Dear all,
I may have found my dream watch for the right price!
You are probably all familiar with how excitement can cloud proper judgement so I would like to ask you guys:
What questions do I ask the seller when interested in his watch?
I now have:
- Do you have the official papers with the watch?
- When (if ever) has it last been serviced?
- How many seconds does it gain/lose per day?
- Why are you selling it?
- ...
Any advice would be very much appreciated!
Remember, buy the seller, not the watch. I would want solid references. Buy from someone you know or get a reference from someone you trust. Then deal with the watch questions.
Thanks for your reply Bill!
Since I saw the advertisement on a website that does not have a "feedback system" (but is quite well regarded nonetheless) I cannot get references this way. Is it considered rude or unpolite to ask for references i.e. people he already successfully sold a watch to?
I will probably pick up the watch in person if I decide to buy it so I will have the opportunity to "touch and feel" before handing over the money. Does this change anything?
It is not rude in my opinion. In fact, it is prudent and for me it would be mandatory. The second caveat is that touching and feeling a watch has its dangers too. Fakes / replicas / marriages can deceive. Sometimes they fool experts. I would want an agreement after checking references you can trust that if the watch turns out to have issues, the seller takes it back and refunds the money with no questions.
Waimar, while references are useful, they can be faked so don't take them as the final word. One thing that I think is important is to speak with the seller on the phone. It's also good if the seller has an online "paper trail" - presence on forums, etc. Good luck.
There are a couple of regular forum members here from the Netherlands, may be helpful to you to post your email address and local help may be forthcoming. It would also help if you stated what you are interested in and post a photo here. There are fakes and some are poor quality easy to identify by just one photo and there are others which are better fakes. There are also marriage watches where they have been altered from the original piece that destroys to a greater or lesser extent their pedigree.
Here's some of my personal advice when buying from classifieds and forums:
a) ask if seller has references.
b) Check if he has an ebay account. If he has a high feedback ebay account, send him a message via ebay. If he replies via ebay its a good way to identify the person (even if you are not buying via ebay).
c) Ask him to set the watch to a specific time and date. Get him to email you the photos of the custom setting YOU chose.
d) if he has the original receipt, ask for a photo
e) When you get his email, put the IP address headers into an IPLookup. If the emails do originate from another area which he claims to be in, its not good (this may not work if the seller uses free email accounts like gmail, yahoo, hotmail etc)
f) check his post count. Then go to his profile and look at his activity. If he has thousands of posts and they look legit, then its a good thing. If he has low posts and most are just random senseless replies & threads, then its not so good.
g) when paying, ask for a paypal invoice that clearly states what you are getting. Get him to send a payment request first. Get seller to use words like Genuine, authentic etc. Fund from your credit card.
Then its all up to gut feeling.
Thanks for all the very good tips!
Will keep you guys updated!
If there is anyone with more tips or could help identify a possible fraud don't hesitate to email me: beamer [at] bracque [dot] com
Thanks again guys!!