Profiteering Italian eBay re-seller Simone '00' returns !

[Seiko7A38]

Indeed, exactly as I'd anticipated, Simone listed that ill-gotten stainless 7A38-7060 on eBay earlier this afternoon, with a slightly increased Buy-it-Now price of 1050 Euros (and currently without any option to make an offer).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SEIKO-7A38-7 ... 5289177617

7A38-7060-Stainless-SilveryWhiteFace-eBay-March2022-(Re-seller-Simone)-Listing.jpg (147.49 KiB) Viewed 6699 times

Should anybody consider making an offer (when the opportunity becomes available), may I remind you what he paid for this admittedly nice example a little over a fortnight ago - a mere 169 Euros !

Simone sometimes has trouble shifting his over-priced 7Axx's (per a few examples on the previous page). Not the case with this stainless 7A38-7060. He hadn't even added the option to make an offer. It was sold yesterday evening for his extortionately marked-up Buy-it-Now price of 1050 Euros, netting him a handsome quick 500% profit !

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115289177617

7A38-7060-Stainless-SilveryWhiteFace-eBay-March2022-(Re-seller)-Ended-Sold-1050Euros.png (45.35 KiB) Viewed 6699 times

[Seiko7A38]

Last month Simone listed a 7A28-7020 SPR007J 'James Bond' as a 10-day auction with an opening bid price of €1 Euro.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Seiko-7a28-7 ... 5474608842

7A28-7020-SPR007J-JamesBond-eBay-July2022-simone00simone-Listing.jpg (155.55 KiB) Viewed 5778 times

The auction ended a few moments ago, selling for €451 Euros after 28 bids.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115474608842

7A28-7020-SPR007J-JamesBond-eBay-July2022-simone00simone-Ended-Sold-451Euros.png (46.76 KiB) Viewed 5777 times

Although the price achieved was nothing outlandish, compared to some of his previous antics, the eBay Bidding History revealed the usual evidence of blatant shill bidding that we've come to expect of this devious re-seller.

7A28-7020-SPR007J-JamesBond-eBay-July2022-simone00simone-BiddingHistory.png (71.53 KiB) Viewed 5777 times

The encrypted bidder ID shown as either as 5***7 or l***i (dependant on the screen, feedback 23), a regular accomplice of Simone's, who placed 8 of those 28 bids, has 100% activity with the seller.

7A28-7020-SPR007J-JamesBond-eBay-July2022-simone00simone-ShillBidder.png (25.16 KiB) Viewed 5774 times

[Seiko7A38]

Profiteering Italian eBay re-seller simone00simone listed another stainless 7A38-7060 SAA015J yesterday, with a typically unrealistic Buy-it-Now price of 990 Euros, probably more than double what it's worth on a good day.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Seik ... 5527228230

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Much as a hate to admit defeat, I've so far not managed to uncover where he bought it, whether on Subito or eBay. There have also been three listed on Chrono24 in recent months, but all had their case-back serial numbers obscured. Not that it's likely to make any difference if I was able to expose how much less he'd pay for it - Simone usually manages to find a mug punter buyer regardless.

Something of a funny coincidence with this one. As you can see from his photo above, its case-back serial number is 6D1514. The one he sold last March (see top of this and bottom of the previous page) was s/n 6D1541.

rsz_7a38-7060-stainless-silverywhiteface-ebay-march2022-re-seller-10.jpg (244.89 KiB) Viewed 5646 times

[Seiko7A38]

Profiteering Italian eBay re-seller simone00simone listed another stainless 7A38-7060 SAA015J yesterday, with a typically unrealistic Buy-it-Now price of 990 Euros, probably more than double what it's worth on a good day.

I note with contempt that Simone has already started to reduce his ridiculous asking price, by re-listing that stainless 7A38-7060 @ €850 Euros this afternoon.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Seik ... 5536077846

7A38-7060-Stainless-SilveryWhiteFace-eBay-Sept2022-simone00simone-Re-Listing.jpg (139.31 KiB) Viewed 5631 times

[Seiko7A38]

This afternoon, another re-listing and another further reduction in Simone's Buy-it-Now price to 'only' €750 Euros.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Seiko-7A38-7 ... 5544632205

7A38-7060-Stainless-SilveryWhiteFace-eBay-Sept2022-simone00simone-Another-Re-Listing.jpg (137.08 KiB) Viewed 5613 times

[Seiko7A38]

Not that it's likely to make any difference if I was able to expose how much less he'd pay for it - Simone usually manages to find a mug punter buyer regardless.

Somewhat sooner than expected, Simone's latest stainless 7A38-7060 sold yesterday evening for the reduced Buy-it-Now price of 750 Euros.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115544632205

7A38-7060-Stainless-SilveryWhiteFace-eBay-Sept2022-(re-listed)-Ended-Sold-€750.png (66.56 KiB) Viewed 5599 times

[Seiko7A38]

Profiteering Italian eBay re-seller simon00simone has been relatively quiet of late (keeping a low profile), but I did notice he sold a stainless 7A28-7020 'James Bond' just before Christmas. Despite some fairly obvious shill bidding by his usual accomplices, it still only made a comparatively low €411 Euros.

7A28-7020-JamesBond-Stainless-WhiteFace-eBay-Dec2022-Ended-Sold-411Euros.png (44.21 KiB) Viewed 3714 times

This morning he listed an average condition stainless 7A38-7280 with a typically greedy Buy-it-Now price of €700 Euros:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Seik ... 5656749249

7A38-7280-Stainless-WhiteFace-eBay-Dec2022-(Re-seller)-Simone00simone-Listing.jpg (140.45 KiB) Viewed 3717 times

At the time of writing, I haven't sussed where he sourced it (likely Subito), but going by his usual mark-up percentages and the condition, he probably paid €200 to €250 for it.

[Seiko7A38]

Inevitable really. Simone's stainless 7A38-7280 sold earlier this morning for a reduced Buy-it-Now price of €500 Euros.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115656749249

7A38-7280-Stainless-WhiteFace-eBay-Dec2022-(Re-seller)-Simone00simone-Ended-Sold-500Euros.png (42.63 KiB) Viewed 3691 times

[Seiko7A38]

This morning, greedy profiteering Italian eBay re-seller simone00simone listed an average used condition stainless 7A38-706A with a typical ludicrous Buy-it-Now price of €1000 Euros. As usual, he's added a Seiko presentation box and manuals, to give the impression of it being a full set. If you look closely at the dark photos, the watch shows plenty of evidence of having been re-finished, particularly the bracelet and clasp.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Seik ... 5704192902

7A38-706A-Stainless-DarkBlueFace-eBay-Feb2023-(Re-seller-Simone)-Listing.jpg (158.43 KiB) Viewed 3542 times

[Seiko7A38]

I haven't been keeping as close a watch on Simone's antics as I might usually have done. Probably because instead of ending and re-listing (numerous times), his eBay listing for that no better than average stainless 7A38-706A from last month is still uncharacteristically the same item number. However, checking the revision history, it's gone through a number of changes since I last looked at it, 6 weeks ago: a couple photos have been replaced and what was previously the primary image, showing the Seiko presentation box and manuals has been deleted. There's no longer any mention of them in the description either. The risible Buy-it-Now price has been reduced twice - to €550 Euros (that's still more than double what the watch is realistically worth).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Seik ... 5704192902

7A38-706A-Stainless-DarkBlueFace-eBay-Feb2023-(Re-seller-Simone)-Listing-Revised.jpg (158.96 KiB) Viewed 3455 times

[Seiko7A38]

The latest sorry saga of Simone's attempted profiteering drags on. Having further reduced the Buy-it-Now price to €450 Euros, yesterday evening, he ended the above listing because of an error. Presumably still a pricing error.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115704192902

7A38-706A-Stainless-DarkBlueFace-eBay-Feb2023-(Re-seller-Simone)-Ended-Error.png (49.53 KiB) Viewed 3427 times

This morning, he re-listed that same average condition stainless 7A38-706A, with a fresh set of new photos, as a 10-day auction listing, with a low start opening bid price of only 1 Euro. Having fallen victim to him myself, in years gone by, I'll warn any potential bidders that they run the risk of being shilled by Simone's regular accomplices*.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Seik ... 5751169529

7A38-706A-Stainless-DarkBlueFace-eBay-March2023-(Re-seller-Simone)-Re-Listing.jpg (163.75 KiB) Viewed 3427 times

*It's off to a good start. Just as I predicted, the first 6 bids placed are from the inevitable Zero-feedback bidder and the current high bidder has 100% bidding activity with the seller.

[Seiko7A38]

Simone's re-listed 10-day auction for that no better than average condition stainless 7A38-706A ended a few minutes ago, with it selling for €431 Euros after 46 bids - a little short of his €450 Euro reduced target and a country mile away from his original laughable €1000 Euro asking price.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115751169529

7A38-706A-Stainless-DarkBlueFace-eBay-March2023-(Re-seller-Simone)-Ended-Sold-431Euros.png (48.52 KiB) Viewed 3371 times

As I predicted, the auction was shilled throughout the duration, in the best Italian tradition.
Checking the eBay Bidding History, it's blatantly obvious, particularly in the latter stages:

7A38-706A-Stainless-DarkBlueFace-eBay-March2023-(Re-seller-Simone)-BiddingHistory.png (51.33 KiB) Viewed 3371 times

His regular favourite shill bidder, (with feedback 23) bid 5 times -3 times in the final minutes, taking it up to €400.
Note they were also bidding on two others of his watches.

7A38-706A-Stainless-DarkBlueFace-eBay-March2023-(Re-seller-Simone)-ShillBidder.png (29.33 KiB) Viewed 3371 times

They were aided and abetted by another who also has 100% activity with the seller, who conveniently bid €399 Euros.

7A38-706A-Stainless-DarkBlueFace-eBay-March2023-(Re-seller-Simone)-ShillBidder399.png (25.05 KiB) Viewed 3371 times

Ironically, the winning bidder also had 100% activity with the seller:

7A38-706A-Stainless-DarkBlueFace-eBay-March2023-(Re-seller-Simone)-Winner.png (25.19 KiB) Viewed 3371 times

[Seiko7A38]

Simone has been uncannily quiet on the Seiko 7Axx front of late - hence the lack of updates to this thread over the last eight months. Earlier this morning he listed a decent looking stainless 7A38-7270 as a 7-day auction, with a low start opening bid price of €1 Euro. However I would advise exercising caution for a couple of reasons.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Seik ... 5996633838

7A38-7270-Stainless-BlackFace-eBay-Dec2023-(Re-seller)-Listing.jpg (180.77 KiB) Viewed 2820 times

The first reason I'd advise against bidding on (any of) his auctions is that Simone is a proven regular user of shill bidding. If I'm not mistaken he's already used one of his shill accounts (placed three bids) to bump the high bid price to €91 Euros. But it's likely to go much higher than that as other players join in.

The other reason I'd advise against bidding is that this watch may possibly have timekeeping issues. At the beginning of this week, Simone (who only ever posts on there when he wants something) posted this thread on SCWF.

SCWF-Simone-7A38-Help-Post-1.png (122.75 KiB) Viewed 2817 times

I did reply, but only to ask, tongue in cheek, whether this was another 7A38 he planned to re-sell.

SCWF-Simone-7A38-Help-Post-2.png (77.39 KiB) Viewed 2817 times

Had I deigned to give him any advice, I would have proffered that the watch was suffering from 'old sticky oil syndrome' and was probably in need of a service. Of course such issues can be temporarily resolved by warming the watch. But who's to say it's the same watch ?

[Seiko7A38]

Apologies for not having posted an update to this thread earlier. Simone's 7-day auction for that stainless 7A38-7270 ended two weeks ago, on Friday 8th December. As I'd predicted, the auction appeared to have been shilled in the best Italian tradition, but surprisingly it only made €287 Euros after 43 bids - not an unreasonable price, for the condition.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Seik ... 5996633838

7A38-7270-Stainless-BlackFace-eBay-Dec2023-(Re-seller-Simone)-Ended-Sold-€287.jpg (167.81 KiB) Viewed 2751 times

Regardless of the price achieved, the eBay Bidding History warrants investigation ....

7A38-7270-Stainless-BlackFace-eBay-Dec2023-(Re-seller-Simone)-BiddingHistory.png (60.67 KiB) Viewed 2751 times

Apart from what went on earlier in the auction, the two losing bidders both had 100% bidding activity with the seller.
Bidder a***m (39) placed a total of 7 bids within the closing minute:

7A38-7270-Stainless-BlackFace-eBay-Dec2023-(Re-seller-Simone)-LosingShill#1.png (24.79 KiB) Viewed 2751 times

Bidder l***6 (23), his regular shill, only placed 2 bids, but has also bid on two of Simone's other auctions in last 30 days.

7A38-7270-Stainless-BlackFace-eBay-Dec2023-(Re-seller-Simone)-LosingShill#2.png (28.87 KiB) Viewed 2751 times

[Seiko7A38]

Simone's previous eBay auction didn't materialize into quite the shill-fest that I'd anticipated, but his latest has all the makings of one. Yesterday afternoon he listed a stainless 7A38-7060 as a 10 day auction with an opening bid of €1 Euro.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Seik ... 6027513285

7A38-7060-Stainless-SilveryWhiteFace-eBay-Jan2024-(Reseller-Simone)-Listing.jpg (161.62 KiB) Viewed 2699 times

He's sold a few of this model previously through eBay Buy-it-Now listings. In 2021 (see previous page) he was asking €400 and then €500 Euros. Last year (see higher up this page) that had doubled to €1050 and €990 Euros. I don't always manage to find where he bought his watches (and hence what he paid for them), but I have done so in this instance.

Well almost - if not the price he actually paid. It was first listed by an Italian eBay seller at the end of September last year, asking €799 Euros; subsequently re-listed and sold for an undisclosed best offer on 15th October.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285517829823

7A38-7060-Stainless-SilveryWhiteFace-eBay-Sept2023-Ended-Sold-BestOffer.jpg (170.3 KiB) Viewed 2694 times

The eBay Purchase History shows a buyer with an encrypted ID of m***0 - as in simone00simone.

7A38-7060-Stainless-SilveryWhiteFace-eBay-Sept2023-PurchaseHistory.png (29.19 KiB) Viewed 2694 times

If that isn't entirely conclusive, the case-back serial number 562587 matches:

rsz_7a38-7060-stainless-silverywhiteface-ebay-sept2023-another-8.jpg (244.58 KiB) Viewed 2691 times

rsz_7a38-7060-stainless-silverywhiteface-ebay-jan2024-re-seller-14.jpg (243.48 KiB) Viewed 2691 times

Question is, where has the watch been for the last 11 weeks ? Could this be the 7A38 that he reported having issues with in that thread on SCWF ?

[Seiko7A38]

Simone's 10-day eBay auction for that stainless 7A38-7060 ended about half an hour ago. It sold for €452.32 Euros after 51 bids by a total of 19 bidders. As I predicted, it appears to have been shilled in the best Italian tradition.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116027513285

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If you take a few minutes to analyse the Bidding History ....

7A38-7060-Stainless-SilveryWhiteFace-eBay-Jan2024-(Re-seller)-BiddingHistory.png (40.43 KiB) Viewed 2517 times

All four of the bidders who bid today (12th January), including the winner (feedback 1, who placed 11 bids) and the losing bidder (feedback 438) have 100% bidding activity with the seller.

7A38-7060-Stainless-SilveryWhiteFace-eBay-Jan2024-(Re-seller)-WinningBidder.png (27.11 KiB) Viewed 2513 times

7A38-7060-Stainless-SilveryWhiteFace-eBay-Jan2024-(Re-seller)-LosingBidder.png (27.23 KiB) Viewed 2513 times

Simone used his regular primary shill (feedback 23) to take the bidding up to €400 early this morning ....

7A38-7060-Stainless-SilveryWhiteFace-eBay-Jan2024-(Re-seller)-PrimaryShill.png (29.42 KiB) Viewed 2509 times

And another presumed shill (feedback 17) placed another 9 bids in the closing minutes.

7A38-7060-Stainless-SilveryWhiteFace-eBay-Jan2024-(Re-seller)-ProbableShill.png (27.36 KiB) Viewed 2509 times

[Seiko7A38]

His recent auctions evidently haven't been achieving the desired prices, despite the blatant shill bidding. So profiteering Italian eBay re-seller simone00simone has reverted to his old strategy of using Buy-it-Now listings. Yesterday afternoon he listed this average condition two-tone 7A38-7020 with a typical greedily inflated asking price of €500 Euros.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/seiko-7A38-7 ... 6062981663

7A38-7020-Stainless+Gold-GreyFace-eBay-Feb2024-(Re-seller-Simone)-Listing.jpg (183.27 KiB) Viewed 498 times

I've wasted some time this morning, trying to uncover where he purchased it (likely eBay Germany), without success. No matter, regardless of whether I can disclose how much (less) he paid for it, some mug punter is sure to come along soon.

[Seiko7A38]

As predicted, that listing for the two-tone 7A38-7020 didn't last very long. Simone ended it, as item no longer available, yesterday morning. He replaced it in the afternoon with this Buy-it-Now listing for a stainless 7A38-7020.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Seiko-7A38-7 ... 6064913774

7A38-7020-Stainless+Grey-eBay-Feb2024-(Re-seller-Simone)-Listing.jpg (170.58 KiB) Viewed 468 times

Again the watch is in no better than average worn condition, but this time he's asking a greedily inflated €1100 Euros !

[Seiko7A38]

Just a couple of quick updates on Simone's latest stainless 7A38-7020 (one of them slightly belated) ....

Earlier this week, he advertised it for sale on SCWF Trading Post, asking €1000 Euros:

https://www.thewatchsite.com/threads/se ... st-3095204

7A38-7020-Stainless+Grey-FS-SCWF-Feb2924-Simone-Post.jpg (169.89 KiB) Viewed 384 times

Yesterday afternoon, he ended his eBay listing as allegedly no longer available.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116064913774

7A38-7020-Stainless+Grey-eBay-Feb2024-(Re-seller-Simone)-Ended-NLA.jpg (177.77 KiB) Viewed 384 times