Sell with total confidence. (pic via eBay)
Source: eBay Authenticity Guarantee for Sneakers
I’ve written extensively about StockX on this site and in two books. StockX was built on the flaws of Amazon and eBay and as the company continues to develop (it’s only 4 years old), the site has already usurped eBay as the go to for new sellers and established sellers. This has led eBay to deliver a number of adjustments:
The Reality of eBay Eliminating Sneaker Seller Fees and Their New December Drop Series
They removed seller’s fees for shoes over 100 bucks, and they have been aligning with Stadium Goods and other proven resale shops to drive engagement on their platform. StockX meanwhile continues to hum along growing website traffic at an amazing clip. I’ve been working on a new report that will be available for purchase and in that report I deliver a stat on StockX’s traffic increase since Covid-19 hit. The site has grown from 19 million visits a month to an amazing 22.4 million visits.
In the link above, written in 2017, StockX was at 3.21 million visits. 3.21 to 22.4 in three years!!!! eBay allowed StockX and GOAT to be born because the site never corrected major issues with the platform for sellers. I’ve written on this site about when eBay killed my account and how this led to my move to Amazon. All of eBay’s problems stem from their allowing counterfeits to be sold without repercussion on their site.
Now the company is attempting to add “authentication” services for shoes sold for more than 200 dollars.
What is Authenticity Guarantee?
eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee is a service designed to protect sellers and allow buyers to shop with confidence. Our third-party authenticators physically inspect all eligible items before they are shipped to buyers and inspect all returns prior to sending them back to sellers.
At this time, only new Jordan and Yeezy sneakers listed in the Men’s or Women’s Athletic Shoes Categories that sell for $200 or more are eligible for Authenticity Guarantee. We are first including items from select sellers and rapidly expanding to all sellers in sneakers. Check your listings for the “Authenticity Guarantee” blue check mark badge to see if your listings are included at this time. See below for more information on item eligibility.
While it makes sense for eBay to set this up, doing so adds a layer to the sales process that will contribute to slow shipping speed. StockX is a site built on the authentication process. They have always been a slow shipping site because buyers understand the process and they are okay with it. They may complain, but they are okay with it. More important:
There isn’t any buyer remorse on StockX. You can’t simply hit a button and cancel or contact eBay to file a claim and back out of the transaction.
I bought five pairs of shoes that were sitting at a local retailer. I waited over three weeks for StockX to list the shoes on their site. They never listed the sneakers (another future article here). I decided to place them on eBay. I very rarely use my eBay account, but these were Jordan 1s so I assumed that the shoes would sell quickly. Someone bought all 5 ending the listing. The next day they wrote to cancel. I relisted the shoes again. The same thing happened. I decided to sell the shoes to a bulk buyer and I took them off of eBay.
eBay has issues with chargebacks, claims… fraud. The consumer there realizes that eBay sides with them and they will order an expensive pair and they will cancel the order while it’s in transit. This creates an issue of the shoe being in limbo. Because the seller is at the mercy of poor policies on eBay they have to wait and deal with issues that they simply don’t encounter on StockX. The eBay consumer is notorious for writing and asking “Where is my stuff?” 24 hours after paying. The eBay consumers aren’t all pains, but I haven’t sold on eBay for a very long time. I decided to give it a try last week and the exact same issues that were there years ago, remain.
Adding the additional layer makes sense, but this could create considerable issues for all parties as the buyers may not be aware or willing to wait patiently. Have you ordered any Verified sneakers from eBay? How is the service working? This will be interesting to watch.
