Lowest 7A38 (7A38-701B 'Vulcan') serial number seen

[Seiko7A38]

I wrote this more than 10 years ago in a thread about dating case-back serial numbers on the old forum:

7A38-701B-Vulcan-sn383261-OldForumPost.jpg (148.22 KiB) Viewed 744 times

My watch has finally been usurped by an earlier serial number - 383220. It belongs to another 7A38-701B 'Vulcan' which was listed on eBay last night by an Italian seller. It's in generally decent condition, apart from the case-back, which unfortunately has been butchered by some ham-fisted amateur.

rsz_7a38-701b-vulcan-stainless-yellowface-ebay-feb2023-andanother-8-crop-rotate.jpg (244.82 KiB) Viewed 743 times

[Seiko7A38]

The 5-day Italian eBay auction for that 7A38-701B ended yesterday evening, selling for €555 Euros after 22 bids. Last time I'd checked the listing it had nearly 50 watchers, so I was expecting it to end in a snipefest, but only one bid was placed in the closing seconds. Compared to some other examples sold recently, I thought it might have done better.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266125483699

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[Seiko7A38]

Incidentally. that same 7A38-701B 'Vulcan', which sold in February this year for €555 Euros, was listed on eBay last night by a US seller, with an extortionately marked-up Buy-it-Now price of $1500 !

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-Vintage ... 4774791772

7A38-701B-Vulcan-Stainless-YellowFace-eBay-August2023-Listing.jpg (159.16 KiB) Viewed 536 times

Although the seller doesn't mention the badly scratched case-back in his description, the serial number 383220 is just about legible in his photo. The tool-inflicted damage is much clearer in the previous Italian seller's photo.

rsz_7a38-701b-vulcan-stainless-yellowface-ebay-august2023-14.jpg (240.87 KiB) Viewed 536 times

[Seiko7A38]

The US eBay seller ended his listing for that 7A38-701B 'Vulcan' in the early hours of this morning, supposedly because of an error in the listing. Presumably the error was in the pricing.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314774791772

7A38-701B-Vulcan-Stainless-YellowFace-eBay-August2023-Ended-Error.png (34.62 KiB) Viewed 522 times

[Seiko7A38]

The US eBay seller re-listed that 7A38-701B 'Vulcan' in the early hours of this morning, with the Buy-it-Now price reduced from the previous $1500 to 'only' $1300.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-Vintage ... 4778665919

7A38-701B-Vulcan-Stainless-YellowFace-eBay-August2023-Re-Listing.jpg (154.76 KiB) Viewed 513 times

The revised description attempts to mitigate his inflated asking price:

7A38-701B-Vulcan-Stainless-YellowFace-eBay-August2023-RevisedDescription.png (58.33 KiB) Viewed 513 times

[Seiko7A38]

The US eBay seller ended the re-listing for that 7A38-701B 'Vulcan' yesterday, because it's allegedly no longer available. Could be that he accepted a 'back door' offer and sold it off eBay, or maybe he just withdrew it from sale because he wasn't getting offers as high as he wanted. Who knows ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314778665919

7A38-701B-Vulcan-Stainless-YellowFace-eBay-August2023-(Re-listed)-Ended-NLA.png (253.93 KiB) Viewed 483 times

Something I'm more than a little annoyed about is that eBay have made another change to the way they present ended listings. The reduced size ended item summary, which was working fine a couple of days ago (see my penultimate post dated 17th August) appears to be no more. Instead it now displays the full listing with a banner header. W*nkers !!