What is eBay’s New Authenticity Program?
eBay is unarguably one of the most dominant, if not the most dominant, online purveyors of luxury timepieces; and now, with their new Authenticity Program, buyers can be certain any watch over $2,000.00 USD purchased on E-bay will be certified authentic while funds are held in escrow.
Kindly note, this post contains affiliate links. The Uptown Timepiece may receive a commission at no extra cost to you should you choose to make a purchase. The Uptown Timepiece is independently owned. All opinions expressed here are our own.
How Does the Program Work?
Shoppers who decide to purchase a luxury timepiece over the price of $2,000.00 USD from eBay will have the opportunity, at no cost to them, to have their purchase evaluated for authenticity, by an independent third party, prior to accepting delivery.
The seller ships the purchased timepiece to an authenticator who then checks the piece against the listing, verifies the authenticity of each part and then ships the purchase to the buyer along with an identification card unique to the timepiece.
How long Does it Take?
If the authentication process is given a stated amount of time, we were unable to locate it in the eBay Terms of Service. If you know more than we do, please comment in the section below.
What we do know is once the authentication is complete, items ship from the authenticator, via expedited shipping,within two days.
What if the Purchase Gets Lost or Damaged?
One of our favorite elements of this program is the term that states any items that are lost or damaged during the Authenticity Guarantee process are protected by eBay’s Money Back Guarantee.
Buyers can feel good knowing their purchase is not only authentic but also protected.
What if the Authenticator finds Something Wrong?
In addition to protecting the consumer, eBay’s new program protects the industry as a whole. With counterfeit merchandise being a true and valid concern in today’s market, eBay has this to say about their program.
“…if the third party authenticator detects fraud or suspects that an item is counterfeit, the item will be confiscated and not recirculated in the marketplace – neither buyer nor seller will receive the item; in addition, eBay will work with the proper authorities as needed.”
Purchase price is refunded to the buyer.
Can the service be trusted?
Herein lies the magic question. Just like Regina King’s character in the vintage Will Smith movie Enemy of the State when she asks, ‘Who is going to monitor the monitors? And then who is going to monitor the monitors of the monitors? And then who is going to monitor the monitors of the monitors of the monitors?’ The question repeats forever.
All we can say is everything in life comes with some degree of a leap of faith. While eBay has in the past exhibited issues with authentication such as the problems they had with their handbag authentication program, we at The Uptown Timepiece would like to leap on the faith that eBay learned from their mistakes and took the time to rectify the problems.
What are your thoughts?
What are your thoughts and feelings regarding eBays new policy and also eBays old reputation? Let us know in the comments below.
Will the program benefit the industry? Time will surely tell. It always does.
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