Reduced to 125% of original cost!

[Chronus]

The mods are unpaid volunteers (who do a great job, by the way) and don't have time to police the sales section.

Perhaps there should be a banner/warning right above the title on each selling page with info, eg.

please do searches on "modifications" and research to find true values. please search and read reviews on sellers/watches before purchasing. if you don't, it's on your head, caveat emptor.

[panera]

Who is considered a high priced dealer here?

Hey Tom I loved your Avatar Do you know Who is he or whereis he from???

[POTR]

Hrmm.. I'm paying $465 for somse "limited edition" bond sub.. Am I getting screwed?

I wish I had the $465 to spare to buy Uncle Jay's 5508...

If you want an education, try looking up the price for just the correct "full coin edge" 5508 "aftermarket replacement bezel." Then search for an "aftermarket replacement dial"...

Are you getting screwed? Not in my opinion... but then again that is just my opinion... would you be happier with a ~$100 "unnamed vendor" vintage with incorrect everything? Or would that be the screwing to avoid? Again, not in my opinion... I have one I bought from TMG for half price used that has turned out to be a rather nice running, if inaccurate representation, that has been fun to mod here and there as the mood strikes, and is gradually starting to look more "right"... If I had a correct $300+ full coin edge aftermarket bezel... it would probably be on it tomorrow... and it would probably still come out less in cost than UJ's "limited edition", but, that doesn't make either one of them the better bargain... or a major screwing.

See how the crap spreads once it gets started??

[techd]

I think it's wrong that nobody ever says anything about it. I have to add that anyone who tries to sell a used Asian version of a watch for $100+ should be shot.

While I certainly agree that it's stupid that people have been asking above what they paid, I disagree that used Asian versions shouldn't ever go over $100, especially if they've been modded.

I mostly say this because right now I'm sinking a ton of money into a planned mod of an asian 7750, and if I'm selling it one day it's definitely going to be more than $100 because it's not cheap nor easy to do a full teardown, cleaning, oiling (with Moebius oils that cost an arm and a leg), refinishing badly finished parts, etc. And assuming my 7750 isn't completely ruined by my noobness, I'm going to spend more money on the best AR, and an enhancement that's never been done before here.

And heck, I'd pay more than $100 for certain used Asian models, so long as they're in mint condition.

I don't see why $250 asian rep (new) + $60AR + expensive replacement strap ($70 alone) + a LOT of money in watch repair equipment (go look up how much a jeweling press is) + tons of time and effort should be <$100. Not that I'd actually sell my watch anytime soon, but I'm saying that *IF* I decided to sell such a watch I'd sure as hell expect more than $100. Even ignoring the labor and equipment the parts would have run almost $400.

Edited April 11, 2008 by techd

[dluddy]

I thought I should chime in and give my $.02.

I know the dollar is low compared to the Euro but I am seeing some extraordinary prices being asked for some resale pieces. I am all about paying more for something rare but there are a few examples in the Member Trade are right now that are off the charts IMO.

Base Watch new $500 - maybe $600 if bought in the last batch...

Cyclops $50 - not installed

Crown: $70 - not installed

That is about $700 of product and the asking price started at $1400

If I buy a new car and drive it off the lot, chances are I can't recover my purchase price in an immediate resale. A rep watch, should never appreciate that much - genuines are different. I personally spend a lot of money modding my keepers. If I were to sell one, I do not expect that I would recover the full cost of my total investment.

And then this week a member sells a much coveted 7753 based model for a practical $550 - more like in IMO

As a capitalist in America I am all for a free market economy but lets not try to take advantage of our fellow forum members. If MFG's see us paying these prices for resales, what do you think is going to happen to the average price of a new release

Let's not forget what RWG is all about folks

Edited April 11, 2008 by dluddy

[RWG Technical]

Very well said dluddy.

My biggest concern for overpriced watches (as in the above example) is if the sales post doesn't contain the information as dluddy provided above, a newbie won't think for a minute that this price is very high. Especially if the newbie just came from www.scamreplica.com...

Do we not owe it to the membership of RWG full disclosure on all sales threads? What I mean is that if a watch is placed for sale and the price is 2-3 times the original cost, and the watch does not have any upgrades (servicing, lume, gen parts, etc) then the asking price should be qualified with the original cost of the watch.

If this was done, at least someone who is considering buying the watch knows everything.

In the above example, the original price, and the price of the spare parts should be posted. Then it's all in the open and someone who just joined RWG knows exactly what they are buying and can decide if the asking price is fair given what the watch was bought for in the first place.

Being uninformed I could assume that this particular watch sold for $1500 or more new...if the asking price is $1500...

RG