Incoming and Crisis Averted

[Frankrizzo29]

I know this is a lengthy post, and will cut to the chase with 2 simple questions in case people do not want to read all of this.

Has anyone ever had the selling company on Chrono24 directly message them about buying direct from them and cutting out Chrono24?

Is it normal for Chrono24 to have wiring instructions that are in different countries from where the selling store and buyer are located?

Here is the full story, I did leave a few small things to keep the length of this shorter:

I've been looking at purchasing my second Rolex watch. It's one that I have wanted to buy for a few months now, and I finally moved forward with the purchase this past weekend. The watch is the 126619LB Cookie Monster Sub. I have always loved how it looks.

I found a watch on Chrono24 that check marked all of the boxes for me. It was from a store in the US, it was advertised as New/Unworn, it came with the original Rolex box, papers, tags, and warranty card, and it was through a service that offered escrow service in case the watch was not as advertised. Since I was committing to purchase the watch on a Saturday, I had messaged the retailer through the Chrono24 app if they would be ok if I paid for it early this week since it was a Saturday, and my bank would not send wire transfers until a normal business day. The retailer had no issues with it, so I moved forward and committed to purchasing the watch.

Yellow Caution Flag #1 - The wiring instructions that I received from Chrono24 were very different from other wiring instructions I have received in the past from other places. The receiving bank is listed as being in the UK, the recipient address for Chrono24 is listed as Germany, and the store actually selling the watch is located in Texas. Is it normal for Chrono24 to have international wire instructions for their purchases for US customers?

Later Saturday morning, through the Chrono24 app, the store had messaged me asking for my shipping and contact info so that they could prepare the watch for shipping. So, I replied back in the Chrono24 app with my name, mailing address, phone number, and email address (email address gets blocked within the Chrono24 app).

Red Flag #1 - The store worker/owner direct messaged me Saturday evening on my cell phone via text. After a few pleasantries, he proceeded to send me the direct website info and phone number for his store. He offered to sell me the watch directly so that I could save the sales tax since I do not live in Texas. He was not pushy about this. I was hanging out with a bunch of friends, and simply told him that I'd get back to him the next day. The whole purpose of me going through Chrono24 was so that I would get some purchase protection for a purchase this size, and I have no problem paying the extra few thousand dollars for that protection. Going this route would eliminate ALL protections. I did verify that the number he was messaging me from was the same number that was listed on his company's website, and was the number found in the Chrono24 information in the app.

On Sunday, he messaged me again, and asked for a Zelle payment as a deposit, and that I could wire the remaining balance due on Monday. I told him that I wanted to go direct through Chrono24 and he immediately backed off and was ok with it.

Yellow Caution Flag #2 - On Monday, I had issues entering the wiring instructions that Chrono24 had given me, so I called them and the gentleman sent me the missing numbers that I needed. I entered the data into my bank's wiring service, and it was listed as being "under review". It was under review for the recipient info, I had not attempted to send the funds yet. Usually with my bank, as soon as I enter a Wire recipient, I can send funds right away to them. I thought this was odd, and was more nervous because it was an international wire, but still felt comforted knowing that I had Chrono24's protections. After almost 12 hours, the recipient was still under review by my bank.

Red Flag #2 - I was pretty nervous about sending an international wire, so I thought that would try to do some more verification of this watch company. I messaged the person via text and asked him to send me the Zelle information for his company. He said he banked through a large big name bank (it happened to be the same as mine, which he had no way of knowing), and send me the Zelle info. I carefully entered the email address and phone number into my zelle recipients but did not send any funds. Instead, I called my bank and told them that I need to pay this company for an invoice, can they please tell me if I entered the information correctly and if they had received any reported issues with this recipient? The lady told me that she couldn't say if there were any complaints, but she did tell me that the phone number and email address did not match the information they had on file for this zelle recipient. She said the phone number was incorrect. This was a HUGE red flag for me since it's the same phone number they were messaging me with, it was the same phone number on their website, and the same number in Chrono24 paperwork.

At that point I decided to simply walk away and start over buying the watch through a completely different company and service. I have since wired the funds to them and am waiting for delivery.

I am not sure if I'll ever buy through Chrono24 again, especially if this is the normal course of business for them.

Has anyone had similar things happen to them buying through Chrono24? How about their wiring instructions, is that normal for them?

[Cru Jones]

Chrono 24 is just a platform providing a channel by which sellers and buyers get together. One doesn’t “buy from Chrono 24”.

Anyway, sorry for the ordeal. Buying over the Internet is already difficult. Buying internationally doubly so. It’s really hard to “buy the seller” in such a situation.

Hope you get the watch you want soon.

[Calatrava r]

Many folks will contact a dealer selling on Chronos24 to work a direct deal for a better price where the seller can avoid the fees associated with Chronos24. I think Chronos24 prohibits dealers from selling direct if the purchaser first contacted them over the site. But it still might happen. I would never deal directly with an individual as the site provides an excellent escrow service.

[hutch300]

That watch is easy to get and many good dealers could help you. Its a minefield out there. I am sure many of us would be happy to help and suggest trusted sellers.

[Runfar]

You did all the right things- enjoy the watch

[jimcarver]

Haha I stopped ready at "Cookie Monster Sub"

[perf0rmance]

Thanks for sharing - this is part of why I prefer this do business face-to-face. Although it’s not a 100% guarantee, I feel like it has a higher rate of success vs online/phone transactions. Too many scammers popping up nowadays.

[Offshore]

I think I have a reasonable tolerance for risk but I don't think I could seriously consider buying a £35K watch, sight unseen, from an unknown vendor, in a foreign country, sending funds by wire transfer.

I think it was a good decision not to proceed.

[WatchTimes]

Buy from a trusted forum dealer like DSW or the others..
I have bought several pieces from David over the years and have never been let down.
Chrono24 is pretty good but there are some scams still.
With all these red flags I would have walked away, actually I would have walked away much sooner and not spent time trying to convince myself all would be OK. Always buy the seller and go with your first instinct.

[brandrea]

Welcome to the forum. I hope you land the watch soon

[Harry-57]

Originally Posted by Frankrizzo29

I know this is a lengthy post, and will cut to the chase with 2 simple questions in case people do not want to read all of this.

Has anyone ever had the selling company on Chrono24 directly message them about buying direct from them and cutting out Chrono24?

Yes. I got it for less than the advertised price. They contacted me directly. I had already done my due diligence and 100% bought the seller.

If there is a doubt there is no doubt.

On another occasion I used C24 to find a seller with a bricks and mortar store, contacted them outside C24 and did a good deal face to face.

C24 is a very useful portal. The extent to which you choose to use it's various facilities depends on a number of factors.

Did I mention about there being no doubt if there is a doubt?

[Chewbacca]

Last time I said this to anyone it meant something totally different. But I’m still happy for you, OP.