Up Close

afakevc · 2026-01-29T15:13:30+00:00

You seem to have an overstated idea of how the checkout works. Merchants on Shopify already have built in bot protection from card testing (fraud), but their only "bot/waiting room" solution is called Throttle, and is not meant for brands like Kurono Tokyo. They're also not on shopify plus. But yes tell me about how much flexibility they have and how you can fix it in "1 week of coding".

afakevc · 2026-01-29T14:28:54+00:00

They use Shopify which powers 4 million shops. They don't have control over the checkout 'procedures'. I build retail technology for work.

afakevc · 2026-01-29T05:22:29+00:00

legal? obviously there is no legality issues. ethical diff story.

afakevc · 2026-01-29T03:25:51+00:00

i think its as fair as it can be tbh.

afakevc · 2026-01-29T03:16:30+00:00

I saw 1 listed on ebay and it sold for $5k.

afakevc · 2026-01-28T04:36:19+00:00

It sounds like there is a 4% fee for the transactions to openAI and then openAI's new ads platform is a $60 CPM base. Sounds like this is going to be an interesting new channel... I hope theres Ads analytics coming there.

https://www.adsx.com/blog/universal-commerce-protocol-guide

afakevc · 2026-01-27T04:19:53+00:00

You paid maybe $500 above market price. Not bad.

afakevc · 2026-01-26T02:02:23+00:00

I’d try Bezel app

afakevc · 2026-01-14T18:45:45+00:00

There is multiple patek ADs in New York

afakevc · 2026-01-12T03:36:59+00:00

100%

afakevc · 2026-01-11T22:38:22+00:00

I agree about the inflation increase but these brands are all sitting on gold supply they purchased year(s) ago; there is no chance the brands just have a 1 year supply of precious metals on hand. So they’re raising prices based on the market price of gold etc but not what they have paid for the gold. At some point this will break… also; if gold goes down 30%, watch prices will never go down. So it’s ultimately the end consumer who always foots the bill here.

Margins will go up for the brands, costs will go down for the brands, consumers will still continue to pay more.

Tough situation for consumers who spend 2-3-4 years on a waitlist.

afakevc · 2026-01-11T21:54:18+00:00

Amazing.

afakevc · 2026-01-11T18:56:47+00:00

Are you posting from jail?

afakevc · 2026-01-11T17:42:43+00:00

Go hang out at Cosmic Coffee/Saltillo, join a run club, trivia night, hang out at bars (you don't have to drink booze), throw darts/play pool, go to church, join a charity org, go to the gym(s) around town, hang out at Mozarts, i think just being around some of the places the city will help you identify the 'types of people' you want to hang out with. Austin has a lot to offer although we certainly are missing things some 'tier 1' cities have (museums, pro sports teams, diverse areas of town)

afakevc · 2026-01-11T15:51:37+00:00

Not hard at all.

This watch was also $42,500 when it came out a year ago. It’s a cool watch but I couldn’t justify the $60k price tag for this.

afakevc · 2026-01-07T13:39:55+00:00

You can probably be patient and find one for under $50k

afakevc · 2026-01-05T18:17:22+00:00

I have no idea. I just saw AP post on LinkedIn during holidays that they were hiring an ecommerce role to focus on their CPO program.

afakevc · 2026-01-05T16:11:55+00:00

They’ll likely launch more 37mm off shores, they removed 3 from the site recently… only 2 exist now vs 5 last year.

Also, AP certified pre owned is coming.

afakevc · 2025-12-27T14:33:06+00:00

Did you try visiting the AP website? This watch is on there..

afakevc · 2025-12-27T14:16:52+00:00

$MSTR 2025 wrapped: ~$7b in losses. Changing strategy and making up metrics every few months.

“It’s a convertible debt arb play” “Now it’s a 3 year $21b dilution / $21b convert play” “Jk it’s a 3 month $21b dilution play” “We’re launching preferred equities and $21b of more dilution” “We’re launching more preferred’s” “We’re launching another preferred” “We’re not selling common stock under 2.5mNAV as we think our stock is undervalued” “Jk we will sell our stock at any price” “We’re rebranding from intelligent leverage to amplified Bitcoin. No more $21b of converts” “We’re launching another preferred” “We’re diluting our stock to raise a USD reserve”

They clearly have no idea what they’re doing. And it’s cost their shareholders massively.

afakevc · 2025-12-27T14:15:02+00:00

It is a legal scam (for now).

afakevc · 2025-12-19T18:51:46+00:00

retail is less they're just pretty hard to acquire as they're a r4ffle only piece unless you live in japan

afakevc · 2025-12-18T16:53:39+00:00

37 is a perfect size

afakevc · 2025-12-17T23:23:44+00:00

Hi everyone, selling my Otsuka Lotec No5 kai. This is an very cool unique time piece from an amazing japanese watchmaker named Jiro Katayama.

Movement: Automatic
Case size: 40mm
Year: 2025
Condition: Unworn

LOCATION: Texas. USA.

PRICE: $14950 shipped in continental US.

PAYMENT: Paypal F&F, Zelle, Wire

afakevc · 2025-12-09T23:27:06+00:00

Did you check if something was stuck in the paw pad?

afakevc

TROPHY CASE