WatchProSite|Market|Digest
WatchProSite|Market|Digest

Horological Meandering

As the seller, you are free to choose the sales price.

 

Of course, the buyer is also free to not to buy it.

But as an instruction to a consignment shop, “reasonable” means he may not be wasting his time by calling you when a prospective buyer makes an offer below asking price.

If you are authorizing the seller to approve a discount without consulting you, you really must dictate a maximum discount in your consignment agreement.

As to what discount is fair, others have already described a few of the two or three thousand things that might go into that decision.

Maybe there are useful parallels in this story: I have offered one of my fine German tubas for sale, but the offers I have received have been constrained by the new (and, it must be said, quite playable) Chinese instruments on the market. My price is reasonable and I am not desperate. So, unsold it remains, and will remain until my heirs have to deal with it. It’s a matter of respect for the instrument, it’s maker and it’s history and provenance (and it’s playing quality). But if I was desperate, or any of many other factors were true, I might let it go at a lower price. Again, it’s a matter of respect for the instrument. But it’s also based on a real understanding of comparable instruments and inherent value. Most (not all) other experts I have consulted have validated my assessment, but only after inspecting and playing the instrument themselves.

—Rick

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33 Comments view entire thread 

Question to the Forum: "What's your Definition of Reasonable?"

 
By: NickO : January 9th, 2020-17:39
Consider the following scenario: You decide to sell a watch to free up funds for other projects. You give the watch to a trusted dealer friend to sell for you. You set your asking price for your watch at $50,000 and you inform your friend that you will al... 

It also depends on what is your watch...

 
By: Clueless_Collector : January 9th, 2020-17:55
and if you’re being reasonable in the asking. How do you price your watch to be $50K, vs all the listings on a selling platform like C24? If it’s a hype one then your $50k will hold, I say -$2.5K for a good round number. Really no good answer without a sp... 

At 50K ask, I’d give up maybe 5%.

 
By: Jay (Eire) : January 9th, 2020-18:59
Assumes of course you priced fairly (realistically) to begin with.

Depends. If the goal is to recover cash, then . . .

 
By: Dr No : January 9th, 2020-19:00
. . . the floor can be deep. Everyone who's acquired a new watch other than a Patek or steel Rolex in the last ten years is likely to be on the short end of the secondary market stick. If time isn't of the essence, though, and one is selling to reconfigur... 

Depends on your asking price vs market price.

 
By: nwk00 : January 9th, 2020-21:21
As stated by another member, it relative to your asking vs market. If you are being greedy, and ask for 40% above market, I think a big discount to counter that markup is not unreasonable. Generally 5-15% off is reasonable. I cannot highlight enough how o... 

Are you defining the linear line as "Truly Reasonable" and the independent variable as "Time?"

 
By: NickO : January 10th, 2020-12:12
Then what you're saying is that one's opinion of what is "Reasonable" is never actually ever "Truly Reasonable" but the difference between the two diminishes over time but never reaches zero. That's quite astute if I read you correctly, Fab

As the seller, you are free to choose the sales price.

 
By: rdenney : January 10th, 2020-10:03
Of course, the buyer is also free to not to buy it. But as an instruction to a consignment shop, “reasonable” means he may not be wasting his time by calling you when a prospective buyer makes an offer below asking price. If you are authorizing the seller... 

Thanks to everyone who responded, especially those who gave a definitive percentage answer

 
By: NickO : January 10th, 2020-11:24
Reasonable can be defined as "Fair, Sensible, and Moderate". These are all subjective terms. What I was attempting to elicit from my question was - all other things being equal - how far away from an objective data point - $50,000 in this case - does one ... 

In the car business we often say the buyer sets the price

 
By: cazalea : January 10th, 2020-18:32
Because he doesn’t have to buy, whereas eventually the seller has to sell, or go out of business. Going back to the original question, 10% off is reasonable for a private sale (in Calif) but 50% is not. Unless it’s a street market in the Mediterranean reg... 

Thanks for the clarification, and interesting question...

 
By: CR : January 11th, 2020-08:18
Much of this was already said by others. When I read your original question, my first reaction was, "There's not enough information here to answer the question. I need to know if $50K is the typical preowned dealer's ASKING price -- like what I'd find if ...