Prices on IG - "DM me for price"... why not mention it instead?!?

R PerJ

Same reason most prices on websites are POA. If dealers always state the price publicly it will make buying watches more difficult. People see the price and expect to get paid the same level when they sell to the dealer even though the dealer need to make profit.

Lonestar

interesting set of answers... thanks all 😀

I think the "if you ask this question, you've probably not acquainted enough with sales mechanics, and if you can't bother to ask, then this isn't for you" argument is, at best, unrealistically patronizing, at worst, totally off-base of the existing market reality: The combination of C24, IG, forums FS sections, BB's, brick-and-mortar dealers websites, and more, has given the shopper an unprecedented level of visibility and understanding of price brackets and market dynamics, and has driven shopping loyalty to the lowest ever level... I shop a combo of convenience, availability, and price. If not convenient and still available, I'll shop elsewhere. Asking and waiting for an answer is less convenient than seeing the price upfront.

If you're selling that unicorn-ish watch, be it because of rarity of a very special condition, then I can understand you want to build a relationship and all that stuff and pitch the product at the same time you communicate the price... In this case, if the price is not displayed in the window, I'll come in and ask, because that's a rare beast you have here and worth my effort. Richard Mille can do that (for good or bad reasons), so can FB for instance... The other 99% of brands and sellers can't.

If you're selling a spare part, even if in the mid-4-digit figures, that is still commonly traded in the community, then guess what: they're all over the place... there's litterally dozens of collectors who have them available for sale. It's always been the case, but in 2018 I can locate 90% of them in 10mns with a few clicks on a keyboard . You are a professional, your income depends on whether you can sell. Why bother risk losing the internet-window-shopper like me to the next-door salesman, just because you don't want to talk prices openly? Your loss if you think you can, I just go to the next virtual door.

For info, one of the key learnings in sales strategy at the big (like, big) B2B company I've been lucky enough to work for about 15 years now is, price transparency actually matters: customers hate it when not sure whether their competitors don't get similar prices/trade_terms as them... that's one of the biggest reasons for them jumping ship to (our) competitors.

Guys: you want to sell "commonly traded" stuff on IG - please put a price next to the "FS" tag - no more "DM me for price" BS. Your monthly P&L will look much better I bet.



now that is beginning to makes sense...

R PerJ

When prices hopefully stop to climb 20-30% Tevery year I bet that the number of dealers will decline a lot....

With more stabilized prices the market will become more predictable. Then dealers would have asking prices which reflect today and not like now; tomorrow.

Syrte

I think the point is to be able to indeed adjust discreetely without creating a downward pressure.

Syrte

There’s an alternative version, which is that the number of dealers will go down when suitable vintage watches found « in the wild » dry up as they must as there is a finite number. And those dealers who survive will be the ones with the best connections, who can secure the best pieces and sell them to the wealthiest buyers.

I do not envy them as I would hate to live a life of courting people and depend on their whim for my livelihood.

Dan S

It could be a way to feel out some potential buyers as a way to establish a realistic asking price. If you post an absurd price, you will never hear from any buyers and never get any feedback. If someone starts a conversation by asking for a price, and you give them an asking price, they are more likely to shoot back a counteroffer. That's useful information.

Dan S

Absolutely, but after a few back-and-forths like that (without even a counter-offer), the seller could discreetly reduce the asking price without having to make it public that he is "discounting" the price. I guess this is similar to the point you were making in your previous post.

Rman

This forum has a real distaste for dealers and even squire Lars (on the other soporific thread) making a buck on our hobby. But when a bargain deal is found it is high fives all around. There’s a bit of hypocrisy going on here and I’d be surprised if most of us haven’t won a seller’s EBay item that was under market value or utilized a dealer’s connections to get something that we wouldn’t otherwise find very easily or at all.

Let’s vet watches here without becoming the karma police.

At the end of the day it’s good to know who you are dealing with and who to avoid but sometimes as BillS says you just buy the damn watch not the seller. If someone want to pay more than collector price the dealer can buy his wife a nice bottle of wine, if that bothers you so much maybe you need to drink that wine yourself.

Either way the wine will flow and for goodness’ sake it needs to, have a good weekend everyone.

Sublime_1

You would think these sales people would realize that by doing this you are going to lose a significant percentage of potential sales.

superfly

In many industries, manufacturers force dealers to agree to MAP (minimum advertised price) policies. If a dealer violates a MAP policy, the dealer gets cut off.

So the dealer can show the MAP price, but that's usually artificially high. The dealer cannot advertise a price below MAP.

I've never once looked at watches on Instagram or other social media platforms, so I'm not familiar with exactly the scenario you're describing. But it wouldn't surprise me at all if the dealers you're talking about simply aren't allowed to show their sale prices.

Plus, what Foo2rama said makes a lot of sense, too.