Rant about currencies used in pricing watches

[swdivad]

Why on earth would a 'collector' denote his currencies in CN¥, where everyone is selling or purchasing in EU or USD, with an occasional GBP thrown in?? 

Sorry for the rant, but it's REALLY aggravating having to convert currencies, and I can't imagine that it would be good for business... I can't imagine how this practice benefits anyone on either side.

CN¥ is NOT an universal currency, and I don't believe it should used for pricing info by dealers.

 

I may be being petty, but does anyone have thoughts on this?

[Mike on a bike]

Yes a bit aggravating but 700 CNY a 100 bucks U.S. so pretty easy to do in my head.

I hate to be a pompous American but the USD is  the world's reserve currency best we all price in dollars.

[Legend]

USD is the universal currency of trade. 

It is not unusual for chinese dealers to list their wares in RMB, as the watches are produced in China, and with the world being what it is today, we cannot ignore the growing importance of the Chinese currency. 

However, where this forum and the hobby is concerned, USD should be the way to go IMO, to prevent clutter. 

 

[swdivad]

2 hours ago, Mike on a bike said:

Yes a bit aggravating but 700 CNY a 100 bucks U.S. so pretty easy to do in my head.

I hate to be a pompous American but the USD is  the world's reserve currency best we all price in dollars.

 

2 hours ago, Legend said:

USD is the universal currency of trade. 

It is not unusual for chinese dealers to list their wares in RMB, as the watches are produced in China, and with the world being what it is today, we cannot ignore the growing importance of the Chinese currency. 

However, where this forum and the hobby is concerned, USD should be the way to go IMO, to prevent clutter. 

 

yes to both... currency is currency... but I believe prices should be listed in US$, or at worst Euro (and I live in the Land Down Under)

[Sogeha]

The big advantage of posting prices in one's own currency is that one does not get any nasty exchange rate surprises. I always assumed that that was why they chose to price in Chinese.

I grew up in England, now live in Euroland, have a UD Dollar account. It's a bit like Imperial and Metric, the only people who can't manage both systems are those that don't want to. After all most of us know how big a Cubit is and that system isn't currently used by anyone.

[Sogeha]

For some reason I can't edit, but it is a US Dollar account. 

[swdivad]

3 hours ago, Sogeha said:

The big advantage of posting prices in one's own currency is that one does not get any nasty exchange rate surprises. I always assumed that that was why they chose to price in Chinese.

I grew up in England, now live in Euroland, have a UD Dollar account. It's a bit like Imperial and Metric, the only people who can't manage both systems are those that don't want to. After all most of us know how big a Cubit is and that system isn't currently used by anyone.

It's easy enough to find the exact exchange rate over on xe.com or the myriad of other exchange rate sites...

It's just annoying and difficult to understand to see only one dealer (watchstation) quoting in CNY, when the rest of the world quotes in USD

We all pretty much know how much everything costs in our currency when priced in USD (I'm in AUD), and that's what should be used... unless, of course, CNY becomes the standard international currency.

[nikki6]

I'm guessing that's with puretimes partners? It drives me nuts too, but it's because they're a dropship dealer, Chinese are more likely to buy for dropship purposes.

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[panerai153]

I believe that while the puretime folks advertise watchstation on the various forums and in their email newsletters, It is really designed as a wholesale supplier. As was said above, most of it's customers are probably Chinese resellers who buy multiple watches. If your primary market is in China, it would make sense to price your goods in Chinese currency.

I know that it is a PITA to do currency conversions, but with all the internet and phone app converters, it's pretty simple.

[swdivad]

5 hours ago, panerai153 said:

I believe that while the puretime folks advertise watchstation on the various forums and in their email newsletters, It is really designed as a wholesale supplier. As was said above, most of it's customers are probably Chinese resellers who buy multiple watches. If your primary market is in China, it would make sense to price your goods in Chinese currency.

I know that it is a PITA to do currency conversions, but with all the internet and phone app converters, it's pretty simple.

Yes, it IS pretty simple to do the conversion, even in our heads... but I believe it is both lazy and arrogant to not price in USD, where this and other watch fora are *mainly* priced in USD

ALL the other dealers except this one (who (TF) is watchstation anyway?) prices in USD to ACCOMMODATE their customers... this one believes he is above that... hence my rant

Maybe I'm just being precious, but I find it very annoying :-S

[Sogeha]

Watch Station is part of Puretime. Puretime does the retail polish with prices in USD and some comeback if the watch gets nabbed by Customs or stops working. Watch Station is more wholesale with less frills, but lower prices. At least that is how I understand it. 

I guess it would depend what I was buying and what I was planning to do with it, but if I was planning to swap out the movement and dial as often happens here, I think I would be tempted to save 80 to 100 bucks, take a risk on the movement I don't need anyway being DOA and convert the price myself. 

I'm not really defending WS, I've never bought from them, although I've used Puretime, it's just it seems to me to be a choice and choice is good. If you don't like the terms of business of one dealer, then by all means use one of the others.