Tom:

A please to have you participate here and to have your thoughts on these issues.

A couple of points:

• We have been operating for 11 years, with this very informal approach, and I can tell you that we have had only a small handful of incidents, with problems between sellers and buyers (or prospective buyers). No reports of people offering $10,000 for the $800 watch, or the seller asking $5,000 for this watch. So I'm not sure that we have failed in the "buyer protection" category.
• One explanation for this atmosphere is that there are only two of us who act as Moderators for these forums, and we do not enjoy the "policing" role. I am a libertarian at heart, and I spend my professional life drafting contracts, rules and regulations, so I don't have much stomach for formal rules or guidelines (not that these rules would need to be complicated).
• Finally, while some prospective buyers may be turned off by the "Seeking Offers" type of listing, traffic to ChronoTrader has been building steadily, and I believe that we are seeing some excellent watches, some reliable sellers and some enthusiastic buyers. So I am of the "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" point of view.

: ...it is quite a culture shock to see the "offers
: accepted", "offers over $x will be considered"
: and the "informal auction" formats utilized in sales
: posts here. That said, I understand that each forum has its own
: customs and culture and so of course I accept it as an integral
: feature of ChronoTrader.

: What I don't feel is beneficial is when items are listed with
: no price range whatsoever. At least with "offers
: over $x" I know the ballpark. With the "offers
: accepted" or "informal auction" I am expected to
: do all the price-related research myself, which if I am
: not such a Heuer fanatic (or take a month off in the current
: frenzied climate), can be difficult to keep track of going
: rates. Even more so when the watches are non-Heuers! How
: am I supposed to know the seller's acceptable range for a random
: Bulova, Seiko or Benrus dive watch, for example??? LOL. In the
: end, I'll usually just email the sellers and ask them what range
: they are in fact looking for. ;)

: So while I still don't particularly care for these "no set
: price" ads and would probably not employ that format as a
: seller myself (insert Never say never and When in
: Rome caveats here), I do understand that it is the custom
: round these parts. And it certainly has been very successful in
: ginning up considerable, shall we say, enthusiasm for
: Vintage Heuers by creating an atmosphere of heated competition
: among buyers that is more explicit than on most other sales
: corners. :)
: Best,
: T.