Rolex AD / grey market - lawsuit

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TIMUR
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Rolex AD / grey market - lawsuit

Post by TIMUR » Mon Feb 15, 2021 10:06 am

My local AD.
Thankfully not my AD

But. I have seen this happen with my own eyes. Scruffy Guy in a shitty honda picking up 10-15 Rolex boxes. Everyone ignores the dude. My AD knows that I know. Little awkward but life goes on..


https://atelierdegriff.com/2021/02/14/b ... UbFQ1iB1Lg

Mr_Pacman
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Re: Rolex AD / grey market - lawsuit

Post by Mr_Pacman » Mon Feb 15, 2021 12:23 pm

Wouldn't be surprised if this has been happening at multiple dealers all over the world for years.

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Jeep99dad
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Re: Rolex AD / grey market - lawsuit

Post by Jeep99dad » Mon Feb 15, 2021 12:38 pm

Shocker
Merde Alors! Et Vive Les Francais! :)

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DenverBuff
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Re: Rolex AD / grey market - lawsuit

Post by DenverBuff » Mon Feb 15, 2021 1:21 pm

I'm a bit thick, so I need a little guidance here as to how the accounting works.

I'm assuming Rolex ADs cannot sell to regular customers for more than the MSRP. But it knows these pieces go for 2X and up on the grey market. So does the AD just sell to a grey at an inflated price? If so, how is that different from selling to Joe Customer at the inflated price? You're still selling a piece to a buyer for more than MSRP. Or is it simply that the AD can NEVER accept more than MSRP from a customer, even if they can pay it?

Or does the AD sell to the grey at MSRP and do a side deal to split the inflated sales profit from the grey sale? Or is the AD running a grey business on the side?

Just curious.

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CGSshorty
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Re: Rolex AD / grey market - lawsuit

Post by CGSshorty » Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:06 pm

Just a guess, as I have no firsthand knowledge, but I’d assume the watches are sold at MSRP and cash is then kicked back to the AD.
"It's such a fine line between stupid, and clever."
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JP Chestnut
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Re: Rolex AD / grey market - lawsuit

Post by JP Chestnut » Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:12 pm

CGSshorty wrote:
Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:06 pm
Just a guess, as I have no firsthand knowledge, but I’d assume the watches are sold at MSRP and cash is then kicked back to the AD.
Probably combined with them buying some unloved watches to get them off the AD’s books.

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TSD
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Re: Rolex AD / grey market - lawsuit

Post by TSD » Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:34 pm

JP Chestnut wrote:
Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:12 pm
CGSshorty wrote:
Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:06 pm
Just a guess, as I have no firsthand knowledge, but I’d assume the watches are sold at MSRP and cash is then kicked back to the AD.
Probably combined with them buying some unloved watches to get them off the AD’s books.
It alleged employees and/or strawmen were buyers at list using their credit cards, and then resold and shipped overseas to grey dealers. The employee would "enter the store with bags of cash, and place large quantities of cash in the sales register" which was credited to those specific sales and kicked back to the AD ownership.

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Jeep99dad
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Re: Rolex AD / grey market - lawsuit

Post by Jeep99dad » Mon Feb 15, 2021 3:05 pm

Kickbacks post sales.
They have to sell at MSRP unless used
Merde Alors! Et Vive Les Francais! :)

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Ryeguy
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Re: Rolex AD / grey market - lawsuit

Post by Ryeguy » Mon Feb 15, 2021 3:36 pm

The fact that this scheme was uncovered as happening in a major US city (with all of our laws surrounding employee protections and fair trade practices) suggests this is running rampantly world-wide. There is simply no way this is a singular event.

The real story is what will Rolex do as a consequence of this lawsuit?

A) Conduct an in-depth AD audit to aggressively and proactively identify suspect AD's to curtail any further activities such as this and re-establish AD codes of conduct

or

B) Ignore this (or pay it lip service only levels of attention) given they are selling pretty much every watch they can manufacture

I'm hoping for (A), but my cynical self thinks (B) is more likely.

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dnslater
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Re: Rolex AD / grey market - lawsuit

Post by dnslater » Tue Feb 16, 2021 5:06 am

Ryeguy wrote:
Mon Feb 15, 2021 3:36 pm
The fact that this scheme was uncovered as happening in a major US city (with all of our laws surrounding employee protections and fair trade practices) suggests this is running rampantly world-wide. There is simply no way this is a singular event.

The real story is what will Rolex do as a consequence of this lawsuit?

A) Conduct an in-depth AD audit to aggressively and proactively identify suspect AD's to curtail any further activities such as this and re-establish AD codes of conduct

or

B) Ignore this (or pay it lip service only levels of attention) given they are selling pretty much every watch they can manufacture

I'm hoping for (A), but my cynical self thinks (B) is more likely.
I’m thinking B. They have no motivation to do A. They sell everything they make and this isn’t damaging their reputation among the general public, only hard core watch nerds.

Nobody is buying an Omega or Zenith instead to “stick it to Rolex”.

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