Luxury pre-owned giant eBay is gearing up for a big week in November, where it will be sponsoring the WatchPro Awards, as well as exhibiting at WatchPro Salon for the first time.
As headline sponsor of the WatchPro Awards, the company is aiming to further integrate itself into the UK watch industry, at both a professional and personal level.
“With 27 years of history as the world’s largest online marketplace, eBay’s passion for connecting enthusiast communities inspires us to continue supporting innovation in resale, and we are very much looking forward to being the headline sponsor of the biggest event in the UK watch industry’s calendar to celebrate just that,” said the company’s head of lifestyle and luxury in the UK, Keith Metcalfe. “We are even flying in our watch category teams from North America and Germany to join in the celebrations,” he continued.
“The watch industry is driven by community, in the primary and secondary sectors alike. eBay was founded and is fuelled by our community, so we enjoy any opportunity to step out and connect with the industry to learn what matters to our customers, so that we can continue to be a global e-commerce leader that delivers an incredible selection of watches with a trusted, elevated experience.”
This night of celebration comes on the back of a year of intense work from eBay’s UK team to elevate and improve the company’s offering for both buyers and sellers of luxury watches, including the launch of its Authenticity Guarantee initiative, a post-sale authentication programme that guarantees authenticity on watches bought for over £1,500.
“We recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of our Authenticity Guarantee programme. Not only is authenticity now guaranteed on watches £1500+, our independent authenticators also check that the watch is exactly as it was described in its listing, “Metcalfe explains. “Thousands of customers have been delighted by the service, so we want to keep spreading awareness of the programme, as well as constantly working with individual and professional sellers on getting the best watches available on site.
“Watch sellers have been moving to eBay in droves, with the number of watch listings and watch sellers consistently stepping up every single week this year. We offer an improved platform for watch sellers, with competitive fees, a customer service team dedicated to luxury watches and increased protections via the Authenticity Guarantee programme. This team does an excellent job listening to both our buyers and sellers on their experiences so we are constantly learning and evolving the service to make it as easy and stress free for our customers. Customer returns are also processed via our authentication centre, so sellers can rest easy knowing they’ll receive the watch they sent out, in the same condition they sent it out in.”
