Watch Authenication

[wiltsco]

Hi all, has anyone else had issues with the watch authenticators and inconsistency/errors in their findings??

[red_magpie]

We sometimes hear from sellers who are unhappy that their items didn't pass authentcation. However, this can sometimes be because the item didn't match the description in some other way. In any case, there is no appeal against the authenticators' decision.

The number of issues raised here seems to be quite small. I can remember only one question regarding an item which the buyer believed may have been wrongly authenticated. 

On balance, considering the huge scale of counterfeiting it seems to me that authentication has made at least the purchase of top-end goods a lot safer on eBay.

[wiltsco]

I agree that is has made purchasing them somewhat safer, but Ebay say that articles are guaranteed to be genuine certified by experts which is incorrect. I bought a watch through Ebay based on the authenticity guarantee, then sold the same watch 14 months later when Ebay decided one of the pieces of documentation was a replica losing me my sale. Then another 4 weeks later I sold it again and it passed. So it looks more to me that the re is no guarantee (which is worrying as that is what they are selling to their customers), but rather an opinion based on whoever is looking at it on that day. This whole excersise has left me significantly out of pocket and I certainly won't be trusting the authenticity guarantee to buy or sell again.

[red_magpie]

but rather an opinion based on whoever is looking at it on that day.

But isn't that going to be true for any form of subjective inspection for authenticity? There will always be borderline cases of uncertainty where a decision could go one way or the other. Especially on peripherals like "one of the pieces of documentation" which are probably harder to authenticate than the watch itself. 

Your question has raised the interesting point that eBay terms this as an "Authenticity Guarantee". I hadn't thought about this before. Giving a guarantee implies an undertaking to answer for the buyer's loss if the product proves not to be authentic as guaranteed. But the t&c say nothing about any garantee additional to eBay's normal, 30 day money back guarantee. Which implies that eBay will take no responsibility for it's "Authenticity Guarantee" if the item subsequently proves not to be authentic. This would mean that the guarantee is no guarantee - just an expression of opinion. Which is not the same thing. I wonder whether one of the eBay reps could help by clarifying this?