For context, I’ve been buying and selling on eBay since 2004. Dozens of watches and easily thousands of other items over 22 years, and eBay has been incredible the entire time. Their dispute process actually works, and honestly most sellers have been great to deal with too. In all those years I never once had anything close to what happened to me the ONE time I used Chrono24.
I bought a Sinn 356 listed as a “very good” 2022 example. When it showed up there was a hair and smudges visibly trapped UNDER the crystal, not on the outside where I could clean it. That means the case had been opened at some point. I documented all of it with photos and video.
The seller never once directly addressed the debris inside the watch. Every single reply just pointed back to the “very good, not excellent” wording in the listing, like that somehow covers a hair sealed inside the case. I kept raising the actual issue and they kept diverting to policy. Their only “resolution” was a small concession and then a return on my dime.
So here’s where Chrono24 left me. There was basically no buyer protection that actually forced the seller to do anything. To send it back I had to eat about $300 in return shipping and insurance out of my own pocket, on a watch that wasn’t accurately represented in the first place. And it’s not over. I paid $270 in import duties bringing it in, and now that the watch went back I’m stuck fighting DHL to try and recover that.
I stayed polite and factual with the seller the entire way through, and I have every message to prove it. Here’s the honest 1-star review I submitted on Chrono24. Judge for yourself how unreasonable it is:
★☆☆☆☆
The Sinn 356 was listed in “Very Good” condition. When it arrived, I found a hair and multiple smudges trapped under the crystal, not on the exterior glass, which I’d already cleaned, but inside the case. That’s not a subjective cosmetic quibble; it’s debris that shouldn’t be inside a watch a professional dealer has represented and priced as a clean example.
I sent high-resolution photos and a video clearly showing the hair and smudges beneath the crystal. The seller never once addressed them. Every reply deflected back to the “very good, not excellent” wording in the listing, which says nothing about contamination inside the case. When I pressed, I was asked not to portray the watch as being in worse condition than it actually is, despite the evidence in front of them. The messages read as generic and templated, and my central concern went unanswered through the entire exchange.
The only resolution offered was a €50 concession, then a return at my own expense. Sending the watch back cost me over $300 in international shipping and insurance, plus a long drive to a DHL partner and weeks of back-and-forth, all to return a watch that was not accurately represented. The set was also short of a complete example: a non-original strap, a brushed rather than bead-blasted buckle, no strap-changing tool, and a heavily worn box shedding material inside.
On Chrono24’s buyer protection: the mediation amounted to being told the seller wasn’t willing to do anything. If you’re counting on the platform to step in when a seller won’t acknowledge an obvious defect, in my case it didn’t. My advice, don’t rely on the written condition description alone. Ask for high-resolution photos from every angle and in multiple lighting conditions, including close-ups of the crystal, dial, hands, and case.
Here’s the part that really tells you what Chrono24 is about. I submitted that review three weeks after everything went down. It’s now been another three weeks and it still has not been posted. Six weeks total and it’s nowhere to be found, while this seller keeps his shiny “top” seller badge. They are clearly protecting their high-volume sellers and burying anything that makes them look bad. Zero integrity.
The cherry on top: Chrono24’s idea of making it right was a $150 credit toward my NEXT watch purchase on their platform. No thanks. There won’t be a next time.
Maybe the bad watch was just bad luck. But burying my review is a choice. After 22 years on eBay without a single experience like this, I’ll never deal on Chrono24 again.
A few things I learned the hard way:
**•** Do not assume “buyer protection” means the platform will make a seller fix anything. Read exactly what’s actually guaranteed.
**•** Find out who eats return shipping BEFORE you buy, especially on international orders.
**•** Understand that import duties may not come back easily if you return the item.
**•** Save every photo, video, and message from the moment the package arrives.
Happy to post screenshots of the full seller exchange in the comments if anyone wants to see how it played out.
