As someone who has lived in China for 5 years, yes we are indeed overpaying for our reps.
We need to quit being a bunch of suckers, but when someone who wanted to buy a $6,000 Rollie sees he can get 99% similar for $300, he's happy to jump on that. Me, I got into reps as a kid in high school so I never even started from that "genuine buyer POV". A cheap Chinese watch that cost $30 to make, you want me to pay $300 for it?
It's a rep forum culture thing. I've been lurking a buncha forums since 2007/2008 and I'm appalled at how we as a community have no balls to stand up to dealers. I mean aside from blatant cases in which ppl use forum admins to help resolve situations, we practically justify them lying to us, "Swiss ETA" movements being a prime example. Or stuff like no QC and crooked cyclopses, etc.--Casio, Invicta, Seiko, blah blah can do better and printing 5 different letters on the dial doesn't double the cost of the watch.
Or you can just say I'm a cheap bastard, another $100 don't mean nothing to you, it's just a "buck" right? Well especially in this economy, and as a college student now, I care about how I'm spending my money, and you should too.