chris4
579
It will never happen...
Publicly all the big names bemoan the gray market, privately they all need it & use it to shift stock. You are right it would be relatively easy for any of the low volume/high value manufacturers to cut off the gray market, as I say it will never happen because they feed it to move on stock, either slow moving items or unpopular items, or sometimes just to turn cashflow around quickly.
Its just another example of how much smelly cow dung exists in many markets where the promotional blurb is not really quite correct...of course non of the manufacturers would ever admit it publicly, the swiss mafia is a closed shop!
Costco selling PP
We were shopping @ Costco in St Louis yesterday. The store has a YG 24 for sale. Open papers on the warranty card. My wife feels that this cheapens the brand and so do I.
Not be be uncharitable, but...
The 24 is a dime a dozen piece... to me, it makes no difference where that watch is purchased, as long it is authentic... it is usually quartz, etc, who cares? If a 5070P were in the case, well, different story. The 24 is there because it is such a pedest...
Does HSWA and PP care?
If I'm a female customer that just purchased a 24 from and AD and sees the same watch at Costco, I'd care. My wife and sister in law certainly did, and they both wear a 24.
Live and learn, I would say to that female customer
AD's discount that watch VERY heavily... probably more than Costco! On our watch-journeys, we have all seen a watch we bought for sale, cheaper, somewhere... either at an AD, the gray market... This message has been edited by Mostel on 2011-05-30 16:10:35
This has been periodically topical
I seem to recall that this came up a few years ago and further research by a few individuals suggested that Costco was not an authorized dealer, implying that the warranty would not stand. I don't know for sure if this is firmly the case but a quick check...
I promise I will stop here... but
I am continually amazed when members of this forum still believe that Patek cares at all about this sort of thing... If Patek really wanted to control their products, they would do something about the rampant gray marketing of their watches... of which th...
Agreed!
I agree! It seems like it would be easy to cut off the gray sellers if they wanted to (via the ADs that support them).
Would not bother me
If I saw a ref. that I wanted at a price I was willing to pay I'd get one. Though I doubt you'll see very hard to get models.
It will never happen...
Publicly all the big names bemoan the gray market, privately they all need it & use it to shift stock. You are right it would be relatively easy for any of the low volume/high value manufacturers to cut off the gray market, as I say it will never happ...
question about costco and PP
Do you have to sign up for their membership in order to purchase the watch? Also if you purchase say 500lbs of dog food can I get a discount?