
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Just as an example of what makes me hesitate with many IG dealers, just before we banned one here ages ago who has since grown on IG, we found out he was farming followers and clout on the platform by straight up stealing photos of watches he didn’t own from @MSNWatch and posting them, taking credit for them and not attributing that he lifted them off someone on this site and had never touched the watch in his life.

When confronting that little weasel he said some nonsense about there being nothing to indicate it was his and that he is more than able to repost anything off the internet… yet at the top of his IG profile he had “All watches are mine and for sale, PM me an offer” or something to that effect. That stolen photo was the single most liked photo on his account at the time and people were replying like “Oh wow that’s such a perfect Constellation”, “It looks NOS”, “You’re so lucky, how do you keep finding examples like this?”, and he’s hitting like on the replies without correcting anyone. It’s so filled with smoke and mirrors.
 
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I have a lot of friends who swear by IG and have sold a lot there. But when I uploaded a tray of what I know to be really interesting vintage fountain pens, I got zero response over time! Which didn't surprise' me one bit.

There doesn't seem to be any way of publicising what you have and what you are doing on IG? Meaning, - there is no effective way of getting started?
 
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I only sell my watches that I don’t use anymore via forums , so far it’s very successful due to like minded people in the same place I guess.
 
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There was this exact discussion before, could be on General, my takeaway was that, if you take the time and build a following, it's a better sales platform, vintage watches in my opinion are worth more than what they fetch, and IG seemed like a better platform to reach those who doesn't know the market

Reddit is pretty good but bothersome, you have to keep on posting with new verification photos

eBay is best if you just want to get rid of something you just don't want anymore, lately the fees jumped to extreme amounts and watches sell for crazy low amounts

Overall the problem with the market is demand, and on Instagram you can create that demand, so ultimately I believe it's a good platform in theory but I never tried to sell anything on Instagram since I mix hobbies and personal life
 
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eBay is best if you just want to get rid of something you just don't want anymore, lately the fees jumped to extreme amounts and watches sell for crazy low amounts
I second that. Really wonder what's going on there
 
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When I list on Ig I rarely get a sale, but I do get lots of likes 😀

You get what you pay for. IG is a simple and cheap way to list, but it is not easy to reach a big audience.
Ebay and chron24 are at the opposite end of the spectrum, not cheap but huge audience.

The forums may be the best “middle” ground.

Where you list depends a lot (as others have said) on the type of watch you are selling. In general, it is relatively harder now to sell suboptimal pieces anywhere. Collectors are much more picky.
 
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if you take the time and build a following

I’ll add: and learn how to do so. From my first year on IG: posting a watch once a week or so with some information that might be interesting for a nerdy group of about 7 doesn’t exactly get you there. 😁 But then I’m not exactly offering much for sale there, so that might also play a role.