eBay Authenticity Guarantee - Applicability to Vintage Watches?

And they are vicious on social media. Don't piss them off or they will 'cancel' you.

One of the OF members was looking to sell on that platform last year. I wonder if he went ahead with it.

I don't read this as required, more like an optional "service" by ebay.

Edit: No, changed my mind. It looks like the seller has no choice about it. I really don't like it.

So what will happen if you have some aftermarket endlinks on the bracelet that were disclosed in the listing? This is going to be a mess. I guess it's eBay's way to compete with Crown and Caliber and similar sellers. Presumably, their market research told them that they were losing sales because of buyers worrying about authenticity.

From the ebay faq file:

"How do you determine Authenticity Guarantee eligibility for auction-style listings?
All auction-style listings starting above $2000 are eligible for Authenticity Guarantee. In addition, top models from luxury watch brands (e.g., Rolex Submariner, Omega Seamaster, Breitling Navitimer) are also eligible regardless of the auction starting price."

Surprisingly vague for such a large company. They describe the feature as "eligible" when in fact it is mandatory if a watch meets their criteria.

They state that a starting price of 2k makes it "eligible." If the watch sells for less than 2K then it is still authenticated.

If a watch is less than 2k but comes from a luxury brand then it is "eligible." They appear to state that all Rolex, Omega and other deemed luxury brands will be authenticated even if below 2k. $200 Omegas? They do not identify an exception.

This is very poorly defined. We can barely agree on a system of 1 to 5. How are these authenticators going to authenticate a watch? What if you descibe the lume as original, god forbid?

The intent seems to be to stop well made forgeries (obviously.) That is a noble quest. They did not think this through. As noted, the nice litlle cleaning they offer (for free!) Is chilling.

It is difficult at this point to consider using ebay.com to sell a "luxury" watch, whatever that may mean to ebay. Even buying a watch is problematic. Do you want some random authenticator handling your new watch? To what extent will they go to authenticate? Will casebacks be opened? They will open to replace a battery. What about mechanicals? They have to open it to check for fake movements, right? What are their qualifications and standards?

More questions than answers.