Grey Market Dealers - Negotiating Tactics

[NAUI1982]

This may stir up some controversial conversations here, but I think transparency is a good thing. Certainly, we would probably agree that Rolex, and its AD network are the farthest thing from transparent that can be imagined! I’m on list, I’m not on a list, I’m a walk in, I have history, etc, we could go on and on about this…

However, when I comes to Grey Market sellers, I’m really curious what we can expect in terms of negotiated discounts/deals when we’re developing a purchase history with a “Trusted Dealer” in the grey market. There is a huge cost of capital for these grey market dealers, is there not? Or are they essentially consignment dealers? An owner agrees to sell through the dealer and sets a floor for their watch, and the grey market guys put it out to sell, here on the forums, chrono24, eBay, etc. So they’re not really “motivated” to move their inventory…. So what can we really expect when negotiating for a good deal in the after market space?

I’ve bought a few choice pieces in the grey market over the years, and I’ve tried to give my business to very few of them, to build the trust, as in trusted dealer, and to show that I can be a reliable repeat customer if they have product I’m interested in.

In some cases, I’ve offered asking price, where it’s easy to see the deal was a good one, no “haggle” needed. Just a great clean transaction. But there are a small select few watches I’d still love to have, either through an AD as I patiently wait, or if the price is right, through a TD grey market buy. I’ve made what I think was a very reasonable offers for a watch, that’s been on the market for months and hasn’t sold, and yet the dealer says they can’t come down at all. To me, that feels like it’s on consignment, and they just can’t get the owner of the watch to come to market prices. But if I’m the dealer here and my money is tied up in the watch, wouldn’t it best to sell the watch (assuming its not at a loss of course) even if I had to take a thinner margin? How many months should I be holding unsold inventory so to speak? [rhetorical]

So ultimately in the experiences of the members here, how do you approach the grey market sellers, and what kind of concessions do you typically get, either in a more favorable price from that which they’re asking, to what you ultimately pay? Are your transactions at asking price? I know it varies widely depending on the watch and demand of course! So I’m really interested in general approach and terms.

If you’re comfortable sharing/comparing purchase stories, I’d love to hear them.