Stolen watch authenticated by eBay

Just an FYI in case anyone thought otherwise -
When authenticating watches, eBay will not run a check (or even perform a Google search) on the watch to see if it has been reported stolen. How we know? A buyer recently received a watch that had been reported stolen after going through the authentication process.

eBay doesn't expressly call out in their Guarantee that they will check if the watch has been reported stolen, so it's not that they aren't doing what they have claimed they will, I just wanted to clarify only in case of interest. I've recommended to eBay that they add this this check to their authentication process (could be any registry, wouldn't have to necessarily be the Alpha Hands stolen watch registry of course - even making the effort to run a Google search could help).

eBay does state that "...if the third party authenticator detects fraud..." (Sec 6.d.) it will be removed. However, there is nothing expressly stated that attempting to confirm that it hasn't been reported stolen is a part of the standard process. It seems instead left up to each authenticator.

Of course, checking against the registries online isn't perfect...but can be a help (as it would of in this case).

So true - always do your diligence. In this case, the serial was obscured in the image on eBay - I recommend getting the serial prior to purchase to help with research.

Regarding registries, there really aren't that many with over >10K pieces. There are 3 main ones, which aside from Alpha Hands also includes The Watch Register and mystolenwatch (unclear for mystolenwatch the details of ownership, and elements do not appear to have been updated since 2017). If there are others though, please let me know.

One comment - insurance agencies can say if a given watch is free and clear (in the case where it was reported stolen to the agency and claim paid). A registry or manufacturer will not necessarily know if a watch was later recovered in order to update their information - this will only happen if the owner proactively reaches out. Even police reports can be out of date if watch is later found/recovered.

Buyers will off course decide what to think of the eBay Guarantee, but I would think the additional lift is so small that it would be useful to buyers to run a cursory check. Personally I would want to know if the watch I was bidding on had once been reported stolen (then I could ask for more details), but other collectors might not care.

I just wanted to say you're doing a great job. I hope one day this database will be used by everyone collecting/selling/buying watches
There are not many sites like yours and having something stolen is among the nastiest things that can happen(ask me how I know). It was not a watch, thankfully.

Thanks @ZIELSZIEK
I agree - hopefully people will use this databases (or others) before purchases, as well as after losses...though I hope the latter isn't needed!

Where can you search a serial number online to see if it’s stolen?

@subregister thanks for the link, is it you project?

@Tx3double Probably we did the same and searched using the "Search Product" row at top of the page.
Instead scroll down below the FAQ until you see a table. On the right of the table there is "Search" field.

cheers P

@tapaptpat Yes, Alpha Hands is the stolen watch registry I built 👍

And you are correct, to search the whole registry you will want to use the “search” field (otherwise it will only search whatever pieces are shown on the page at that moment). I have tried to create this in a way that collectors can also search directly from search engines to make it easier for everyone to access…but YMMV depending on the engine-