my ebay curse
After trying to buy a vintage watch on ebay went relatively wrong, I now wanted to do better and looked for a new watch.
The object of desire was quickly found and bears the title NB1041-84E from Citizen. A dressy watch that is discontinued but still available from some (japanese) sellers. There were only a few offers, but the cheapest for around 380€ (+vat) came from bestprice-jp. Buy now - paypal - done.
A few days later i get an email from the seller who is very sorry that he can no longer find the watch in his warehouse. But he could get me the watch for 70€ more. I just have to let him know and he will take care of it.
Sounds fishy.
So I looked for offers again and behold, the same seller put the watch back in, but increased the price. However, only so high that he is still the cheapest provider. what a d***.
Maybe it's a sign to let go of ebay, to skip the Citizen and finally buy the Baltic Aquascape.
Designer | Engineer | Enthusiast Reentered the rabbit hole after not wearing a wrist watch for almost 10 years. Now i have to make up for the lost time.
Screw that. Just find another watch from a trust worthy source. I have never liked or indeed ever used e bay for this kind of reason.
Also that citizen looks nice and all but is very generic and there are alot of very similar watch's that are absolutely amazing and available at a similar or better price from better sellers.
Why did buying vintage go wrong?
A bird in the hand is worth two at Fedex .
Why did buying vintage go wrong?
the well working certina from the trusty seller didn't work at all.
https://www.watchcrunch.com/romaker/posts/my-vintage-watch-experience-17188
Screw that. Just find another watch from a trust worthy source. I have never liked or indeed ever used e bay for this kind of reason.
Also that citizen looks nice and all but is very generic and there are alot of very similar watch's that are absolutely amazing and available at a similar or better price from better sellers.
you're absolutely right.
There's a lot of sellers in Japan that list watches they don't have in stock. You buy it then they try and order it in.. Sakura watches is pretty reputable.
But I'm curious what went wrong trying to buy vintage. what happened?
There's a lot of sellers in Japan that list watches they don't have in stock. You buy it then they try and order it in.. Sakura watches is pretty reputable.
But I'm curious what went wrong trying to buy vintage. what happened?
https://www.watchcrunch.com/romaker/posts/my-vintage-watch-experience-17188
There's a lot of sellers in Japan that list watches they don't have in stock. You buy it then they try and order it in.. Sakura watches is pretty reputable.
But I'm curious what went wrong trying to buy vintage. what happened?
i bought two watches from Sakura and everything went fine. But he always had them in stock.
the well working certina from the trusty seller didn't work at all.
https://www.watchcrunch.com/romaker/posts/my-vintage-watch-experience-17188
I remember - the vintage Certina with sapphire crystal. That was ages ago, I assumed you would have moved on by now. The sapphire crystal was the first red flag, it’s not appropriate. My colleagues covered it then, I didn’t feel the need to wade in. You got a refund.
I was trying to hunt down a JDM Seiko a couple months ago. and had to deal with this scenario. Finally bought a preowned one and saved a lot.
It's funny I was looking at this same watch a couple weeks ago and saw a lot of the same sellers that I dealt with looking for my Seiko. It's a common thing for them to do, So I always avoid a seller that has 1 left in stock
This is a situation I can identify with on more than one level. Most of the Citizen watches sold in the U.S. are much larger than that one. For some reason they sell their 38-40mm watches in the JDM market and the only way to get them in the U.S. is through grey market and used sellers on eBay, etc. I have ordered more than one watch out of Asia for the same reason. In regard to sellers, I had one cancel the sale of a Lorier watch after I had paid for it. The very same seller re-listed the watch immediately for serval hundred more than my final price. Having said all that, I wouldn't completely give up on eBay. There are some great deals to be found which make it worth the occasional frustration.
I was trying to hunt down a JDM Seiko a couple months ago. and had to deal with this scenario. Finally bought a preowned one and saved a lot.
It's funny I was looking at this same watch a couple weeks ago and saw a lot of the same sellers that I dealt with looking for my Seiko. It's a common thing for them to do, So I always avoid a seller that has 1 left in stock
that‘s good to know. I guess that would disqualify the other seller as well.
This is a situation I can identify with on more than one level. Most of the Citizen watches sold in the U.S. are much larger than that one. For some reason they sell their 38-40mm watches in the JDM market and the only way to get them in the U.S. is through grey market and used sellers on eBay, etc. I have ordered more than one watch out of Asia for the same reason. In regard to sellers, I had one cancel the sale of a Lorier watch after I had paid for it. The very same seller re-listed the watch immediately for serval hundred more than my final price. Having said all that, I wouldn't completely give up on eBay. There are some great deals to be found which make it worth the occasional frustration.
Maybe i give it a new try after a while. I also had some good experiences with ebay but it seems like it‘s getting worst.
But you can learn something from every aquisition or transaction i guess Just have to make the homework better the next time.
If you'd settle for NB1041-84L - which is the blue dial version of the same watch - there's a new one on Chrono24 for 49,500 yen which is about 350 Euro I believe?
If you'd settle for NB1041-84L - which is the blue dial version of the same watch - there's a new one on Chrono24 for 49,500 yen which is about 350 Euro I believe?
the blue dial looks awesome but i can't see me wearing it. I'm just more into black/white dials.
i had it on yesterday 😄
I wear SARV001 with the white dial, myself!
Last worn for Xmas on here - https://www.watchcrunch.com/complication/posts/seiko-sarv001-at-christmas-21261
Totally cool. Also remember, similar options like SARV003 are out there.
Sakura will do one for about US$155.
Can get a Titanium quartz looking identical to the SARV in the Australian market. But thats 41mm I believe as i own it and am slack in that I haven’t meas it with anything other than my eyes .
Measured*
Giving the seller the benefit of the doubt, it's possible that his business model made it likely that the watch wouldn't be in stock at the time of sale.
A common eBay sales plan in Japan is when resellers scour local stores for products that are market price in Japan, but would be underpriced on the international market. They take pictures of the products at the shops and post them on eBay. When buyers pull the trigger on eBay, the reseller will then go to their source, buy the product, and send it on to the final buyer.
It's possible that the original watch that the reseller could have sold for a profit at that price was no longer available and the next one he was able to source was listed at a higher price.
While these sales tactics may not sound like they are totally on the up and up, keep in mind that without them, many JDM products would not be available at all.
I remember - the vintage Certina with sapphire crystal. That was ages ago, I assumed you would have moved on by now. The sapphire crystal was the first red flag, it’s not appropriate. My colleagues covered it then, I didn’t feel the need to wade in. You got a refund.
It's all part of the therapy 😜 it's all good now
There's a lot of sellers in Japan that list watches they don't have in stock. You buy it then they try and order it in.. Sakura watches is pretty reputable.
But I'm curious what went wrong trying to buy vintage. what happened?
This is also quite common on Chrono24 as well.
I remember - the vintage Certina with sapphire crystal. That was ages ago, I assumed you would have moved on by now. The sapphire crystal was the first red flag, it’s not appropriate. My colleagues covered it then, I didn’t feel the need to wade in. You got a refund.
Actually, I think @MrBloke pointed out that I was wrong about the crystal. I think that there were other red flags, but that was a long time ago, about 15 vintages watches ago.
Actually, I think @MrBloke pointed out that I was wrong about the crystal. I think that there were other red flags, but that was a long time ago, about 15 vintages watches ago.
True - it was a long while ago. It looked sus, but then again, I’m not sniffing around 1970s Certinas so I’d be walking in the other direction regardless.
That sounds fishy, I would move on. Having said that, I just started getting into vintage via ebay and so far so good. In fact one watch came back without one of the hands on, but the picture shows both intact. I sent it back to him, he fixed it and paid for shipping. So, I've been pretty lucky price wise and buyer wise, but I would definitely stay away from a buyer that doesn't honor the price you won at or agreed upon.
Not the same watch but kinda similar and cheaper
Citizen Automatic Watch NJ0150-81E https://amzn.eu/d/eo8Ux8Z
Thanks for alerting us to this behavior from this seller.
This is also quite common on Chrono24 as well.
Yeah they always want about 5 days leeway to process your order...That's usually Bullshinto!
They need 5 days to scrounge up a watch
Actually, I think @MrBloke pointed out that I was wrong about the crystal. I think that there were other red flags, but that was a long time ago, about 15 vintages watches ago.
Neither can I recall if there was anything wrong with that watch. What I can recall is that the debate was a result of the common misconception of when did sapphire crystals start to appear as a relatively common feature - they're often thought to be a thing of the 1980s, but were already used on a considerable scale in the 1970s. Well, bottom line, Omega used them a lot already in the 1970s, especially in the De Ville collection.
Neither can I recall if there was anything wrong with that watch. What I can recall is that the debate was a result of the common misconception of when did sapphire crystals start to appear as a relatively common feature - they're often thought to be a thing of the 1980s, but were already used on a considerable scale in the 1970s. Well, bottom line, Omega used them a lot already in the 1970s, especially in the De Ville collection.
I was amazed to find out that the first use of sapphire predated the automatic movement, among other things.
Just a few days ago, I had an eBay seller in Japan cancel my Citizen Attesa order. He claimed it was a pricing mistake and offered it to me at a higher price. I said no thanks. That said, I had a good experience with Closer0924. The "about us" for Closer0924 states "we have a lot of watch" and they show 8,000+ watches in stock.