FEATURE: EBAY: No Fakes. No Fraud. No Doubt? (Part Two)

Way back in March I wrote a post about eBay and their drive to convince us all that it was safe to buy through their platform without worrying about fake watches, at least for watches that cost more than £1500 (the price point where eBay actually offer hands-on checks), though even then there is some debate on the effectiveness of that. 

Since then I've reported two or three watches that have caught my eye and all three were branded totally fine by eBay. Now these weren't super-fakes where you need to closely inspect the lume pip in the bezel and see the bracelet pins... these were watches that anyone with a reasonable knowledge of the brand would spot as wrong-uns or at least raise suspicions. But no, eBay got a 'service agent' to look at them and decided that each one was not fraudulent.

Well clearly eBay's 'service agents' are ill equipped to do this job, because they are still clueless about even pretty obvious fakes. Like this one for example.

This supposed Cawelon x TAG Heuer collaboration was one of the watches I reported twice, only to be told both times it was legit. I mean, Christ on a bike. Look at it! There's no way on Earth that TAG Heuer had anything to do with this, and to add insult to injury the bloody thing sold for £150. It should have been chucked in a hole and covered with cement!

And then I noticed over on the THF Forum that YG Rulz had posted another doozy, again verified by eBay as being totally legit. Admittedly this one is less obvious than the piece of utter garbage above, at least until you turn it over and you realise it's trying to pass itself off as one of the 2019 Calibre 11 limited edition watches... and yet the crown is on the right hand side. 🤣

It's also being sold in a 90/00s style drum case and box (both of which also look fake to me)... but okay, I wouldn't expect an eBay 'service manager' to notice that...

I can't tell you how frustrating it is to inform eBay that a watch is obviously fake, only to be told repeatedly that 'we've looked at it and decided that it isn't'. I mean, okay, if they were too jumpy with it the system could be open to abuse, but if the 'service agent' doesn't even bother to look at the pictures and compare it with an official photo/render then what the hell is the point?

Again, I'm not expecting eBay staff to inspect lume pips and bracelet pins, I can't even keep up with those finer details, but I'm not even talking about the scarily good fakes that even a watchmaker would probably struggle to identify 100%. It just seems to me that when eBay says someone has looked at a listing, what they really mean is someone (or possibly a computer, I don't know) looked at the watch and checked it said TAG Heuer on it. I mean that literally seems like the extent of their 'checks'.

As I was writing this post someone posted another watch in the 'Is My Watch Authentic' thread over at THF Forums, again I reported it and yet again eBay told me that they had looked at it and decided they had no problem with it. I mean, what is the point of reporting anything? This is is so bloody obvious that it's not even funny. At least this one will have to go through eBay's hands on 'authenticity checks' if someone's actually daft enough to part with £2000 for it! 

So, once again, all I can say is please, please, please be careful when buying watches on eBay, particularly 'new' watches at too good to be true prices*. And I would say report anything you see that is obviously fake, but you'll probably just end up annoyed and frustrated like me. The truth is eBay wants to make lots of money, but they don't want to take responsibility for anything they allow to be sold on their platform and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

*Maybe ask yourself how someone can be selling a new Aquaracer with a starting bid of £500.

Also, it's long been the case that you could send a watch to TAG Heuer for authentication, but it seems this service is no longer being offered. Probably because they have been overwhelmed with Chinese fakes... now the only way to get your watch authenticated is to send it for a service or a battery change. Presumably most watches that need servicing will be over the £1500 threshold, but otherwise it might be worth considering spending £80 for a new battery to put your mind at rest...