MoT's WDF

Since site statistics show that a significant portion of our deals come from Ebay, I thought a thread about how to maximize deals might be useful. If you have tips from experience to contribute, please add them here. For me, these seem to work pretty well:

• Check for coupons, especially in the Ebay app, before paying your auctions. On more occasions that I want to admit, I have sent payment only to find out after that I missed out on an applicable coupon that would have saved me 5-10%.
• Add a large number of watches you are interested in to your watchlist. Increasingly sellers will offer discounts or second chance offers to anyone who has “shown interest”. I have received 12 offers in the past 10 days, some for 30% off. I receive an email any time a seller makes me an offer. By maintaining a long watchlist, you can sit back and let the deals come to you.
• Always make an offer before bidding. A lot of sellers are happy to strike a fair deal and get things done rather than waiting for auctions to end. Especially works if you have an active profile with solid reputation
• Sort your search by “Ending Soon” to snipe auctions as they reach their final seconds. You can also use a sniping tool or service like GIXEN to make last second bids on your behalf.
• If items on your Watchlist end without bids, message the seller asking if they will sell it to you for less. I just did this on a €389 289 watch and the seller agreed to sell it to me for €150 to avoid having to relist
• Ask sellers to add a “Buy it now” option at a lower price.
• For rare or highly sought after watches, sort your search by “Newly Listed” to early make offers and snatch deals before they have bidders.
• Seek out “lots” or “convolut” of watches to snag project or mod base watches at low prices.
• Build relationships with sellers who carry a lot of watches you like. Often they will be willing to offer better deals to repeat or loyal buyers.
• Use the “Save Seller” flag to create a list of your favorite sellers and be able to see their new offerings in your feed.
• Sometimes you can find gems hidden in watch lots / Konvoluts. Often estate sales resellers do not take the time to individually assess and price each item, instead dumping them as a "lot"...often with a low starting bid.
• Search in multiple categories...sometimes watches are listed in odd categories like “Collectibles” or “Antiques”.

Looking forward to learning what other members do to secure deals on Ebay.

Edit: Corrected amount above.

Thats a great reference list of tips and tricks! Thanks!

389 to 150.....wow

valuewatchguy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 15, 2020 1:24 pm Thats a great reference list of tips and tricks! Thanks!

389 to 150.....wow

Sorry, typo...it was EUR 289. Still, not a bad deal.

That about covers it and a VERY thoughtful and thorough list. I’d add a few:

1) Stick to a price and don’t get caught up in a bidding war. Chances are that watches will come up again and patience is almost always rewarded.

2) Don’t forget the rebate sites. TopCash is worth 1.5% and if you’ll take an eBay e-gift card they’ll add 3% to your rebate.

3) When buying multiple watches from the same seller, ask for and confirm in advance that they combine shipping. Especially important when buying from overseas.

4) Watch feedback. Even high number feedbacks can be bogus. Negative feedbacks are a non-starter for me.

5) Accepts returns is another one I look for. Can be, but not always a red flag if a seller doesn’t accept returns.

6) Relationships - can’t emphasize this one enough especially when buying vintage.

7) Turn on eBay notifications (under preferences) so you receive email alerts when 5/10% deals are out there.

8) Watch Slickdeals and MoT - users will ALWAYS know first and I’ve even seen SD announce a % OFF deal before it launches.

Also don't low-ball a stupid price. It just wastes your time, the sellers time and your ebay offers. I'm selling a watch right now on eBay and it's insane how many people think they can offer like 10% of the list price. They're all just auto declined and blocked now.

In my experience offering close to what you would pay then slightly negotiating up towards the seller price is much more effective.

watchpalooza wrote:

• Check for coupons, especially in the Ebay app, before paying your auctions. On more occasions that I want to admit, I have sent payment only to find out after that I missed out on an applicable coupon that would have saved me 5-10%.
  [
• Seek out “lots” or “convolut” of watches to snag project or mod base watches at low prices.

I will admit to missing on the discount twice.

Buying under described watch lots are a great way to get watches under the radar. In searching for one particular watch that was going for ~$50+, I found it in a lot that went for $23.47.

Personally, I like lots that have a bunch of junk and a couple of gems. I focus on the ~$20 lots, so not much is lost if it doesn’t work out.

On the topic of eBay and watches, what is your rate of scores vs. zonks? Initially I was about 50:50, but I have worked that up to about 80:20 as I have learned more.

-Know what you are after so that you can pounce when it pops up.

-Have more funds than you need for your current quarry as you don’t know what will pop up.

-I have a few BIN searches to see if any good vintage lots pop up that would make good project watches. One of those got me a Raketa Big Zero for $19.39, plus I got some bonus watches to boot.

Sporkboy wrote:

watchpalooza wrote:

• Check for coupons, especially in the Ebay app, before paying your auctions. On more occasions that I want to admit, I have sent payment only to find out after that I missed out on an applicable coupon that would have saved me 5-10%.
  [
• Seek out “lots” or “convolut” of watches to snag project or mod base watches at low prices.

I will admit to missing on the discount twice.

Buying under described watch lots are a great way to get watches under the radar. In searching for one particular watch that was going for ~$50+, I found it in a lot that went for $23.47.

Personally, I like lots that have a bunch of junk and a couple of gems. I focus on the ~$20 lots, so not much is lost if it doesn’t work out.

On the topic of eBay and watches, what is your rate of scores vs. zonks? Initially I was about 50:50, but I have worked that up to about 80:20 as I have learned more.

-Know what you are after so that you can pounce when it pops up.

-Have more funds than you need for your current quarry as you don’t know what will pop up.

-I have a few BIN searches to see if any good vintage lots pop up that would make good project watches. One of those got me a Raketa Big Zero for $19.39, plus I got some bonus watches to boot.

-Check those pictured carefully for bent crowns cracked crystals and brassing.

-Ask the seller questions if you have any. If they are motivated to sell the watch, then they will usually answer.

Sporkboy wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:17 am
On the topic of eBay and watches, what is your rate of scores vs. zonks? Initially I was about 50:50, but I have worked that up to about 80:20 as I have learned more..

Great adds. I am at about 85% after several years of lessons learned. It has to do more with risk tolerance, and I am often willing to take a chance on deals vs playing it safe. Like you I love lot bidding and vintage pieces, which are inherently more risky. The most risk for me comes from old quartz watches which may or may not function. I have 3 or 4 now that are dead or incapable of accurate timekeeping. Also some vintage where there is no hope of accuracy without servicing, and its just not worth it....hoping someday to be able to fully service these myself.

watchpalooza wrote:

Sporkboy wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:17 am
On the topic of eBay and watches, what is your rate of scores vs. zonks? Initially I was about 50:50, but I have worked that up to about 80:20 as I have learned more..

Great adds. I am at about 85% after several years of lessons learned. It has to do more with risk tolerance, and I am often willing to take a chance on deals vs playing it safe. Like you I love lot bidding and vintage pieces, which are inherently more risky. The most risk for me comes from old quartz watches which may or may not function. I have 3 or 4 now that are dead or incapable of accurate timekeeping. Also some vintage where there is no hope of accuracy without servicing, and its just not worth it....hoping someday to be able to fully service these myself.

85% is pretty good. Since I am looking for mod bases, I need a good case, crystal and crown. I haven’t tried putting a modern quartz movement into a vintage watch, but if it gets the thing working and I can have fun with it then I would try. I am modding these things, so why not go crazy?

Increasing your hit rate into the 90% is probably not possible since the risk is what makes the deal. I am happy with 20% sad faces at this point, but I am in the very shallow end of the pool so to speak.

-Save Buy It Now (BIN) searches and check them often.
—Every now and then, someone doesn’t do their pricing research and puts on a very low BIN price. I caught one of these and snagged a Timex WS4 for less than half the going rate.

-Check BIN auctions at off times. The first person to see a sweet BIN auction will get the deal.
—I am on the East coast of the USA and I wake up at 4:30, so I have a good chance at catching some of those late night BIN posts.

One thing that I have looked into and haven’t figured out is an automated way to check a particular search hourly and then have a text message sent to my phone if there is a hit. That is a lot of work to set up the system, but could be worth it would save a lot of time constantly checking listings.

Is there a website that offers this sort of service? I haven’t found one and I am guessing that eBay shut down any efforts to make a business out of it.

I stopped buying vintage.
But when I was, a good tip was to actively search misspelled listing.

For instance when I was looking for true high beat movements, I would search for 3600 and not 36000

Those listings wouldn't necessarily show up in a general search so good chance to find something at a good price.

The best Buy It Now listings are often gone in a matter of minutes or hours. When highly interested in a particular model check daily or more frequently at times, it can get tiresome but you never know when a great deal is going to appear. Don't equate a great deal with a ridiculous giveaway price which is often a hacked account or a shady seller.

Search for item using different identifying terms, for example, model #, Citizen Signature, Citizen Grand Classic, Citizen automatic. Sometimes one of these watches will only appear under certain categories.

I don't think misspelled words works as it used to anymore since I often see the search algorithm correct it to come up with correct search.

Last second auction sniping, so that anyone trying to counter a higher bid then the maximum they already put in will have no time left to place another bid, can work but it's not easy to time especially from a cell phone where connection speeds and lag is more variable. You may also potentially miss a good deal if your bid is late.

Rebates add up. This quarter alone was $440 in ebay bucks.

I've had good luck with offering when no BIN is happening. Dont lowball, offer more than a lowballer would. Most people want money sooner rather than later!

Mislabeled or under described has happened a couple of times, my $11 moon-graph is testimony to that!

unclear on why used deals are not allowed in the main deal forum? is that because no money to be made from affiliate links as private sellers don't do affiliate stuff?

Added “Search in multiple categories”...