Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

Seiko7A38 at May 5, 2019 at 10:32 AM

Seiko7A38 at January 11, 2019 at 6:14 PM

Another 7A38-7140, used but evidently in lightly worn well-cared for condition was listed by an Italian eBay seller earlier this evening, with a typically over-optimistic Buy-it-Now price of 810 Euros, or the option to make an offer.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123590307636

I offer no apologies and am not making excuses. Not that I need to do either. 

With so many Buy-it-Now format listings on eBay and a good percentage of them ludicrously over-priced, some re-listed ad nauseam, with sellers constantly frigging around with their pricing, it's sometimes as much as I can do to keep my own eBay watching page updated, let alone remember to post updates here. Case in point ....

Hence the reason: I hadn't forgotten, I simply hadn't had the time to add a couple of updates to this thread.

Back in February, the Italian eBay seller had increased his already highly optimistic 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price from 810 Euros to 890 Euros. He ended that listing in the second week of April, because the item was allegedly no longer available. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123590307636

He re-listed it later that same day, with the Buy-it-Now price now rather dramatically reduced from the previous 890 Euros to a somewhat more realistic 590 Euros - still with the option to make an offer. It sold this morning, but for even less than that reduced Buy-it-Now price.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123728064736

WatchCount.com's Look-up tool reveals it finally sold for a best offer of 400 Euros.

Less than half the original Buy-it-Now price. 

Apologies for the double quote, but I'm just carrying this over to the next page.

When I made that quoted post, I'd assumed that was the last we'd seen of this particular 7A38-7140. But this morning, the Italian eBay seller re-listed it once again, this time with the Buy-it-Now price reduced from 590 to 490 Euros, though that doesn't appear to have adversely affected the outcome. It sold a couple of hours later, again against a best offer.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123769786804

WatchCount.com's Look-up tool shows it sold for a second time for 400 Euros.

Or perhaps NOT sold - because it's back on eBay, re-listed again this afternoon !!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123779313658

That recurring 7A38-7140 appears to have sold once again, earlier this morning, for somewhat less than the current 490 Euros Buy-it-Now price and a fraction of the Italian eBay seller's highest 'pie-in-the-sky' figure of 890 Euros.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123779313658

WatchCount.com's Look-up tool reveals it sold for only 290 Euros this time around.

Seiko7A38 at July 3, 2018 at 2:10 AM

I had a feeling that might not be the last we'd seen of that suspicious re-sprayed 7A38-7140. It re-appeared in my saved search notifications this morning, listed by a would-be profiteering UK eBay re-seller ancutza_seven2009*, with an absolutely ludicrous 'pigs-might-fly' Buy-it-Now asking price of  £850 !!

Once again, in this seller's photos, note the wear to the black chrome plating of the crown and pushers. Similarly, the amount of apparent stretch and sideways slap between the bracelet links, yet oddly absolutely no loss of plating to the edges of the bracelet or clasp, or even signs of them becoming shiny. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263779265829

That certainly wasn't the last we saw of it.  It may have taken him nearly a year, but it would appear that stubborn persistence has finally paid dividends for greedy profiteering UK eBay seller ancutza_seven2009. Sunday afternoon, last weekend, after umpteen re-listings at the same ‘pie-in-the-sky’ Buy-it-Now price of £850, he eventually managed to lure a mug punter into buying his re-sprayed 7A38-7140. As the second buyer, off eBay Germany, he himself had over-paid 385 Euros for it, in June last year. But he still managed to make a very nice little profit. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264337498985

WatchCount.com's look-up tool reveals it finally sold for a best offer of £636 !! 

Seiko7A38 at January 12, 2019 at 5:39 PM

Earlier this evening, another Italian eBay seller listed yet another NOS 7A38-7140, with a 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of 1100 Euros, or the option to make a lower more realistic offer.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303027655071

Subtitled: More Midsummer Madness, or just a sign of the times ? 

The would-be Italian eBay seller of that NOS 7A38-7140 subsequently reduced his 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Price from 1100 Euros to 'only' 900 Euros. He then re-listed it 3 times at the same price. After 5 months, to my utter disbelief, it appears to have finally sold earlier this afternoon for that 900 Euros Buy-it-Now price !

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303124821281

Because it was a private listing - buyers' identities protected, the eBay Purchase History wouldn't show (even in encrypted ID form), the buyer or the amount they actually paid. However it does show that the seller received a number of offers, against this most recent re-listing and either declined or allowed them to expire.

This WatchCount.com search on completed items confirms it sold for 900 Euros:

Some things never change.  Here we are, nearly 7 years on from when I first started this thread, with yet another stupidly over-priced NOS 7A38-7140, listed by an(other)* Italian eBay seller - one with an all too familiar looking profile. This latest example was listed this morning with a typical ludicrous 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of $2000, or the option to make a much lower more sensible offer. It may be allegedly 'NOS' (in the best Italian tradition), but if it's supposedly only been worn ½ a time for test, it begs the question why the case-back is so badly scuffed and that 4 removed bracelet adjustment links are supplied loose.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/273959784842

ORIGINALE SEIKO VINTAGE 7A38-7140 SPORT 100

NEW OLD THE STOCK

NO MANUAL

TAG

BOX

PERFECT ORDER WORKING

very very rare find

WEAR 1/2 TIME FOR TEST ONLY

PAYMENT: PAYPAL

SHIPMENT: WORLDWIDE BY AIR MAIL EXPRESS

FOR QUESTION ASK I REPLAY SOON

DIRETCLY ACCEPT

nothing return nothing refaund

*This particular eBay ID vintagedesign78 may not have featured in this thread before, but it's not difficult to unmask the indentity of the Italian seller behind it. Their location of Firenze (Florence); the stupid asking price in US dollars (rather than Euros), the poor quality mostly 'hand-held' photos, large red type description, in poor English, complete with spelling mistakes (if not his customary GOOD LUKE) and the seller's other items for sale, including stupidly over-priced vintage clothing and CASIO LCD watches all point to this being none other than our 'old friend' Alberto Ulmi. Here's something I'd written earlier in this thread ....

Seiko7A38 at November 18, 2015 at 4:50 PM

After umpteen re-listings, several price reductions and two eBay ID changes* Alberto Ulmi's NOS 7A38-7140 still went unsold !

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181907762532

*Here's a copy and paste of something I wrote in another thread, this morning:

The seller's eBay user ID oldantiquestyle may be unfamiliar to some, but you only need to check their location of Firenze (Florence) and glance at the badly composed semi-literate description in bold red type to figure out that this is, of course, none other than our old friend Alberto Ulmi (of crazy prices notoriety), who previously went under the user more familiar ID's of goffre78 and valentinasex.

Here's the history on this user ID: http://contact.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ReturnUserIdHistory&requested=oldantiquestyle

It looks like goffre78 has retired (read banned): http://contact.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ReturnUserIdHistory&requested=goffre78

I may have come across this eBay ID before (as one of Alberto's previous aliases), but I honestly can't remember what it was originally.

http://contact.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ReturnUserIdHistory&requested=vintagedesign78