Take the Good with the Bad
I’ve been away from blogging too long! Been working on an ADU remodel and taking in some Pacific Coast Highway site seeing. The trip was great; a visit back to areas lived in for 15 months or so, 20 years ago, in 2006-07. The remodel is going slow…
To celebrate the 20-year revisit I took along a 2006 Bulova Marine Star, my new Marine Star(for swimming) and a 2018 Timex Mk1 on a bracelet. It was fun to spend some time with the 2006 MS and the MK1 which I haven’t worn for a while.
I’ve been thinking about writing some on the subject of watch shopping on eBay, Etsy, Poshmark, and Mercari. There are a lot of common issues I have noticed over the years of buying hundreds of watches. I am not a professional buyer or seller, but a pretty impassioned collector. Mostly a buyer, not a seller, I am starting to contemplate the term hoarder. But, that’s a discussion for another post.
Old is not New
Sometimes in the collecting game you get into dark periods where things are not going so great. I am loaded right now with watches that need repair, or are currently in repair, so that puts the breaks on hunting for anything new. You are rolling the dice sometimes when you go for a preowned watch.
I know when I buy a used watch, there are many things that can go wrong, and I accept responsibility for what I do. Rarely do I try to return one. Many watches I buy were bought under the “No Returns Accepted” category anyway. After doing this many, many times I expect to spend more on repairs for most watches than I did on purchase price. I don’t buy for resell, though resale value is a consideration at times. It’s funny because I am hesitant to spend much so I tend to get “damaged goods” then end up spending more for repairs! I might think about paying for a watch in better contidion! I buy to revive and enjoy specific models because I think they are unique in their category and I like them.
Chaps My Hide
Let me just get into some things that are annoying about online watch shopping. I buy most watches on eBay, but these things apply to most sites. Another point to consider is I collect mostly cheap, mostly used, mostly old watches, not mainstream new or luxury watches that are more well known and sold under different circumstances.
Lousy photos – I really don’t know how some people expect to sell something that is presented so poorly? Some images are so blurry or dark it is hard to see any detail. Other times there are an insufficient number of photos to determine necessary attributes, or details of condition. I must admit that this can also be a good thing because many good examples are passed over by other shoppers because the photos are so bad. Once you become knowledgeable about certain watches, you can see enough to know what you are looking at. There have been times I bought a watch from bad images and was pleasantly surprised by the watch being in better condition than expected. Another thing to consider is the seller is not a watch person and is just trying to get rid of family stuff. They don’t really know what a watch person wants to see.
Lousy information – This also can be good or bad. Again, accumulated knowledge about certain watches helps. The more you already know, the less you need to be told. But, when basic things like size of watch, or model are not given it can be frustrating. Almost nobody, even watch collectors know the date of the watches they are selling. It seems simple, but people’s memories fade, and merchants reselling collected watches don’t have time to learn about things they are just trying to move. It can take expert knowledge and research to date watches, so lots of resellers just guess or put in a range like 2000-10!
Sometimes the information is just plain wrong, but when you know what you are looking at it doesn’t matter. Many sellers don’t know what they are selling so just find something similar on line to get a starting price. Occasionally, if I’m not going to buy or bid on a watch, I will message the seller to give them correct information. Anyway, it can be confusing or irritating when you are not sure about information given.
Another common irritation is when seller uses “stock” brand marketing copy to describe a preowned watch as if it was new? They give you a J. Peterman type lifestyle description without actually giving specs or telling you anything about the condition of the watch!
Withholding Information-Some sellers just don’t mention (negative) things. Instead of actually telling you what the situation is concerning watch condition or operation is, they just say “See photos” as if that clears them from obligation to actually divulge information. You can only learn so much from photos. Of course, a potential buyer can, message the seller for more details when not divulged. Stores selling a lot of watches don’t want to take the time to fill in the standard eBay format. I notice the Japan stores, especially, tell you nothing as if they are just skipping the whole thing. I think, too, some sellers figure collectors know what they are seeing, so don’t need to tell you what you already know. Still, I think it is a bad practice because there are many variations of watches even experienced buyers don’t know about. The more basic info given increases your potential buyer field.
Parts-Another common seller classification is “For Parts”. This can mean many things; they just don’t know what the watch needs or they know but don’t want to say. Some sellers will tell you all the things they know such as, broken balance or needs coil, or date function not working. At least with that you have a better idea.
Multiple Listings with Same Image – This is particularly irritating and not policed well by eBay or even Chrono24! I have seen this especially with dealers in Japan and UK. While surfing many listings of similar watches you will see one photo used for multiple listings with different prices and sellers. It is confusing as hell because you don’t know if different dealers are selling the same watch at different prices or one dealer is fishing using multiple “stores” to offer same watch at different prices, or dealers are too lazy to take images of each watch of multiple examples on-hand!?
Either way it is deceptive. I have contacted both eBay and Chrono24 on this issue with negligible results. I have also seen dealers selling multiple watches of same model but using one image for all. Now, this might not seem wrong if all watches are new and identical. But if they are preowned, or have, say, irregular dials where each watch is different, you don’t really know what you are buying unless you can see every watch.
Algorithms – another thing I hate when surfing multiple listing on a site is the same watch popping up every other screen. Once I have stopped to look at a watch once, I want to move on and see different ones to compare. When you have a big search field and are trying to get through them all, you don’t want to keep seeing the same watch over and over! Do they think you will forget it or it will tempt you to buy? It actually does the opposite for me. My mind works in a linear fashion I guess. Once I see a watch on screen 4, I lock it there. If I want to see it I will go back to screen 4. It pisses me off it it pops up again on screen 6 and 7! It just makes scrolling through multiple listings last longer and it harder to make a decision.
The Unexpected – I usually consider myself lousy at searching online because my personal logic does not fit online searches. I am forever finding things by accident that I can’t find in a dedicated search! When I want to find something, I can’t. When I am not searching for something, I find it! Maybe this is where algorithms are helpful? Since I mostly look on eBay, this is what happens: I put in search info for a specific watch and get related things but not what I want exactly. When I click on one, down below under “Similar Items” are lots better finds! Why weren’t they in the initial search results?
Another thing I have learned is not to search exactly what you want, but use tangential or related terms/names and voilá! There is something good. Sellers list watches under the strangest headings because they don’t know what they are selling. For example a watch listed as a “diver” when it is not a diver, but has characteristics of a diver. Sometimes sellers give nothing but the brand as in Vaer Watch”, that’s it. So, its a waste of time searching model, style, ref. number, date, etc. You just have to wade through every Vaer listed.
Value and Pricing
OK, I suppose everyone has the right to get as much as possible when making a sale. However, sellers need to be realistic about the value of watches they are selling. Isn’t it funny how when we are selling something we decide it is worth more than what we would want to pay for it if we were buying it?
There are lots of different motivations one could have for selling a watch and this is reflected in the pricing. If you need money, for whatever reason, you want the most you can get. It you need to offload a bunch of things quickly, you are more amenable to lowering your price. So many factors can effect the price; condition, scarcity, trends, history, brand, complications, materials, age, etc.
Seller – Sellers fall under many categories and each influences their pricing. A business has to cover overhead and expenses. A sale with a store is different from with a private seller. However, every “store” is different and knowledge of what they are selling can vary. Some dealers are specialists with expertise on specific brands and others are simply guessing about value of a watch and really know very little about what they are selling. Private sellers’ knowledge and expertise may vary widely, too. A seller may just be unloading an inherited item and not know anything about it, while another may be a collector with much expertise. Lots of times you may get better pricing from a knowledgeable seller because they know condition and repair costs.
The seller’s motivations behind the sale determine the price so a buyer has to consider their own motivations to buy. Collectors can have mixed motivations when considering enjoyment of owning/using and interest in a specific watch versus resale value. I generally feel that a person who cares a lot about a certain watch wants to sell it to someone else who also cares as much as to make top dollar.
I guess what I am saying is sometimes you will get a great deal and other times you will pay too much; The bad with the good. Patience can be your friend. We all have regrets for not buying a certain watch when we had the chance, but we also know we sometimes find better examples down the road.
I’m Outta Here
Need to wrap this up. It comes down to doing your homework ad a little luck. If you ave decent photos and can read between the lines, you probably won’t be surprised. Happy shopping.
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