eBay Expands Luxury Handbag Authentication With Add On Option For Items Below $500
eBay is expanding luxury handbag and wallet authentication to include items under $500...for a fee.
Currently, select brands of handbags and wallets over $500 qualify for eBay's Authenticity Guaranteed program at no additional cost - if a seller lists an eligible item in these categories, the product will automatically be routed through the authentication process before being sent on to the buyer.
But it appears sometime in the last month, eBay has also added an option on select handbags and wallets priced from $200-$499.99 for buyers to opt in to authentication for a $40 fee.
Qualifying items will show the add on option on the listing page and it can be selected in the cart at checkout to pay the additional fee.
eBay made similar updates to the authentication program for luxury watches in 2022, keeping the minimum for "free" authentication at $2,000 but adding an option for buyers to select "expert verification" on items $500-$1,999.99 for an $80 fee.
Liz Morton
Authentication services have been a major pillar of CEO Jamie Iannone's "high value buyer focus vertical strategy" with eBay increasing spending on these programs an additional $39 Million in 2023 vs 2022.
However, despite pouring money into expanding authentication, eBay has struggled to gain traction with newly introduced categories like streetwear and to keep the momentum going in other categories like sneakers, while trying to find ways to monetize the service to cover some of the ever increasing costs.
Sneaker sales slowed when eBay ended fee free selling, with fees currently sitting at ~8% for sneakers over $150 and 13.25% if they are under $150, and buyers are increasingly unhappy with the program since eBay instituted a mandatory $14.99 shipping fee for all shoes sent to the authenticator.
Expanding availability of authentication services to lower price points for a fee could be a better tack to take, as buyers may respond more positively to paying for an optional "value added" feature than being forced into mandatory shipping fees or other more heavy-handed approaches to monetization.
In fact, many buyers and sellers have suggested all along that all of the authentication programs should be strictly optional - especially given some of the problems and complaints with the process.
Liz Morton
Liz Morton
Liz Morton
What do you think of eBay's authentication programs? Should they be completely optional with buyers paying fees to cover costs of the service? Let us know in the comments below!
