Quote:
Originally Posted by BriansRolex
Had a new buyer contact me today. He's local to me. He wants to make sure the watch is authentic since I'm a private seller which I totally understand. I would want to do the same thing if I was buying from a total stranger. How do we make this happen? I don't want any random jeweler or dealer opening my watch so I would only allow it if it was done by a Rolex AD. Do they even offer this as a service? Another hurdle...
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This is why selling luxury watches via private party is such a hassle, especially with strangers.
I always recommend to buy/sell only with people you know. Never, ever, ever,
ever deal with strangers unless one of the people you
wholeheartedly trust also vouch for that person. And by "vouch", I mean they back the deal with their own funds as well.
Or go with a trusted third-party or middleman to oversee the entire transaction. You pay for their services but they also provide authentication and some variations of escrow. Some good ones that I've personally used:
- eBay Authenticity Guarantee
- loupethis.com
- getbezel.com
- Moda (I use this the most but has a high learning curve)
Or if you need cash quickly, then sell to a
trusted dealer. Their offers may seem to be "lowballs" but those are actually the fair market price for wholesale. This is because they incur all the risks of stocking the watch ("stocking" means insuring the watch, marketing the watch, servicing the watch, guaranteeing the watch for a period of time after the sale, etc) and dealing with the public.
A general rule of thumb is to take the lowest price you see in Chrono24, eBay, WatchCharts, and WatchRecon, then subtract 10% - 30% depending on the model's and brand's "liquidity". Using your 126618LB as an example, the lowest I see right now is $36,000 for a complete set in excellent condition. Given the current slow market, a dealer may be willing to stock it for market price minus 15%. Non-Rolex brands may be closer to market price minus 30%. So expect their offer to be $36,000 * 0.85 = $30,600. And expect other dealers to offer you somewhere around that price as well.