Since being founded back in 1995, eBay has transformed online selling. The online marketplace revolutionised digital shopping allowing anyone anywhere to bid on or buy pretty much anything – from stamps to mobile phones to, of course, watches.
The only issue really was making sure that what you thought you were buying was what eventually arrived in the mail. In many ways it was the wild west. It only takes a few bad actors to break trust and when you’re the go-to site for 140 million people, no net was tight enough to catch them all. Needless to say, it took some serious faith to purchase a vintage Omega or a Rolex on the site, especially if you didn’t know your stuff.
At the same time, the likes of Watchbox and Watchfinder, grew quickly to become trusted intermediaries for watch collectors. Being much smaller companies, and a tad more niche, they were able to foster a level of expertise that bred trust. They even issued warranties in case there were any issues.
In short, eBay saw the need to move with the times. But how to change things for the better? Have every luxury watch on eBay purchased on the site checked to see if it was the real deal? Well, they now do exactly that.
In 2021, the company brought their Authenticity Guarantee programme first launched in the US across the pond to the UK. Which, as the name suggests, is designed to build trust into the platform. This means, when a watch is bought over the incredibly accessible price point of £1,500, it’s sent to be vetted and verified by international repair and authentication giant Stoll & Co in London. They check everything from the dial and caseback to end links and reference number to make sure everything’s in order, even checking the item matches its seller description. As exhaustive a checklist as any specialist auction house. To put it simply, what this means is that you can rest assured that, if you purchase a luxury watch on eBay, you’re covered.
And it’s not just buyers who are protected, but sellers too. It’s not uncommon for a watch seller, professional or otherwise, to send out a watch only to have the buyer change their mind, whether for valid reasons or not. In the past damaged, fake or clandestinely altered versions often replaced the original watch sent across. Fortunately, eBay’s Authentication Guarantee goes both ways and the same watch has to go through eBay’s vetting with Stoll & Co’s when returned. If anyone’s going to spot any issues, it’s the guys that already know the watch in painstaking detail.
Of course, in general there aren’t the sort of headline grabbers as you’ll find from rare and vintage auctions, but more than respectable all the same. In fact, a Patek Philippe Aquanaut Blue Anniversary Men’s White Gold 2019, which sold for £93,000 was expertly authenticated through the programme. Putting that much trust in an online marketplace even a few years back would have been unthinkable. That’s not an outlier either; eBay’s seen most of its recent growth in the £5,000+ arena, when you start getting to some serious collectors’ items.
Perhaps more interesting for the everyday collector however is its £1,500 starting price. As with any marketplace it depends on what seller’s are offering, so often the weirder and wonderful pieces are more rare to find, but vintage and neovintage pieces, alongside modern automatic watches will be. The accessible threshold for the programme makes it feel less like a pay-to-play enterprise and more like a genuine shift in how watches are sold online, especially since the service comes at no additional cost to the buyer or seller.
Right now, there are over 100,000 watches globally for sale on eBay under the Authenticity Guarantee, running the length and breadth of the horological spectrum. Granted you’re still unlikely to find a Roger Smith on there, but finally you can buy yourself a quirky Rolex without the kind of luck that warrants buying a lottery ticket. As the value and numbers both go up – and the trust of both buyers and sellers with it – eBay’s proving that the wild west of watches has been well and truly tamed.
So, what does this mean for the future? Well, eBay sits in a unique place. Their online competitors are still firmly entrenched and more power to them. But they do tend to add the kind of premiums that they used to be able to justify with warranties. eBay offers it for free. Their IRL competitors on the other hand simply can’t offer the numbers and variety that eBay can. Time will obviously tell, but it feels very much like the future of buying and selling watches online is eBay’s for the taking.
More details at eBay.
There are two huge problems with buying and selling watches through EBay.
Buying, if above the £1,500 threshold and going through authentication does have issues. I have had problems with 3 out of 12 watches purchased this way being “lost” by UPS after being checked and collected from the authenticators. Whilst I’ve received refunds, it suggests to me problems with the courier chosen to handle these small, expensive parcels. There is also an issue that unless a display back, the authenticators understandably open the watch to check the movement. However, as they are not an authorised repair centre, this will invalidate any manufacturer or service centre warranty that is still on the watch.
The second issue is as a seller, EBay’s protections are invaluable to a buyer, but are always stacked in the buyers favour. If you sell a watch and the buyer has a change of heart or any buyers remorse, any reason offered will result in a full refund being given. Therefore, even as a private individual selling personal possessions second hand, you are effectively doing so whilst offering the same full returns policy of any major corporation, which just does not seem fair to me.
Yeah except it’s a terrible service. I sold a 60s chronograph that went through and PASSED this authentication process. It arrived at the buyers end missing a hand and with hair trapped between the dial and crystal. Was told it didn’t happen at the authenticators. Guess the courier opened it up then. Woeful service.