Platforms
Where to sell a watch
What each venue charges, what it asks of a seller, what it promises the buyer, and when the money actually arrives. Every figure comes from the platform's own published schedule, and each page carries the date it was read.
Fees change without much warning. Treat an old review date as a reason to check before you rely on a number.
- MarketplaceBezelA commission that steps down as your lifetime sales through the platform rise
- 12% down to 6.5% by lifetime volume
- $225 minimum commission
- Every watch authenticated, free
- A failed watch can cost 15%
- Auction houseChristie'sA fully published buyer's premium with no watch carve-out, and a seller's side Christie's does not publish at all
- 28% / 22% / 15% buyer's premium
- Identical to Sotheby's thresholds
- No watch-specific rate
- Seller's commission unpublished
- MarketplaceChrono24Free to list; a commission once the watch sells — but the rate depends on which kind of seller you are
- Free to list, commission on sale
- Dealer packages priced by tier
- Escrow holds the payment
- Buyer Protection and insured shipping
- TradeDealer to dealerNothing, because there is no platform — the costs are payment rails and risk
- No platform fee of any kind
- California needs a written statement
- Fort Worth exempts it from its hold
- No escrow and no recourse
- MarketplaceeBayA final value fee that steps down in bands, plus a small per-order fee
- Tiered final value fee
- Fee charged on the whole order
- Authenticity Guarantee
- Money Back Guarantee
- SocialFacebook Marketplace10% on shipped orders with checkout; nothing at all on local pickup and group sales
- 10% on shipped orders
- Fee charged on tax and shipping too
- Up to 20 days to get paid
- Local and group sales: no fee, no cover
- SocialInstagramNothing, because Meta no longer sits in the transaction
- No Meta checkout since Sept 2025
- No platform fee, no escrow
- A DM sale is still commerce content
- Counterfeits are an account risk
- DirectPawn shopsTwo transactions, two completely different costs
- Pawn and sale are different in law
- Florida caps the charge at 25% per 30 days
- Default transfers title automatically
- A licensed pawnbroker costs more to run
- Auction housePhillipsA watch-specific buyer's premium that undercuts Phillips' own general schedule
- Separate watch premium: 27% / 21% / 14.5%
- Lower than its own general rate
- First threshold at $1m, not $2m
- No priority bidding on watches
- Auction houseSotheby'sA fully published buyer's premium, and a seller's commission that Sotheby's describes as agreed case-by-case
- 28% / 22% / 15% buyer's premium
- Seller's commission effectively unpublished
- Payment within 45 days
- Consignor pays shipping and insurance
- MarketplaceStockXA transaction fee set by seller level, plus payment processing, calculated on the final sale price
- Fee falls with quarterly volume
- 3% processing on top
- Five seller levels
- Minimum fee per sale
- DirectWatchfinderNo commission — the cost is the spread between their offer and what the watch retails for
- No selling commission at all
- Payment within three days
- Offer set by demand and their stock
- Servicing fee may be deducted
Work out your own number
A fee schedule tells you the rate. What it nets you on a particular watch is a different question — run it through the channel comparison calculator, or find the floor under your asking price with the break-even calculator.