For my own education, as someone that's brand-new here, what's the liability in selling to someone new to the forum?
-
Tired of adverts on RWI? - Subscribe by clicking HERE and PMing Trailboss for instructions and they will magically go away!
question regarding selling to a brand new member
- Thread starter onsight
- Start date
The risk is a new member could be anyone. Unfortunately this hobby attracts a lot of scammers who count on the chance of the scammed people not going to the police to tell they buy/sell counterfeit goods. Since we're relatively good here in identifying scammers and ban them, new accounts are constantly made from these lowlife to take another chance, so, new members are more likely to be scammers than old ones.
Apart from that new members often have unrealistic expectations about replicas and a perfectly good rep could be questioned by the noob buyer, bringing a lot of hassle to the seller. Or even before buying, some new members tend to have a lot of requests and need a lot of explanations while experienced ones know what they're buying. This is sad maybe but it's true that if I can choose, I choose to sell to a long-standing member. Some people even ask you what movement is inside a watch, is it any good, how does it compare to other factories. Sorry but that's not my job to tell a prospective buyer, I don't do this as a profession. An experienced member will pm you "if it's not reserved yet I take it" and be done with it.
Apart from that new members often have unrealistic expectations about replicas and a perfectly good rep could be questioned by the noob buyer, bringing a lot of hassle to the seller. Or even before buying, some new members tend to have a lot of requests and need a lot of explanations while experienced ones know what they're buying. This is sad maybe but it's true that if I can choose, I choose to sell to a long-standing member. Some people even ask you what movement is inside a watch, is it any good, how does it compare to other factories. Sorry but that's not my job to tell a prospective buyer, I don't do this as a profession. An experienced member will pm you "if it's not reserved yet I take it" and be done with it.
serumdiesel
Madman
- 17/3/21
- 648
- 495
- 63
Same as it is with anything -- could be selling to a potential scammer, whether that means an unjustified chargeback or bullshitting about the item that they received, or just someone who might be a pain in the butt. It's the reason why it is sellers justifiably reserve the right to choose the buyer.
Thanks for the replies folks. I saw a fs thread where the seller said he wouldn't sell to a brand new member and I was wondering why.
There are exceptions, mind you. Some of us rely on gut feeling, I've seen very experienced members selling to noobs with 3 posts. Not usual, but it happens.
I am a new member too.
I would not look at just tenure, but more at engagement.
I wouldn't buy or sell to a member with whom I haven't bantered around a bit.
I would not look at just tenure, but more at engagement.
I wouldn't buy or sell to a member with whom I haven't bantered around a bit.
- 9/7/17
- 7,138
- 4,665
- 113
I too have sold to new members, I have a chat and gauge the responses and decide if it is yes or no…we all started somewhere after all.
People say “Buy the seller“ but I also reverse that, this is a great hobby to be able to try so many different pieces!
People say “Buy the seller“ but I also reverse that, this is a great hobby to be able to try so many different pieces!
Last edited:
We were all noobs at some point. Selling is easy ( you know if they paid). Like in real life…treat others the way you would want to be treated, and you'll be fine.
OnTheSly
Getting To Know The Place
And I appreciate it!
I was a little worried that my newbie status here would raise a red flag so I appreciate that you took a chance. As you say, we all have to start somewhere and for me that was about two weeks ago. At least in reps. I've been collecting (mostly vintage) watches for about 5 years and took up watchmaking about 3 years ago and have been servicing my bought watches since then. I'm hoping to put together some servicing videos of the reps I purchase if I can find the time.
OnTheSly
Getting To Know The Place
BTW, would being a new member but also being "Certified" alleviate some of the sellers concerns regarding new members?
Definitely some, albeit not all. But it's certainly not a disadvantage for a buyer to be also certified. I guess personally, if I had a watch for sale now, I'd at least prefer certified buyers over non-certified.
I would not hesitate to sell to a new user with 0 posts even, but i would engage in some conversation first and I would only offer Paypal FF, of course explaining the reason behind - so basically - as you're new, there's no buyer feedback for your profile yet and I can't know if your intentions are really as honest as you've presented them.