Who in their right mind...

...sends an expensive watch with a promise of cash on delivery?

I'm going to try and keep this vague for anonymity sake, but this doesn't involve someone here on OF. one more reason I love our forum, heh.

I recently had an offer on a piece where the pricing was agreed to but the buyer then wanted it sent C.O.D. - no deposit, no suggestion of G&S, no examination period, and no mention of a return if the piece was found to be lacking. I have seen this person on forums before, like their web presence or whatever you'd call it, but otherwise I don't know them from Adam, and it isn't Topper's I'd be sending it to here.

Why in the world would someone agree to that??

My wife had that happen on MWR but not by a regular member. Wanted her to ship out a fairly high end watch first without payment as the customers claimed she was a "relative unknown" entity despite her many years of forum membership. Long elaborate litany on how trustworthy and experienced they were and blah blah.

This seems really strange! I haven't sold any of my watches, so am not sure how some transactions go down, but that just seems strange! Good to air on the side of caution 😀

It's a very safe scam. If even 0.1% of sellers fall for it, the scammer gets a free watch. Police are unlikely to act when complainant says "Of my own volition, I mailed a watch to this guy."
Even if it goes to court, all he has to do is give it back, or pay up, & it's all over. No crime. Pretty sure that's how it would roll in Australia.

I was asked to do the same by a seller in England. This seller had quite a presence on instagram but was not active on any forums. I didn’t send the watch.