Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

With so many speculatively over-priced misrepresented 7A38's in various conditions being listed on eBay every month, by dozens of chancers, under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn't have bothered commenting on yet another which came up in my saved search notifications overnight. But then I noticed the seller's eBay ID - martinachertok !

To use the word 'returns' as I've done in the thread title isn't really appropriate, because unfortunately they never went away. They just hadn't listed a Seiko 7A38 on eBay in over six years, hence had dropped off my radar. Between February 2013 and January 2016 they listed and eventually managed to sell half a dozen 7A38's. However their sales tactics were rife with shenanigans, particularly ending listings as allegedly no longer available and re-listing multiple times, with many ludicrous price hikes in between. Perhaps 'the classic' was a well-worn 7A38-7069 with a missing crown / stem. They'd paid another US eBay seller $41 for it in April 2013. They listed and re-listed it ad nauseam over 380 times at prices ranging between $87 and $2995 all to no avail. In the end they broke it up for parts and the bracelet still remained unsold in May 2018 !

Readers who were members of the old forum may remember their previous dedicated thread which ran to 18 pages and received well over 55,000 views. In parallel, to ensure the warning reached the wider watch collecting community, I also started a thread on WatchUseek: www.watchuseek.com/threads/826021. That one only ran to 4 pages.

So without further ado, here it is - a well-worn gold-tone 7A38-7000 fitted with a non-original expanding bracelet, asking a risible $535. The listing title begins with the word 'RARE'. This model is anything but - and especially common in the USA. I'm surprised they didn't start the title with 'STUNNING', because it had always been their favourite adjective. Note their date of 1975 when the case-back serial number clearly shows 3Nxxxx - November 1983.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 5487157441

Given their previous manic re-listing of years gone by, I was slightly taken aback to see that Martinachertok's listing for their over-priced gold-tone had lasted this long. I should have known they wouldn't be able to leave it alone though.
Yesterday evening, they revised the listing, increasing the already risible Buy-it-Now price by $50 from $535 to $585.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 5487157441

Seems they've changed their modus operandi. Amazingly, that listing is still live, but checking it again this afternoon, I notice they've revised it again last week, increasing the Buy-it now price to $680 !!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 5487157441


They've also shuffled the order of their photos. Currently this shot of the movement is actually the primary image.

Compared to their maniacal shenanigans of a few years ago, I was surprised that listing actually lasted for so long.
It was ended late yesterday evening as allegedly no longer available.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255487157441


Needless to say, it was back on eBay again, re-listed a couple of minutes later. They've shuffled the order of their photos again and reduced the Buy-it-Now price by $200, to a marginally less ridiculous $480.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 5735777049

It looks like the mad Russian eBay seller is gradually slipping back to their old ways. Latest re-listing for their well-worn gold-tone 7A38-7000 on a random replacement bracelet is up to $790 !!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 5986667345

The madness continues unabated. Yesterday evening, deluded / devious US eBay seller martinachertok ended their previous re-listing (above) for their already risibly over-priced gold-tone 7A38-7000 as allegedly no longer available .... and promptly replaced it with this one, with the Buy-it-Now priced hiked to $870:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 5875604752

Seiko7A38 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 25, 2022 2:31 pmThey've also shuffled the order of their photos. Currently this shot of the movement is actually the primary image.

They've also repeated what they did earlier - shuffling the photos and making the movement shot the primary image.

That re-listing lasted exactly a month, before it was ended as allegedly no longer available.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255875604752


Replaced last night by yet another re-listing. Note the already ridiculous Buy-it-Now price has crept up another $20.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 5924626574

FWIW, deluded US eBay seller martinachertok ended the above re-listing in the early hours of this morning, once again as allegedly no longer available.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255924626574


They promptly re-listed it again, exactly as before, with the same completely ridiculous Buy-it-Now price of $890.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 6206120932

I suppose it's about time I posted an update on martinachertok's much-re-listed gold-tone 7A38-7000, fitted with a non-original replacement bracelet. Needless to say, it remains unsold. They re-listed it again for the nth time yesterday evening. This time, their Buy-it-Now price is less than half what it was back in April - now down to 'only' $399.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 6252618037

It looks like deluded US eBay seller martinachertok may actually be making a concerted effort to sell their gold-tone 7A38-7000 fitted with a non-original replacement bracelet. Yesterday evening, they re-listed it again, this time with the Buy-it-Now price reduced to $189 - a far cry from the ludicrous $890 that they were asking at the start of the year !

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 6261031419

That brief period of sanity didn't last very long. Deluded US eBay seller martinachertok revised that re-listing twice in October, ultimately increasing the Buy-it-Now price back up to $398. They ended that re-listing and immediately replaced it with another, yesterday evening. This time the Buy-it-Now price is up to $459.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 6285350338

The madness of martinachertok continues unabated. Their latest re-listing yesterday evening is back up to $759 !

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 6299516840

After at least half a dozen more re-listings @ $759, martinachertok's latest re-listing yesterday evening is down to $359.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 6622629465

The Buy-it-Now price has dropped again to $279 on martinachertok's latest re-listing yesterday evening.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 6397522772


Edit: The following day, they revised the re-listing, increasing the Buy-it-Now price back up to $479.

Mad Martinachertok's latest re-listing for that gold-tone 7A38-7000 is back up to $520 !

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 6679857421

After four more re-listings @ $520, martinachertok's latest re-listing, earlier this morning, has crept up to $549.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 6444334369

Looks like they're on the move again. The latest re-listing, yesterday evening, is up by another $50 to $599.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 6445908155

Yet another price variation; one which I don't remember seeing before: now asking $560 in their first re-listing in April.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 6468993307

A few more re-listings @ $560 followed. Halfway through the month, eBay started adding 20% VAT to the Buy-it-Now price, which confused me for a moment. The first re-listing for May 2024 appeared yesterday evening and it's back down to 'only' $300 (plus VAT for eBay UK).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 6799423044