Buy From Ricardo.ch. We Bid or Buy — You Just Get the Package.
Ricardo.ch is Switzerland's largest online marketplace — part auction site, part fixed-price listings, with millions of users and tens of thousands of new listings a day, covering everything from vintage watches and coins to cameras and design pieces. Most of it runs in German, French, or Italian, and almost everything about it assumes a Swiss buyer: the shipping cost shown on a listing is for delivery within Switzerland, auctions can close in as little as a day, and private sellers have no reason to expect — or know how to handle — a bid or a payment from someone outside the country.
Winning isn't the finish line, either. Even after you've won an auction or bought a fixed-price listing, you're the one who has to get a Swiss seller to actually ship it abroad, in a language that isn't yours, against a clock that's already running before you've found anyone to help.
How It Works
- 1
You send us the listing and your budget.For an auction, that's the maximum you're willing to pay — your top bid. For a fixed-price listing, it's simply what you're prepared to spend.
- 2
We check what the listing actually promises on shipping, and contact the seller if it's not clear — usually within 24–48 hours.Some Ricardo sellers already ship across the border into the EU; plenty don't say either way until asked. We find out before you're committed to anything.
- 3
We bid or buy on your behalf.For auctions, we place bids as the deadline approaches, up to the maximum you gave us — we won't go a franc over it, and if it sells for more than that, we simply don't win it. For fixed-price listings, we complete the purchase outright, the same way we do on the other platforms we work with.
- 4
It's received at our Germany facility.Inspection is available if you want it — just ask, and we'll confirm it's the item described and check for obvious damage before it ships. If you skip this, it goes straight to packing.
- 5
We pack it — standard protective packaging, reinforced for fragile items, or custom crating/palletizing for oversized pieces on request (may cost more) — then weigh it and send you a separate invoice for shipping.That's billed separately from your original quote, since it depends on the actual weight and size once it's packed.
- 6
Once that's paid, we ship it to your US address, usually via DHL, in about 7–14 days.That's a typical range, not a guarantee.
- 7
Customs duties are paid on delivery, and we provide the customs paperwork.This is charged by the carrier when your package arrives, not something we prepay or fold into our quote.
Pricing
Our service fee is 8–15% of the item's price, with a $20 minimum, on top of what you pay (or bid) for the item — the exact rate depends on the specifics, so you'll see the real number on your quote. Shipping and packaging are billed separately once we know the actual weight and size (see step 5) — they're not part of this quote.
If it doesn't go through:
- We don't win the auction, or the deal falls through before we've paid — nothing is charged, including our service fee.
- Cancel after we've already purchased or won it on your behalf — we refund whatever we can recover from the sale; our service fee isn't refunded, since the sourcing work is already done.
- The item turns out to be un-exportable, or customs rejects it — we refund the purchase price minus any costs already incurred, and tell you exactly what those were.
Refunds go back through Stripe to your original payment method, typically 5–10 business days. Shipping and packaging fees are refundable until the parcel is dispatched — once it's with the carrier, they're not.
What We Buy
We focus on antique, vintage, and collectible items on Ricardo.ch — vintage watches, coins and stamps, cameras, and design pieces are common on the platform and fit squarely in what we handle.
Why This Works
We check the shipping terms and talk to the seller before you've committed to a bid, not after you've already won something you can't get home — and once it's in our hands, it goes through our Germany facility, the same place everything else we buy in Europe passes through before it ships to you.
FAQ
Nothing is charged. We only bid up to the maximum you give us — if the item sells for more than that, we simply don't win it.
Yes — the same process applies, minus the bidding. We buy it outright at the listed price.
Not automatically — Ricardo listings are priced assuming delivery within Switzerland. That's exactly why we check the shipping terms and contact the seller before you're committed to anything, not after.
No — even when you request inspection, we confirm the item matches the listing and check for obvious damage, but we don't power things on or run a functional test.
Credit or debit card, Alipay, or WeChat Pay, all through Stripe's hosted checkout. For large or unusual orders, we may arrange a wire transfer instead.
If it turns out to be significantly not as described, we'll step in and communicate with the original seller on your behalf. Any return depends on that seller's own policies — sales are considered final once we've purchased on your behalf, return shipping is your responsibility, and we can't guarantee the outcome.
Shipping alone typically runs 7–14 days once we have the item — add however long the auction or shipping confirmation takes on top of that.
Also buying from Germany, France, the Netherlands, or Belgium? See all the platforms we buy from →
Get a quote. Paste the Ricardo.ch listing into our quote page at hobbeex.com along with your budget or maximum bid — we'll tell you honestly whether we can get it and roughly what it'll cost, before you commit to anything.
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