...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

 

I have done it voluntarily with people I trust, if they were uncertain about a watch and wanted to take a closer look. Not to an unknown stranger just because they requested it, that would definitely be crazy.

I have also had a couple of dealers send me watches to check out before paying. I didn't request it, they just suggested it.

 

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.

 

A local OF member gave me his very minty Rolex blue dial DJ to try. After a couple weeks, I decided it was too not for me and gave it back. That’s trust and if and only if it is well established. Why would you even consider such a transaction?

 

I have had similar offers-just say no thanks- it's a scam. No honest buyer would ever put a private seller in this position. At the minimum they would offer a good faith deposit and something in writing with their ID pic attached to it or something like that.
I have done a few inspection -then pay here, but as said above, there is an element of trust among longer standing members in this forum.

 

Oddly I come across many people a year that have no clue how the world works. Had one at work the other day and it surprises me how they made it to having a job at the company they worked at.