My Excellent Selling Experience with Loupe This
Happy New Year! This is the first post of 2024. We are in the offseason and auction listings are only trickling in, so Auction Highlights will resume next week.
Back in 2018/2019 I was a “runner” type dealer, and not in the exercise sense. A runner makes a living by capitalizing on arbitrage opportunities between wholesale (dealer-to-dealer) markets in different locations, in my case different countries. Since there is no options market for vintage watches, I had to run around and take/make physical deliveries. Thanks to the internet, margins were low (3-10% for a riskier asset class like vintage watches) but interest rates were 0% so it seemed like a good gig at the time. Velocity and efficiency defined my business. I sold quickly and finagled everything. Running is where you end up when you have limited capital and zero marketing skills. The best type of running is when someone asks you to fly overseas to buy a certain limited edition watch for them - basically a personal version of Fedex - because I’m guaranteed a margin plus can do more deals on the side in the same trip. But these overseas trips end up being harrowingly stressful, because I had to make sure to sell everything I carried and use the proceeds to replenish inventory prior to my flight back home. It was during this hectic period of my dealing career that I transacted several times with Eric Ku.
Unlike the art market where collectors emulate dealers such as Larry Gagosian, the watch market’s heroes are usually the collectors, as portrayed by Hodinkee’s popular “Talking Watches” series. Dealers and auction houses on the other hand have a tough time gaining status, sometimes even denounced on social media as villains (in some cases rightfully so). However a few dealers with collector backgrounds such as Eric Ku transcend this stereotype, due to their encyclopedic knowledge and seasoned trading experience.
Dealing with Eric was so smooth, I felt like I was talking to myself. He knows beforehand how much he wants to pay and the all important matters of logistics. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a tough negotiator. But there is no fussiness and circumlocution, which is refreshing and efficient in a market where many participants negotiate like its the last watch they will ever buy. As a newer dealer in mid 2010’s, I often found myself spending a lot of time and effort comforting other dealers and collectors, who, upon encountering a deal, usually brace themselves for a responsibility-slinging match. Many buyers (and sellers) usually fixate on the easily rectifiable aspects and don’t pay enough attention to the more critical yet mundane aspects of watch trading. Eric understands what’s critical and hence the whole transaction process was always simple.
Simple is difficult to do, but that’s how Eric also runs LoupeThis. Co-founded with Justin Gruenberg, scion of the Gruenberg family, Loupe This offers collectors and dealers a streamlined online auction platform to sell watches. The consignment process went like this:
Since I had transacted with him several times before, I personally messaged Eric if he thought a rare watch I was selling would be something the Loupe This audience would be interested in. He thought yes, so I
Submit my watch via their website. Its a simple questionnaire that took me 5-10 minutes plus photo upload.
Receive hammer estimate from the LoupeThis team via email
Receive and sign consignment agreement via Docusign
Pack and double-box the watch in Small and Medium Fedex Express boxes which are usually available for free at any Fedex depot.
Print and attach the Fedex labels that the Loupe This team emails me and drop-off or arrange Fedex pickup of package.
Watch received notification from Loupe This
Loupe This photographs the watch and prepares the listing
Auction Live (7 days)
Loupe This team notifies me of auction end and I select preferred payment method (wire or check)
Payment received (approximately 7 days after Loupe This receives payment by winning bidder, who is supposed to pay them within 35 days)
In my case the total time from step 6 (receival of watch at Loupe This) to step 10 (payment) was 69 calendar days, which is pretty quick considering it included Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Years’ holidays. Compare this with traditional auction houses, where it typically takes 90 days or more. Note that the process also largely depends on how fast the winning bidder pays - if they pay earlier, consignors get paid earlier also.
Loupe This takes a flat $500 fee from consignors and 10% premium from the winning bidder on the hammer price. Auctions are no reserve, allowing price discovery. Descriptions are concise. Photography is professional, with a zoom function that makes it easier to assess case condition and extent of polishing. This is important for buyers because all sales are as-is and final. The email communication may be impersonal but it was on point with no frills.
I’ll refrain from describing the consignment process of other traditional auction houses, but I think you would agree that Loupe This’s process and policy are very simple and efficient. No reserve usually means no shenanigans and no damaged reputation.
For sellers/consignors, it would be interesting to understand the characteristics of Loupe This’s bidding audience, which I assume is always evolving. My guess is that they are mostly collectors and some dealers with experience buying in auction, and focused on post 1960’s to modern watches.
Although I have no experience buying in a Loupe This auction, the overall consigning process was excellent and Eric’s focus on simplicity shines through. If you don’t have the risk aversion to sell in a no reserve auction, Loupe This might be an option.
Note that I do not highlight listings from Loupe This in my weekly Auction Highlights as they are one of the leading watch specialist auction houses. The weekly Auction Highlights only feature watches from non-branded, lesser known and generalist auction houses.
I am not paid or endorsed by Eric Ku or Loupe This in any way. This was my experience and yours could differ.
Also thanks to
Good to know, appreciate the summary!