Hi all!

After years of lurking without registering I’m finally joining the forum! Welcome a new member from France!

I’m on the edge of laying my hands on a second hand Speedmaster FOIS, with full papers and boxes and wanted to check if anyone with more knowledge could confirm I’m doing a good deal and not being scammed. I’m not sure where’s the best place to post pictures and more details to get advice though, any indications?

Thanks in advance!

Ps: adding one photo of the potential acquisition for reference

 

Hi and welcome,

You haven't said what the deal is so difficult to give an opinion

 

Hi!

Thanks, sorry I wasn’t sure if it was the correct place.

The deal would be for a 2016 FOIS, apparently in very good condition (plastic cover still on the caseback) with the box, invoice and warranty cards for a bit less than 2000€. The price seemed quite low compared to all my researches but the seller seems serious and sent me plenty of identiy proofs. We also agreed on half paid before sending and half at delivery.

I can share additional pictures I have received if needed..

Thanks

 

Providing you are happy with the condition, authenticity and have confidence in the seller then the price itself seems very good and currently about half the RRP of a new one.
If you don't know the seller then I would be very careful on method of payment and would probably consider a face to face or paypal. do you have references etc. to show they are trustworthy? What platform are you buying from? We always say "buy the seller" and if it's too good to be true it probably is so you should be very wary. There are lots of scammers out there.

Additionally you won't have very long left on any warranty and, although it shouldn't need a service yet, you have lost 3 years of use and when it does then this could cost approx 850 through Omega.

 

50-50 payment would be a red flag for me.

 

Thanks a lot for your feedback and good advices. I also had that feeling that it was too good to be true especially in terms of condition and pricing but I´ve asked for several ID documents which are all matching the seller´s contact details and the invoice, I´ve also done a quick internet name check and scanned most of the pictures I´ve received through tineye in case they would have been "borrowed" from another account / offer. So far I didn´t spot anything that would raise a flag.

I´m the one that suggested a 50-50 as the seller only agreed on bank wire. I thought it was the only way to limit my risks. But I agree on the fact that it´s unfortunately not the safest bet. The question is, is it worth it...

 

2k eur, full set??

If it’s too good to be true....

 

I agree

 

There is only you can answer if the risk is worth taking with the info you have.
If the deal happens you will be very happy. If it is a scam and you lose 50% of your money then you will be very unhappy. Depends which emotion is the overriding one I guess

me personally I would probably not take the risk unless i could get more confidence but depends on whether potentially losing 1K is a calamity to you or not

 

Offer him to buy it through Paypal and offer to split the fees, worst case scenario pay the 3% which on 2000$ is only 60$ and for the safety is well worth it, if he refuses paypal option you know its a scam

 

Remember, always buy the seller!

 

Thanks a lot guys for the advices, that helps a lot with putting me back down on earth and avoid doing something stupid I would regret afterwards. I will keep on checking and see if I can find a solution to either give me some more comfort or wait for something safer.

 

Deal has a bad whiff, stickers stillon watch, under market price, doesn't sound quite right. Where is seller located?

Ask for a pic of the watch at a specific time, say 3:35, this will tell you if he actually possesses the watch.

 

Seller´s located in France, I´ve been able to trace him a bit on internet in the sense that the name is matching with all the papers provided and with the alleged location. It´s unfortunately to far for an hand to hand exchange, otherwise that would have been much easier. The issue is that there´s been several cases of ID theft, I´m trying to find a way to cross check the contact with independent sources. I´ve also requested the classic "combined picture of the object + identification" and haven´t received it so far.

 

Sounds very like a scam. It’s worth £2200-2400 all day, so €2400-2600. Don’t like the sound of it at all. Don’t let greed blind you to the obvious dangers here. I say walk away.

ps if legit, why would he agree to 50:50? Were I selling I certainly wouldn’t.

 

Just to follow up on the topic and to give some closure to the story, I´ve managed to find the phone number corresponding to the name on the documents via an independent source, turns out it was a sad case of theft identity and at least 5 other people got scammed. What´s impressive is that the thief had quite a full set of ID docs, and a fake invoice, all matching the correct name and surprisingly the number on the watch. Thankfully I dodged the bullet.

Lesson learned, if it´s too good to be true, there´s definitely something fishy.

Thanks a lot for all the advices guys, that helped a lot and I will for sure go through some serious trustworthy seller in the future.

 

A few maxims:

There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Buy cheap buy twice.
If it looks too good to be true...

 

Fully learned my lesson, and I used to think I was a cautious buyer. I will now strictly abide by those maxims ;-)