Watch Selling Guide

Watch Selling Guide

A luxury watch can be an expensive investment, so when you decide to sell it, don’t forget to treat it as such. While online marketplaces, such as E-bay, or listing sites like Craigslist, are great for selling your old clothes and electronics, selling a fine watch yourself is no easy matter. These online marketplaces and listing sites are great for those old hand-me-downs that you want a few extra bucks from, but you are just not going to get the amount you want if you sell your luxury watch on those same sites.

In Ratings We Trust

On sites like eBay, the selling process is very heavily influenced by the ratings system. Everything is about trust. Those who sell frequently and receive higher ratings do the best, and obviously someone who has a long history of selling will have reviews while someone with no history will have zero. As a first time seller, your seller rating will be low – no buyer will be willing to trust you to purchase a luxury watch for a significant amount of money. Basically, you’d get nowhere near what you deserve for your watch. Be confident after reading our watch selling guide.

By selling your watch through Precision Watches & Jewelry, you don’t have to deal with the trouble of listing the watch, deal with the stress of selling to strangers, or fear that you’ll never get the amount you should. Selling to us takes the stress out of the entire process – it’s easy, safe and rewarding!

Important Considerations

Before you try to sell your luxury pre-owned watch, pay attention to our advice here to make the entire process easier. Not only that, but this could help increase the value of your timepiece when finally making the sale, whether to us or to someone else.

1.    Hidden commissions with auctions

The first place many think of when selling their watches is the auction block. And we don’t mean eBay, we mean a real auction house. Though it seems easy and hassle-free, there are many hidden commissions involved in this process which can negate any benefits. Instead of the sale price, you first have a Buyer’s commission around 15-25% of the sale price, and a seller’s commission that is generally 10-15% of the actual sales price, both further reducing your take home. Along with insurance, photography, and the shipping price, you won’t get as much as you want.

2.    Box and Papers

When you first buy a brand new luxury watch from a reputable authorized dealer, depending on the brand, it will likely come with box and papers to prove authenticity. By keeping your box and papers, all original documents, you’ll be able to ease the nerves of potential buyers, and even at times command a higher price.

3.    Recourse

When you sell a luxury pre-owned watch, there is always the chance that the buyer will simply come back, claiming something is wrong with the watch, demanding money back. Along with this, there is a chance that buyers will return the watch in a worse state than when you send it. We’ve had buyers return watches missing internal hardware, recently replaced inauthentic parts, and missing links. Chances are you’ll never even realize something was replaced or stolen, further compounding the costs and trouble if someone else catches this when you do re-list.

4.    Include the Model Number

Without a model number or reference number, potential buyers can’t find out the important facts they need to make an informed purchase. Without this information, they will likely ignore your watch, not giving it a second look.

5.    Quality Photos

We take high quality photos seriously. It’s important when listing your luxury watches to include photos from every possible angle, showing every imperfection. By being transparent with your photos you will increase the perceived value of your watch, while also reducing the chance that someone will return it.

6.    Never give away the entire serial number

Serial numbers, unlike model or reference numbers, are unique to your specific watch. The serial number is one of the best ways to determine authenticity of a luxury watch. However, if you give out the serial number, replica makers can use your watch as a model for their replicas, stamping it with the correct numbers. A serial number is still important though, so be sure to include it in listings, showing the first few digits of the serial number, replacing the rest with “xxxxx.”

To get the most money for your watches, you need to include as much information as possible. It’s hard to do this properly without a proper expert valuation team, photographer, and marketing. Read more of our watch selling guide below to learn the considerations that go into determining the price of a watch, and if you are interested, call or contact us to sell your watch today.

Pricing Your Watch

When it finally comes to selling that luxury watch, or trading it in for a much-needed upgrade, the first thing you need to do is figure out it’s worth. Here at Precision Watches & Jewelry, that is the first thing our valuation team does when looking at a luxury watch. Here are the other steps we’ll take when trying to determine the appropriate price for a pre-owned luxury watch:

1.    Model and Serial Number

Always the first thing a valuation team looks at when determining the price of a pre-owned luxury watch. The model number will tell the team everything they need to know about the watch, such as the year at made, its material and its movement. Located in different locations for each luxury watch brand, the model number and serial number are both very important factors in determining the price of the pre-owned watch.

2.    Condition

The next factor our valuation team assesses in determining the worth of the watch. When observing the exterior of a watch’s case, the valuation teams looks for any dents or scratches, as the condition greatly contributes to the price of the used watch. If the dents are shallow, then they can be buffed out; however, deep dents cannot be removed and will have an affect on the value of the watch. To get the highest value, the bezel and crown should fit tightly and should not be significantly damaged.

3.    The Bracelet

Typically suffers from the most damage, as it is often overstretched and collects dirt. In addition, if a watch’s links are removed and misplaced, these missing links decrease the value of the watch because each link is valuable to the watch’s worth. Therefore, as a luxury watch owner, it is important to keep all links that are removed in order to get the highest value for a pre-owned watch.

4.    Market Value

Extremely important in determining the price of a pre-owned luxury watch. In essence, market value is the amount that buyers are willing to spend on a certain item in the market at the current time. Oftentimes, a watch owner may believe that his watch is worth a certain amount, but if buyers are not willing to pay that amount then the owner will never be able to sell it. While some watches, such as Rolex, are always high in demand with a consistent market value, this is not the case with all luxury watches. The demand for other watch brands can go through ups and downs, which affect the market value of the watch.

Selling Your Watch

While the previous four steps of our watch selling guide give a short summary of the factors considered when Precision Watches & Jewelry’s valuation team prices a pre-owned luxury watch, there are many other elements to this process that are best left to our watch experts. If you want to get the best price for your luxury watch, then using Precision Watches & Jewelry’s team will guarantee you that satisfaction! Learn more about our quick, easy and secure process here.