BUYER BEWARE: 5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Buy Your “Special Object” Here 1. Poor Customer Protection: Catawiki only provides 3 days to review your object. After that, you have absolutely zero protection as a buyer. This is far from standard practice in today’s online marketplace. 2. Sellers Can Easily Get Away With False Advertisements: Sellers can advertise goods that work “perfectly” and not be held accountable for selling faulty products if the buyer doesn't react within 3 days. This matter becomes complicated for technical gadgets, such as luxury automatic mechanical watches that may not appear broken in the first 48 hours. 3. Unclear Customs Fees: The seller doesn’t have to give even a range of the expected costs for customs. In my case, the cost was 160EUR – on top of the auction fee and delivery charge – but Catawiki guessed that it could be EVEN more: upwards of 300EUR, depending on the country. At the very least, a range for this charge should be told to the consumer. This is borderline breaking international consumer rights laws. 4. No Medium For Resolving Conflict: After 3 days, once the payment from escrow hits the seller’s account, there is precious little that can be done from the Catawiki side. You are left out cold, and nothing can be done to resolve the situation in terms of returns or compensation. (Forget asking to return anything on this site! Better yet, just go to Amazon or a more trusted site.) 5. Dubious “Experts”: One reason the seller in my case refused to refund or resolve the issue is because he said my luxury watch was inspected by experts before being sent. The site is also proud to put their experts’ faces on top of all auction items. This is just clever marketing; don’t be tricked. There is no expert inspecting each good and you are at full risk if that good should be delivered without being in working condition. Learn from my mistake (and many like me) and do not buy anything on Catawiki. 6. Final thoughts (my review): This has been the worst online purchase experience of my life. I’m a 38-year-old male with plenty of experience in the online world, and I work in marketing online brands. I now own a faulty luxury watch that will be a constant reminder of this horrible customer experience. I will likely end up selling it at a loss, when I could have just bought the same watch directly from the brand or a reputable retailer – for a LOWER cost that this second-hand piece of junk Catawiki helped facilitate. BUYER BEWARE: You are much better off going to a reputable auction house or store that can provide consumer protection and product guarantees. That is not Catawiki.