Apologies if this is already covered in another thread, but it appears this month C24 has started adding a new 5% sales fee onto US sales, to be paid by the buyer.

I've bought a few watches from them over the past few years, and was just looking at another, and was surprised to see this new fee.

Going to make it tough on sellers, I expect many buyers will want the sellers to absorb the new 5% fee on their end, unless they are getting a really good price. In my experience the margins are usually quite tight to begin with, and there is not much room for the buyer or seller to add another 5%, on top of the fact that for me in CA, I'm also looking at nearly 10% CA use tax, etc.

 

That’s a bummer. Are they doing that 5% just for the US market or is it for everyone?

 

That does seem quite harsh...as far as I am aware, for the UK, there is no additional 'sales' fee.
The seller pays 6.5% commission, but the buyer does not have to pay C24 a fee.

 

Still lower then auction houses which charge typically in the 10 to 30% range. The best place to buy a watch is from a private seller FTF, and damn all the taxes and surcharges. (I hope the IRS or State Franchise Tax Board isn't reading this, because I pay all my use taxes, every cent.)

 

Considering the typical inflation of prices on Chrono24 over fair market, I absolutely would expect the sellers to start absorbing this. Not saying they will, but if the margins are tight with what they are asking on that site, then they acquired the watch in the first place for way too much.

 

This is just for the USA market, not anyone else

 

But...why? Is it some US specific reason for this?
I have been using C24 to sell my watches and I was quite happy with it, now I'm wondering if this is coming to Europe as well... and if it does I will reconsider if PayPal G&S is worth the risk with their absurd claim interval.

 

they say this is because of changes in US specific operational costs such as restructured tax laws, etc

 

That’s unfortunate for anyone in the states. 5% is alot

 

Seems like the continuation of the "sellers greed" trend. For centuries, sellers absorbed the costs of doing business (rent, inventory, credit/debit card fees, etc.) while buyers were typically responsible for paying shipping fees and taxes. Sellers have been fairly successful lately in foisting off finance fees like PayPal onto buyers ("PayPal add 4%")--which, by the way, is counter to PayPal's terms of service. And now Chrono24 wants buyers to pay a 5% "sales" fee. This is obnoxious.

 

I tried to follow steps to buy a watch and it included me that 5% fee. So I guess it is been transferred to buyers.

 

Fees definitely figure into the price. Two weeks ago I bought an Omega from a well regarded dealer on the OF sales forum which was listed at X dollars. On Chrono 24 it was 1.15X. Perhaps they had some negotiation room built in to the C24 price, and to cover for card/Paypal fees, but there was definitely a premium to be paid by using C24.

 

My feeling is that the nominal payer of the fee really doesn't matter in the long run, what's more important is the total amount of all fees and taxes. On eBay, sellers pay the fees, at auctions, buyers pay the fees (or mostly, at least). If seller and buyer both understand that there are fees, they will be priced into the deal one way or the other. An agreement must be reached, so neither has complete power to pass it off to the other. Ultimately, this will just make it harder to do deals on C24.

 

Agreed; I was mostly trying to highlight my observation that for the past few years, sellers have been trying to move more and more of the fees onto buyers. Wire transfers cost the buyer, not the seller, and leave the buyer helpless if something goes wrong (as does PayPal Friends and Family). Venmo charges 3% to the buyer when a credit card is used. I've had a couple of local vendors charge back the Square fee (around 3%) when I used a debit card. The receipt read "convenience fee." Yes, a debit card is convenient for me, but it's also convenient for the seller, who might not have made the sale otherwise.

Again, I understand that total fees are important. I'm complaining about relatively recent actions by sellers to shift fees away from themselves and onto the buyer.

 

It’s 5 not 7.5%?
https://usa.watchpro.com/chrono24-adds-7-5-buyers-surcharge-on-all-purchases/

 

I don’t know where it started, but it’s at 5% now

 

Sorry to resurrect and old thread. Has anybody ever went around chrono24 and dealt with a seller through paypal? It seems like it would be a win win for both parties. C24 wants me to pay sales tax which is over 10% here in los angeles. They have no right to tax something that comes from germany on top of me paying duty.

 

This is totally against their T&Cs and is simply called cheating.

Are you also offering to pay you directly and closing your auctions before they end, on eBay?

You seem to forget there are three parties involved and the third is actually losing.

 

Yeah that's a good point. I didn't think of that. I was so enraged by them charging tax.

 

Totally understandable. They need to cover the added expense of protecting the identities of their "private" sellers.