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Collecting.com Reviews 

422
TrustScore 4.5 out of 5

4.5

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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Looking at 89 reviews, reviewers overwhelmingly had a great experience with this company. Customers frequently praise the dedicated staff members for providing exceptional guidance, a friendly attitude, and highly professional communication throughout the entire auction journey. People buying and selling valuable items deeply appreciate the managed services, noting that everything is handled smoothly and makes transactions feel completely secure and straightforward. However, some people mentioned noticeable issues with product condition, pointing out that items occasionally arrived broken or required unexpected and extremely costly repairs. A few reviewers also felt unsupported when problems occurred, sharing that items unfortunately lacked proper pre-listing checks and reliable authentication measures.

What people talk about most

Service

People report positive experiences with service, highlighting a smooth, seamless, and reliable process from... See more

Staff

Customers consistently note positive experiences with staff, highlighting the helpful, responsive, and... See more

Customer service

Users describe positive interactions with customer_service, highlighting helpful and professional advisors... See more

Product

Clients share ambiguous opinions on product experiences, highlighting both exceptional satisfaction and... See more

User experience

Consumers find user experience to be very positive, highlighting a smooth, professional, and seamless process... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Watch collecting offers great service and communication with successful buyers. My only recommendation would be for them to be able to arrange freight from the UK to Australia, but now that I've op... See more

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

The auction itself was fine, very clear and once it had finished I did get a bit worried that it would be a hassle. The seller email didn’t work and after a little panic I spoke to the guys at Watch c... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

From the moment I contacted Watch Collecting I was made to feel so welcome and safe. Totally genuine hard working team. I dealt with Jamie who was a very efficient and knowledgeable gentleman. He k... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Unfortunatley, the seller of the watch I won was dissapointed with the sale price, so, by mutual agreement we decided not to proceed - this is an unusual circumstance, not at all the norm or som... See more


Company details

  1. Auction house

Written by the company

Collecting.com is a global online auction platform for collectible watches, bringing buyers and sellers together through curated, 7-day auctions. Launched in 2021 as Watch Collecting, the platform has grown to more than 400,000 members and achieved over £110 million in sales. Our specialist team is based in the UK, with offices and expertise around the world, sourcing and presenting a broad range of watches to an international audience. Whether buying, selling or simply following the market, Collecting.com offers a secure, specialist-led experience for collectors.


Contact info

4.5

Excellent

TrustScore 4.5 out of 5

422 reviews

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Asks customers to review

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Replied to 50% of negative reviews

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4.5

All reviews

(422)

91 reviews in the last 12 months

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Dealt with Hugo

Dealt with Hugo, I was buying. He did what was necessary to achieve a sale acceptable to both parties. That's his job and he did it well!

9 September 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Poor communication

Poor communication, unclear payment system and overall you are much more protected on eBay.
Watch collecting will take their fee immediately and give you the purchaser a whole load of work to do. To be fully protected you have to use escrow services to make a payment to the owner of the watch you are buying and then pay and extortionate shipping fee (£500).
It took less than a second after I ‘won’ the auction for WC to take their fee and I didn’t receive my watch for nearly two weeks.
Overall a really stressful and unpleasant buying experience. I will never use them again.

They should make the payment process and delivery service much better rather than sending thousands of pounds to a random stranger.

24 June 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Alex Hensley pulled out all the stops…

Alex Hensley pulled out all the stops to arrange a specialist courier to deliver my watch prior to going on holiday. Great service, personable and always available for queries throughout the buying process. Watch Collecting is a safe place to buy used luxury watches, with accurate descriptions and detailed photos. Can highly recommend.

11 August 2025
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Excellent customer service and support

Excellent customer service and support! From the beginning of the transaction to the end, I had a lot of questions. The team was helpful, patient, kind and exceeded expectations. They are truly in a league of their own! Anyone that does business with them, can trust it will be a fantastic experience and know they are in the most caring capable hands.

13 August 2025
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Seamless experience buying and selling

Seamless experience buying and selling with Watch Collecting. Mark Fell was very knowledgeable and provided excellent support throughout. I received a better price for my watch than I expected. I used the managed service which was absolutely worth it and Watch Collecting handled everything with the buyer. This allowed me to upgrade to a new Rolex at a great price, which I also bought on the platform.

7 July 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Successfully sold my watch with WC

Successfully sold my watch with Watch Collecting.
The process went really smoothly, and I appreciated the personal contact I had with Fleur Dubois. I’ve also tried selling with other auction houses, where the personal interaction is nonexistent, so this was a pleasant surprise to me.

19 June 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Worse experience with a platform I have ever encountered

I usually never post about bad experiences with sellers, I usually count it as part of business risk. But some instances where a professional platform acts in a way that's unethical, I have to share and ensure no one deals with them without knowing what they do.

In an industry dependent on trust, their conduct has been anything but trustworthy.

They auctioned a watch that was far different from their horologists report—it had inauthentic parts and severe water damage, and when I raised concerns, they say that it's up to buyers to check and ask the right questions. Well what are buyers paying such a high buyers premium for, if we can't even trust them to do basic checks. What makes them different from a marketplace like Ebay if they accept no responsibility for their trades?

When bidding, they said that it's a good watch, and the seller is credible and sold multiple times through them. The reiterated that because the watch was using their managed service, and sellers are vetted, they inspect the watch and that it's a good purchase.

After winning the auction, paying, and collecting the watch, I asked another company, one I deal with regularly and trust, to inspect the watch. They instantly showed me areas that the watch is severely damaged, and tampered with by a 3rd party.

Watch Collecting has a counterfeit protection 'guarantee', well if the parts are also not original, and has been tampered with, how is that not a counterfeit, at least partly? Authenticity is binary, either 100% authentic or not. There are many many more issues with them, including some rude colleagues, without naming names.

I see that every for bad review online, they get defensive and deny everything, rather than address the issues or try to fix it.

I had recommended, as a fair resolution, that if they really believe the paperwork on the watch that they provided to me by their horologist, then relist it on their platform and sell it again to another buyer, to which they said no. They said if it needs to be resold, they will use my findings, by an external report (which I had done as a favor to me and on my cost) and cannot mislead the next buyer. But they were very okay misleading me. They knew that their existing report wouldn't hold up with the next buyer.

They refunded the buyers premium, and think that that's sufficient. Well, that premium is what lead to me buying a completely different watch than they described so it doesn't even begin to cover their mistake.

They're completely immoral, arrogant, and take advantage of buyers' trust.

14 April 2025
Unprompted review
Collecting.com logo

Reply from Collecting.com

Hi Parth, thanks for your review. Just to clarify a few points:

Our terms state buyers are responsible for authenticating lots, including condition. The Horologist's report is an initial condition assessment only and doesn't guarantee authenticity or condition. Their report also notes it's a visual inspection and not exhaustive. All of this is specified at the bottom of the report.

During the auction, you didn't ask questions or request a viewing. Listing descriptions are based on seller-provided information, and we don't authenticate, verify condition or offer warranties. The photoset, which showed the glue marks you've mentioned, forms part of the description.

As a goodwill gesture, we offered a full fee refund and a 25% discount on your next buyer's premium. Because payment is a private transaction between you and the seller, Watch Collecting, as an intermediary, only connects winning bidders with sellers. We therefore must remain neutral in any resulting disputes, and compensation must be sought directly from the seller.


Kind regards,
Watch Collecting Client Services Team







Rated 1 out of 5 stars

They will harass you even if you say…

They will harass you even if you say no!

Spoke to Hugo a few months back about the possibility of listing a watch. I wasn't dying to sell and just wanted to see the reaction. I was concerned with his demeanour, his inability to return calls at a set time and his pushiness to list at a much lower price so politely declined.

Today I receive another email and I respond telling him that we've already had the conversation and decided not to go ahead. He's carried on arguing over email comparing the value of a 2019 watch to a 2022 watch.

If anyone at Watch Collecting sees this, can you please kindly ask him to stop contacting me? At no point have I asked to be repeatedly contacted or argue about a price. I've said no and moved on. I hope Hugo can too

21 February 2025
Unprompted review
Collecting.com logo

Reply from Collecting.com

Hi Ketan,

Thank you for the above review.

We are sad to hear that you had a bad experience with us recently. We just wanted to provide you some clarity on our approach and procedures when speaking with possible sellers.

Hugo spoke with you near the end of January after you enquired to sell your watch with us. After discussing the watch and the reserve price with you, you decided not to go ahead with listing with us.
For each of our listing enquiries that have listing potential, our Consignment team carry out follow ups roughly a month after the initial conversations. Hugo got in touch with you to see whether you were still interested in listing with us, providing you with an example of a similar watch that recently sold on our site.

We’re sorry if you felt this was too much contact, and will feed back to the team so that we can look into our approach to the Consignment process.

As a gesture of good will, we would be happy to offer you a free Managed Service worth £250 and free boosting worth £100 if you were to decide to list with us in the future.

Kind wishes,
Watch Collecting Client Services Team

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Amazing service from start to finish

Amazing service from start to finish. Very professional outfit, Hugo was great at walking me through the process. Will 100% be buying again and recommending… once I have financially recovered from this purchase! Thanks to the Watch Collecting team.

14 February 2025
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

The process was hassle free from…

The process was hassle free from beginning to end.
Everything was clearly explained by my consignment representative (Fluer), my expectations were met and it was a pleasant experience.
Highly recommended.

29 January 2025
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awful experience

Awful experience, stay away from this platform.

So quick to take the fee and so little help when they make a mistake.

Advert has the wrong description, condition was awful and looks like the images must have been edited!

As soon as I questioned this, I was told "no refund to the fee" in other words you are forced to buy whatever you bid on.

Even if the auction is listed wrong on their part.

1 January 2025
Unprompted review
Collecting.com logo

Reply from Collecting.com

Hello Mo,

To clarify some details on your above review.

After winning the Auction for the Patek Philippe, you requested that the watch be authenticated for collection. This is not usually something that happens in our post-Auction processes, however we went ahead and had the watch authenticated by a verified Patek Philippe authenticator, supplying you with a report detailing the watch’s correct provenance.

Despite being provided evidence of the watch’s authenticity, you decided to pull out of the deal, breaking the conditions of the sale detailed in our terms and conditions.

We strongly disagree with your statement that the listing was misdescribed. The images and description within the listing correctly presented the watch and its condition, paired with the authentication from the verified Patek Philippe authenticators. You did not come to see the watch, nor receive it before withdrawing from the sale.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Great experience selling my Rolex…


Great experience selling my Rolex through Watch Collecting. Mark was excellent - professional, clear, and made the process simple and efficient. Always on the end of the phone if needed. Highly recommend!

13 January 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Very happy

Very happy. My first purchase on Collecting Watches and the company and seller were excellent and very easy to deal with. Would strongly recommend them and will definitely be buying again.

12 December 2024

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