Tirath Kamdar’s role at eBay in California makes him the ultimate disruptor of traditional luxury goods retail, but his background is much more mainstream.
Growing up in Chicago, he was an avid sports fan, particularly basketball and football, and even met his idol Michael Jordan while practicing at his training camp.
Back home, his parents ran a jewelry business with five decades of history behind it, giving him a taste for watches and jewelry.
Tirath’s first big step towards the watch industry was the launch of second-hand luxury goods marketplace, TrueFacet.
By the time he left, the company employed more than 50 people and had raised $27 million to fund its growth.
Heading to Silicon Valley was written in the stars, and taking on the general manager’s role for luxury at eBay drew on all Tirath’s experience.
He describes his role as: “Analyzing and understanding today’s brand and consumer trends, aligning our marketplace with the ever-evolving ways that people buy and sell luxury online, and ensuring that eBay is a trusted and valued community for watch enthusiasts.”
Central to his mission is building trust between buyers and sellers of high-ticket items, including collectible watches, handbags and sneakers, which is why eBay launched its Authenticity Guarantee in 2020, which requires all items sold for more than $2,000 to be sent to specialists to be checked they are genuine and as described.
More recently, eBay launched an opt-in expert verification service for watches priced between $1,000 and $2,000.
In March this year, eBay announced two more game-changers. The first is the Vault, a 31,000 sq ft secure physical storage facility and marketplace where collections are professionally and securely stored, and portfolios can be managed digitally.
Second is eBay’s Digital Wallet, which allows sellers to store sale proceeds in a digital wallet, getting near instant access to use their funds to buy other goods.
Tirath now wants to work directly with luxury brands that want to reach eBay’s community of 147 million active buyers and 17 million sellers worldwide.
“We recognize that rising consumer interest in pre-owned is edging luxury brands into resale, and anticipate brands will only continue thinking about this space,” he says.
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