The safest place to buy a vintage Rolex? Might be eBay.
The retailer just launched Authenticated Luxury Watches, an expansion of their eBay AuthenticateTM service, which previously focused on luxury handbags and wallets. Here, thousands of high-end timepieces — both new and pre-owned — from top sellers are “verified” by professional authenticators and labeled with an “Authenticity Verified” label.
The service also offers a money-back guarantee: if third party inspectors can’t authenticate your watch, you get a full refund. Sellers, meanwhile, will see eBay take a 20% commission against their final sales fee, double what a non-authenticated listing would receive.
(Update: According to a publicist for the program, the 20% fee applies to eBay’s luxury handbag authentication service for casual sellers, but not eBay’s top expert watch sellers; at press time, costs have yet to be outlined for the watch program.)
You can see their authenticated selection of Rolexes, Omegas, Tag Heuers and more here.
Want to compare prices? The third-party watch retailer TrueFacet also recently launched a brand-certified pre-owned timepiece marketplace.
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