U.S. e-commerce giant Ebay announced plans to extend its product authentication program to cover luxury jewelry, in a bid to stem the resale of counterfeit jewels across its global marketplace.
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Dubbed “EbayAuthenticate”, the luxury jewelry category is the newest addition to Ebay’s new verification platform, which first launched in 2017 with the resale of luxury handbags. Following its success, Ebay went on to add luxury watches to the authentication service in early 2018.
This month, Ebay confirmed it wants to offer “holiday shoppers more than 45,000 high-end diamond and other gemstone jewelry, verified by professional authenticators,” according to press release.
Ahead of the busy Christmas period, Ebay customers can browse for high-end necklaces, earrings, rings, and bracelets, which are now all marked with an “Authenticity Verified” label.
That’s in addition to engagement and wedding bands, loose diamonds and gemstones, and fine, vintage and fashion jewelry.
Much like the verification its luxury handbags and watches already go through, all jewelry items will be approved by third-party authentication experts and sourced from more than two dozen of Ebay’s top-rated sellers.
“Ebay is home to the largest selection of luxury goods, which includes tens of thousands of jewelry items, fine watches, and rare and designer handbags,” said James Hendy, Senior Director of Ebay Authenticate.
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“Expanding the Ebay Authenticate service provides customers an added layer of trust and confidence as they shop for fine jewelry this holiday and beyond.”
The popularity of Ebay’s jewellery, and an industry-wide crackdown on fake goods across online marketplaces, means the authentication of goods is fast-becoming a perquisite for customer satisfaction and therefore, sales growth.
Some 50,000 jewelry items are sold per day on Ebay (approx. 2,000 item sold per hour), with one diamond ring sold every minute, according to figures released by Ebay.
Ebay said its most popular jewelry stone is diamonds, followed by sapphires, acquamarine, amethysts and onyx rounding out the top five precious stones sold online.