The Dangers of Selling a Luxury Watch On Craigslist

Thousands of people want to sell their watches. Reasons range from wanting to sell one watch in order to buy another, having buyer’s remorse, or even associating bad memories with a watch. Some sellers turn to forums for help – but there is no one to enforce the law when deals go awry. Ultimately, if you trade, buy, or sell a high-end luxury watch, you’re doing so with absolute faith that a total stranger will follow through on sending you thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars. For some people, this process works out well, especially if you do so regularly and develop a good reputation. If you have no history though, it’s going to be difficult to gain a reputation to make a trade.

Many people resort to Craigslist to sell their watch. Craigslist can be great for some things. But at times, Craigslist isn’t the smartest way to conduct business. With high-end items, the seedy underbelly of Craigslist that so often makes the news rears its ugly head. One recent case involves crooks advertising Rolex watches for sale on Craigslist. When people showed up to trade thousands of dollars for the Rolex, they were robbed at gunpoint. A robbery isn’t the worst thing that can happen, however: there have been instances of botched robberies turning into murders. There’s even a Wikipedia article with a list of “Craigslist murderers” (the list is far from complete, though).

The aforementioned stories are not be scare tactics, but friendly reminders to use common sense when deciding how to sell your watch. Don’t carry a 4- or 5-figure watch or piece of jewelry on your person to meet a total stranger in a parking lot or abandoned area. Conduct your transaction in a public place – but be wary of the individual following you home or scouting out your house to raid it when you’re out. But even then, there are numerous stories of a Craigslist seller being followed home only to be robbed of the watch or the cash just given for the watch.

What a high-end transaction on Craigslist should really boil down to is meeting at a jeweler to verify the authenticity of the good being sold. Not all jewelers are in high-traffic areas, though – and there lies the problem. It’s for reasons like safety and giving the customer top dollar for their item that we started Crown and Caliber. We wanted to provide an easy and safe way to sell your luxury watch or jewelry. I may be biased, but I suggest giving us a try. You have nothing to lose. Even if you plan on trading in your item to a local jeweler, you should drop us a line for a free quote on your item – there’s always the chance we’ll pay you more for it. There’s no obligation or risk, and we’ll always pay for your shipping. We work with the best watch valuation experts in the business and our affiliates have bought and sold watches for over 20 years.

Selling to Crown & Caliber is an experience, not a transaction.  Don’t take it from us, though: feel free to peruse our testimonials and Yelp reviews. When it comes to selling your watch, there are certainly many options. We believe we offer more Trust, Ease, Compensation, and Reward than any option out there.