I'm relatively new to this hobby (only been collecting properly for a couple of years), so maybe this is nothing new - but I'm noticing quite a lot of watches languishing in the sales corners of various fora, not uncommonly with comments by onlookers like "why is this still here?" ... You'd think watchrecon and its like would make it easier to sell watches, as people who wouldn't normally be looking in one forum's for sale section will be more easily able to discover it.

Now, you could say that a watch sitting unsold for ages means it's just over-priced (and that may well be true), but it's pretty common to see same quality or less good watches shifting on eBay for more money.

Is this a new phenomenon? A cyclical thing?

 

cyclical.

 

Post Christmas slump perhaps.

 

Watch season starts at the end of Jan so only just started.
Many here have seen the yearly flood of listings in February as people deal with Christmas / holidays break spending.
March being the Month all the great condition watches come out and is peak trading season.

Have looked at a few lately but March is where you want your money ready.

This is vintage dress to my knowledge speedmasters is a whole different ballgame lately




Couple of post about it

https://omegaforums.net/threads/where-are-all-the-mint-136-011-135-011-found-it.50383/#post-605238

 

The only reason why something doesn't sell is because of price IMO, whether it be a watch, car, house, etc. If it is priced right it will sell. eBay is an auction and you never know what you're going to get. If a bidding war breaks out, lookout-cookout. eBay also has a lot more exposure than Watchrecon.

 

Seen a few that I would be interested in but it's almost Basel World so holding on to see what is coming. Probably lots of factors that come into play at this time of year for those of us who have a limited watch budget. Sometimes it is optimistic pricing sometimes it is just poor timing.

 

Has ulackfocus left, I always appreciated his expertise.

 

I think the unfortunate effect of the price bubble is that some people on forums (not all) behave almost like dealers, thinking legitimate to sell a watch for 30% or 50% more than the price they bought it 6 months ago, or even more.
It may well work on the hottest references,
but guess what... on forums there are seasoned buyers who know what’s what and don’t necessarily want to buy watches at sometimes absurdly marked up prices.
Many times when people ask « why is that watch still here? » I think « duh that’s quite obvious ».
There are also cultural differences of price perceptions. US collectors are used to having large funds at hand for retirement, college etc— which Europeans don’t have because those funds go through taxation.
US collectors make me cringe every time they use the word « cheap » in reference to watches I would consider way overpriced.

Edit / add: I also think that because of heightened prices many people have to pick their battles and refrain from buying some watches even priced fairly.

 

Just please don't quote me asking prices for unsold watches on Chrono24 as justification for your price if you're trying to sell me something privately. The asking price of an unsold watch is, obviously, too high for the moment, and on Chrono24 this might mean by a factor of 2 or more.

 

I'll second that! I couldn't tell you the number of times stooooopid sellers have tried to play the old CH24 price comparison game

In my experience of selling if I've priced it right it will be gone within 48 hours of listing.

 

Interesting thought about it being seasonal.

I’ve tried selling a few watches but if it’s not common you have to find a buyer who knows it or is intrigued. Then, it’s all about the price and what they are willing to pay, not what you want. You might have to sit on it until you find the “right” buyer or if it’s time to move on, sell it for what someone’s is willing to pay. Come down to how motivated the seller is when a buyer is interested.

 

March is bonus time in America! So a spring season makes sense.

 

Nailed it. A collector’s forum is not the place to attempt to sell your watch for the same price that a dealer might achieve.

There are few things more annoying to me than reading the constant/daily bumps by a seller borderline berating everyone for their lack of interest in their watch at their supposedly unbeatable price.

Nothing causes my eyes to roll quicker than overt exasperation at no one being interested in their insanely desirable watch. Silly threats to move the watch to eBay make me laugh... uh... sure, go ahead.

A few things:

1) if you’re selling it, telling other people they’re crazy for not wanting to own it seems a little ironic, no?

2) aggressively telling people what they should want to buy is traditionally not considered to be an optimal sales tactic.

3) if your watch isn’t selling at the price you listed it’s either a) a niche watch and it will take time for your buyer to find you or b) you’ve listed your watch too high or c) your watch is not desirable. Try to be honest with yourself and figure out which one applies to you.

Be patient and courteous and open to questions or lower your price.

 

On avarage when viewed on a weekly basis counting the listings marked as "Sold" (, the sales corner is doing just fine. Avrg watches sold per week over a timeframe of one year is about 28-32. with an avarage price of ca. 2850€ for the last two months. That avrg. Price has gone up from ca 2450€ on Avrg over the period of the last year. Last week was exceptionally good actually with 34 watches listed as sold, averaging 4300€ per watch (even if you kick out the 2 highest and lowest prices achieved the arvg is still ca. 3400€) . So it seems to me that watch season is picking up speed, and will be in full swing during March and May.

So all is good with the sales corner. If an individual watch doesn't sell it's due to two things as pointed out above already by other members : price too high, or model just not in demand at the moment.

I started to keep track around last January , now it developed into some kind of a habit and I can't stop. .

Cheers,

Max

 

Fantastic stats, thanks for sharing them!!!

 

No problem @Syrte . I do this from time to time out of interest to keep track of the over all prices and sometimes just for fun when I'm bored. It's all done in a laymans fashion and by no means a professional statistic, I'm a law student by trade and have little knowledge of statistics and so forth. But it's mind boggling to see that the equivalent of a very nice car or downpayment of a small house is turned over in the FS section on a weekly basis. We'r all crazy I guess .