Linder Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 (edited) .. Edited July 19, 2006 by Linder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watcher71 Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 ya got references anywhere? Just curious... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 $500?! How many middle men are involved?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwai02 Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 Are you dealing with Maria directly or another reseller? Do you have Maria's skype id? $500 is a little too high. I paid $380 last week and I got service 1,2,7,8,9 though. Problem is the dealer wants to keep a low profile and doesn't want to deal with unknown members. So don't ask me who he is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMK000 Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 500 USD can be justified if the movement is at the 300 price range. What movements and what watches (brands) are we talking here ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJGladeRaider Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 Hello everyone, I am still trying to negotiate pricing but I do not see the above being possible without MBWs costing approximately $500. The MBW quality is already set in stone and will not change. My question to the community is, which is more important, customer service or price? If customer service is preferred, would anyone be interested in fast and friendly MBWs? I have two MBWs I bought second hand, I tired to buy a new one recently but had a terribly unlucky experience, and I am currently trying to obtain two new vintage MBWs thru other channels. I have a large box of Rolex reps including some of the TW Best from EL, and all that Joshua sells, as well as some from Ms. King. I also have three other boxes of reps and gens - the point being, I have plenty of things to compare here. While I am sure some may feel differently, I don't see any reason to buy the new style MBWs when Joshua, EL and now Andrew are selling a virtually identical watch, and both Joshua and Andrew offer it fully serviced with none of the worry about being screwed that has been the problem with some MBW sources. The vintage MBWs are special, but the thing that makes them special is the fact that they can be modded using gen parts. $380 is a lot to pay for a watch just so you can pour money into it but it's worth that to me as a collector, but $500 is WAY to expensive for me to justify - although, as I said, I am sure some will see it differently. A reasonably priced source that accepts PayPal and can be counted on would be a great thing. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chronomat123 Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 Bill, Love that vintage Daytona. May I ask where you got 'er? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJGladeRaider Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 Bill, Love that vintage Daytona. May I ask where you got 'er? I got it from Joshua. It seems like a pretty nice piece. Mostly, I just wanted it because I didn't have anything like it in my box. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linder Posted July 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 (edited) .. Edited July 19, 2006 by Linder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 If you are U.S. based, I simply would not do it. The risks involved as a dealer are not worth it. Just my honest opinion on the matter... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJGladeRaider Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 If you are U.S. based, I simply would not do it. The risks involved as a dealer are not worth it. Just my honest opinion on the matter... I gotta jump on Randy's bandwagon here as I didn't realize that you were in the US. As I posted sometime bank, Congress recently (last May I believe) amended the statute that applies to trafficking in counterfeits and one of their findings was that the trade in counterfeit goods finances terrorism -- whoaa now, before anybody starts arguing. The reason that this is significant is that their "finding" provides the link that will bring these cases within the jurisdiction of Homeland Security - even if your efforts do not result in the sale of a single watch, you could be charged with an inchoate offense (like conspiracy) and the sale of just one watch would be enough to support the charge for the substantive offense. Randy is giving you some good advice here - buy all the reps you want to, and there's no US law against it, but as for this marketing idea - don't even think about it. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAHLER Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 (edited) Congress recently (last May I believe) amended the statute that applies to trafficking in counterfeits and one of their findings was that the trade in counterfeit goods finances terrorism WOW .... then I commit double crime.... I love reverse engineering and reps.... practically the whole international terrorism feeds through me.... I'm really in the troubles !!! The terrorism feeds with the hate among the people. Edited July 15, 2006 by MAHLER Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swemoose Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 I would love to get my hands on a Seadweller (new version) by MBW, with the correct HE valve. Will that ever be available......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KB Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 Just another voice in the wildeness saying don't do it if you are based in the States. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cskent69 Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 Holy moly...... I have two MBWs I bought second hand, I tired to buy a new one recently but had a terribly unlucky experience, and I am currently trying to obtain two new vintage MBWs thru other channels. I have a large box of Rolex reps including some of the TW Best from EL, and all that Joshua sells, as well as some from Ms. King. I also have three other boxes of reps and gens - the point being, I have plenty of things to compare here. While I am sure some may feel differently, I don't see any reason to buy the new style MBWs when Joshua, EL and now Andrew are selling a virtually identical watch, and both Joshua and Andrew offer it fully serviced with none of the worry about being screwed that has been the problem with some MBW sources. The vintage MBWs are special, but the thing that makes them special is the fact that they can be modded using gen parts. $380 is a lot to pay for a watch just so you can pour money into it but it's worth that to me as a collector, but $500 is WAY to expensive for me to justify - although, as I said, I am sure some will see it differently. A reasonably priced source that accepts PayPal and can be counted on would be a great thing. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikellem Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 Just another voice in the wildeness saying don't do it if you are based in the States. Ken Ken, I think most of us agree with you! No person in the States should be involved in selling watches period... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linder Posted July 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 (edited) .. Edited July 19, 2006 by Linder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 I wouldn't worry about it. Maria probably isn't all that interested in selling to the vast majority to begin with. Does that mean MBW's will go away? Probably not entirely... They will, however become harder to find. But this is no different than what has occured in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevomd Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 I am in no way encouraging you to do anything illegal, but isn't what lw54, suggesting to do is drop shipping. Pretty much what EL does over in Canada. I wonder whether the rep laws are different up North of the border. Eddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 I'm not sure about the whole drop shipping scenario, but I would imagine that if you are collecting money and brokering the sales of counterfeit product in certain volumes, you put yourself at risk for prostitution... Er, I mean prosecution. All it takes is selling to the wrong person at the wrong time to land some trouble that could have been avoided by simply not doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kanerich Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 (edited) I hear what you all are saying and I do believe it would be a bad idea. However, I am worried we will lose MBWs as a community. Who will step up for us? You see an opening in the market and a business opportunity for yourself, that's cool. Operating from the US sounds like a fairly terrible idea considering that one package to you marked "fake rolex" (don't laugh, EL got something much like it recently) could land you in a lot of hot water, but that's your call. Of course, your business model means that I'm sending $500 and then necessarily facing a fairly significant turnaround time compared to buying a regular rep from EL, River etc., so considering the lag and your US operation there's a meaningfully higher chance you'll get in trouble and I'll be out my $500. I'm not criticizing you, just looking at it objectively from the buyer's standpoint. However, I'm not sure to what degree pouring on the altruistic "I'm taking it for the team" thing so thick is necessary. I don't claim I only buy reps because I want to personally make sure there's a roof over our dealers' heads. You want to sell watches that's cool but let's keep things businesslike, I'd rather buy from someone who's serious about operating a business and not a charity anyway. Edited July 16, 2006 by kanerich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 I second(or third) Randy's opinion. Dealing in counterfeit goods from within the USA is pretty dangerous. you don't have the protection of a few thousand miles of ocean and the protection of a government that has a "wink and nod" attitude toward all things counterfeit. Secondly, you are going against the most ferocious and rabid anti-counterfeiting watch company in the world!! If Rolex SA has the brass balls to take on Wal-Mart and Sams Club over 83 grey market watches and take the case all the way to the US 5th circuit court of Appeals, they aren't going to hesitate a bit in pursuing you to the ends of the earth. If you were talking about almost any other brand, you could probably do it with a very low profile and get by, but I wouldn't take a chance on Rolex. In one respect I believe Rolex loves replicas. Everytime someone shells out 3-10k on a flea-bay Rolex that turns out to be fake, it just reinforces what they preach "you can only be certain of the watch if you buy it from an AD". Every time one of the Rolex Ebay and Watch forum snoops reads about another poor smuck getting taken for 5k on a purchase of a fake Day-Date, they probably laugh their asses off. Great water cooler conversation. But you aren't selling on Ebay, so you are a serious threat to them, as you are selling a new submariner to someone who in their mind would have bought a new genuine if your replicas weren't available.And believe me or ask some of the ollder members from the old forums what has happened to a few dealers here in the states who ran afoul of Rolex. Remember,no fish is too small to escape their net, they want 'em all. I love vintage watches, and I particularly love MBW vintage. I have a beautiful fully modded DRSD and would like a white letter 1680. I too wish they were easier to get, but it just isn't worth the risk to do it here in the USA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TTK Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 Anyone who is US based and involved in the 'importation' of fake luxury goods..( not just watches)....should have their head examined......the courts are littered with the dead bodies of US 'residents' who thought they could get away with it.......whilst we may not believe that our hobby funds terrorism......it's of minor importance what we believe...what is of major importance is what they believe.....! It's becoming more and more dangerous ...not to mention difficult.....to process this hobby......my supplier was arrested yesterday....and had to pay a big fine for the stock she had......another farang locally was arrested at home with over 600 pair of Diesel jeans in his home......he had over 4000+ feedbacks on the Bay.......! S.T.O.P. S.T.O.P. 2 ALLIANCE AGAINST IP THEFT GMA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tag Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 Wow....... Reps finances terrorism; Gens are sold by a Swiss cartel... How dangerous World of Watches is! What shall we do? Buy Seiko? Oh yes, Timex! GW. Bush wears a Timex! In Timex we trust! Admin, could you open a section for Timex reps please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tag Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 (edited) It's becoming more and more dangerous ...not to mention difficult.....to process this hobby......my supplier was arrested yesterday....and had to pay a big fine for the stock she had......another farang locally was arrested at home with over 600 pair of Diesel jeans in his home......he had over 4000+ feedbacks on the Bay.......! [\quote] That means, hurry up stocking reps before all dealers close down! Hurry! Only $250 asian movement! Edited July 16, 2006 by tag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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