I was just thinking about it....

I live in Singapore, and its a relatively safe place. Downtown, Orchard road, you see plenty of designer bags, expensive watches with expensive cars...

I've bought and sold watches mainly at my house/place, and/or downtown. People whom I've bought/sold are usually collectors with the occasional dealers but everyone seem fine carry bundles of cash (anything from a few hundred to up to 7000 SGD in an envelope). Otherwise bank transfer on the spot.

I haven't met someone who tried to scoot off my watch, I try to sit close to the person; or stand near the entrance/exit so if anything happens; i'm ready.

There was a story on the local papers, where some teenagers met up with a seller to view his Deepsea and tried to wing a counterfeit one as they tried to make away with the original. But Singapore being Singapore, you can't really run unless you try to run across to Malaysia, or attempt to swim to Indonesia... the authorities do move quite fast.

Anyone would like to share an incident or a dodgy buyer/seller?

 

i heard of a guy going into a bicycle shop here in Singapore asking for a test ride. The shop guy didn't ask for any ID or collateral and let him cycle off. From what i hear, he was standing on the pavement while the crook took off with no intention of coming back... i just wonder how long he stood there before realization hit.

 

A guy in Abbotsford, British Columbia, took a Mustang convertible from a dealer lot for a test drive, last Saturday. Didn’t return with it. A police chase ensued on Monday, and they rammed the car on a downtown street. As the police officers surrounded the demolished car, he got out, firing a shot gun. Killed an officer! He also took a bullet, and was arrested, and is now in hospital. Pity the officer that shot him was such a lousy aim. In Canada, capitol punishment was abolished decades ago. It is not a province by province decision. So he’ll probably die in jail. The sooner, the better.

 

I buy an sell vintage guitars but never sell from my home address. When I sell a car I usually do the transaction at the bank counter. I have the keys and the paper work and as soon as the person behind the glass confirms the funds are in my account, I hand over the keys and documents, shake his hand and get a bus home.

My preferred place to do a UK watch sale would be the reception area of Swiss Time Services or one of those Jewellery shops where they have a big bloke with a squashed nose, cauliflower ears and no neck opening and closing the door. I don't even like the staff in those shops holding my lovely 105.012-65.

Actually having attended one of @tyrantlizardrex Time for a pint meetings in London, I think that would be a really safe environment to inspect a watch that is for sale. I think if Chris can find an afternoon venue next door to a bank we would be sorted.

 

Actually good advice. You never think about these things, probably until too late. I was listening to 'Worn and wound' podcast the other night, and the guy was talking about meeting someone in a cafe in New York, and sitting together looking over all the vintage watches he was carrying in his backpack. I think I'd be terrified walking out of that place wondering who was following me!

 

Meeting in Cafe’s and using PP friends payment options works well here in balmy MA.

 

I think any face to face is safer than dealing with Italy post office.

 

There's not really a watch collecting community where I live so I've never done a F2F. However I don't think I would ever do one at my place; I would probably only do it at a bank. No funny business possible there.

 

90% of the watches I bought were f2f deals. Nothing bad so far. Knock on wood.

I encountered some "characters" this way though. One guy with a heavy Russian accent insisted on meeting at a parking lot in front of one of these big fashion outlet stores. That was kind of strange so I brought a friend along instead of going on my own. In the end the guy was legit. He still writes me sometimes and offers me watches, nothing special sadly.

Just take care and be cautious, meet in safe public places, not at home, and if the gut feeling says "no way" listen to it!

Cheers,

Max

 

I only deal with people that can give me a bit of feedback and willing to provide ID prior to the meeting - I've done a lot of F2F and it's always more enjoyable. I've even become good friends with a guy that bought my first speedmaster

 

This happened in South Florida a few days ago. It was a F2F transaction for the sale of an iPhone.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/davie/fl-sb-davie-cvs-shooting-folo-20171102-story.html

 

Meet the guy in a secure place with cameras, I recommend a bank. Assuming you're the seller you wont be wandering the streets with a pocket full of cash. Just pay it in.

 

Once upon a time in the 90s, I met a friend for happy hour in downtown Chicago. One of his friends came into the bar rattled. He had just been mugged! How did it happen I asked? HE WENT INTO AN ALLEY TO BUY A GOLD CHAIN FROM SOMEONE AFTER HE CASHED HIS PAYCHECK. Later that evening we were still out drinking, and the guy that got mugged saw the robber across the street. There were no cops around, but he still decided to confront him. He came back after the mugger showed him his gun.

THE END

 

Singapore not as safe at advertised (at least back in the day in the years I lived there). I got lured in by the press release and was lulled into leaving my bike computer on my bicycle while at work (Suntec). Was stolen minutes later.

As for Orchard Road, the only thing I worried about were the ladyboys that came out at night.

But seriously, I only had 1 F2F that went wrong. And this one was with a forum guy who did not even show up. Couldn't really afford to waste time on deals that fall through so I stopped F2F sales

 

Yeah bikes are always stolen, no matter the brand or model. I guess no matter how safe a place is, there will always be grubs around.... :/

 

@WatchVaultNYC, i had a bike shop for 6 years & i can tell anyone that Singapore is safe for pretty much everything except bicycles. Over 2000 bikes are stolen in a year, and many more go unreported. Theft of parts is even more common & these hardly get reported. The thefts spike during the school holidays where anything up to 20 bikes a day are stolen.

The kids are brazen, walking into condominiums telling the guards they are visiting friends & riding off with bicycles. They walk into bike shops in groups & steal parts. I had a group of 20 year old women walking into the shop & tag team me; 4 distracted & blocked my view asking where to find parts while 1 pocketed a few expensive lights. I've also had tools, parts & money stolen, by the kids i tried to mentor ironically. Their mothers didn't want them mixing with bad company & asked me to take them under my wing to teach them some basic repair skills, how to do maintenance & service bikes. Their mothers didn't know their kids were the bad company...

You also have a very large migrant workforce in the country, that live in dorms or share rooms ( up to 10 in a single bedroom in some cases, to save money) & they cycle to work. You can tell by the number of crudely spray painted bikes outside construction sites that most of them are stolen. When they need parts, they just steal them off other bikes. It's a never ending cycle...

 

Thinking about this topic, the thing I found to be quite odd is that I have been selling and trading guns as a hobbyist for over 30yrs, meeting in all sorts of places, but never once felt I was at a disadvantage. Maybe its because both sides of the transaction are usually armed (ie the old adage..God made all Men, but Samuel Colt made them equal).

Thinking more on this topic, the only two times I can recall getting rooked on a deal of any kind, were over timepieces(1 watch and 1 clock). My clock story is on this forum.

 

Just today I saw a news story about a Dutch guy who had a F2F meeting in the Rotterdam harbour to sell a couple of watches, whereupon he was relieved of said watches, his wallet, his phone and his car. I can only assume they didn’t pay him for any of these...