eBay Experiences

[John Cote]

The Canadian RR Time Service watch being discussed in this forum brings up an interesting issue. eBay and online trading in general have changed our marts and our watch buying behavior.

What do you think of eBay as a tool?

Have you had good experiences?

Have you been burned?

One good thing about eBay is that it lets us see a lot of watches. I have done some good research on eBay.

What do you think?

John Cote
Vice President, Indiana Chapter 18

[John Cote]

The Canadian RR Time Service watch being discussed in this forum brings up an interesting issue. eBay and online trading in general have changed our marts and our watch buying behavior.

What do you think of eBay as a tool?

Have you had good experiences?

Have you been burned?

One good thing about eBay is that it lets us see a lot of watches. I have done some good research on eBay.

What do you think?

John Cote
Vice President, Indiana Chapter 18

[Greg Frauenhoff]

John,

I've been buying and selling on ebay for three years now and have found it a wonderful place to both buy and sell.

As regards buying, as long as you exercise reasonable judgement and insist on a return privilege for expensive items you're unlikely to get burned. I've made some terrific acquisitions for my own collection including an Illinois grade 104 in excellent condition, a new-old-stock Aurora movement, some rare trade catalogs, a rare Illinois with the US Capital on the dial, a stunning multi-color Waltham 18s dial, several interesting Rockford watches dials, and so on.

I can't report on anything that I felt cheated on, but then I tend to be careful.

Greg

[wge00]

I have had a generally quite good experience with E-bay, and have bought quite a number of pocket watches over the past 15 months. With limited personal knowledge, I find that I have a much better opportunity to look first, ask questions by e-mail, study my reference books, and then do some bidding. The selection is much greater, the prices are generally lower, and the time allowed (a week or more), is much more conducive to a purchaser than at a mart.

Now if I could just bring myself to be a seller!

Bill Eberly, NAWCC #68141, Harpswell, Maine

[Alan Walker]

My own opinion is that eBay can be a good forum for buying and selling watches, as long as you're careful. I've haven't been burned on a deal yet, but then again I'm like Greg and am very careful. I have seen a number of excellent items there as well as a number of questionable pieces, and some outright frauds.

eBay does allow us to "see" a lot of watches but than again, there's nothing like seeing the real thing with your own two eyes. Example: You can see a picture of a Ball-Howard Brotherhood watch online or if you get an opportunity, see it in person.

All in all, I think it can be a good tool but it will never replace having a good relationship with a trustworthy dealer. :biggrin:

[Watch Nut]

Hi Gang
I have had pretty good experiences on ebay,buying and sell.The main thing is to research the material and don't go beyond your means.Some of the watches that I have bought I could not get or find locally.
I think ebay works!

[Larry Jones 98326]

I too have had generally good experiences on eBay, including several CPRR Walthams. I did get nailed once by a dealer who does not accept returns, so I no longer bid if the seller does not have an unconditional return policy. I recommend others do the same.

[Barry G]

To be honest, I was only a casual collector before I discovered eBay. The main problem I had was simply finding any watches to collect! I used to go to various antique stores and flea markets, and most of what I found were either extremely cheap pieces of junk or else extremely overpriced gold watches.

When I first visited eBay over two years ago, however, I was like a kid in a candy store. I did a quick search on "pocket watch" and found over $1000 watches for sale, of all shapes, sizes, types, values, etc. At first I bid on everything that caught my eye [well, everything which I could afford, that is], and slowly started narrowing my tastes a bit. And when I found I had bought too much [or when I decided I really didn't want a particular watch after all], I was able to turn right around and resell it on eBay.

These days I also find watches at NAWCC marts, the big Brimfield antique show, etc. But probably half of the 50 some odd watches in my private collection were purchased through eBay.

I have had a few disappointments, of course. Sometimes it was because I was ignorant of what I was bidding on, and sometimes it was because the seller was ignorant of what he was selling. In the former, I just took it as a lesson learned and put the watch back up for sale. The same is true in the latter, especially if it was clear that the seller knew nothing about watches and was trying his best to describe it accurately, although there have been a few times when the seller's error was so egregious that I asked for [and received] a refund. I don't think I have ever been deliberately scammed, although I have noticed a tendency [especially with experienced, knowledgable watch sellers] to selectively gloss over [or omit entirely] any negative aspects of the watch. On a number of occasions I have had to e-mail a seller to ask whether the watch actually runs, since it wasn't specifically mentioned in the description whether it ran or not, and have been saddened to be told "no, but I'm sure it could be fixed for under $100". Overall, though, my experiences have been very positive.

Regards,

Barry

------------------
My Online Pocket Watch Collection:
http://www.ultranet.com/~barry/watches.htm

[John Pavlik]

Ebay has changed the way people collect. I believe that overall it is a very good venue, weather buying, selling, researching, or just "learning". I have received great deals and some not so great but, the experience has been nothing but good. The landscape is changing though, as you read thru the posts, everyone is shapening up on how to buy on ebay. The good buys are harder to get because so many are, looking better, asking more questions and demanding more from the sellers..The next front is the "established" collector deceiding now is the time to sell. I believe in the future the quailty items will surface more readily. The prices recieved will be higher, because more people will feel comfortible buying on the "New" venue. J & H will not have auctions every week...and local marts while nice, have limited audience. I do not believe all of us will pass the "collection" on to sons or daughters.. so enjoy ebay with all its "faults", its just a different way of doing the same thing.. watch collecting...

John Pavlik

6 years experience with it and its still fun...

[Jerry Treiman]

Whizzer, you might give the guy a break. For many people 3 years is "many years", especially if they have a high turnover in their inventory.

I have been buying on eBay for "many years", have found some good items for my collection, conducted A LOT of research, and have not been burned. There have been a couple items that were not quite right, but the sellers took them back with no problem. For me, the research opportunities have been the biggest plus. I see more watches in a week than I used to see in a year.

Jerry Treiman
member, chapters 174 & 185

[Greg Davis]

I'm not particularly careful about my dealings on eBay, but I've been doing it so long (over 6 years now) that I have a certain knack for avoiding problems. I have never really been "burned", per se. Once a tube type radio was poorly boxed and arrived in 1000 pieces... but the package was insured so I got my money back. On a couple of other occasions a very small purchase was not to my liking, so I turned around and sold it on eBay (making a modest profit each time).

I've done over 1000 deals on eBay, and have never received a negative feedback, though I've given about 4. Like I said, I'm probably just lucky, or I have a knack for avoiding trouble.

- Greg

150941
Ch.149 member #77

[stevesaun]

Greetings All:

My first and last experience with Ebay taught me a valuable lesson. All of the digital pictures in the world of movements, dials, cases, etc. do not compare with "eyeballing" a watch.

Thanks to John for starting an interesting topic! :smile:

[crsides]

Generally same experience at the rest. Mostly good, a couple of pleasant surprises, one scam from a power seller that cost me ~$100, another questionable description item that I would have passed on if "in-hand", and a couple I got myself out of through returns etc.

Great place for the collector to stare & compare, even if its only pics and not in hand.
You can see most common models anytime you want, and even find needed parts that would be impossible to find otherwise.

I have bought some fuzzy picture watches from unsophisticated sellers that were great buys. You can get burned though.

Charlie