I hope this doesn’t break any forum rules. Moderators please be aware I’m only posting this so that I can offer the very best service to a potential buyer whilst also safeguarding myself.

Tomorrow I will be listing a watch for sale but before I do I’d like to know how others go about posting and paying for watches on this forum.

I’m based near Leeds in the UK. I won’t name the watch as that might break forum rules but it’s brand new still in the coffin with all stickers attached.

In an ideal world I would state in the ad collection only. I’d even be willing to meet at Leeds or Manchester Omega stores but as this is a ltd edition watch that’s sold out I don’t want to limit buyers to those within driving distance of me. Ideally I’d like to open it up to international buyers as I think it would help the sale (although I have no feedback on here as I’ve never sold a watch before so I guess it’s unlikely that anyone will send me money without having seen the watch in the flesh).

I guess what I’m asking is how do private sellers protect both themselves and the buyer?

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Mods if this breaches forum rules I’m really sorry.

Thanks in advance,
Rob

 

my guess of the ideal scenario for both, the Seller and Buyer, is a face-to-face transaction, cash payment, in a secure location, where ideally a reputable dealer can verify the authenticity of the watch.... I can’t think of any other scenario that’s more even-handed and safe for all parties...

 

I have only bought watches and not sold any. By spending a lot of time on here, (too much)

I have a sense of who I think are the people I would do buisness with and those who would not get a penny off me before hell freezes over.

While I can not know for certain if the people I deal with are genuine I have never had an issue with anyone I have bought from and I have always offered to pay through bank transfer.

If you can do.face to face that is probably safest but if that is not possible then if you are unsure use paypal and read a few posts yo get some kind of impression of who you are dealing with.

 

You could also use an escrow service

 

I volunteer as tribute to work as the escrow service. I work off a mere 90% fee, no big deal.

 

Let me guess. Apollo 11 50th.

 

There's always eBay, which provides lots of exposure... but you're going to eat some serious fees for that. Depending on the item, it may or may not be worth it.

If you do it properly, a lot of people can get comfortable buying from someone with little/no feedback, assuming they are able to do a little due diligence remotely:
- Checking your history on this and other forums
- Viewing timestamped images of the watch
- Facetime or Skype conversations
- Googling your name
- Paying with PayPal (Goods & Services)

It will be just as important that you are comfortable with the buyer, since there are also ways for them to screw you over in an online deal (like saying they never received the shipment and filing a dispute with PayPal), so make sure you are also doing some checking if you end up selling to someone without much feedback.

 

This is a sticky point, since most methods protect either the seller or the buyer, but not both equally. A seller with a long history of exceptional feedback can probably demand that a buyer pay by wire transfer or PayPal F&F, but an unknown seller can't really expect that level of trust. Price also enters into it, since the right risk/reward balance might convince a buyer to take a chance on a seller without any history.

When I started selling here, I began with lower value watches, offered them at very good prices, allowed the buyer to pay by PayPal Goods&Services, and gave the buyer all of my personal information in advance by PM. I couldn't be too picky about the buyer and his level of credibility. Over time I developed some history and feedback on the forum, and I found that most members (especially experienced members) gradually became more trusting and willing to pay by methods that avoided fees (where they weren't protected).

However, my most recent sale was to a new member, and he was very concerned about purchase protection, and we ultimately decided to move the sale to eBay, where he paid the fees. There was a fair amount of back-and-forth before we found the right comfort level. On the other hand, I have had sales where I sent the item to the buyer without payment so he could inspect it and then he paid me afterwards. It's just a matter of who trusts whom, and how much.

You have to work with the buyer and hope that you can come to an agreement where you are both comfortable and where the fees don't sour the deal. There is no magic solution.

 

I've bought and sold many watches and used all manner of techniques including forums like this, F2F, flying to deliver a watch, auctions, selling to watch brokers, etc, I've never had any sort of ripoff of money or authenticity, you can pretty well judge the buyer (or seller) through the back and forth of negotiation, either by email or phone. Ask questions! I try to avoid international sales and living in the USA there is a big enough market that it is relatively easy to liquidate any sort of watch, other countries may be more limited. Some buyers are skittish and want to make you jump through hoops, some unnecessary imo, so you can decide if you want to entertain these 'tire kickers'. Odd as it may sound I have found the more expensive the watch the easier it is to sell, the buyer has the cash, knows what he wants, and goes ahead and buys it. You'll have to feel your way through this first sale, but don't make it so onerous on the potential buyer that he gets the feeling that you are making him out to be dishonest.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I’m not keen on using eBay or Paypal as many years ago I posted an item (signed for delivery), the buyer claimed to have never received it and PayPal took the money back off me. This wasn’t much money but me having proof of postage wasn’t enough for PayPal at the time and I’ve never used them since. They offered no protection whatsoever for the seller.

Escrow service? How does that work?

I guess I will just advertise it later and see what happens. In an ideal world I guess I’ll hope for a buyer who can meet face to face in a shopping centre or similar.

 

Chrono24 uses an escrow service, which is essentially a holding account for the money. The buyer pays into this and you ship it out once you verify the money is there. The money stays in this account until the buyer has received the watch and approves it. The literal act of "approving" it through Chrono will initiate the payout from this holding account and into your bank account. If the buyer doesn't "approve" it after I believe 7 days, Chrono will initiate the payout automatically so you will still receive your money. If the seller does not approve the watch, they will ship it back to you. I believe once you receive the watch, the refund payout will be initiated back into the buyers account.

How to do this on this forum? I don't think it's possible unless you both mutually agree on a third party (individual), which if you are honest, will probably scare away a lot of prospective buyers.

You can list in this forum that F2F is preferred, which might greatly lengthen the listing duration, but you never know. Maybe someone on here is local to you and is actually looking for your specific watch. Ultimately you reserve the right to not sell to anyone you don't feel comfortable with IE buying the buyer.

 

Well, you don't have to use Chrono24 to have an escrow service, you can just use this-
https://www.escrow.com/

(Please be advised, I've never used it myself)

 

Hi @Japanred
It would probably help if we knew what reference / value watch you were talking about.
I say this because there is a strong collecting market in the UK but there are different markets and levels of caution for the various marques.

One of our members, @chunkythebulldog , lives just down the road from you and has experience of selling both vintage and new (very) high end watches.
He may be able to advise on how you go about selling your watch with some level of security.
Likewise, @DLT222 lives nearby too and has extensive experience of selling valuable pieces from a commercial view point.
So, perhaps pick their collective brains.

and when we get back to normal, you must come to one of our Yorkshire GTGs.

 

Shopping centre, that’s asking for a snatch and grab

 

Agree with this potentially being a risk.

In many towns in the U.S., the local police offer their parking lot as a meeting place for exchanging money and items purchased on sites like Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, etc. The police parking lots have 24-hour video surveillance and, if needed, the police dept's front desk is right there if anything bad happens during the exchange. The small town I live in offers this on the local police website.

For the few times I've bought or sold low cost items locally, I'll just meet the person at the Starbuck's coffee shop. It's a public place and also has security cameras monitoring the customers in the store.

 

Thanks for all the advice. I’ll look into those Escrow services.

 

Thanks so much for this very helpful post Peemacgee. I’ll see how I get on with the advert but maybe will ping them an email and ask how they go on with buying/selling.

It’s an Apollo 11 50th anniversary. I ended up with 2 of them so I guess valued between £9-12k based on current Chrono24 prices.

I tried to send my Apollo Soyuz for a service last month but couldn’t find a courier who would insure £7k so I’ve no idea how I would post the watch to a seller who doesn’t live near me.

I’d love to attend a get together in future

Thanks. Rob

 

Where would you advise instead?

 

This is brilliant. Not sure our police forces offer the same but it’s an option I guess.

 

Try the local Boutique, or yes the Police station.

A shopping centre is public, but next thing you have four blokes standing around and the guy with your watch is long gone.

As said make sure you have a fair bit of dialogue with whoever at this price point.