First and last order

[C-DooM]

I spent several days lurking Panerais on their website, and my first reaction was that they have a lot of models out of stock — like 20+ — yet they’re still listed as available on the site. After searching, I picked two watches and sent them an email. They replied saying the PAM 351 model is out of stock. So I spent another day choosing a different one, and this time they said both models were in stock.

They also told me: “According to our past experience, the delivery time of VS factory is slow and unstable. I'm afraid it will take at least two weeks to deliver.” I said okay, and they sent me the bank details. When I tried to pay via Wise, there was an extra $15 fee. It was the first time I’ve bought reps and someone tried to charge me a fee via wise, so I didn’t make the transfer because I had doubts.

The next day I received an email saying: sorry, both models are out of stock. Good thing I didn’t make the transfer as soon as they gave me the bank info.

wtf.. Is this person a scammer? Why did they tell me the watches were in stock so I would make the transfer, and then wait until the next day to tell me they're actually out of stock?.. Either way, it was terrible service, the website is awful, I won’t recommend them, and I definitely won’t be contacting them again.

 

[Reaps]

Read my guide it answers your question.

First of all - dealers say in stock means they need to order it. It never means they have it sitting in a warehouse.

Essentially dealers need to order the watch from factory. Factory will reply yes or no we have ot don't have.

What I suspect is they accepted your order on old knowledge that the watch was avaliable, then factory agent returned they they don't make it anymore.

You may ask "they should know which watch is in stock and can be ordered or not". Well, there are literally thousands of watches in a catalog on a shoddy supply chain in a illegal market. Not even experienced dealers or members can remeber it all and keep track what is avaliable or not avaliable.

Dealer websites are often unupdated. They can't afford a full time team updating back catalogue. It's just the way it is. It's actually nice to see the full catalog from old reps but I can understand why it's confusing for new rep noobs.

Fairly common and it will happen to you if you are in the rep game long enough.

 

[Feefo]

 

[golfa]

Read my guide it answers your question.

First of all - dealers say in stock means they need to order it. It never means they have it sitting in a warehouse.

Essentially dealers need to order the watch from factory. Factory will reply yes or no we have ot don't have.

What I suspect is they accepted your order on old knowledge that the watch was avaliable, then factory agent returned they they don't make it anymore.

You may ask "they should know which watch is in stock and can be ordered or not". Well, there are literally thousands of watches in a catalog on a shoddy supply chain in a illegal market. Not even experienced dealers or members can remeber it all and keep track what is avaliable or not avaliable.

Dealer websites are often unupdated. They can't afford a full time team updating back catalogue. It's just the way it is. It's actually nice to see the full catalog from old reps but I can understand why it's confusing for new rep noobs.

Fairly common and it will happen to you if you are in the rep game long enough.

Do TDs not have phones ? If an enquiry about a watch is made (a potential sale) why would they not call a number of Factories to see if they still make it ? Isn't that part of "customer service" ?

I had a similar experience trying to buy a couple of bottles of whisky online. I ticked the boxes of the whiskies I wanted, went to the checkout and a little banner appeared saying that I would be notified if they were available AFTER I'd paid. I cancelled the order and sent them a pissed off email. They replied asking which whiskies I was after. I told them and they confirmed that they were available. I went back to the website and paid. The bottles arrived 2 days later. But I never did find out WHY they expected me to pay BEFORE they would confirm if they had the stock.

What would have happened if the TA had paid with Wise (been charged $15) and was THEN told that the watch was unavailable. "Choose another watch" ? Or expect a refund ? Once the TD has your money, they hold all the cards.

 

[Burr77]

Maybe buying reps isn't for you

 

[Reaps]

Do TDs not have phones ? If an enquiry about a watch is made (a potential sale) why would they not call a number of Factories to see if they still make it ? Isn't that part of "customer service" ?

I had a similar experience trying to buy a couple of bottles of whisky online. I ticked the boxes of the whiskies I wanted, went to the checkout and a little banner appeared saying that I would be notified if they were available AFTER I'd paid. I cancelled the order and sent them a pissed off email. They replied asking which whiskies I was after. I told them and they confirmed that they were available. I went back to the website and paid. The bottles arrived 2 days later. But I never did find out WHY they expected me to pay BEFORE they would confirm if they had the stock.

What would have happened if the TA had paid with Wise (been charged $15) and was THEN told that the watch was unavailable. "Choose another watch" ? Or expect a refund ? Once the TD has your money, they hold all the cards.

While I agree some of our TDs may or may not have the best practices - there's lots of ways to mitigate this.

For example, some TDs allow deposit before purchase. This is a safe and easy way to source watches for people who are jittery.

But I think you make alot of assumptions about the illegal nature of replicas.

Having that kind of personal, 1 off service is very expensive and rare.

I don't claim to know or speak about our dealers internal policy or the way they run things but contacting factory agents and sourcing may not be that simple.

Look at Hont or Anidiot swezgo. No joke these guys may be doing hundred watches a day. At that rate an order, it is simply unproductive to spend a few hours consulting out on 1 single order.......

It's just the way of replica game. We either play or don't play.

 

[Michaelh]

This was extremely helpful for me in understanding what to expect and how the process works

https://forum.replica-watch.info/threads/puretimes-mechanics-within-the-replica-watch-industry-part-1.242134/#post-242134