Reducing My Watch Collection

My recent experience, I have sold 8 of my collection, is that it's definitely not a good time to be selling unless you are patient.

Above anything else, if you are selling as a private seller, you have to offer the watch at a very fair price, somewhat below the mean price of the professional seller & that you'd be best advised to picture all the "proof" of authenticity you can muster.

The next factor that that definitely helps is having great pictures from all angles of your watch. Get your watch into as good a condition as possible by using whatever non abrasive cleaning method you prefer. Despite potential buyers accepting they want to buy on the grey market, they still expect their potential watch to be as near damn perfect as possible.

Lastly, be prepared to have to field the most inane questions, put up with time wasters & before you do waste additional time do ask the potential seller if they are prepared to meet the price asked. Trust me, you'll save yourself a lot of wasted time before the inevitable "what's the best price you can do it for as I don't have the budget for it" question.

If that doesn't put you off, my prefered platform is Chrono24 but I'm only saying that as Chrono24 is where I have sold all of my £3,000 - £10,000 watches.

Yup. What @tiffer says. I'd only add that most people still reckon eBay is the best option for selling cheaper watches. However, my eBay experiences in the last few years have been so awful I would prefer just to give the watches away.

Good luck with the consolidation.

I have sold tons of stuff on eBay with hardly any issues. Just don't expect to get much in return with their fees and shipping. If you sell it as auction just put a minimum or start the auction at a price you willing to settle. If you accept "best offers" be ready for ton of people with low ball offers or mad that the best offer is too high. You also can search completed and sold listing and check how much other watches sold for and post the buy it now around the market price but it might take a while to sell. Most people like the auction style way to buy on ebay.

Ditto. My eBay experience is probably the biggest reason my collection of watches bloated to the level it did in 2023. I really find it attritional on my levels of patience & I've delisted multiple watches on a couple of occasions because my patience in dealing with the time wasters has broken.

There seems to be an inherent level of entitlement on the part of a lot of buyers that sees an expectation that you should bend to their every whim. They get quite indignant when you're not prepared to drop your price. I believe I price my watches very fairly to start with but I've had buyers offer me £2,000 for a watch priced at £3,950 & then expect you to enter into negotiation. Anyone that low balls me to that extent I politely tell them to F*** *** with a stronger letter to follow.

I hear you.