Concerned about Secondtime order - Almost no response

[Hyphos]

Hi all,

I made a 22K USD overseas order from secondtime. com and I'm very concerned now as their response is really slow and sparse. Sorry I couldn't post the URLs below as I have <10 posts.


Due diligence

50+ 5.0 Reviews on chono24

1.9K items sold on ebay with 100% positive feedback rating

They have Facebook/Youtube/Instagram/Twitter/Tumblr/Linkedin accounts though there is no recent activity in 2022.

The owner OJ Whatley has Linkedin and was the founder of Watchuwant before this. No negative feedback about him or secondtime on this forum nor on Google that I could find.

What Happened

On Monday (17th Jan 21), I made an order on the website for a 126710BLNR. It was listed on secondtime website for 22K USD. I checked the availability with OJ (via email) and the staff (via the website's native messaging app) before I made the purchase via credit card. The order went through and it has been stuck at awaiting payment since then even though my card was charged.

After making the order and payment, I contacted OJ and his staff via the same channels as well as OJ's Whatsapp for the next step, but there was no response from them. Another weird thing was even though the watch went OOS right after I made the order, it got relisted on the website for 24.5K USD the next day with the same URL.

It was only Thursday when OJ finally replied on WA and said he had an issue with finding a 3rd party insurer for overseas shipping - if he couldn't find any by Friday he would cancel the order. It is now Sunday and I have yet to get an update from him despite prompting him twice in the weekend. I contacted his staff via the website and they only told me contact OJ via WA, after which they stopped replying to me as well.

I am pretty concerned at this point, I'm quite disappointed that after doing my due diligence I have to face issues like this. I will probably swear off overseas grey dealers after this regardless of their reputation. I'm now considering to contact my credit card company for this as I don't want to pay off a 22K USD charge on my bill without receiving the watch. Appreciate if anyone here have any other advice, or any feedback about dealings with secondtime. com. Thank you!

[GGGMT]

A lot of the sellers (I don’t know about second time) don’t have their watches in inventory but go out in the world to source once you paid the money. I just buy from the trusted sellers here to avoid the sleepless nights.


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[GGGMT]

I also note that your due diligence did not include looking on “who’s who” on TRF, which I just did.


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[freefly]

Originally Posted by GGGMT

A lot of the sellers (I don’t know about second time) don’t have their watches in inventory but go out in the world to source once you paid the money.

This.

Everyone is playing watch dealer these days, and the vast majority of the small-time players don't carry any inventory. Instead they scour the web and their FB/IG/WhatsAPP/Telegram groups AFTER they have your money.
Then when they can't source the watch you ordered in a timely fashion (like many of the big-time players can), they make excuses to justify the delays.

[Hyphos]

Update:

OJ has finally got back to me. He says he is unable to find a 3P insurer for more than 10K USD. Hence, if I still wanted to proceed with the order, I would have to wire transfer him the full amount and he will declare a value of 10K for shipping, with the remaining amount uninsured. In the meantime he has cancelled the credit card charge and it will be refunded.

I did not feel comfortable with such a large uninsured value so I decided to cancel the order as well. I'm glad that everything turned out ok, though I wish the responses could be more prompt considering the amount of money involved. And also disappointed that I don't have the watch on my hand.

Originally Posted by GGGMT

I also note that your due diligence did not include looking on “who’s who” on TRF, which I just did.

As mentioned in my first post, I searched for mention of the website and owner in TRF. There were some vouches for him but that was way back in 2014. No negative posts otherwise. In future I will make sure to check that particular section, thank you!

[GGGMT]

Originally Posted by Hyphos

Update:

OJ has finally got back to me. He says he is unable to find a 3P insurer for more than 10K USD. Hence, if I still wanted to proceed with the order, I would have to wire transfer him the full amount and he will declare a value of 10K for shipping, with the remaining amount uninsured. In the meantime he has cancelled the credit card charge and it will be refunded.

I did not feel comfortable with such a large uninsured value so I decided to cancel the order as well. I'm glad that everything turned out ok, though I wish the responses could be more prompt considering the amount of money involved. And also disappointed that I don't have the watch on my hand.



As mentioned in my first post, I searched for mention of the website and owner in TRF. There were some vouches for him but that was way back in 2014. No negative posts otherwise. In future I will make sure to check that particular section, thank you!

Got some good news — it’s a common watch and many for sale on TRF. I see 5 (five) yep 5, for sale by DavidSW, some for less than you were just about to pay, some for more. Grab em!!


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[Hyphos]

[QUOTE=GGGMT;11947604]Got some good news — it’s a common watch and many for sale on TRF. I see 5 (five) yep 5, for sale by DavidSW, some for less than you were just about to pay, some for more. Grab em!!
/QUOTE]

Thanks, but I actually reached out to all the ads on TRF 2-3 weeks ago and they are all sold out, including David's.

[GGGMT]

[QUOTE=Hyphos;11947641]

Originally Posted by GGGMT

Got some good news — it’s a common watch and many for sale on TRF. I see 5 (five) yep 5, for sale by DavidSW, some for less than you were just about to pay, some for more. Grab em!!
/QUOTE]

Thanks, but I actually reached out to all the ads on TRF 2-3 weeks ago and they are all sold out, including David's.

Really? 126710 BLNR right? David’s got 5 listed on his website right now.


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[joli160]

Glad that Secondtime checked out to be one of the good guys

[1665fan]

Originally Posted by joli160

Glad that Secondtime checked out to be one of the good guys

Good guy as in sells a watch he doesn’t have and can’t get at the price he quoted so makes up some BS………I agree it’s good he refunded the money but nothing else about his business is good…..

[214270Explorer]

Never wire money to anyone you do not know, or does not have a long-term local brick and mortar business that has been well known for a while.
Doing that overseas would only increase potential issues many-fold. too.

[SwissmadeTexan]

Why would anyone purchase from overseas? There are plenty of watches available in the US…

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by SwissmadeTexan

Why would anyone purchase from overseas? There are plenty of watches available in the US…

OP's seller is in the US.

[Bruce_Wayne]

Originally Posted by SwissmadeTexan

Why would anyone purchase from overseas? There are plenty of watches available in the US…

Also OPs profile indicates he is in Singapore…most of the trusted sellers here are US based


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[Harry-57]

Originally Posted by Hyphos

Another weird thing was even though the watch went OOS right after I made the order, it got relisted on the website for 24.5K USD the next day with the same URL.

This may have been another watch but it is equally likely this is the same watch and the price hike explains why he cancelled your purchase.

I've had this with music collectibles. Sellers appears to be offering something I want at a fair price. I buy, seller cancels order and gives me some insurance/shipping/stock excuse, then relists an identical item at a higher price.

Cowboys.

[Patekaholik]

Originally Posted by Hyphos

After making the order and payment, I contacted OJ and his staff via the same channels as well as OJ's Whatsapp for the next step, but there was no response from them. Another weird thing was even though the watch went OOS right after I made the order, it got relisted on the website for 24.5K USD the next day with the same URL.

It was only Thursday when OJ finally replied on WA and said he had an issue with finding a 3rd party insurer for overseas shipping - if he couldn't find any by Friday he would cancel the order.

Sorry, but this doesnt seem right at all. "OJ" probably realized he sold your watch way too cheap and in order to cancel this purchase, instead of fulfilling your order, he comes up with an excuse that he doesnt carry insurance for watches over 10 000 $ overseas. Obviously he knows youre not going to accept 50 % insurance - easy way out.

[GGGMT]

Easy solution to this. Just deal with reputable people.


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