is ebay trust worthy?

[dtmcoupe]

im thinking of buying a nice watch on e-bay. not sure which yet, but it would be about 2500-3000. ive only bought small ($10-50) items on ebay and im sort of scared about getting something like that on ebay. but the prices are crazy! a $5000+ retail watches go for $1500 and they say they are brand new, and come with all the cirts, and box,instructions and everything. can i trust these guys (they are retailers, or claim to be with many auctions all the time) or should i stick to a jewlers to be 100% sure im getting what i should (even with a higher cost?) thanks.

[Kühl Carbon]

I sure have bought a lot of stuff from EBay, but like you, nothing quite that expensive ... maybe up to 500 dollars. I guess i wouldn't do any biz at that level with anyone who didn't have one hell of a lot of feedback.

A lot of Ebusinesses off old merchandise on EBay it seems. I have used Ashford, and Wristwatch.com among others to purchase some pretty costly timepieces at deep discounts outright ... sometimes I just wait till I find a good deal at a reputable Ebusiness.

I have actually recieved emails from other EBay users requesting a reference and asking what I bought and how the trnsaction went (based on the fact I left positive feedback). You may want to consider this just to give yourself peace of mind. I don't mind when ppl email me ... I don't think most users would.

[pokerface]

ebay's been good to me.

I tend to stick with trusted sellers (300+ reviews), professional sellers and the like

[mccants123]

Trust "Your" instinct and be careful.

[Kenzbenz]

check their feedback, and see what other ppl bought from the person your buying from.

[scottschoe]

everything can be faked, so don't trust anything you see unless it's a verified serial #.

post the pix of the auction up on some watch forum (timezone.com) and see if any expert spots something amiss

ebay is inherently risky; some people leave positive feedback even though they received a fake watch beacuse they never find out it is fake

a safer bet would be to go through online classifieds. at least you can take it to a watch shop and check it out.

btw: be wary of any seller who doesn't use his own pix

[shanta]

Most watch manufacturers do not allow online sales of their merchandise. Just be sure that everything is legit. I also toyed with buying watches off of ebay, but opted not to because I wanted to make sure everthing was legit and I was able to get all applicable warranties.

[craiggotgame]

Also when you go to look at his feedback, you can click on the auction # of the closed auctions if they are recent. Then you can contact a few of the winners and see what they thought about the seller and if the product was good. Can never be too careful.

[Dr. ///AMG]

foo. you scared to buy watches on ebay... I buy cars on eBay. Four for that matter.

[C280 JR]

DR.//eBay....lol:p ........jk jk i think everybody bought at least one thing from ebay....i sure did they are my provider...but like everybody said i did not buy anything that expensive....just make sure you go through PayPal, and that they have all the sellers info..and its gonna be ok

Elvir

[dtmcoupe]

i dont have balls like you dr. ;) plus its alot easier to track a VIN and the cars info then it is to track a watch thats "brand new, in mint condition"

[714guy]

Dude chris screw buying a watch especially a pricey one like that you neve know it could be fake or now. My uncle bough a Rolex on a friend of someone he knew it cam with the certificate and all. they brought it a shop and they said it looked real, but when my mom took it to another shop for them to open it up to see if its really authentic nope turned out to be a very goood copy, didn't say rolex on any of the mechanical parts like it sould have.

if you really want a watch there a place called the Watch Connection across the brigde from South coast plaza, it on the corner of paularino and bristol. Thats where my parents and rest of the fam have been buying watches for years.

Oh yea, this your graduation present?? Aren't you graduating today?? the grduation ceremony is the best of any high school. Dude have a safe and fun grad night, if yall need any special feel gooders hit me up.

[2phast]

Here is the trick for buying anything expensive on Ebay. Use www.escrow.com (http://www.escrow.com) it is a escrow service that holds the money, sort of like a middle man, then the seller sends you the product and you have X number of days to inspect/review. After the review period, you ok the transaction and then the escrow company pays the seller or if you find something wrong with the product, you ship it back to the seller and then the escrow company sends your money back to you. If the seller won't do a escrow transaction (even after you agree to pay the fees) then walk away as there is no reason a legit seller would not want to use this type of service.

This is about as safe as it is going to get. I have bought several different items this way and even a Rolex!

As for the Rolex mentioned being fake, do keep in mind that other movements can be fitted to a Rolex watch, just because a particular watch had a different movement in it does not necessarily mean it is a fake watch, although it does mean that the watch in question is worth quite a bit less. Rolex and Seiko are the only two watch makers that actually make their own movements. Every one else (Piaget, Mont Blanc, Gucci, Movado etc.) use ETA movements, which by their own accord are very find multi jewel auto movements, in some aspects superior to the Rolex movements and quite a bit less expensive. ETA movements will drop right into a Rolex, most will even use the Rolex date wheel, chrown and hands. The Rolex Tudor line uses ETA movements, that is why those models are much less than the top end Rolex models.

[So.Cal_Benzo]

Originally posted by Dr. ///AMG
foo. you scared to buy watches on ebay... I buy cars on eBay. Four for that matter.
Are you sure they didn't send you fake MB's?:P It might be a honda with an E320 replica kit.:P

[dtmcoupe]

ya it was great...i did HUGE burnout in front of about 3000 parents, and kids it was cool. maybe ill stop by and say whats up ;)

[See43Ulater]

Its easy chris. Buy ONLY from people with at least 500+ feedcaks anf almost all positives.