eBay expanded its consignment program called eBay Authenticate to include luxury watches. The program already includes luxury handbags.
The company also announced it expanded eBay Authenticate to several European markets this month, including the UK and Germany.
We recently wrote about the history of eBay’s consignment initiatives – as we pointed out, you can find eBay Authenticate items listed for sale on the EastvaleLuxe eBay Store, run by Ingram Micro Commerce’s Eastvale Store LLC unit – one of contractors that had operated eBay Valet. We don’t know if EastvaleLuxe will add watches to its current lineup of luxury handbags.
eBay announcement follows:
Today, eBay announces the expansion of eBay Authenticate into the luxury watch category, offering consumers thousands of high-end watches, verified by professional authenticators.
eBay’s Authenticate program, which launched in the luxury handbags category last year, includes watches and handbags from the most sought-after brands marked with an “Authenticity Verified” label. The service also expanded this month into several European markets, including the United Kingdom and Germany.
eBay, one of the largest luxury watch marketplaces in the world, offers the widest selection of inventory online. Shoppers can now browse an authenticated selection of over 30 luxury watch brands, including Rolex, Patek Philippe, Omega, Audemars Piguet, Breitling and Panerai, at eBay.com/authentic/watches. The watches — a top selection of pre-owned, vintage and new — are verified by third-party authentication experts and sourced through select, top-rated eBay sellers. Nearly 7,000 watches are available at launch globally, adding to the thousands of handbags currently listed through the service. With new styles added daily ranging in price from $500 to upwards of $50,000, the program is expected to grow to nearly 10,000 luxury watches in the coming weeks.
“eBay has the largest selection of luxury goods – from rare and designer handbags to fine wristwatches – and we know this community wants an added layer of trust and confidence when buying in these categories,” said James Hendy, Senior Director of eBay Authenticate. “We’re adding third-party authentication to this inventory because we know the importance buyers place on trust for high-value purchases.”
As a leader in the secondary watch market — estimated as a $5 billion industry — watches are one of the top-selling categories on eBay. In the US alone, a watch is purchased every 5 seconds on eBay. From the casual watch enthusiast to the avid timepiece collector, consumers can shop with confidence from a wide selection of luxury designer watches at incredible prices. For more, visit ebay.com/authentic/watches.
See full announcement by clicking on the link below.
SOURCE: eBay Announcement
Yea right. We are to trust the ebay authentication as much as we trust ebay. I would have to be serious in need of mental help to buy anything with that authentication.
This is tacit admission that there ARE fakes on ebay, despite their “policy” of not allowing fakes.
So…where’s the accompanying announcement about the step-up in policing the site and purging the fakes?
Last I heard, they decided that some of their authentication specialist are one’s who deem themselves that…..lol. What a joke.
It will be hilarious when they “authenticate” some Chinese junk from their buddies in Guangzhou as “100% authentic” then get slapped with a huge lawsuit by Luis Vitton, Rolex, Microsoft etc.