Selling watches at auction - any experiences?

I've never known this forum to be so slow for selling - even watches that would have flown within hours in previous years are unsold or sell for less than previously. I accept that times are hard, but new watches seem to be selling well by all accounts.

I'm wanting to reduce my collection and, having had no luck here, I'm considering selling at auction (not eBay, I mean specialised watch auctions such as Watches of Knightsbridge). I'd be interested to hear any experiences that people have had selling that way.

Worth a try or not?

I haven’t sold a watch at auction, but have entered other items. Can be months before the auction takes place, the gamble of if it will sell, commission fees and cataloging and photographing fees etc and waiting for the payout.

Before going down the auction route what about a direct sale to a dealer, or entering the watches for sale on commission (Subdial, WF etc).

If you are looking to reduce numbers and it’s not purely a financial driven thing, you could consider part exchanging against something else. This is usually the easier option and dealers are more likely to play ball as they don’t have to part with cash.

I sold 13 Orient Makos on e-bay during Jan/Feb this year, I think I only got my money back on one watch, the rest had differing degrees of loss, although they all did sell in the end.

Watch out for total fees. And by that I mean both the fees you pay as a seller and the auction fees the buyer pays, as realistically you're footing the bill for those too. A recent thread about a watch auction had the total fees at 50% which seemed obscene to me, but I don't know if that's the norm.

Watch collecting auction is quite good apparently these days. Fees charged to buyer.

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I’d try here on the sales forum first, I’ve never had any problems in selling the watches I’ve listed, I think if priced correctly it will sell

I can’t offer any auction experience although I agree that SC has been very slow. I couldn’t find buyers for some pretty mainstream watches from Sinn and Seiko.

My personal approach if not selling on SC is eBay with a fixed price but allowing close to offers and using the 80% discount on sale fees. I seem to get that offer every other weekend. If that doesn’t get a sale, then it’s Chrono 24, although that commission is higher at 6.5%. I’ve found Chrono24 very effective, but it can take a while, so it needs patience, my Sinn 144 took 60 days.

Sometimes SC brings you together with the right buyer at the right time, certainly true when you marketed your Snowflake

BW

Dave


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Typically very expensive route for sub £6k. Typically selling premiums as low as 10% with a numbered minimum (ie watch collecting, with a minimal fee of £600)

Sold a couple of watches in auction and overall i was ok with it.
First time I agreed a bottom price, got a discount on the sellers commission and it sold for above market price. By the time the buyer’s commission was deducted, i got what I thought was market price.
Took around 3 weeks to get paid.
2nd time (same auction house) was the same but the buyer simply didn’t pay, auction house didn’t seem inclined to push the buyer (I assumed he/she was a bug client who changed his/her mind)
I just took the watch back, no fees.
On this occasion i was also not happy with the description of the watch, but by the time you see it, it’s too late,

It would not be my first choice to sell hut I would do it again.

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Originally Posted by Balance wheel

I’d try here on the sales forum first, I’ve never had any problems in selling the watches I’ve listed, I think if priced correctly it will sell

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This. ^^^

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Originally Posted by davide

I've never known this forum to be so slow for selling - even watches that would have flown within hours in previous years are unsold or sell for less than previously. I accept that times are hard, but new watches seem to be selling well by all accounts.

I'm wanting to reduce my collection and, having had no luck here, I'm considering selling at auction (not eBay, I mean specialised watch auctions such as Watches of Knightsbridge). I'd be interested to hear any experiences that people have had selling that way.

Worth a try or not?

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Simon at WOK can be a bit flexible on charges if it is something he really wants in the sale but it's got be unusual. He may also buy from you to put in his own auctions later.

I may be shoving some stuff into him relatively soon to get top prices.

On the other hand I have found Subdial very fast and easy to deal with when selling too.

Many thanks all - some useful thoughts. There's no doubt in my mind that prices have dropped over the last couple of years and there are some lovely watches on the sales forum here that are going for lower prices than previously.

I'm going to try WoK (see Neil's post above) and will report back in due course.

Auctions are for idiots ! You are likely to get a low price and then pay a hefty commission on it too. If you know the fair value of an item sell it privately based on that. At auction, you are at the mercy of whoever turns up, or doesn't, on the day. Talk of bidding wars only apply for unique objects such as plots of land, famous paintings etc., anything else is just a commodity and buyers want a bargain. Add to that the crazy buyers' and sellers' fees and the only winners are the auctioneers.

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Originally Posted by Gren

Auctions are for idiots ! You are likely to get a low price and then pay a hefty commission on it too. If you know the fair value of an item sell it privately based on that. At auction, you are at the mercy of whoever turns up, or doesn't, on the day. Talk of bidding wars only apply for unique objects such as plots of land, famous paintings etc., anything else is just a commodity and buyers want a bargain. Add to that the crazy buyers' and sellers' fees and the only winners are the auctioneers.

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Not in my experience.

Nothing to do with people in the room. Most bids at specialist sales like watches etc are by people who leave bids or bid on the phone or net.

A lot of unusual stuff would be very difficult to shift at the right price without auctions.

Auctions work for specific types of watches, military watch sales, the really rare stuff etc. For the normal mass produced stuff I’m guessing less so. Entering watches into wider general type auctions does seem a little pointless to me.

Take a look at Chrono24, it is a global audience (albeit with fees) but every watch I have listed there has moved quickly and every buyer has been great.

I have also bought close to ten watches on there, mostly GS from Japanese sellers and they have been brilliant.

Made some friends on Chrono from both sides.