Is the number of transactions in the sale garages dropping?

[pegasi]

I have this feeling that lesser watches are being sold in the last half to one year compared to before. Some brands/models that used to be hot are listed on the garage for considerable longer time before they got sold, especially PAM.

I think it could be due to:

1. Manufacturers churning out more models and/or more frequently, hence making the preowned models less appealing to buyers who prefer the latest/current models.

2. People have more options with the increase in number of preowned shops and watch trading sites.

3. More people see buying watches from overseas while travelling as one alternative for a good bargain, between buying brand new from local ADs and preowned market. For this I am referring to people who buy watches for keeping not for resale for some quick bucks.

4. People's knowledge on watches have improved and therefore are more selective in their purchases.

5. Watches in the sale garages are being sold at less attractive price than before.

Or maybe my perception of the trend is completely wrong? What do you think, especially those members who have been active in buying/selling here for at least the past two years?

And I wonder if our admin has any statistic on watches sold on this forum per month that he can share...?

[lhjake]

I remember reading a local news article (cant recalled exactly where) recently that mentioned many Singaporeans are holding back their purchases of luxury goods (guess that include branded watches) in last quarter of 2012 due to uncertain employemnt climate as a result of volatile global economic situations. Also, of late I noticed there is a trend among avid shoppers (especially my own social networks) of luxury goods be it watches, bags, clothings etc to do their purchases overseas (physical shops or internet) due to price variance or simply latest designs.

[minimerc]

Weak usdsgd and other foreign currencies depressed the purchase prices of many (import) watches. Buyers have more options, against sellers who were stuck with higher prices they bought some time back, plus many pent up demand already fulfilled? Perhaps many ppl are also exiting the vintage segment as fakes are getting much better like what happened to US vintage coin industry. Just 2 cents.

[pegasi]

Good points Ihjake and minimerc. I never thought about the economy and currency factors.

[Darkangel]

I have this feeling that lesser watches are being sold in the last half to one year compared to before. Some brands/models that used to be hot are listed on the garage for considerable longer time before they got sold, especially PAM.

I think it could be due to:

1. Manufacturers churning out more models and/or more frequently, hence making the preowned models less appealing to buyers who prefer the latest/current models.

2. People have more options with the increase in number of preowned shops and watch trading sites.

3. More people see buying watches from overseas while travelling as one alternative for a good bargain, between buying brand new from local ADs and preowned market. For this I am referring to people who buy watches for keeping not for resale for some quick bucks.

4. People's knowledge on watches have improved and therefore are more selective in their purchases.

5. Watches in the sale garages are being sold at less attractive price than before.

Or maybe my perception of the trend is completely wrong? What do you think, especially those members who have been active in buying/selling here for at least the past two years?

And I wonder if our admin has any statistic on watches sold on this forum per month that he can share...?

Well it could be that watches at good prices are sold fast and moved to the sold section by our mods efficiently. So you're usually left with lesser things unless there are more who post.

Sales are still maintaining there, that I can say,but even I don't have statistics. Even if I do, it isn't accurate cos my information is as accurate as what you people feed me. You claim you sold 5 watches, but did you really sell? I don't know for sure but on the records you did, there's no way to verify. We have to go through the same way to find out how many watches sold per month, count from the sold section. No secret or cheat code for me.

[pegasi]

Well it could be that watches at good prices are sold fast and moved to the sold section by our mods efficiently. So you're usually left with lesser things unless there are more who post.

My impression does not come from lesser sale threads in the garages but quite the contrary. i.e. watches take longer time to get sold hence the feeling that transactions are dropping. It's just my gut feel so I could be wrong. The mods and admin are probably in the best position to guage the trend.

[Watcha]

My opinion:

1. Economy plays a part. Uncertainty and high inflation eats up buying will and power.

2. Prices listed are not attractive enough for many pre owned pieces. Many are at shop price or higher than shop price. Even at close to shop price, I rather go to shop and pay a bit more.

3. Not enough attractive pieces.

[pegasi]

Yes prices are definitely one key factor. I always believe that all sort of watches can sell so long the price is right.

Sometimes I saw sellers posted "Grab it now" or "Fire Sale" and after some time the watches are still available.

Some sellers like to refer to "retail price" and advertise that their selling price is "30% below retail price" or "35% saving" (just for example), when in fact the so called retail price is the list price and in most cases the watch was bought new at a substantial discount so I feel the "great saving" was a bit misleading.

There again, most buyers are pretty well informed and do their homework these days.

[skydweller_sg]

agree that prices and discounts depends on brands and models

for rolex, it is known that discounts at ADs are limited to 5-20% (depending on sports or dj, ss or tt); in some cases, yg models can go as high as 25% off
likewise for panerai, discounts are limited to 5-15% ; models with bracelet can get discounts as high as 20%

Discount is 0% at manufacturers' boutiques

for other similar tier brands eg iwc, omega, breitling, cartier, discounts are higher because manufacturers sell the stock to ADs at lower prices

Eg
rolex are sold to ADs at 60% of mrsp (manufacturers' recommended selling price, aka retail price/list price), panerai at 50%, meaning profit margin is limited to 40-50% for these
other brands - probably sold to ADs at 20-40% of mrsp, meaning profit margin are as high as 60-80% - so ADs could afford to give much more discounts for these (eg 25-35% discounts)

so while a preown rolex/panerai offered for sale at 35% off retail price seems an attractive deal, the same is not true for a preown omega/breitling/iwc offered at the same 35% discount

for such brands with high upfront AD discounts, i'd say a more reasonable resale price is 40-50% discount off retail prices

**resale price also depends on several other factors, eg condition of watch, age of watch, availability of box, papers, accessories, etc etc

[triton]

you can just go to the sold section and count the number. to check the number of watches sold (hint - thread title)

do note that even if the watches are sold, some sellers do not update their sales threads.

do note also from time to time mods will request sellers to update their threads, as such, when the watch is actually sold, no one knows unless the sellers update their sales threads once the item is sold.

And I wonder if our admin has any statistic on watches sold on this forum per month that he can share...?

[turboducky]

I have this feeling that lesser watches are being sold in the last half to one year compared to before. Some brands/models that used to be hot are listed on the garage for considerable longer time before they got sold, especially PAM.

I think it could be due to:

1. Manufacturers churning out more models and/or more frequently, hence making the preowned models less appealing to buyers who prefer the latest/current models.

2. People have more options with the increase in number of preowned shops and watch trading sites.

3. More people see buying watches from overseas while travelling as one alternative for a good bargain, between buying brand new from local ADs and preowned market. For this I am referring to people who buy watches for keeping not for resale for some quick bucks.

4. People's knowledge on watches have improved and therefore are more selective in their purchases.

5. Watches in the sale garages are being sold at less attractive price than before.

Or maybe my perception of the trend is completely wrong? What do you think, especially those members who have been active in buying/selling here for at least the past two years?

And I wonder if our admin has any statistic on watches sold on this forum per month that he can share...?

Actually I think the sale of watches has slowed down during the last few months. I noticed there are many unsold watches these days, but then again, perhaps the prices are that attractive & buyers tend to wise up more. I remember a few years back, there was the Panerai craze when everyone would buy a Pam, regardless of the price. I bought a Pam 112 for S$6000 & sold it at the market price of S$6200 six months later. Many private owners still think that they could still make a profit, but I doubt that's the case now. So you have someone that wanna sell a Pam 000 at S$5500 & when a buyer offers S$5000, the seller calls him a lowballer! But in actual fact, S$5000 might be the present market price.

[turboducky]

agree that prices and discounts depends on brands and models

for rolex, it is known that discounts at ADs are limited to 5-20% (depending on sports or dj, ss or tt); in some cases, yg models can go as high as 25% off
likewise for panerai, discounts are limited to 5-15% ; models with bracelet can get discounts as high as 20%

Discount is 0% at manufacturers' boutiques

for other similar tier brands eg iwc, omega, breitling, cartier, discounts are higher because manufacturers sell the stock to ADs at lower prices

Eg
rolex are sold to ADs at 60% of mrsp (manufacturers' recommended selling price, aka retail price/list price), panerai at 50%, meaning profit margin is limited to 40-50% for these
other brands - probably sold to ADs at 20-40% of mrsp, meaning profit margin are as high as 60-80% - so ADs could afford to give much more discounts for these (eg 25-35% discounts)

so while a preown rolex/panerai offered for sale at 35% off retail price seems an attractive deal, the same is not true for a preown omega/breitling/iwc offered at the same 35% discount

for such brands with high upfront AD discounts, i'd say a more reasonable resale price is 40-50% discount off retail prices

**resale price also depends on several other factors, eg condition of watch, age of watch, availability of box, papers, accessories, etc etc

Buyers have wise up too & many of them would have checked out the retail price from AD already. Just like many sellers would put in the list price & just give a 30% discount. Might as well buy BN from local AD.

[leedavid7012]

I guess that there are also more people that are willing to hold onto their watches. If the prices dont meet their expectations, they hold on to it and perhaps have other ways to fund their new acquisitions.

[Ray_Watches]

bro Pegasi,

No.3 and No.5 hits right on the spot.

No.3 ==> strong SGD and the preference for european destinations should take out a big piece of the pie. I am planning to get my next watch overseas too.

No.5 ==> I have a feeling that local forum sellers have better holding power, the sellers who do not mind taking a bigger hit would probably sold their watches to preown shops who demand lesser of your watch's condition.

Cheers,
Ray

[ac_wong75]

Think most folks are buying property than watches out there haha