Disappointed in Authenticity Guarantee Program

[rabens]

I have previously had great success with this program for both selling and buying until just recently.  I sold an Authentic Watch (which by the way had been previously authenticated by an industry expert) that was marked unable to be authenticated by Stoll and Co.  The feedback for the rejection was very vague and only "unable to authenticate".  I contacted the buyer to see what they were told by Stoll and Co. The buyer was told "Something didn't seem right".  Again super vague.  That's it.  This was a limited edition watch with a unique serial number engraved into the case.  I have 100% confidence in the authenticity of the item.  Instead, eBay canceled my sale, and returned my watch to me, along with a threat not to attempt to resell the watch on eBay.  All due to a so-called expert that made a mistake, at least on this particular watch.   I'm going to seriously reconsider selling another piece through eBay after this unfortunate experience.  Sellers beware that you may actually be more of an expert than eBay's experts.  lol

[paxilill]

IMO eBay has been asleep when it comes to counterfeit items.  

What real is deemed as fake and what's fake is deemed as real. 

[stuff4divas]

@rabens  lots of complaints on the boards about eBay's Authenticity Program.

I have a handful of watches I want to sell, but have hesitated bc of all the complaints.

[rabens]

I suspect the Authenticator is experiencing the labor challenges as just about every other business in the country. I understand mistakes are made, but I would’ve appreciated some dialogue on why they thought the watch was not real. Instead, they have blacklisted me from being able to resell this authentic watch through their website. That is what I am not happy about. 

[bashort]

Since the start of ebay authentication I have wondered first  where do you find people with the necessary skills  and if you did find them how would you entice them to come and be a authenticator.

By guess would be that they are about as competent as a typical ebay rep

[12345jamesstamps]

Stoll & Co. It's a watch repair shop. The yelp reviews are interesting to read if you what to know more about the place.

[robbie31415]

I just had a failed authentication, only thing it says is 'unable to verify authenticity' I had two sources check prior and both gave the authentici thumbs up.

I feel bad the buyer was inconviencd, but they gave me an unrsolved case defect, even though they refunded on the spot and the system didn't indicate I needed to do anything other than wait.

It is what it is I guess.

[janet9988]

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@rabens wrote:

 I'm going to seriously reconsider selling another piece through eBay after this unfortunate experience.

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Good idea.

[chapeau-noir]

This search brings up a bunch of interesting info about Stoll & Co and eBay authentication in general. Might be worth a browse, too.

[dbfolks166mt]

     You are not the first seller to report issues with the quality and consistency of one of the authentication programs, the sneakers area seems to be the worst but they have all had issues. This is unfortunate since it was one of eBay's attempts to provide assurance to the buyers that the items were not counterfeit and to ward off potential counterfeit sellers. 

     Although there is no data to determine the success or failure of the programs I would suspect as sellers, and potentially buyers, loose confidence in the program they will discontinue or stop buying these items. There are simply too many other alternatives to sell merchandise like this. 

[dhbookds]

Sounds like you have had success more than once with the program....... but you're going to stop using it because of one bad experience?