Any piece of advice for me before I conduct my first transaction through TRF?

[ragna93]

Hello,

I recently learned about TRF and am trying to conduct a transaction. It is my first time purchasing a watch that is over $7000+ and am actually quite worried about simply wiring the money.

I looked the seller up in the website and I have seen good reviews, but I also noticed that regardless of the previous good reviews, sometimes transactions go awry.

Is there any safe backup plan that I can have before doing the transaction? Should I use Paypal? or would straight out wire transfer be okay? I unfortunately cannot do a roadtrip due to my job, but I would love to hear some suggestions.

Thank you.

[Tools]

As long as you are comfortable with the seller.. Some will only take a wire so better check first.



(You are not "going through TRF"; the Forum does not vet or recommend any particular seller, and is not affiliated with them in any way.)

[amg55]

As the saying goes, buy the buyer, first then the watch. Most will tell you to go with DavidSW and I'm one of them.

[T. Ferguson]

Buy the seller. What this means to me is don't find the watch for sale then qualify the seller. I first researched the major sellers here with particular emphasis on the most active ones. I came up with a list of about a half dozen (at the time) I was comfortable doing business with. Then I started shopping for the watch I wanted - among the sellers on my list. I also researched some of the members who had left reviews on these vendors figuring active sellers selling to active members is a good sign.

Best of luck.

[Lordofrolex]

Do a lot of research on the seller. Check the forums and google see what you can come up with. Once you trusted the seller use resources to check if its a good deal. You should be fine.

[Etschell]

My suggestion is to check out the who's who. Also since you are close to canada check out some Canadian sellers

[GB-man]

Be sure you trust the seller because once you send a wire it's gone!

[AK797]

Also your insurance is to make sure the seller has something to lose, so if he does a lot of business here the last thing he will want is to jeopardise all of that with your bad review and details of his bad conduct.

[Rebel]

Buy the seller more than the watch.

[Tri-Tip]

I was in the same boat as you nearly 2 years ago. Buying from a local TRF trusted seller, but someone who I had not met before.

For some reason, in the back of my head, I kept thinking..."All these positive reviews were posted just to screw me over for $6,800".

We PM'd and Texted for about a week, I read his reviews, and finally wired the money. Couldn't have turned out better. I sent the money at noon, and picked up the watch that evening.

[Rogdogg]

Originally Posted by T. Ferguson

Buy the seller. What this means to me is don't find the watch for sale then qualify the seller. I first researched the major sellers here with particular emphasis on the most active ones. I came up with a list of about a half dozen (at the time) I was comfortable doing business with. Then I started shopping for the watch I wanted - among the sellers on my list. I also researched some of the members who had left reviews on these vendors figuring active sellers selling to active members is a good sign.

Best of luck.

There's a lot of sensible advice on researching the sellers here

[Danny83]

If your seller is on TRF and has a website hes good as gold

[Old Expat Beast]

You can also post a thread asking for opinions/references for any dealer in the Buyers/Sellers section.