How to buy the seller?

Here is how I think about "buy the seller":  You develop a relationship with a dealer whom you trust and vice versa.  But, what does it mean when you trust a dealer and the dealer trusts you?  Well, here's what it looks like:

• You both know that you're now in a long-term, trusted relationship, so both of you are going to be "long-term greedy" and not "short-term greedy."  In other words, you will want the biggest discounts, and the dealer will want the smallest discounts.  But, because you're both in it for the long-haul, you're willing to concede a little on any given deal, and he's willing to concede a little on any given deal
• So, you see a watch you like, you ping him, and he gives you the best possible price upfront and immediately.  No haggling, no hustling, no BS, no lying, no cheating...  He gives you a good price.  You know he's giving you a good price, and you can always check on Chrono24 what a good price is.  You buy.  It's a seamless and easy and effortless transaction for the both of you.  He didn't waste your time.  You didn't waste his time.  You're both honest with each other.  You know he needs to make a margin, and you want him to make a margin, so that he stays in business, to feed your addiction to watches.  He knows you need a good deal, and he wants to give you a good deal, because he wants to feed your addiction and to be your supplier
• You decide that your honeymoon with watch X is over, and want to trade it in.  He gives you a good trade-in price.  You're honest with him about the condition of the watch, he's honest with you about the trade-in price he can give you.  You send it to him, and he sends you your new watch, and it's all easy, and effortless, and nobody's time was wasted, and everyone's happy

In this past year, I have bought and traded something like 18 watches with my dealer.  I feel like I know him and trust him as much as my wife.

If you need intros to a good dealer, let me know and I'm happy to make the intro.  I love the dude.

A couple of guardrails that are practical in application

use references.....many sites use a "who's who" within their BST forum.....BIG caveat here is a reference is only as good as who you get it from (scammers can/do have multiple emails that they use to create feedback) or another way to put it is: only trust references from people you know and trust.

Okay, that sounds good, but what if you're new to the community - 1) feedback from well established members can be used. If a well established member is hacked and email stolen, 99% they will announce it to the community as a heads up. 

or 2) trust your gut.....its been said a million times because its true: if it's too good to be true it usually is. 

Ask questions....ask for a timestamp or set the watch to a certain time...just but don't be that guy who asks 99 questions and expects a copy of the time graph report, lol

I'm sure others will add their thoughts.

Buying the seller means buying someone that you trust will give you what you expect , which is a product as described, on time, for a reasonable price.

If his sales post has a good description, sharp pictures ,reasonable terms and he answers any questions promptly and knowledgeably then that's a positive. You can even get a feel for the seller by the way he commumicates. References (ebay or other forums) are hugely important though not 100% necessary.

If you have an iota of bad feeling the deal is off.

Red flags include:

Paypal friends and family only.

Paypal account under a different name (wife's brother,etc.)

Asking to make partial payments.

Providing blurry photos.

Not responding for extra pictures. (camera not working)

Sold "as-is"

Not willing to talk directly to you.

I need a decision soon-others are interested.

etc.

If you are uncomfortable for any reason shop around for another seller.

Wow, thank you for the clear explanation. I get it now. Epiphany. I think this should be published in a Watch101 book somewhere😂