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eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee goes live in the UK

eBay has officially launched its Authenticity Guarantee service in the UK, which sees watches sold for more than £2,000 inspected on their way between seller and buyer.

eBay has officially launched its Authenticity Guarantee service in the UK, which sees watches sold for more than £2,000 inspected on their way between seller and buyer.

Authenticity Guarantee was first launched in the United States last year and led to a significant rise in sales of high value watches. Offering detailed inspection and verification by independent experts, eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee provides an extra layer of confidence for shoppers browsing watches on the site.

This increased buyer confidence ensures a boost in sales conversion for those who choose to list via the eBay platform, plus the Authenticity Guarantee process protects sellers with verified returns.

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Aside from the benefits Authenticity Guarantee brings, listing on eBay allows access to a different and vast customer base, with data showing that 85% of eBay buyers start and finish their shopping journey on eBay and more than half (54%) of UK internet users use eBay.

From now on, all wristwatches sold for over £2,000 on eBay UK across all brands – including Rolex, Omega, TAG Heuer, Breitling, Patek Phillipe and Audemars Piguet – will go through the Authenticity Guarantee process.

Authentication is being outsourced to Stoll & Co, a giant service business in the United States that has been successfully supporting the programme in the United States for over 12 months and opened a UK subsidiary earlier this year. There, the watches will be vetted and verified by Stoll & Co’s team of experienced and dedicated watchmakers and technicians, who repeat the process if a watch is returned by the buyer.

Kirsty Keoghan, Director of Luxury Goods at eBay UK, said: “Our number one goal is to bring more trust to our marketplace for our entire eBay community which is why we are investing in authenticity guarantee for watches at no extra cost to the buyer or seller.”

Those interested in opening an eBay sales channel can email the following address for support in getting set up: DL-eBay-newwatchseller@ebay.com.

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2 Comments

  1. “Our number one goal is to bring more trust to our marketplace for our entire eBay community” but only because they have been forced into it by market forces and then only on selected valuable purchases. I entered a search after reading this and the first watch that came up was a counterfeit Gucci watch but it cost under £2000 so they will continue to take a cut of these illegal criminal transactions but now with a “clear conscience”. No doubt reports will be ignored even more now they think that the counterfeit issue has been dealt with. Other sites take note of ALL illegal transactions not just the most expensive.

  2. Let me tell you something. It’s garbage. Sellers beware. ANYONE can buy your watch and send it back after a ‘trial run’ or a night out, claiming it’s ‘not as described’ even though it’s been inspected by an ‘expert’ (probably in training shoes) and you get back a scratched luxury watch with fees.
    I know, it has just happened to me.
    EBay only care about money.

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