Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

I've seen plenty of examples of this before on SCWF (and other watch forums), but although not a particularly outrageous asking price, I'll admit this blatant attempt at profiteering got right up my nose. Like others before him, he's another fairly prolific re-seller, who is clearly deliberately buying watches off eBay US, specifically to sell for profit to the numpties on SCWF who don't know any better. Every single one of his posts on SCWF this year have been For Sale adverts on the Trading Post. So he's clearly not there to contribute to the forum. He's already attempted (and so far failed) to sell three variously over-priced 7A28's on there.

This is his most recent FS advert for a stainless 7A38-7190:

http://www.thewatchsite.com/8-seiko-citizen-trading-post/282305.html  FS: Seiko 7A38-7190 Quartz Chronograph - $250

Here's just 2 of the 9 photos included in the advert:

He purchased this watch off eBay on 26th June, not for the seller's quite reasonable $175 Buy-it-Now asking price .....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Seiko-Quartz-Chronograph-7A38-7190-/222559551109

But for a lowball offer of $130 (as shown by WatchCount.com's look-up tool).

Clearly he's done nothing to 'add value' - let alone $120, not even replacing the scratched crystal. 

If you check the eBay seller's photos, it's not difficult to match the case-back serial number 680716.

Edit: And sold less than 24 hours later to some unsuspecting punter. 

The bare-faced cheek of this profiteering re-seller 'NewOldStock' really has to be seen to be believed. 

Here's his latest FS advert on the SCWF Trading Post, for a grubby well-worn gold-tone 7A38-7190, posted yesterday evening - asking an almost laughable $200.

http://www.thewatchsite.com/8-seiko-citizen-trading-post/283042.html   FS: Gold Seiko 7A38-7190 Quartz Chronograph - $200

Here's just 2 of the 10 photos embedded in his post:

Once again it looks like he hasn't bothered to replace the scratched crystal, let alone even clean the watch. 

Here's where he bought it on eBay, less than a week ago for $50 !! 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Seiko-7A38-7190-Chronograph-/253029945783

Needless to say, the case-back serial number 660469 matches that in the eBay seller's photos:

The listing had been live a few days and had received over 300 views. It's pretty obvious from the item revision history that he persuaded the seller to let it go for a much lower Buy-it-Now price.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemRevisionDetails&item=253029945783

Incidentally this person using the same username 'NewOldStock' has offered both these 7A38-7190's for sale on WatchuSeek:

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f29/sold-seiko-7a38-7190-quartz-chronograph-4478330.html

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f29/fs-gold-seiko-7a38-7190-quartz-chronograph-4486875.html

Had to chuckle to myself this morning.  The would-be profiteering re-seller 'NewOldStock' has now given the above linked WUS FS thread over 80 'bumps' since July.  Some 4700 views later and it's still not sold - even now reduced to 'only' $75. 

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f30/fs-gold-seiko-7a38-7190-quartz-chronograph-4486875-9.html#post44254843

Bought by me for $75 shipped so he didn't make much on it after shipping and paypal fees.  I've been playing around with manual watches for the last 8 years so thought I'd try one of these. I bought this as a user my first quartz watch and plan to service it myself, we'll see how it goes.

Tim  

TBH, I don't see any problem with buying from one place and selling on another, as long as it's done honestly. I've done it with a few watches that I picked up in bricks & mortar auctions (usually as part of a job lot, when I only wanted one of a handful that were being sold together, and I've cleaned up the rest and chucked 'em on the Bay). After all the fees and postage, you might make enough money to wet your whistle, but you're not going to make a living from it...

I wonder if one of the tactics in this particular instance, though, is that listing something on a mainstream watch forum (WUS, SCWF etc) will also make it show up on WatchRecon and WatchPatrol etc, whereas Ebay, CraigsList, Gumtree etc don't.

Our friend is quite prolific on Chronocentric too, where there are basically no barriers to entry for shysters...

I'm glad you finished your post with the word 'Shyster', Ewan. 

He's listed a few more 7Axx's since, which I haven't bothered to mention. Most of them over-priced cheap tat. One that immediately springs to mind is his gold-tone 7A38-7289 (posted on both SCWF and WUS*). He's clearly done nothing with it, not even bothered to clean the concreted gunk out of the bracelet. He just keeps on bumping the damned things - almost on a daily basis. I'm surprised with all the rules and guidelines (especially on SCWF Trading Post) they allow him to continue getting away with it.  He'd get torn to shreds on TZ-UK's Sales Corner. 

*The WUS thread is a new comparatively one, he started only a week ago. Not sure what happened to the previous one, but it had been running since July. Perhaps a moderator did the decent thing and deleted it. 

I've actually inquired to him about this particular watch:

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f30/fs-seiko-7a28-7040-quartz-chronograph-speedmaster-clasp-4543785.html

He's currently asking $400 which is still quite high compared to the market price, especially with the bezel banged up to hell. He has bumped it countless times but he doesn't seem to be in a rush to sell with no subsequent price reductions. 

Yeah. It's still being 'bumped' every couple of days, just like you said, along with the rest of his over-priced crap.

Speaking of which, that gold-tone 7A38-7289 of his is beginning to annoy me.  Those of you who frequent SCWF will know it's very much oriented towards Seiko divers. So when I sign in there (usually at least once a day), to find any new posts that I might be interested in, I simply run a search on 7A38. Guess what frequently comes out at the top of the results returned ? That bloody gold-tone 7A38-7289 !!

I hadn't bothered before, so this evening I decided to try and do a belated 'drains up' on it. Here's his original sales post from last August, asking $145 and two of his photos, one showing the case-back serial number: 7O0336.

http://www.thewatchsite.com/8-seiko-citizen-trading-post/287770.html

FS: Seiko 7a38-7289 Gold Day-Date Quartz Chronograph - $145

As some readers may have gathered, I have a pretty damned good filing system (even if I say so myself). So it didn't take me long to find the set of 8 photos from June 2017, when the watch was first listed on eBay, by a US seller. Here's just 2.

Note the matching serial number 7O0336. I didn't manage to find the original eBay listing from June 2017, which has long since disappeared into the ether. But I did find the last 2 re-listings in July. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162590122907

The eBay seller had been asking $185 as a Buy-it-Now, or best offer. Naturally, our would-be profiteering re-seller lowballed them - as you'd expect. WatchCount.com's look-up tool unfortunately no longer displays the 'Sold For' figure (hardly surprising) ....

But thankfully, their link to the eBay Purchase History still works ! 

Seems he paid $115 for it, which might explain his reluctance to reduce it any further below $130 !! 

That said, 39 bumps and 8,750 wasted views is borderline f******g ridiculous !

I might just have to have a word with SCWF moderator John 'Tiger' Bentley. 

FINALLY sold this afternoon - after 7 months, 41 bumps and 10,850 views !! 

http://www.thewatchsite.com/8-seiko-citizen-trading-post/287770-fs-seiko-7a38-7289-gold-day-date-quartz-chronograph-145-a-2.html#post2574066

 A mildly amusing footnote to that one. 

Earlier this week, a familiar grubby looking gold-tone 7A38-7289 was listed by a Dutch eBay seller, as a 7-day auction with a highly over-optimistic opening bid price of 150 Euros. I instantly recongnised the seller's primary image (as not being of his own making). Although he didn't upload them in quite the same order, I've split them into two groups below.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323376169894

The group of 6 photos above were taken by 'NewOldStock' and (bar one) were used in his SCWF and WatchUseek adverts for this watch. Source: Imgur Gallery.

Only the 5 below (mostly wrist shots) were actually taken by the Dutch seller:

Hello,

I’m selling this fully functioning Seiko 7A38-7289 watch. The watch is in good vintage condition and works great (including the chronograph).

Some details:

- Brand: Seiko

- Type: 7A38-7289

- Diameter: 37 (incl. Crown)

- Age: October 1987

The watch comes with the original strap and clasp.

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

Greetings,

Needless to say I couldn't resist messaging the Dutch eBay seller. He confirmed it was indeed the very same watch and that he'd purchased it from 'NewOldStock' in March. We exchanged a few pleasant light-hearted messages. To my surprise, after I'd pointed out to him that these were, in truth, anything but 'Rare', he removed the words from his title and description. 

Checking my eBay watching page, I noticed the Dutch seller ended the listing early, yesterday afternoon, because the item is no longer available.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323376169894

Hopefully, that'll be the last we've seen of it.