New on eBay: authenticity verification for luxury watches
On average, 107 luxury watches per day were sold on eBay.de in 2020. And the market for pre-owned luxury watches continues to grow – forecasts predict around 10% over the coming years. To give buyers more security when purchasing and to protect sellers from fraud, eBay introduced authenticity verification for luxury watches. The program, which has already launched successfully in the US and in the UK, now also applies to the sale of high-value watches on eBay.de. But what does this change for sellers? And what happens during the inspection of the watches? We discuss all of these questions in today’s podcast talk.
**Important links**
To the Podcast overview
eBay authenticity verification for luxury watches: https://pages.ebay.de/echtheitspruefung-luxusuhren/
Isabell: Hello dear listeners, and welcome to a new episode of our eBay podcast for sellers and, of course, for anyone who wants to become one.
Tino: Yes, hello from me too, and we’re really excited today to tackle a completely new, exciting topic with you. Today we’re talking to our expert Julia Verpoorten, Business Development Manager in the Luxury area, and with her we’re talking about the new authenticity verification for luxury watches. Hello Julia.
Julia: Hello Isabell, hello Tino! Thanks for the invitation.
Isabell: Yes, and Julia is not alone here today. She brought another guest with her, with whom she works very closely on this topic. Uwe from Echtheitsprüfung Stoll und Co. Hello Uwe!
Uwe: Hello!
Tino: Hello everyone. Hello Uwe, let’s just get started with the first questions. As always, our guests introduce themselves first. Julia, would you like to start and tell us a bit about yourself? What exactly do you do at eBay?
Julia: Yes, thanks for the question. You already mentioned it just now. I work in the Luxury area at eBay. The Luxury area takes care of the categories sneakers over €100 and luxury watches, meaning watches worth over €500. And my title is Business Development Manager, which means I work on partnerships and inventory to help drive the category forward.
Isabell: Uwe, you’re an authenticity verifier, maybe you could briefly explain what exactly you do there?
Uwe: Yes, I’m responsible for the company Stoll. Watches offered by sellers are checked by us again, so basically we look at whether the information the seller provided matches what is ultimately delivered to the buyer. So it’s not just about the authenticity of the watch, but also, in this context, the composition of the entire package. Whether the papers are included or papers were listed but aren’t actually there, and the details of the watches are also checked. That’s the task we have.
Tino: And Julia, what exactly is the authenticity verification? Or maybe: how did we even come up with this topic?
Julia: Yes, I think I’d like to take a step back here, because in 2020 we introduced authenticity verification for watches at eBay in the US. There we launched it together with a well-known partner, namely the company Stoll, which Uwe is also here from today, and there all watches valued at over $2000 automatically go through authenticity verification. That means before they are delivered to the customer, as Uwe just described, they go through this authenticity check. And the authenticity verification got off to a very successful start in the US. We have already authenticated several tens of thousands of watches there, and accordingly we wanted to build on that success and took the step to Europe. Two months ago we launched authenticity verification in the UK and now, about three weeks ago, in Germany. The authenticity verification applies to watches valued above €1800, although to be honest I should say that we’re currently rolling it out in different phases. At the moment we’re in the phase where all watches over €3000 enter authenticity verification, and soon, above €1800, all watches below that will be considered. Maybe one small note, because it would be too easy if I didn’t add something else. In the first step it only applies to watches offered by German sellers on the German site. And in fact, they must also be shipped to German end customers.
Isabell: The name “the company Stoll” has come up a few times now. Uwe, maybe you can tell us again who Stoll actually is and what you do?
Uwe: So, Stoll is a large, I can almost say watch repair company from the US. They’ve built a very good reputation in the industry and work with highly qualified watchmakers. They repair a lot of brands there and have now, in effect, been asked to carry out this authenticity verification on watches.
Tino: But you said in the US, yet you also have a branch here in Germany, so customers don’t have to send the watches to the US somehow, right?
Uwe: No, it doesn’t go back and forth. No, no, so in the second step, an authenticity check has practically already been set up in London. With rooms, machines, watchmakers as well, and the same thing has now effectively happened in Germany too. We have nice rooms, great machines, and we work on these watches there.
Julia: And if I may jump in for a second, because yesterday I visited Uwe at the authenticity center, and I think Uwe, I think that’s also very exciting for our sellers, that you’re a master watchmaker too. Yes, and how many watches you’ve actually had in your hands over your lifetime.
Uwe: Yes, sure, so first I introduced the company. Personally, I’m also one of those watchmakers who has been working with watches in the premium segment for decades now, and yes, how many watches I’ve had in my hands—I really can’t say, but enough. We have a lot of experience.
Tino: These are always such beautiful items too; unfortunately I had the bad luck of having my place broken into at some point, and my Omega Seamaster and my Tag Heuer Carrera were gone. But why, and I’ll ask you this right away, Julia, why was authenticity verification for luxury watches introduced in the first place?
Julia: Yes, I already mentioned earlier that we’ve had very good experiences in the US with authenticity verification for watches. At the start of the conversation I also said that I’m also responsible for the Sneakers area, and there we introduced authenticity verification about 2 or 3 months ago as well. For the luxury watch area, the decision was partly based on the positive results we had from the US, but also on customer surveys, and as different as the countries are, they were all completely in agreement in this case when it came to the surveys. It became very clear that our end customers wanted authenticity verification when buying such a high-value product, and to be honest that made it very easy for us at eBay Germany to say: yes, then we’ll do it, because we went into it very confidently, saying we have such great and strong sellers who sell good inventory, the best inventory, and meet our customers’ wishes. The authenticity verification applies to both business and private sellers, so in that sense it’s also a bit of a “one for all, all for one” motto—we’re not excluding anyone here with authenticity verification and are really offering our customers exactly what they asked us for. Yes, we clearly received that mandate.
Isabell: I think we can talk again in a moment about how the whole thing works from the seller side, but Uwe, maybe you can explain again how an authenticity verification generally works. What should one imagine if they’ve had no contact at all with luxury watches?
Uwe: So basically, we’re very aware that we’re receiving high-value items that are also in very good condition. Accordingly, we document from the outset how we handle the watches. We basically have cameras at every workstation, the watches are unpacked very carefully under the camera, then everything is entered into the computer, and then they go to the watchmaker, who first compares visually whether the watch matches what was effectively stated in the listing. So if the watch arrives and we see that it’s a waterproof watch, the first thing we check is the watch’s water resistance to see whether everything is okay with it. The whole thing happens very carefully. As I said, we’re all watchmakers who have worked with these things for decades, and then it goes on to someone called an authenticator, who looks at everything again, including everything that was supplied with it—warranty, box, whether everything checks out.
Isabell: So you really look at what was promised in the eBay listing and what the actual condition is.
Uwe: Exactly, we compare that or confirm it.
Julia: And the small details matter a lot, and that’s something we definitely want to brief our sellers on again too. For example, yesterday when I was there, we had a watch that had been photographed on a relatively hard surface and already showed slight scratch marks from that, and you also said right away, Uwe, that it’s recommended to photograph such items on a soft surface.
Uwe: Yes, in principle you can distinguish such light scuff marks on a watch from signs of wear and scratches, so these are all high-gloss polished surfaces and you really have to handle the watches very carefully.
Tino: What do I need to do as a seller so that my luxury watches are checked for authenticity?
Julia: Well actually you don’t need to do anything, yes, as I said, there are criteria. The current criterion is all watches over €3000, business and private sellers alike, German sellers listed on eBay.de and purchased by a German customer.
Tino: What’s the current feedback from sellers like? Is it being well received?
Julia: One thing I really value at eBay is that we’re very authentic, so I don’t want to mince words here today either. On the one hand, of course, there are sellers who are thrilled and say yes, this is exactly what we wanted. We also have other sellers who already know it from the US and who told us yes, we saw that we achieved better sales there. We think that’s good. But we also have sellers who say, it’s difficult, we don’t want to hand our watches over to an unknown third party. Yes, when you hand over such a high-value item somewhere. So the opinions there are very mixed. For us, it’s also really important today to give you a bit of trust here. That’s why Uwe already explained how carefully this process runs. How extensively it’s documented. And we also state in our terms of use that from the moment—and this is a word I learned from the previous speaker, I think from last or the week before last, namely the word transfer of risk, many thanks to Tilmann Kuhla for that here at this point—from the moment of transfer of risk, meaning when the watch arrives at the authenticator, the authenticity verifier, from that moment on, if anything happens to the watch, eBay is liable. The same then continues at eBay or rather the company Stoll. We then send the item on to the end customer, so that the watch is also protected and insured there.
Tino: Very nice, Jule, that you’re pointing again to a past episode—you can still listen to it, together with Tilmann Kuhla, about the exciting topic of cease-and-desist letters.
Isabell: Okay, and Jule, maybe you can summarize the positives of the authenticity verification for our sellers again, what the goal basically is.
Julia: Gladly, because I really—I have to say this here too—I’m so happy that it’s there, yes, because I already mentioned that our customers asked for it. There’s a lot of heart and soul in what we’ve put into this project over the last few months this year. Accordingly, for me the biggest advantage is that I’m firmly convinced it will be very well received by end customers. We’ll also be going out very strongly with the information from a marketing and PR perspective soon that we offer authenticity verification. Accordingly, of course we also want, and this is always eBay’s goal, to grow in partnership with our sellers, and that is definitely the biggest advantage for me. But it also has benefits for sellers, because we often look at the program from the buyer’s perspective. It also has the advantage for sellers that they’re protected too—in the event of a return, for example, the watch goes through the authenticator again, which also means that if, in the event of a case, additional scratches or changes or signs of wear have appeared, the seller is protected by the authenticity verification. And one more advantage that I also really appreciate: I already said that from the moment of transfer of risk, shipping is done by eBay, and this shipping is then also free, and returns are free as well and covered by eBay.
Tino: On the topic of free shipping, or generally how safe is shipping, especially regarding, for example, the loss of a package?
Julia: Yes, also a very important point that our sellers bring up very often. Uwe, we ship with UPS, correct?
Uwe: Yes, we ship the items with UPS.
Julia: Exactly, that’s also very important with UPS, I have to say, a very trustworthy and very much preferred partner for the sellers. The shipping, or rather the dispatch—sorry, now I’m back on the English side again—shipping is the same as if any damage etc. were to occur; the goods are covered, the watch is covered.
Isabell: Maybe as the final question: what can we give our sellers as guidance for authenticity verification? What should sellers keep in mind, perhaps a question for both of you?
Julia: I’ll pass the question directly to Uwe, because I think we already saw cases yesterday, and I’ll just mention one thing: provide very precise item details. Uwe, I’ll hand it over to you.
Uwe: Well, basically you’ve already hit the nail on the head: the more precisely the seller describes the watch, the fewer questions there will be. We won’t just take a watch back and send it back straight away simply because one little thing maybe isn’t exactly as described. But a lot of issues can be avoided if, let me say, a very simple example: if you fit a black leather strap to the watch, you should also write that there is a black leather strap on it and not have a brown one on there or vice versa. Or, if you’ve already noticed that it has signs of wear in certain places, it’s better to write “It has light signs of wear” than to say it is unworn and like new, for example.
Julia: And photos, photos, photos, yes—the more photos, the more informative and the clearer the picture the customer has of what to expect from the watch.
Isabell: Yes, and those are actually recommendations that don’t just apply to authenticity verification, but to all sellers on eBay as well. Good photos, lots of photos, and lots of details in the item description, I’d say—and with that we’ve already reached the end of our episode. Uwe, thank you very much for being here. Julia, thank you too for being with us and for taking us into this exciting topic. I hope our sellers were able to take away something useful too. Maybe even sparked some interest in selling a luxury watch on eBay. That brings us to one last question: Uwe, what was the last thing you bought on eBay?
Uwe: Oh, a folding boat. My wife and I spend a lot of time outdoors, and at some point we thought the calmest thing you can find is actually water, so we decided to get ourselves a little folding boat to spend the weekends in, and I bought that on eBay. So for me, it was actually a real bargain.
Tino: Ah, great, yes, I actually went paddling a bit in a one-person kayak in the summer with my brother-in-law and my sister, and it’s super relaxing, really, really great. But Julia, now the same question to you: what was the last thing you bought?
Julia: I think the folding boat is really interesting, I have to look that up now. I bought something that’s actually a typical eBay story. I come home, my mother tells me she got a toaster as a gift from my sister, but hadn’t unpacked it yet because it wasn’t the right color. And in the store they told her they didn’t have it in white. So I was of course even happier when I quickly opened the eBay app and there was the toaster in white, and three days later my mother had the toaster in white, so yes, you can just find everything on eBay, and like I said, that’s such a typical eBay story.
Isabell: What a beautiful closing remark, thank you again for being with us this week and, as mentioned, we hope the episode pleased our listeners as much as it pleased us. And if we have any questions or comments on the topic, please leave them in our eBay Community, and of course we’d also be delighted if you subscribe to the podcast on your preferred podcast platform, and we’ll be back again in 2 weeks.
Tino: Yes Julia and Uwe, thank you for being here, and to our dear listeners, goodbye and until next time.
Tino: Yes, hello from me too, and we’re really excited today to tackle a completely new, exciting topic with you. Today we’re talking to our expert Julia Verpoorten, Business Development Manager in the Luxury area, and with her we’re talking about the new authenticity verification for luxury watches. Hello Julia.
Julia: Hello Isabell, hello Tino! Thanks for the invitation.
Isabell: Yes, and Julia is not alone here today. She brought another guest with her, with whom she works very closely on this topic. Uwe from Echtheitsprüfung Stoll und Co. Hello Uwe!
Uwe: Hello!
Tino: Hello everyone. Hello Uwe, let’s just get started with the first questions. As always, our guests introduce themselves first. Julia, would you like to start and tell us a bit about yourself? What exactly do you do at eBay?
Julia: Yes, thanks for the question. You already mentioned it just now. I work in the Luxury area at eBay. The Luxury area takes care of the categories sneakers over €100 and luxury watches, meaning watches worth over €500. And my title is Business Development Manager, which means I work on partnerships and inventory to help drive the category forward.
Isabell: Uwe, you’re an authenticity verifier, maybe you could briefly explain what exactly you do there?
Uwe: Yes, I’m responsible for the company Stoll. Watches offered by sellers are checked by us again, so basically we look at whether the information the seller provided matches what is ultimately delivered to the buyer. So it’s not just about the authenticity of the watch, but also, in this context, the composition of the entire package. Whether the papers are included or papers were listed but aren’t actually there, and the details of the watches are also checked. That’s the task we have.
Tino: And Julia, what exactly is the authenticity verification? Or maybe: how did we even come up with this topic?
Julia: Yes, I think I’d like to take a step back here, because in 2020 we introduced authenticity verification for watches at eBay in the US. There we launched it together with a well-known partner, namely the company Stoll, which Uwe is also here from today, and there all watches valued at over $2000 automatically go through authenticity verification. That means before they are delivered to the customer, as Uwe just described, they go through this authenticity check. And the authenticity verification got off to a very successful start in the US. We have already authenticated several tens of thousands of watches there, and accordingly we wanted to build on that success and took the step to Europe. Two months ago we launched authenticity verification in the UK and now, about three weeks ago, in Germany. The authenticity verification applies to watches valued above €1800, although to be honest I should say that we’re currently rolling it out in different phases. At the moment we’re in the phase where all watches over €3000 enter authenticity verification, and soon, above €1800, all watches below that will be considered. Maybe one small note, because it would be too easy if I didn’t add something else. In the first step it only applies to watches offered by German sellers on the German site. And in fact, they must also be shipped to German end customers.
Isabell: The name “the company Stoll” has come up a few times now. Uwe, maybe you can tell us again who Stoll actually is and what you do?
Uwe: So, Stoll is a large, I can almost say watch repair company from the US. They’ve built a very good reputation in the industry and work with highly qualified watchmakers. They repair a lot of brands there and have now, in effect, been asked to carry out this authenticity verification on watches.
Tino: But you said in the US, yet you also have a branch here in Germany, so customers don’t have to send the watches to the US somehow, right?
Uwe: No, it doesn’t go back and forth. No, no, so in the second step, an authenticity check has practically already been set up in London. With rooms, machines, watchmakers as well, and the same thing has now effectively happened in Germany too. We have nice rooms, great machines, and we work on these watches there.
Julia: And if I may jump in for a second, because yesterday I visited Uwe at the authenticity center, and I think Uwe, I think that’s also very exciting for our sellers, that you’re a master watchmaker too. Yes, and how many watches you’ve actually had in your hands over your lifetime.
Uwe: Yes, sure, so first I introduced the company. Personally, I’m also one of those watchmakers who has been working with watches in the premium segment for decades now, and yes, how many watches I’ve had in my hands—I really can’t say, but enough. We have a lot of experience.
Tino: These are always such beautiful items too; unfortunately I had the bad luck of having my place broken into at some point, and my Omega Seamaster and my Tag Heuer Carrera were gone. But why, and I’ll ask you this right away, Julia, why was authenticity verification for luxury watches introduced in the first place?
Julia: Yes, I already mentioned earlier that we’ve had very good experiences in the US with authenticity verification for watches. At the start of the conversation I also said that I’m also responsible for the Sneakers area, and there we introduced authenticity verification about 2 or 3 months ago as well. For the luxury watch area, the decision was partly based on the positive results we had from the US, but also on customer surveys, and as different as the countries are, they were all completely in agreement in this case when it came to the surveys. It became very clear that our end customers wanted authenticity verification when buying such a high-value product, and to be honest that made it very easy for us at eBay Germany to say: yes, then we’ll do it, because we went into it very confidently, saying we have such great and strong sellers who sell good inventory, the best inventory, and meet our customers’ wishes. The authenticity verification applies to both business and private sellers, so in that sense it’s also a bit of a “one for all, all for one” motto—we’re not excluding anyone here with authenticity verification and are really offering our customers exactly what they asked us for. Yes, we clearly received that mandate.
Isabell: I think we can talk again in a moment about how the whole thing works from the seller side, but Uwe, maybe you can explain again how an authenticity verification generally works. What should one imagine if they’ve had no contact at all with luxury watches?
Uwe: So basically, we’re very aware that we’re receiving high-value items that are also in very good condition. Accordingly, we document from the outset how we handle the watches. We basically have cameras at every workstation, the watches are unpacked very carefully under the camera, then everything is entered into the computer, and then they go to the watchmaker, who first compares visually whether the watch matches what was effectively stated in the listing. So if the watch arrives and we see that it’s a waterproof watch, the first thing we check is the watch’s water resistance to see whether everything is okay with it. The whole thing happens very carefully. As I said, we’re all watchmakers who have worked with these things for decades, and then it goes on to someone called an authenticator, who looks at everything again, including everything that was supplied with it—warranty, box, whether everything checks out.
Isabell: So you really look at what was promised in the eBay listing and what the actual condition is.
Uwe: Exactly, we compare that or confirm it.
Julia: And the small details matter a lot, and that’s something we definitely want to brief our sellers on again too. For example, yesterday when I was there, we had a watch that had been photographed on a relatively hard surface and already showed slight scratch marks from that, and you also said right away, Uwe, that it’s recommended to photograph such items on a soft surface.
Uwe: Yes, in principle you can distinguish such light scuff marks on a watch from signs of wear and scratches, so these are all high-gloss polished surfaces and you really have to handle the watches very carefully.
Tino: What do I need to do as a seller so that my luxury watches are checked for authenticity?
Julia: Well actually you don’t need to do anything, yes, as I said, there are criteria. The current criterion is all watches over €3000, business and private sellers alike, German sellers listed on eBay.de and purchased by a German customer.
Tino: What’s the current feedback from sellers like? Is it being well received?
Julia: One thing I really value at eBay is that we’re very authentic, so I don’t want to mince words here today either. On the one hand, of course, there are sellers who are thrilled and say yes, this is exactly what we wanted. We also have other sellers who already know it from the US and who told us yes, we saw that we achieved better sales there. We think that’s good. But we also have sellers who say, it’s difficult, we don’t want to hand our watches over to an unknown third party. Yes, when you hand over such a high-value item somewhere. So the opinions there are very mixed. For us, it’s also really important today to give you a bit of trust here. That’s why Uwe already explained how carefully this process runs. How extensively it’s documented. And we also state in our terms of use that from the moment—and this is a word I learned from the previous speaker, I think from last or the week before last, namely the word transfer of risk, many thanks to Tilmann Kuhla for that here at this point—from the moment of transfer of risk, meaning when the watch arrives at the authenticator, the authenticity verifier, from that moment on, if anything happens to the watch, eBay is liable. The same then continues at eBay or rather the company Stoll. We then send the item on to the end customer, so that the watch is also protected and insured there.
Tino: Very nice, Jule, that you’re pointing again to a past episode—you can still listen to it, together with Tilmann Kuhla, about the exciting topic of cease-and-desist letters.
Isabell: Okay, and Jule, maybe you can summarize the positives of the authenticity verification for our sellers again, what the goal basically is.
Julia: Gladly, because I really—I have to say this here too—I’m so happy that it’s there, yes, because I already mentioned that our customers asked for it. There’s a lot of heart and soul in what we’ve put into this project over the last few months this year. Accordingly, for me the biggest advantage is that I’m firmly convinced it will be very well received by end customers. We’ll also be going out very strongly with the information from a marketing and PR perspective soon that we offer authenticity verification. Accordingly, of course we also want, and this is always eBay’s goal, to grow in partnership with our sellers, and that is definitely the biggest advantage for me. But it also has benefits for sellers, because we often look at the program from the buyer’s perspective. It also has the advantage for sellers that they’re protected too—in the event of a return, for example, the watch goes through the authenticator again, which also means that if, in the event of a case, additional scratches or changes or signs of wear have appeared, the seller is protected by the authenticity verification. And one more advantage that I also really appreciate: I already said that from the moment of transfer of risk, shipping is done by eBay, and this shipping is then also free, and returns are free as well and covered by eBay.
Tino: On the topic of free shipping, or generally how safe is shipping, especially regarding, for example, the loss of a package?
Julia: Yes, also a very important point that our sellers bring up very often. Uwe, we ship with UPS, correct?
Uwe: Yes, we ship the items with UPS.
Julia: Exactly, that’s also very important with UPS, I have to say, a very trustworthy and very much preferred partner for the sellers. The shipping, or rather the dispatch—sorry, now I’m back on the English side again—shipping is the same as if any damage etc. were to occur; the goods are covered, the watch is covered.
Isabell: Maybe as the final question: what can we give our sellers as guidance for authenticity verification? What should sellers keep in mind, perhaps a question for both of you?
Julia: I’ll pass the question directly to Uwe, because I think we already saw cases yesterday, and I’ll just mention one thing: provide very precise item details. Uwe, I’ll hand it over to you.
Uwe: Well, basically you’ve already hit the nail on the head: the more precisely the seller describes the watch, the fewer questions there will be. We won’t just take a watch back and send it back straight away simply because one little thing maybe isn’t exactly as described. But a lot of issues can be avoided if, let me say, a very simple example: if you fit a black leather strap to the watch, you should also write that there is a black leather strap on it and not have a brown one on there or vice versa. Or, if you’ve already noticed that it has signs of wear in certain places, it’s better to write “It has light signs of wear” than to say it is unworn and like new, for example.
Julia: And photos, photos, photos, yes—the more photos, the more informative and the clearer the picture the customer has of what to expect from the watch.
Isabell: Yes, and those are actually recommendations that don’t just apply to authenticity verification, but to all sellers on eBay as well. Good photos, lots of photos, and lots of details in the item description, I’d say—and with that we’ve already reached the end of our episode. Uwe, thank you very much for being here. Julia, thank you too for being with us and for taking us into this exciting topic. I hope our sellers were able to take away something useful too. Maybe even sparked some interest in selling a luxury watch on eBay. That brings us to one last question: Uwe, what was the last thing you bought on eBay?
Uwe: Oh, a folding boat. My wife and I spend a lot of time outdoors, and at some point we thought the calmest thing you can find is actually water, so we decided to get ourselves a little folding boat to spend the weekends in, and I bought that on eBay. So for me, it was actually a real bargain.
Tino: Ah, great, yes, I actually went paddling a bit in a one-person kayak in the summer with my brother-in-law and my sister, and it’s super relaxing, really, really great. But Julia, now the same question to you: what was the last thing you bought?
Julia: I think the folding boat is really interesting, I have to look that up now. I bought something that’s actually a typical eBay story. I come home, my mother tells me she got a toaster as a gift from my sister, but hadn’t unpacked it yet because it wasn’t the right color. And in the store they told her they didn’t have it in white. So I was of course even happier when I quickly opened the eBay app and there was the toaster in white, and three days later my mother had the toaster in white, so yes, you can just find everything on eBay, and like I said, that’s such a typical eBay story.
Isabell: What a beautiful closing remark, thank you again for being with us this week and, as mentioned, we hope the episode pleased our listeners as much as it pleased us. And if we have any questions or comments on the topic, please leave them in our eBay Community, and of course we’d also be delighted if you subscribe to the podcast on your preferred podcast platform, and we’ll be back again in 2 weeks.
Tino: Yes Julia and Uwe, thank you for being here, and to our dear listeners, goodbye and until next time.
5 comments
ozi_2012
·2 years agoI want to sell a luxury watch on eBay and think the authentication check is really good. I read everything about it and still have one question: how would I, or can I, send the watch to the verifier then? DHL isn’t possible if I understand that correctly! What would I have to do? I’d rather clarify that beforehand before I do something wrong.
podcast@ebay
AdminOP3 years agoHello @64franky ,
DHL itself refers on its site regarding valuable goods shipping: Permitted contents in national and international parcel shipping as well as for national express transport and distinguishes between 2 classes.
But we’ve just checked that everything went through successfully with your purchase and hopefully you’re enjoying your watch a lot.
Best regards
your podcast team
64franky
·4 years agorederhessen
·4 years agoI think the whole inspection is a scam; the inspection of the Omega Planet Ocean that I bought probably only took a few minutes. You don’t even get any certification stating exactly what was checked. No one could have opened the watch to look at the movement either. I would forbid that with an Omega without a water-resistance test as well.
So more or less a rip-off.
Probably some assistants take a rough look at them.
berlin-watches
·4 years agoUnfortunately, as a dealer, we have rather negative experiences with the authenticity check.
We had an IWC Schaffhausen Compass sent back to us with a note saying that our watch had significant deviations from the description.
That is simply and plainly not correct. The examiner initially stated that he could not open the case back of the watch, or did not want to open it because he was afraid of damaging something.
As a result, he was unable to assess the movement.
Telling the customer then that there is something wrong with the watch, and that the customer naturally does not want the watch after that, is damaging to our business!!
Our question is how the authenticity examiners guarantee water resistance. It is not credible that your examiners have gasket sets for all watches. For that, you would have to be certified for all brands.
Now to shipping. UPS is supposed to be so great. We cannot confirm that. The first watch sent back never arrived with us and was ultimately refunded.
J.Hentsch von berlin-watches