And now there's a handbag authenticity guarantee

[albertabrightalberta]

We've seen this before! And there WERE fakes, listed by supposedly "trusted" sellers. I'm not sure how this is different. 

https://pages.ebay.com/authenticity-guarantee-handbags/?_trkparms=%26clkid%3D2100149995298204382

[pikabo-icu]

Yeah I'm not too happy with this..

First of all I posted this exact idea for a business, here on this very board, several years ago.. Odd coincidence.. 

Second; there's been so many issues with the sneaker program.. Numerous posts on the seller's board about mistakes, sellers getting returned the wrong shoes, buyer getting the wrong shoes- Yikes.  Not to mention complaints about HUGE delays leaving the authenticator to buyer causing INR cases to be filed. No communication between buyer & seller after the bag ships is allowed..Wut?  It goes on. 

They don't disclose what company or who they're using to authenticate.. I'm just supposed to trust them?

We all know some services are better than others.. I know my brand, I know when it's authentic, I can spot an egregious fake Chanel, LV etc.. but I'm no expert on them. Do they have an actual service? A team of brand specialists? Or just a small team trying to authenticate every brand? 

This stuff matters.. 

Frankly when it comes to Coach, I trust AlbertabrightAlberta more than I trust myself. she's a Coach savant. 

There are some cases that eBay wont return your item if they believe it's fake?? Look I want fakes out of the marketplace too but you send that item back & tell the seller to deal with it.

What if they're mistaken and they keep your authentic bag? 

Some of the details might be ok, regarding claims of INAD & returns deemed not the original bag sent, in the same condition.. So there are some good benefits but I'm terrified to list my bags with this- It's NOT optional. 

I don't have any bags listed right now- the scamming was frightening enough now this...

[gwens*4saleitems*]

I only sell bags that I have asked about on these boards because I trust the people here.

I'm not crazy about sending a purse to (heaven knows where) to be authenticated. 

Especially while reading about the shoe debacle. What a mess that is.

[pikabo-icu]

@valueaddedsource shared this link on the selling board..

Looks like they're looking to hire in house authenticators..

I'm not exactly comforted by the requirements..

"5 years luxury handbag sales"  Seriously? 

https://jobs.ebayinc.com/job/las-vegas/handbag-authenticator/403/6751981824 

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[frickya]

I cannot see any products in the provided link. why is that ? Any way that is a good News to have authentic guaranteed products 

[donsdetour]

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@frickya wrote:

I cannot see any products in the provided link. why is that ? Any way that is a good News to have authentic guaranteed products 

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Sri:

This is a topic about the service ebay has to authenticate such items, not a link to show them.

[hpenryessentials]

This is going to be a nightmare. It isn't exactly clear who will be authenticating these items. eBay touts their teams of authenticators but they also say that they will use outside agencies to authenticate as well, of course, without any disclosure. And if this crack team decides your real item is fake they'll keep it. I'm glad this is happening but there needs to be way more disclosure when dealing with items of this much value. Here comes a lot of belts, bags and wallets for $499. eBay just turned itself into the counterfeit capital. 

[albertabrightalberta]

Does anyone remember the "Ebay Authenticate" program? It was advertised with great fanfare and kicked off in October 20`17. 

It began as using one particular seller to sell the high-end (certain minimum pricepoint) items and later expanded to include other "trusted" sellers. As I understood, the program was a consignment program of sorts where one would send their items to the "seller" who would vet, photograph and list the items. 

If a buyer found that one of the "guaranteed authentic" items was found to be fake, the buyer was promised double their money back. (I have no idea how many buyers got refunds or how many buyers were doubtful and even questioned the experts' opinions.)

The problem was that many of those high volume trusted sellers had long histories of (probably unknowingly, but still....) listing and selling fakes. Some of the fakes were so obvious that it was clear that no effort had been made to verify authenticity. 

I'll just take a cautiously optimistic wait-and-see approach and hope that ebay learned from prior mistakes. 

ETA: Here's one (of several) older posts: 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Fashion/Ebay-Authenticate-is-a-JOKE-and-far-underprices-bags-from/td-p...

[albertabrightalberta]

This post was made by an employee and wasn't open for comments. It stated the policy and the 200% money back guarantee:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/eBay-Launches-Authentication-Service-for-Luxury-Handbags...

The concerns that were expressed 4 years ago are the same ones we have today! 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Fashion/AWESOME-NEWS-Ebay-Authenticate/td-p/26459399

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Fashion/Apparently-ebayauthenticate-is-up-and-running/td-p/27623314

[pikabo-icu]

It's going to take a little time to read through those links but I am going to read every word..

I have huge issues with this- HUGE! I have several dozen Bal bags to list and at this point I am terrified to do so. The return portion of the policy/program looks decent and is a plus but I have a problem with their "experts"

Did you look at the job posting link I got from valueaddedsource?  

Five years selling experience? Really? We all know most luxury sales associates are not brand experts.

And how does selling Chanel for 5 years help a person become an expert in all brands or any other brand?

As I feared they are looking for people to authenticate numerous if not all brands and that's a huge red flag for me..

I remember the authenticity guarantee debacle.. I believe that was at least optional- this one is not optional and having all the same issues if not more..  YIKES! 

[hpenryessentials]

There is WAY too much risk now especially with the non-communication with the buyer AND the possibility of losing the item because a "luxury handbag salesperson" says it's counterfeit. I had a listing up but I can't possibly take the risk now of losing it. I can tell you from being at LV, SA's are experts.....at selling; but they're strictly prohibited from speaking about authenticity and that certainly is not their specialty. Additionally, just as a side note, if your SA DOES claim to authenticate or does it discreetly, this is also a major red flag. If they're hiring sales associates as authenticators then that's actually scary. 

[pikabo-icu]

And yet another problem with the sneaker authentication program. SIGH

EVERYTHING that can go wrong with a program like this has/is going wrong with the sneakers..

ALL of this can happen with the handbag program as well..

Help needed - Bought a pair of Authenticity Guarantee shoes, sold them on eBay, got rejected as Fake 

This person tried to resell the shoes with eBay's authenticity tag still attached..

[pikabo-icu]

Anyone have any ideas why a LOT of bags, that meet all the requirements are not being subjected to the new Authenticity Program? 

I find this very strange.. Outside of a huge glitch, I can't see any reason for this..

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Luxury-handbags-authenticity-guaranteed-why-only-certain-selle... 

Here's a couple items from that thread..

Item# 402908471631

Item# 402908295619

I don't like the looks of either of them, admittedly I'm not a LV expert. But for this issue authenticity aside, why are they not in this mandatory program?

It's strange.. 

[hpenryessentials]

One of the listings has been taken down but the other is still up and is without question counterfeit. If eBay isn't allowing sales with their own authenticity tags and they still allow this garbage to be sold I don't see any positives about this program especially with the increased value over shoes. What a mess.

[pikabo-icu]

Thank you @hpenryessentials  I'm glad my suspicions were valid with those two bags..

So,,,, an eBay blue replied about this issue; some bags NOT being included..

I'm going to post it here but if anyone wishes they can visit the thread I linked to read for themselves..

This reply is from Brian,, he seems to be a good guy and I know he doesn't control this program but.... What unaccountable behemoth decides what bags, what sellers,, are included and which ones are not?

Those LV fakes, if sold, being not included? That raises eyebrows..  

@pikabo-icu good question! While the luxury handbag authentication program has launched, we're starting small to ensure all processes are working as designed and no members are impacted negatively. We'll be ramping (adding more listings) as quickly as possible once we are confident that the program is running smoothly.