Would you pay $20,000 for a Rolex on Trademe?

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surfisup1000

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#249272 3-May-2019 12:45

From my neighbourhood watch newsletter....

BEWARE -- MORE SCAMS
I recently took a complaint from a member of the public who brought a Rolex watch on TradeMe for $20000. He had no reason to believe that the seller was acting fraudulently as they had a good record with Trade Me from previous sales. The money was transferred by the victim who stated they would send the item. Unfortunately he received a phone call later that evening stating that the account had been hacked.
The investigation is ongoing but it looks as though the victim has lost $20,000.

Ouch!

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#2230099 3-May-2019 12:45

Hmmmm. Here we go.

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trig42

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#2230112 3-May-2019 12:53

No. No I wouldn't

Wow, I think I'd want to see a $20,000 watch in person (or even take it to a Rolex Dealer) before handing over that much cash.

I wonder what this person thought the watch was worth. A lot of times, it is the greed of the purchaser that makes them act irrationally. Maybe they thought the watch was worth $50k and they were going to get a bargain, so did a perfunctionary check and gave away $20,000. Sad.

Dial111

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#2230119 3-May-2019 13:00

Something something are soon parted.

MurrayM

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#2230121 3-May-2019 13:04

No way!

I'm assuming that the buyer doesn't actually know anything much about collectible watches, otherwise they would have known to only deal with someone that has a proven track record with selling watches like this. One of my clients is a dealer that specialises in buying/selling watches. He once showed me some of the ways you can spot some of the fake watches. In order not to be ripped off you really need to deal with a known watch dealer or be extreamly knowledgeable in order to spot fakes. (I realise that this wasn't a case of fake goods, but my statement still stands).

There's no way I would pay more than a few hundred dollars without seeing/checking the goods first.

networkn

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#2230124 3-May-2019 13:13

Not every case are expensive watches sold by reputable dealers. Estates etc are common to see disposal of watches. Common sense would mean that IF I was to do this (and it's unlikely I'd ever considered it, it would *maybe* be a small deposit (1%) followed by meeting the person at a dealer able to verify the authenticity of the watch. It would only be after extensive research to determine if it was even likely to be legitimate.

xpd

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#2230128 3-May-2019 13:21

To answer the topic directly - yes. But I would be doing hell of a lot of checks first, and if I can afford $20k for a watch, I'd be flying to the seller to pick it up in person.

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surfisup1000

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#2230132 3-May-2019 13:31

xpd:

To answer the topic directly - yes. But I would be doing hell of a lot of checks first, and if I can afford $20k for a watch, I'd be flying to the seller to pick it up in person.

But you wouldn't hand over the money sight unseen, like that guy did.

I don't know what goes through some peoples minds.

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freitasm

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#2230133 3-May-2019 13:31

xpd:

To answer the topic directly - yes. But I would be doing hell of a lot of checks first, and if I can afford $20k for a watch, I'd be flying to the seller to pick it up in person.

Best advice here.

Yes, get the watch appraised. Offer to pay for appraisal and use your own contacts for that. Then fly to get it and make the payment on the spot.

evilengineer

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#2230134 3-May-2019 13:42

You could have a nice holiday in Thailand can come back with quite a few "Rolexes" for $20k.

DarthKermit

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#2230142 3-May-2019 14:05

No. I don't need to spend 20 grand to tell the time.

Linux

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#2230144 3-May-2019 14:09

No one should be scammed but WT-FISH handing over the cash before seeing the watch LOLz

dafman

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#2230165 3-May-2019 14:30

If you have $20k to spend on a watch, you don't spend it on TM.

freitasm

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#2230169 3-May-2019 14:43

Fivefortyfive watches. On Cuba St. Nice store of classic/vintage watches. I am sure there will be the likes of this in Auckland/Christchurch as well. That's where you buy expensive watches. Not on Trade Me.

tripper1000

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#2230193 3-May-2019 15:01

Story sounds fishy.

At $20K I wouldn't buy anything from anyone in any market place without first inspecting/touching it. I reckon most sensible people of finite income would be the same.

When I buy anything mail order, part of me is resigned to the fact that I might never see value for money, which limits the value of my purchase to what I can afford to loose. With auction's this is even more true as normal CGA rules don't apply to auctions.

Bung

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#2230197 3-May-2019 15:02

Not that it means that it didn't happen but as far as I can tell there hasn't been any discussion about Rolex scams in the last year on the TM forums.

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