Not sure what going on but I have noticed quite a few watches being flagged with the Authenticity guarantee- saying they will be sent for authentication- and they are cheap watches that won’t even break $1-200....ummm, I think the system has gone haywire.



This may be a sure fire way for the authenticating contractors try cry uncle when they get this deluge of garbage.

 

Do sellers send these to a middleman first? Seems pretty bonkers.

 

That’s an excellent question. The thread on this new system was started when the program just began but I haven’t heard in a while about the process from anyone who has done it.

 

I bought my Skyfall AT from eBay in October, it definitely did not go to a middleman, as I bought it on Saturday night and had it Tuesday morning from across the country. I also sold my pre bond 200m auto last month (much lower price than the AT) on there and sent it directly to seller. I followed close tracking on both and neither had any stops en route.....

 

Interesting- are you in the US? According to their informational video, it is supposed to go to them, they do their “inspection”, then tape the case and bracelet, put it in a fancy box with a certification card, then send it along....lots of potential for disaster with that additional handling.

It is supposed to be for watches over $2kUSD- but the flagged items above are cheap crap- I don’t understand what’s going on.

 

If the auction ends below $2k, perhaps the process won't proceed.

 

The seller is forced to send the watch to eBay for authentication if it's over a certain $ amount. I recently bought a Seiko SLA033 and even though I could clearly see the watch in the Photos was genuine the seller had to send it for authentication, For me this was very irritating because it was going to slow down my receipt of the watch and meant someone else was going to put their fingers on it. I think in a way it works for the seller and buyer because it insures you get the watch in the pictures...I'm pretty sure thats all these authenticators do is compare to photos I doubt very much they have any real knowledge.

 

Yes in Colorado. And while the prebond price was just below the 2k, the Skyfall AT was definitely above it....

Absolutely no cards or anything else from EBay.

I was expecting a delay myself with this “new” process and it never occurred to my knowledge on either transaction.

 

Perhaps, but it’s very odd that the system is applied to watches like this arbitrarily. There is no way in hell that POS plated Chalet diver would ever reach $200 let alone $2k- so why was it flagged?

 

"authenticity will be verified by experts before delivery". The word 'expert' has lost all credibility over the last 9 months. The so-called experts have repeatedly been shown to be hacks and charlatans.

 

Yes, they are obviously not using any logic or discretion. It must be an algorithm that is still being trained, which is weird, since they have a huge existing database of sales.

 

That’s what I figured originally- I can see a plain old Tudor Prince with a top value of $1.5k being auto-flagged by the fact that the brand has many $2k+ watches. But a cheap chrome diver?!?! Or those gold filled Elgin’s...AI my ass!

 

Apparently eBay thinks this authentication thing is working: they recently started an authentication program for sneakers. From what I've read, the experts will be inner-city teen skateboarders and basketball players. Okay, I made that last part up.

 

You can say that again!!!!! and again.

 

Wow, The sneaker part is new to me....

the worst part, like @JwRosenthal said, is the added potential for disaster.

what happens when a fake or homage is sold after being “verified authentic”? I’m sure it will happen eventually... and I hope it’s not the unknowning customer that pays for it. (Even though they should hopefully spot the warning signs before buying)

 

For what possible reason could this be part of the program?

 

It's really hard to come up with any reason why these would be covered. Often we can disagree with someone's reason even though we understand what they are trying to accomplish. This is just confusing. They original said all luxury watches are subject even if under the 2k limit. Maybe Ebay has a Hamilton and Benrus fan that thinks they should be considered luxury brands?

I received an email a little while ago reminding me about Ebay's authenticity program. The short of it was them telling us to send a watch to ebay first and they would send it to the buyer. Apparently some sellers were bypassing them and sending it straight to the buyer. This was a no-no.

 

I think before this mandatory program was implemented for watches above $2,000, it was rolled out as a voluntary program. I’m wondering if perhaps you have a watch below $2,000, you can still request this service?

 

How much do you think that eBay is paying per watch to fund the authentication process? They are contracting with an authenticator and also paying for the second leg of shipping. I think it must be at least $50 per watch. If so, then they need to average a sales price of at least $500 in order to have net zero cash-flow on watch sales. The cost may be higher.

The number of low-priced watches sold is astronomical, and it's crazy for Amazon to pay for the authentication. Either this is some sort of glitch in the system, or they are willing to take a significant loss for a period of time ... for some reason.

 

Just the cheap shit we are buying over in bargain thread could put the hurt on them- @Norfolk would bankrupt them in a month