Beware of the Authentic Guarantee for Shoes
Purchased some Yeezy Boost 350 from eBay new and they were verified authentic. Received the shoes, tried on one shoe to verify it fit. I then resold them as new and they didn’t authenticate because the Authenticator said it was used. Yet, I along with many others, have received and sold new shoes that have been tried on and they are authenticated as new. Authenticators just get to decide what they want to label them as, and even if they make mistakes, you cant appeal or challenge it. They don’t provide any information either. I have spoken with several managers from the authentication team and they literally just say whatever the Authenticator says is final, even if they make a mistake or are wrong. I offered to provide all the pictures I had taken of the shoes as proof they were not used but they don’t even accept it (the rule is if a shoe has been tried on, it’s now pre-owned - which is a bit extreme). Authenticators are not consistent at all in this regard. They are now shipping the shoes back to me. For buyers, it’s great. For sellers, it’s not so great as that error will cost me $ (as I have to now list as pre owned), time, and my reputation as now the buyer will prob not want to purchase any of my other items as it looks like I lied on the listing or tried to sell fake shoes. You can’t even speak with the buyer to explain the situation. There should at least be an appeal process. There is no accountability for the errors from the authenticators and the sellers get penalized. I was informed they use tools to measure different metrics to determine if a shoe had been tried on before, even once, and if so, they don’t authenticate as new - while I’m sure they use these tools, it’s still up to the Authenticator as I have received tried on shoes that were authenticated as new and could tell they were tried on as there was lint and debris inside the shoes. Just hope you don’t get an Authenticator in a bad mood. I filed a complaint with eBay and others have as well. Hopefully they make some changes to this process and at least allow an appeal or challenge.
castlevanity
·7 months agoFor buyers it's worse. I bought a pair of Nike Mind 001. It got auth and sent to me. One of the shoes had a defect, the other had wear (creases, dirt, and scratching). I opened a return case with many clear obvious pictures. The case got closed in 5 min since the seller didn't accept returns, but more importantly if an item goes through ebay auth AND seller doesnt accept returns, you're toast. There not challenging these authenticators, they can commit any level of shady play and there's no accountability, no way to contact them, rate them, or anything. eBay allows them to do whatever they want, must be nice. btw i spent $240 total for these as a gift, and could not give them as a gift because it was to a friend collector who i felt weird giving them when i didn't even want them. Well now im stuck with them. On a side note, one time i sold expensive pair or Y3 shoes on ebay, sent to auth, they sent it back to me claiming it was missing all the stuff that was shown in the listing. **bleep**, they either stole or lost the accessories that came with the shoes, crushed the shoe box and mailed me back just the shoes. I was shocked and they got away with it. This was a couple years ago so I forgot about the stype of scam artist that work for ebay auth. Never again, i'll just pay the premium at StockX or GOAT which i've never had an issue w personally.