Purchased pre owned through Internet.

[JAMYLIM]

Well plse let me share my experience so far. I have bought alot of watches from Ebay so far.Off the top of my head about 13 watches which includes Rolexes. So far I have only two bad experience but not all that bad..The first was more like inconvenience because the seller was a "first timer" --- where he sent by slow mail but charge me a "express courier" fee and he sent me a Breitling box instead of the vintage Rolex box which was shown on the photo...I made alot of noise with him and he refunded me part of the courier fee and sent me another Rolex box but not the vintage one...So it was a "pull my hair" off experience...The 2nd experience was another inconvenience one with a H.K seller...Another Rolex again-this time the "2nd" fell off after two weeks...I left a "bad Feedback" and he was right away at my door (so to speak) and offered to pay for the repair. I propose doing it at the Rolex Centre which he agree to (with prior notice to the price first)---eventually bcos I dont have the time to make a trip down to RSC - I decided to return it back to him and he gave me a refund...So that was it as far as my experience with on-line purchase..
There were those who refuse to "under declare" the items (mostly US and Japan seller) and I ended up paying for the GST and at times having to make a trip from where I work (in Tuas) to the east (SingPost) to settle the GST before I can collect the items...
On the whole I guess it was ok...I have since stop buying on Ebay because they hang-up my account for reasons they only know..refusing to give me an explaination for my suspension other than to say they are right in doing it...Its crazy - anyway its their lost and not mine.. Hope my experience helps...but just be very very careful...Cheers!

[boffin]

Glad to know your eBay experience has been pretty good. I'm currently bidding on a vintage VC piece. Let's see if I win and how goes the subsequent experience

Well plse let me share my experience so far. I have bought alot of watches from Ebay so far.Off the top of my head about 13 watches which includes Rolexes. So far I have only two bad experienc but not all that bad..The first was more like inconvenience because the seller was a "first timer" --- where he sent by slow mail but charge me a "express courier" fee and he sent me a Breitling box instead of the vintage Rolex box which was shown on the photo...I made alot of noise with him and he refunded me part of the courier fee and sent me another Rolex box but not the vintage one...So it was a "pull my hair" off experience...The 2nd experience was another inconvenience one with a H.K seller...Another Rolex again-this time the "2nd" fell off after two weeks...I left a "bad Feedback" and he was right away at my door (so to speak) and offered to pay for the repair. I propose doing it at the Rolex Centre which he agree to (with prior notice to the price first)---eventually bcos I dont have the time to make a trip down to RSC - I decided to return it back to him and he gave me a refund...So that was it as far as my experience with on-line purchase..
There were those who refuse to "under declare" the items (mostly US and Japan seller) and I ended up paying for the GST and at times having to make a trip from where I work (in Tuas) to the east (SingPost) to settle the GST before I can collect the items...
On the whole I guess it was ok...I have since stop buying on Ebay because they hang-up my account for reasons they only know..refusing to give me an explaination for my suspension other than to say they are right in doing it...Its crazy - anyway its their lost and not mine.. Hope my experience helps...but just be very very careful...Cheers!

[Rasa]

the uk ebay sellers are pretty reputable. Go for those with > 99.7% satisfaction. Can arrange with many for a face to face meetup at the shop where the watch was bought so as to see theactual movement of the watch before buying. 1 panerai and 1 rolex so far via ebay UK with no problems. usually just need to arrange this 2 weeks before the business trip to the UK.

[JAMYLIM]

Glad to know your eBay experience has been pretty good. I'm currently bidding on a vintage VC piece. Let's see if I win and how goes the subsequent experience

Good luck bro...Just be sure you check on their postive feedback...but sometimes if the seller is a first timer or have been started selling on Ebay recently - he/she may not be able to chulk up enough points but they can be really genuine..besides that I also look at the photos...I'm always weary of especially Rolex or Tudor pieces showing Serial/Model number (between the lugs) that looks like someone engrave them by free hand..at the same time if the engraving is too clean and nice against a vintage piece then I am also abit careful on that..In anycase if you have any thing you are not happy with - you have to shoot them a "Negative feedback" right away to get it resolve...Sellers are very protective of their Feedback scores - its their "rice bowl" and many are not willing to see their Feedback score go down over a transaction - they rather fix it or refund it to maintain their positive score which they have built over the years...But Im not suggesting that you take advantage of this "weakness" of theirs to protect their FB scores however under such situation it can sometimes work to your advantage. Earlier this year before Ebay suspended my account - I bought a Rolex Vintage buckle from a US seller...When it arrived it turn out they sent me the wrong piece and the piece that I supposedly bought was still on their Ebay listing..I raise this up with them and in order to settle the case - I knock off quite a bit of the price just to close the issue without having to send the items back to them to exchange,etc.. They refunded me the difference and so I actually ended up paying less for the buckle although it was the piece that I actually wanted.. Lastly if the closing of the bid is during during your "sleeping hours" - there is a big chance that you wont win your bid because someone over the other side of the globe is up awake to outbid you unless you already put a very high bid to it or unless you want to stay awake to try and outbid whoever that is...I lost quite a few pieces I wanted because I was sleeping during the last few mins of the bidding and I felt frustrated that I lost by only US$20!! if only I have stayed awake... Damn!!! Now with my Ebay suspension - I can rest in piece and save up my money..I'm too lazy to sell on Ebay...having to do a write up before I get it listed and if I managed to sell it I have to pack it up - get the courier man to come pick it up----I hate doing these stuff and these are the things that doesnt motivate me to sell on Ebay...the money I made seems small when I think of having to go thru all these...guess I can never make a living on Ebay or ever becoming an Ebay Millionaires...with such a lazy body. Finally good luck toyou. Hope you share your "catch" with us if you do land the piece you wanted.

In anycase you can view my humble pieces from my Facebook "watches jamy". Maybe you be interested in one of them and you dont need to go thru the trouble of bidding for it. Have a great weekend!! Cheers!

[skydweller_sg]

Thanks jamy, great to hear your internet buying experience
For me I'd always insist looking at the item before paying, face to face