First time private buyer.... any pointers (UPDATE: The watch has landed)

[Bud001]

No thanks to WUS I have been prowling the private sales forum. I am a first time buyer and a little skittish. Any pointers/tips for making private buying a good experience for both me and the seller?

[Drop of a Hat]

No thanks to WUS I have been prowling the private sales forum. I am a first time buyer and a little skittish. Any pointers/tips for making private buying a good experience for both me and the seller?

Never use PayPal gift and always buy the seller before buying the product. Check references and past deals. Trust your instincts.

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[MZhammer]

Never use PayPal gift and always buy the seller before buying the product. Check references and past deals. Trust your instincts.

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+1 on the PayPal gift, never never use it. No way to recoup funds if something goes awry. That being said, look for reputable members who have a presence on the forum. It's a great community and most will go above and beyond describing every minute detail of their watch to give complete transparency but I wouldn't trust a seller with few posts who may have only signed up to sell off a watch. Seller is the number 1 factor in any sale.

Some good things to know are service history, age, length of ownership (1st vs 3rd owner etc), what kind of time its keeping. If you're buying a newer watch you'll usually have better luck than vintage.

[Brisman]

A lot of people don't seem to realize, Paypal Gift is against forum rules and may lead to suspension if you ask for it, the Mods have posted this a no. of times.

[Sea-Wolf]

All great points, to which I'll add: ask the seller lots of questions, and go with your "gutt". Request further photos (you want to see all angles--dial, crown, back, etc., along with the movement if possible (not all are able to take the watch back off, and some watches require a special tool to open preventing them from doing so in any event but nice to see, if they have one; this, with the watch set to a time of your own choosing--do not pick 10:10, as that what most stock photos are).

That said, most people here will go out of their way to describe every minute flaw in detail, of so I've noticed, which is a great thing: means they want the buyer to be fully informed, no surprises when it arrives, yes? Check references, pay PayPal (via your credit card), and be clear about about the right of return and inspection period, too. Good sellers want you to be satisfied and will allow for same. When the watch arrives, have it checked by your watchmaker. Should the watch not be as described, etc., then send the seller a PM and make arrangements to send it back for a refund. If on the other hand all checks out do feel free to take lots of pics and post them up here of your new (to you) watch, send a quick "thank you" note to the seller, and post about your experience with the seller, too.

Hope that this helps, and best of luck.

Cheers

[Longhair]

Never use PayPal gift and always buy the seller before buying the product. Check references and past deals. Trust your instincts.

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The 2 times I sold watches on this forum, I did not receive or give any feedback even though there was no problems on either end. I don't use ebay because of the fees involved. Ususally I will sell items locally using Marktplaats (Dutch Craigslist without the serial killers)...

It is kind of hard to "buy the seller" when they have no references on here or ebay.

[jtstav]

Never use paypal gift and always maintain a record of correspondence between you and the seller. If something goes awry you can present that to paypal if needed. Also take a screen shot of the sellers listing so you have proof of how the seller described the item in case there's a discrepancy in its condition. Besides that Paypal has your back as a buyer almost 100% of the time so you need not worry.

[hpark21]

Besides that Paypal has your back as a buyer almost 100% of the time so you need not worry.

One of the reasons that I will NEVER take paypal as payment unless buyer has MANY references.

BTW, paypal has OTHER personal transfer options beside "Gift".
("payment owed" or "Other" appear to fit the description for buying/selling personal watch)

Are they also violation of T&C if one uses those categories to transfer fund without fee?

[Bud001]

Good to know. The seller has some references in the feedback forum and they are universally positive. And i have asked lots of questions about the watch (still hoping to hear back about accuracy of the manual movement inside). The ad has lots of pics and generally look good. Hopefully i wouldnt get a brick in a box when i decide to buy it.

[Him]

I'd say the main thing is to use some sense. As in, don't wear someone out over a $50 deal and don't blindly trust on a $5000 deal.

There are risks any time money is involved. Mitigate them, limit them to tolerable levels, but don't allow yourself to be paralyzed by them.