the weirdest AD visit in Egypt

[Luv rolex]

Just visited an unofficial retailer that holds rolex mainly because.l he is cousin of one of two AD here in egypt. I visited him when I saw advestisment via instagram that he holds submariner date and seadweller 43' when I called him he refused to give me price over the phone and said prIce here in store. So I reached the store and asked.for the submariner he handled it to me and I noticed that the watch has no stickers on case but he assured it still brand new with no dates. So I show interest and ready to buy but I was shocked that he asks for 21,300 USD... I.thanked him and handled.the watch back with no other words..
Postingthis because I want to know has anyone have similar experience?? Do dealers still asks for 100% more than retail

[macrowatch]

Had the same experience. Seemed to be par for the course in Cairo unless there's a local vs tourist price I'm not privy to.

[TswaneNguni]

Your an Egyptian local and you ask members for advice ??

Loved Egypt .Visited in the 90s .A must see destination !

[Wahlberg]

Are these businesses family owned or?

[thekman]

I am from Cairo. Sounds pretty classic for an Egyptian retail experience. My cousin bought a DD from an AD in Cairo and when he inquired about steel models he was quoted ridiculous numbers that are even higher than US grey market. Those prices were at a the Rolex authorized dealer Felopateer palace.

[AbeFroman]

I was in Cairo last March for vacation.

There’s a total of three locations, but run by only two ADs. Felopateer has the location inside the Four Seasons and the one at the City Stars mall. The Four Seasons location has the best selection out of them all.

There’s no official price on the Rolex website while in Egypt so it’s hard to reference what the actual retail price is there. From my experience, the prices tend to be slightly more than here in the states and including our states sales tax. There’s no VAT refund program either according to the AD, but Egypt was supposed to roll out one in 2021 sometime. Not sure if it actually has been implimented or not. Point being, it’s not an ideal place to purchase.

For reference, there was a two tone SD43 they had showed me and it was about $2500 more than if I were to buy locally in Texas including tax.

[whiskyrolex]

Not surprising. Egypt is easily one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

[Hemdog]

Have you tried negotiating?

[JLM3]

So he is not a AD but just related to 2 Ad's?

[Luv rolex]

Originally Posted by TswaneNguni

Your an Egyptian local and you ask members for advice ??

Loved Egypt .Visited in the 90s .A must see destination !

Not asking for advice, rather i just want to know if anyone still hearing redicelous prices. Glad you enjoyed your stay

[AbeFroman]

Originally Posted by JLM3

So he is not a AD but just related to 2 Ad's?

The OP visited a secondary/“gray” dealer who is related to the family of the AD owner. The thread title is not accurate.

[Luv rolex]

Originally Posted by AbeFroman

I was in Cairo last March for vacation.

There’s a total of three locations, but run by only two ADs. Felopateer has the location inside the Four Seasons and the one at the City Stars mall. The Four Seasons location has the best selection out of them all.

There’s no official price on the Rolex website while in Egypt so it’s hard to reference what the actual retail price is there. From my experience, the prices tend to be slightly more than here in the states and including our states sales tax. There’s no VAT refund program either according to the AD, but Egypt was supposed to roll out one in 2021 sometime. Not sure if it actually has been implimented or not. Point being, it’s not an ideal place to purchase.

For reference, there was a two tone SD43 they had showed me and it was about $2500 more than if I were to buy locally in Texas including tax.

Clearly you know well about the market here but there is one more retailer in zamalek which is the oldest but he always claims he has no stock. On the other side felopateer is always higher with easily 100% then retail prices. The one iam talking about is felopateer but in heliopolis and the owner of that branch is the cousin of the one who owns city stars and four season hotel

[Luv rolex]

Originally Posted by JLM3

So he is not a AD but just related to 2 Ad's?

He hold the same name of the largest AD here in egypt and he is his cousin but I believe he is getting his stock from his cousin in the back stage rather than being other branch. Hope iam clear this time. Sorry for the wrong title. My apologize

[SLWoodster]

Sounds par for course in any developing country. At least he is not requesting in store.

Friend worked for state dept. Recommended a local tour guide. Told me that back in the day you can request for items in the Cairo museum on the black market.

Better to spend money on that than a submariner they’re printing out daily.

[JLM3]

Thank you for the clarification and no worries ..that is terrible but i guess to be expected when there is a lot of money to be made

[Luv rolex]

Originally Posted by Hemdog

Have you tried negotiating?

The retail is USD 10,100 and iam willing to add 3,000 as a premium maximum. So i lt will be unrealistic to negotiate 7000 usd. It is one of the situations that you need to back up smoothly.lol

[Luv rolex]

Originally Posted by thekman

I am from Cairo. Sounds pretty classic for an Egyptian retail experience. My cousin bought a DD from an AD in Cairo and when he inquired about steel models he was quoted ridiculous numbers that are even higher than US grey market. Those prices were at a the Rolex authorized dealer Felopateer palace.

Exactly they are known to ask random prices

[Luv rolex]

Originally Posted by SLWoodster

Sounds par for course in any developing country. At least he is not requesting in store.

Friend worked for state dept. Recommended a local tour guide. Told me that back in the day you can request for items in the Cairo museum on the black market.

Better to spend money on that than a submariner they’re printing out daily.

Hahaha. Not exactly true. It just happened in 2011 when the revolution starts and all prisons were opened And the police disappeared from streets for couple of days.

[AbeFroman]

Originally Posted by Luv rolex

Clearly you know well about the market here but there is one more retailer in zamalek which is the oldest but he always claims he has no stock. On the other side felopateer is always higher with easily 100% then retail prices. The one iam talking about is felopateer but in heliopolis and the owner of that branch is the cousin of the one who owns city stars and four season hotel

That other retailer in Zamalek isn’t on the Rolex site though. He most likely lost his dealer license.

[Luv rolex]

Originally Posted by AbeFroman

That other retailer in Zamalek isn’t on the Rolex site though. He most likely lost his dealer license.

No my friend he still exit. Under the name of “Gasser and co. Swiss center nefertiti”

[Incroyable12]

Would he lower the price if you gave him some baksheesh?

[buffetwarren]

What are odds of walking into an AD and getting a Pepsi GMT there these days?

[Mifune]

think that us bad... Tourneau in Las Vegas is asking 38k for a used black dial Skydweller in their preowned cabinet.
I just laughed and walked out... I guess I can cross that AD off the list.

[amh]

Sounds a normal Grey. At least they have stock to show.

[soicanbefree]

Originally Posted by buffetwarren

What are odds of walking into an AD and getting a Pepsi GMT there these days?

Zero. If I could somehow quote a number less than Zero I would.

[AlanH]

At least he didn’t try to sell you a pyramid.

[buffetwarren]

Originally Posted by soicanbefree

Zero. If I could somehow quote a number less than Zero I would.

How does it work there? Need to buy a bunch of non Rolex or bribe them under the table?

[Calatrava r]

Originally Posted by AbeFroman

The OP visited a secondary/“gray” dealer who is related to the family of the AD owner. The thread title is not accurate.

Completely agree. This is not an AD but a used dealer. They charge whatever they want for their merchandize.

[soicanbefree]

Originally Posted by Luv rolex

The retail is USD 10,100 and iam willing to add 3,000 as a premium maximum. So i lt will be unrealistic to negotiate 7000 usd. It is one of the situations that you need to back up smoothly.lol

I have negotiated down to 5% or 10% of the original asking price before in similar situations.

It's a bit cultural that you were expected to haggle and the initial price is always stupid. Because why not? Maybe you bite and they may have intuitively figured out that anchoring is a powerful concept.

If we assume the zone of possible negotiation was MSRP to 21000 I would have actually felt quite strongly that there was a deal for you to be made there at 12-13K or maybe even lower.

You would have had to spent a lot of effort but that is part of the haggling fun. You were supposed to laugh at how silly the first price was and just quote him back an equally silly first offer and/or ask for friend price.

[soicanbefree]

Originally Posted by buffetwarren

How does it work there? Need to buy a bunch of non Rolex or bribe them under the table?

At a dealer? If you weren't local and couldn't provide any favors, power, influence there is no reason you will ever walk in and get one.

It is going to get sold to the grey dealer cousin out the backdoor. (exactly where OP was looking at the Submariner)

The money means a lot more to people in these countries and they aren't just going to let that extra margin walk out the door with a stranger.