I sent a dealer an inquiry email about a watch that was for sale on a well-known USA watch website. The dealer got back to me with a price. I asked for a case back photo, and whether the dial was refinished. He responded that the watch had been sold, and that I was beaten to it because my email was received after it was sold, which of course makes no sense, since when it was supposedly sold was after our email exchange. When I brought this to his attention, I received no response.

Not the worst dealer story, granted, but would this annoy you...and how would you respond?

 

I would move on and just not deal with them any more, and if anyone asks about them relay your experience. Life is too short to make a big deal out of a small gripe like that. JMHO.

 

With Private Sales I tend to give the first person to make contact first refusal. However, I'll bet that dealers get all kinds of tyre kickers and test drivers (other car based analogies are available).

I don't think you can really blame them for selling it to the first person who comes up with the cash.

 

This. And why sometimes if they have a good return policy it may make sense to just pull the trigger.

 

It's disappointing, but I don't see it as the dealer's fault. He had a customer ready to buy when you were still asking for additional photos.

 

I do feel, however, that as a courtesy, and being a professional, you could ask whether the person who you first offered it to wants to buy, or is undecided.

 

Though I have a feeling that it was indeed repainted/problem with the caseback. Even though he has already sold it, it is in his interest to be nice to a potential future customer.

 

Maybe this is reflective of a new selling etiquette, of which I was previously unaware. As a matter of personal ethics, I would conclude negotiations with a first party, to everyone's satisfaction, before moving on to the next person in line.

 

Depends on the watch and how badly I need it. And also if I were on the receiving end of one of your funnies

 

The dealer did nothing wrong. He replied to your enquiry, and before you could get back to him another person bought it outright. He had no way of knowing when - if ever - you were going to respond to his reply. You don't even know that you were the first person to contact him. For all you know the person who bought it had already contacted him with questions or asking for more photos. A dealer's job is to buy watches and sell them for a profit. He's under no obligation to tiptoe round potential customers, and if he tried to do that he'd get taken advantage of. If you've put business his way before, then maybe you are entitled to a bit more consideration than that, but not much.

So the answer to the original question is, yes it would piss me off, and no I wouldn't consider the dealer to be at fault. I have in fact been in the exact same situation myself and had to grin and bear it. Tough shit.

 

In a private sale, where a person is selling one watch I tend to agree. However, a dealer may be selling 50, 100, 300 watches. I don't think it's reasonable to expect them to tell serious and willing buyers for every watch they're selling to hold off, while they contact people who previously made contact to ensure their interest has waned.

 

I would suggest that you say:

"Ken, this is unacceptable!"

 

Ha ha! Right on schedule...

 

To be clear, if I neglected to be earlier: I was the first person to contact the dealer about the watch. He offered it to me, I asked a clarifying question, he sold it to someone else, claimed he received my email after the buying party's, which was simply not true.

 

What do you mean by "he offered it to me"?

By definition, aren't dealers watches on offer to pretty much everyone - or are you saying you know the chap and he offered it to you prior to listing it for public sale?

 

I may be missing something here, but I don't see how you can state with complete confidence that the buyers email was not received before you sent yours asking for photos etc. In any event, he sold to the first person who made an unqualified acceptance to buy. That's business.

Look at it another way, if he had held off, and you didn't go ahead, would you have been willing to compensate him for loss of opportunity to sell during the time you held him up during negotiations?

 

I made an enquiry as well on a 5513 I saw on this dealer website. He had it listed for 10950, which was within my grasp.

I emailed him and he responded within an hour about my questions about the lugs and caseback. I checked the web page again and it's gone to 11750. I then emailed him asking why did the price jump? (I was sure it was the same watch because the inventory number was the same)

He said OH it's on hold at the moment for a buyer who had offered a price higher than the displayed price (wtf)

Watch was still at 11750 till yesterday then it was sold.

Bummed out cause I'm still looking...

 

Many thanks for everyone's opinion and insights.