Crono24 Trusted Checkout

[TP321]

Anyone used it? Any good?

Is it as good as it sounds?

[furrywoolyhatuk]

My wife bought my breitling using the trusted checkout and all seemed to go smoothly, payment was received no problem and the watch turned up in one piece!

[TP321]

furrywoolyhatuk said:

My wife bought my breitling using the trusted checkout and all seemed to go smoothly, payment was received no problem and the watch turned up in one piece!

So is it just a guarantee that the watch will turn up? What if it's a fake?

[Chad_Hugo]

Apparently, as you deal with chrono24 who pay the seller after getting your payment and not the seller directly, there is a full refund option if the watch does not arrive or is not as described. I assume chrono24 then do a chargeback similar to paypal to the sellers account.

You can check how many check out's a specific seller has had completed, there is a little number next to the shipping basket. If it's someone who has been on the site for years, and has sold a lot of watches that way then chances are they are trustworthy.

For something lower value or obscure it can be a useful, I would still want to view/try on the watch in most cases.

[mikeveal]

Chrono24 are really cagey about how TrustedCheckout works. Dunno why, it's a simple escrow service.

Goes like this:

• You pay C24 directly via IBAN.
• C24 inform the dealer that your funds have cleared.
• The dealer sends you the watch.
• If you do nothing, C24 assume the deal has gone smoothly and about two weeks later C24 pay your funds to the dealer via IBAN.

If something goes wrong with the transaction. C24 mediate, they decide if the watch is eligible for return (not as described, broken, fake etc.) And then once they've OK'd it:

• You return the watch to the dealer.
• The dealer confirms receipt of the watch to C24.
• C24 return your money via IBAN, minus their fees.

Any seller can apply for Trusted Checkout. I almost bought a watch from an Italian, but he refused to use Trusted Checkout: "Can only accept IBAN to my account". TC is IBAN, so the excuse made no sense, until you realise that a number of C24 sellers don't actually have the watches. They're advertising something they don''t own. When you pay them, they go and buy it and ship it to you.

I've used TC, had no problems. The watch was as described and everything went very smoothly. You should also know that C24 "Trusted Seller" is a very different thing.

A "Trusted Seller" is a C24 dealer that has paid C24 to have the "Trusted Seller" badge on his website. C24 also say that there are no unresolved issues with the seller, there are stories on the watchuseek forum of dealers being reported to C24 and those dealers retaining the "Trusted Seller" moniker.

C24 is a marketplace, just like ebay. There are good sellers and bad.

Some checks I would (and did) perform:
1/ Does the seller have a bricks and mortar store at the address listed in C24, or is it a residential apartment in a dodgy area? Google Streetview is your friend.
2/ Can I find a website for the seller's bricks and mortar store? Does the phone number match the C24 advert?
3/ Does the seller accept Trusted Checkout? No? Walk?
4/ If I search for the sellers store/ C24 dealer name(google, watchuseek, timezone) do I find good or bad things said about this seller?
5/ Ask for a photo of the watch with the time set to 9.33 and the date to 22nd (or whatever), to prove that they do have the watch.

Buy the seller not the watch. There will always be another watch from another seller.