Buying watches off eBay?

[G.T]

Hi all

I made a similar thread not long ago on some unusually cheap prices on SSDs that turned out to be fake, but I have a question about watches.

For example there is this watch I am incredibly interested in. This is one sold earlier:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ROTARY-AQ...es_Watches_MensWatches_GL&hash=item3a6c97d857

Edit: Another example

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rotary-Me...es_Watches_MensWatches_GL&hash=item3cbe6cfd34


RRP is £299. These sold for a shade under £100... and there are a few in the recently finished listings that have gone for similar prices. Here's another from them I will bid on if all is okay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ROTARY-AQ...es_Watches_MensWatches_GL&hash=item3a6cf9b61f

How come they're going so cheap? Are these watches not genuine? It seems genuine enough but how can I know for sure? Maybe that's why they're going so cheap? Both do have 100% positive feedback...

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mike Rotch]

Looks genuine to me.

Rotary is unlikely to be a huge knockoff target for the Far East; they are pretty much a fashion brand, not 'made in Swiss' and in this instance, is quartz too (low incentive to replace a quartz movement with a 'cheap' one, unlike replacing a genuine swiss automatic movement with a cheap one as knock-offs do). I'm also guessing this is close to being, if not a discontinued model.

In this instance, it is more likely that the original MRSP is grossy over-inflated, thus the price you see now is actually the more realistic retail value. On reflection, it has to be - anybody would be mad to pay 300 quid for a quartz non-Swiss watch to be honest.

If it didn't have box and/ or papers that would raise alarm bells, but it does. One does get a lot of knock-offs on ebay (especially Tissot) and those "too good to be true" deals generally are, but this just looks like a stock being sold off by some guy who scored a batch of it at a hand-over price from an authorised dealer.

 

[shmogt]

Basically if it's shipping from china it's not going to be real lol. Everything you buy is marked up like 75% so technically they can sell stuff for way less and still make money. eBay people may have bought a ton of them or got them for free and can afford to sell them cheap. No matter what it's up to you for the risk. I would check what else the seller sells and their score/feedback to see how genuine they are. The Internet is also always cheaper as they don't have to pay stores, employees, etc that cost lots of money.

 

[G.T]

Basically if it's shipping from china it's not going to be real lol. Everything you buy is marked up like 75% so technically they can sell stuff for way less and still make money. eBay people may have bought a ton of them or got them for free and can afford to sell them cheap. No matter what it's up to you for the risk. I would check what else the seller sells and their score/feedback to see how genuine they are. The Internet is also always cheaper as they don't have to pay stores, employees, etc that cost lots of money.

They're both shipping from within the UK and both have 100% feedback?


And yeah Mike Rotch I'll leave it a few days and may bid at the last moment if a few more people here says it's genuine as well. Makes sense what you are saying though, kinda... but I always thought Rotary was one of the true companies for quality though (like Seiko), so that surprises me! I've always tended to avoid fashion brands unless I do come across a high quality example, but this watch seems to be okay... can't really tell unless you see it in person though. Price is tempting me too much to even bother, which maybe a bad mistake.

 

[Mike Rotch]

but I always thought Rotary was one of the true companies for quality though (like Seiko), so that surprises me! I've always tended to avoid fashion brands unless I do come across a high quality example

I wouldn't get too caught up in 'fashion' vs 'non-fashion' watch . It is whether you like the watch that counts Like Seiko, they have watches that cater to a few different market segments.

Seiko have basic quartz stuff for 40 quid, all the way up to a few thousand for the Grand Seiko's (easily on a par with high end Swiss watches) and super awesomes Spring Drive technology (hybrid automatic + Quartz which has worlds smoothest hand sweep).

Rotary are the same, although they do not nearly scale the heights on the upper categories. Their current range is topped by an Swiss automatic under $1000 that uses a workhorse movement (ETA 2824) which is a popular, but unremarkable movement. They do have heritage though, so that places them a cut above brands like Invicta or other mushroom brands that have sprung up in the last few years. Plus they haven't been swallowed up by the Swatch or Richmont group, which is also a big plus .

 

[shmogt]

I didn't click the links since I'm on my phone so what I said is just a general thing. UK and 100% feedback is pretty good I'm guessing they're quality. You could go to a watch store and check them out in real life to see if they are what you like than buy them online for cheaper of you like one.

 

[W3H5]

Basically if it's shipping from china it's not going to be real lol.

Proof? The Chinese are spending almost more than any other nation on designer good in this era. My office alone is surrounded by Cartier, Rolex / what ever else they pair with, D&G and a new Gucci shop has just been fitted. God knows how many other high end designer outlets there are here.

I know this gear is real, I've inspected it. Not all of it is fake. Just a lot of it online.

When the Omega shop has watches for sale that are half the price of my house, I think we can safely assume they're not Jeckles.

 

[G.T]

Okay, thanks for the suggestions. I looked at the Rotary in person today and it does look pretty cool. But so do some of the Seikos, so I'll decide... eventually.

 

[Mr. S]

I'd say buy it at your local dealer. A good watch will last for quite a long time and is worth the money.

 

[terminator363]

Genuine fakes here! Get your genuine fakes! Genuine fakes right her folks! Won't be long, hurry! Get your genuine fakes!

 

[shmogt]

Proof? The Chinese are spending almost more than any other nation on designer good in this era. My office alone is surrounded by Cartier, Rolex / what ever else they pair with, D&G and a new Gucci shop has just been fitted. God knows how many other high end designer outlets there are here.

I know this gear is real, I've inspected it. Not all of it is fake. Just a lot of it online.

When the Omega shop has watches for sale that are half the price of my house, I think we can safely assume they're not Jeckles.

Lolol china is the slimiest country out there. They fake absoutly every product. They respect nothing and it's so hard to sue them since everyone is so corrupt. Not only do they fake every possible product, but they have been faking entire stores like ikea and apple store. Literally look exactly the same with same staff uniforms and everything only not owned by apple. If its from china it could be real no doubt, but be werry of it.

 

[W3H5]

Lolol china is the slimiest country out there. They fake absoutly every product. They respect nothing and it's so hard to sue them since everyone is so corrupt.

I guess you have hard evidence that everything made in China is fake? Because I have hard evidence that says 90% of what you said is crap.

Where do you think these fake goods are exported to? There are far too many products made here to be just for the domestic market. It's western greed that drives the producers of fakes. There are no copyright laws here which is why they can do it, not because of corruption, that's a different matter all together.

I live in a city with an Ikea, it's not fake. High end designer outlets, not fake. I buy my clothes here, clothes destined for western markets that the Chinese wouldn't go to the effort of faking because they're not worht the effort. A Bristol Rover football shirt? Why would they bother faking something a handful of people have an interest in? I suppose my Levi's are fake? And my Acer laptops, my all my tech gear, my Lacoste shirts, my wife's beauty products? All fake, right?

Ever lived in China, or visited for that matter?

You're right about the Apple stores though. There's your 10%.

 

[Submerged]

India does fakes. Eygpt does fakes. Every country, somewhere, does fake products of something. Even in England, there was a fake (dangerous) vodka ring that was being sold to corner shops and some national shops too.

I've lived in Shanghai for six months. Wow, that definitely didn't have a lot of fake stores there. In fact, it had lots and lots of designer shops and exclusive places to go to, especially Jin'an Temple area. That seemed to be where most of the highly expensive shops and products were. Jesus, watches were selling for upwards of 20 grand sterling! And it was real, kosher Rolexs and so on.

shmogt, you're just talking a lot of crap that the American media wants you to believe at times. Yes, China does produce some fakes, so does everywhere else. Only reason why they continue to create "fake" clothes is as shem said, due to demand from the Western countries who want those brands, but without paying for the RRP of the "real" branded items, which is profitable for those producers of "fakes" to continue doing so.

 

[shmogt]

I didn't say everything china makes is fake. They manufacture like every product from real companies, but since they do have some people who makes fake knock offs of those products if your ordering something from a sketchy guy off of eBay and it says it's real who knows. That's it. The OP said its from UK and guy has 100% good feedback so I'm sure it's good.

 

[Submerged]

(Original post that lead to....)

Lol china is the slimiest country out there. They fake absolutely every product. They respect nothing and it's so hard to sue them since everyone is so corrupt. Not only do they fake every possible product, but they have been faking entire stores like ikea and apple store. Literally look exactly the same with same staff uniforms and everything only not owned by apple. If its from china it could be real no doubt, but be wary of it.

(... the backpeddling of "oh, I didn't say that!")

I didn't say everything china makes is fake. They manufacture like every product from real companies, but since they do have some people who makes fake knock offs of those products if your ordering something from a sketchy guy off of eBay and it says it's real who knows. That's it. The OP said its from UK and guy has 100% good feedback so I'm sure it's good.

Just highlighting some inconsistencies between your last post and the post before that.

You may need to word your sentences a bit better to give a more measured views of your opinions.

 

[shmogt]

Well they do fake absolutely every product. Didn't say everything that china sells is fake, but every product that is out there someone in china has made a fake. So just be careful when buying things online from sketchy stores saying its real if it ships from china. You don't want to pay lots of money for something you thought was real and it gets to your house and find out its fake. This applies to anywhere online I guess, but china has the most fake stuff come out of there since it has so many manufacturing plants.

 

[G.T]

Well they do fake absolutely every product. Didn't say everything that china sells is fake, but every product that is out there someone in china has made a fake.

Though I agree they do make fake versions of many products, it's quite the exaggeration to say that they fake "absolutely" every product. I could name countless things that China don't reproduce on a large scale. Software being one of them, and another being manufacturers tend to manufacturer cheaper products in China to keep costs down; this has been happening for a long time. Not fake manufacturing.