eBay offering Authenticity Guarantee for $80 plus tax…
 

…on watches valued between $1,000 - $2,000. Foreshadowing of things to come?

You betcha! And the next step will be eBay charging sellers a FVF on that fee too.

On the up side it will give all the haters of the program an option to opt out by making it a service they charge for.

Not trying to be bougie, but not many watches in the 1000-2000 window seem often faked. That’s a fairly inexpensive watch in the current lux market.

The most basic of these models are at least 5-6k, how much are they charging for those? Seems like they are marketing a high price for a nothing-burger window and I bet this ladders up fast when it really needed.

Does seem like a weird price window as the authenticity guarantee is still free for more expensive watches.

I haven't looked lately, but older antique Rolex used to fall into that category. If I bought one on ebay and had to send it to Rolex b/c most jewelers refuse to look at them, it would cost more than $80. If the buyer says it runs, and Ebay says it's authentic, I would expect it to be in working order when it arrived.

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I'm not a watch guy, but I wonder if the labor involved in verifying one of these is authentic might be quite a bit more intensive than something like a baseball card? Does a watch expert know immediately if they're holding a fake? Obviously some fakes are super easy to detect, but some of the high end fakes, from what I'm told, can even fool a jeweler supposedly. I can identify pretty much any fake vintage card in a matter of seconds. I'm guessing if this service made it's way into cards that the fee would be much lower.

Next must come authenticating body parts.

Most watches are like baseball cards. The fakes really stick out. The font is wrong, hands are stacked wrong, weight, engraving, it ticks like a Timex. Even the mid grade that look and feel real have cheap Chinese insides. The super high end fakes are fairly expensive really nice watches.

They do make fakes of cheaper watches. I was recently looking at a higher end Vostok and learned there are fakes out there. A higher end Vostok is a $1000 watch.

Most of the problems with high end is the minutia in verification as I have many watch collecting friends and value is not based nearly on authentic but originality. As the vintage Rolex mentioned would fall in this, it would be "authentic"... however the same authentic watch with a replacement face, bezel, hands or band would be a fraction of the value. I would love to know the depth these reports cover. The same parameters fall for every prize watch and why most buy used from certified dealers and not secondary rebuilders.

i own a submariner pepsi and a gold yachtmaster they were my dads,for $500 they make scary copies.a good jeweler can spot a fake in a second.

Nice selection Octavio!

Had a vintage Root Beer on my "someday" list for a while, the Pepsi bezel is a perfect everyday wear if you are not a suit guy.

Hi justin the problem is you cant get these watches at rolex unless they know you . Anything stainless steele is impossible. Look at whats going on with omega swatch watch that just came out. Crazy look at ebay prices, folks want to be the first to have everything! It retails $260 nuts . Good luck with the rootbeer dont hold your breath octavio

The lucky part is I want no part of a new one unless its the Air King with green hand and text and that is definitely on the lower end (perspective wise). If I was to get a Root Beer it would only be vintage for the bezel fade. Maybe another few years before I get serious about looking.

Admittedly I did laugh at the prices I have seen on the Omega Swatches on sites like Stock X...1000 plus? Come on.

(Sorry to everyone else for having a watch chat on the main page, :) )

I see the authenticity guarantee is at $350 for cards now, but it’s not clear from the FAQ exactly how it works. Does every card that ends at more than $350 get authenticated, or is it just listings that start off with the “Authenticity Guarantee” check mark?