eBay Moves Luxury Watch Authentication In-House
eBay is moving authentication services for luxury watches in-house to their Moonachie, NJ facility as third party partnership with Stoll & Co. appears to be phased out.
When Authenticity Guaranteed for watches was launched in 2020, eBay said they had "partnered with leading industry experts whose services and capabilities have been thoroughly vetted" and that those independent experts were "leaders in their industry, brand certified watchmakers and technicians with years of experience using advanced technical equipment in a state-of-the-art facility."
Users eventually discovered that third party partner was Stoll & C0., which has been handling watch authentication for eBay for ~4.5 years, with mixed reviews and results.
Users in the eBay community forum have often expressed frustration with the authentication experience from Stoll & Co, with many complaints about items being rejected for vague or erroneous reasons.
Disappointed in Authenticity Guarantee Program
I have previously had great success with this program for both selling and buying until just recently. I sold an Authentic Watch (which by the way had been previously authenticated by an industry expert) that was marked unable to be authenticated by Stoll and Co.
The feedback for the rejection was very vague and only "unable to authenticate". I contacted the buyer to see what they were told by Stoll and Co. The buyer was told "Something didn't seem right". Again super vague. That's it.
The feedback in various collectors forums is also mixed, with some saying they received supposedly authenticated watches that were missing parts and others even saying the authenticator "misplaced" the entire watch, leading to very disappointing buying and selling experiences.
Darlinboy
And Yelp and Google reviews show concerning reports with items being damaged either during the authentication process or as a result of improper packaging for shipping from Stoll & Co. to the buyer, or other issues that buyers say call into question how knowledgeable and experienced their authenticators really are.
Have had mixed experiences with them. One time they lost the spare links on a high-end watch, and another time they failed authentication on a $600 quartz TAG Heuer claiming it was a replica, because they didn't know that TAG Heuer uses Rhonda quartz movements inside their watches.
Rhonda is a respected movement maker contracted by many prestigious brands to make their quartz movements, including TAG Heuer. Thought that was strange for a watch authenticator to not know something like that when reaching out to TAG Heuer directly or a quick internet search would confirm it.
I think their intentions are good, but I suspect with the growth fueled by eBay's watch authentication program, Stoll & Co has failed to hire the right experts and structure the process accordingly to ensure a consistent experience for the customer. If I was in eBay leadership, I'd have second thoughts about renewing the contract with Stoll & Co once it expires.
Whether due to customer complaints or other reasons, it appears eBay is phasing out their partnership with Stoll & Co. for luxury watch authentication.
According to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, as recently as February 24, 2025, eBay still explicitly named Stoll & Co. as their authentication partner on help and policy pages about the program.
But sometime between then and the end of March, the page was updated to remove all mention of Stoll & Co. - here's what it looks like today:
ebay
And a recent job ad shows eBay is looking for a Manager Watch Authentication Operations for their in-house Moonachie, NJ facility which also handles authentication for handbags and streetwear.
That part about "supporting employees' ability to escalate concerns without retaliation or retribution" is interesting and familiar - eBay's been forced to insert that into many of their recent job ads for labor-centric warehouse operations in light of ongoing labor troubles including stalling bargaining with their first union at TCGPlayer, a lawsuit from former sneaker authentication workers in New York, and multiple lawsuits alleging discrimination and retaliations from white collar tech and customer support staff too.
The move also comes as eBay is opening new Louisville, KY sneaker authentication center as expanding labor-centric warehouse operations bring increased employee relations challenges.
Liz Morton
What do you think of eBay moving watch authentication in-house and do you think it will be an improvement over Stoll & Co? Let us know in the comments below!
