On your luxury watch trading journey, you will find there are many amazing people you meet along the way. Everyone from independent collectors, enthusiasts, dealers, retail consumers, and traders.
You will also find that there is an insane amount of clowns (hence why I call it the circus) that pollute the industry and give it a bad name for all involved.
The goal of this article is to prepare you and help you identify who these clown types are, why their behaviors are detrimental to the watch world, and be able to avoid being tricked into believing their facades. When you can see through the idiots, posers, fakes, scammers, sleazy slingers, and hustlers, your trading experience is a lot more rewarding and profitable. You also have much less of a headache because deals go smooth and you don’t get burned.
Let’s take a look at some archetypes of these clowns so you know how to identify them. Some are very easy to spot, while others have built their careers on how well they can hide the true nature of their facade.
The HERE TODAY GONE TOMORROW Clown:
This type of clown is the person who exits the watch trading scene as quickly as they came onto it. Most of these people never intended to be a watch dealer or seller full time when they started out, but when they made a few lucky trades for some quick cash, they thought they could take off and outwit the game. They don’t pay attention to years of experience and wisdom. They don’t care to learn much about how things work. They just want to make money. The thing is, this is always short lived, because as soon as shit hits the fan (e.g. the economy crashes, their finances run dry, they buy a fake, they get called out for doing bad business), they tend to be done and never return. These people aren’t in the industry for a sustained or prolonged period. They may come off as know-it-all ish or cocky, but really that’s their ego talking which is the only reason they think they can make it much farther than they ever do. Avoid becoming this clown by taking things in stride, learning from others who offer true guidance, and knowing that your reputation is by far the most important thing to value in the game.
The POSER Clown:
The poser clown is one of tragic nature indeed. For the poser clown always needs to be seen as someone who has more going on than is ever actual. For example, poser types will broker watches for other dealers and traders who have much more money than them, and pretend the watches they’re flexing are theirs when in actuality they can’t even afford 1 of the watches they’re displaying down their outstretched arms. This is not to say that brokering is poser behavior. Not true at all. It’s only poser behavior when one has to pretend the inventory is all theirs. You’ll typically find that the poser type is the loudest mouth when behind a computer screen and on a keyboard, but when it comes to showing up and displaying their true colors they are nothing but chicken shit or ghosts. Quiet as a field mouse because they know if they become exposed their sheep fan base of followers will see them as they truly are (posers) and leave them. These types also hang out with similar flex offenders and rent lambos, and do all sorts of clown tricks.
You would think the poser clown is harmless, but they aren’t to the masses or newbies. They can persuade malleable minds to believe things that not only hurt the industry as a whole, but divert good people away from the solid dealers and buyers/sellers.
The SLIMY DEALER/WHOLESALER Clown:
First I want to start off by saying not every dealer and wholesaler is slimy. Not at all. There are plenty of stellar people out there who do great business and provide value to the trading ecosystem.
That said, there are equally if not more slimy dealers and wholesalers hanging around waiting to fuck people over at every turn. Some are subtle in how they screw people over. While some just blatantly don’t give two shits and will extort every penny out of you while fucking you over and over and over again.
Some examples are when they don’t describe watch conditions precisely and down play issues. They’ll use terminology to hide issues that they think are no big deal by saying watch is sold “as-is”. When you ask them questions about the providence of the watch, when it’s been serviced, or if there’s any issues, they won’t provide honest answers. They’ll use very generic terms like “not to my knowledge”. They’ll wash warranty cards which means they’ll cover up the original manufacturer card with falsified matching data or they’ll fill in blank cards that they aren’t authorized to initiate.
These clowns will also almost certainly strong-arm you into thinking you’re the idiot if you tell them there is a problem with a watch. They’re also notorious for using all sorts of scare tactics and false pitches to beat you up on price when you sell and then will flip that sales aggression on you when you buy from them. These types are the ones who leave a terrible taste in people’s mouths for a long time and the reason I even got into wanting to learn to trade with my own perspectives on the industry.
The GARBAGE Clown:
This is one of the easiest to spot, and unfortunately one of the most common. They rear their ugly heads on all sorts of platforms but find themselves gathering more so on the forums, Craigslist, Facebook, and social realms.
These types can range from the shit talker who just has to blow up your for sale listing saying “fake”, “overpriced”, etc when they never had the wallet to back the sentiment. They’re the type who ask you for your lowest or best price then just ghost you and never respond. They’re the type that gives you a long story about how their grandma left them a $15K Rolex and they need to sell now for cheaper than anyone else. Or asks you for your PayPal info from Nigeria but you must ship to their cousin who’s in the USA for only 1 day immediately.
They’re the lowest life of clowns in the circus ring, and they’re unavoidable. They’re straight scammers and time wasters with no self respect or respect for anyone.
The best thing you can do is learn how to elevate your circles of where you’re buying/selling/trading so high in the layer cake that you forget what the bottom barrel shit smells like.