Dive Brief:
- EBay announced it is now authenticating streetwear brands, according to a press release. Under its Authenticity Guarantee, every eligible item is verified by experts with brand and category knowledge.
- At launch, new or pre-owned items from nine brands sold for more than $200 are eligible for authentication, including Vetements, Supreme, Off-White and others. EBay covers all costs of the multi-point authentication process and if a buyer returns an item, authenticators re-inspect it before sending it back to the seller.
- EBay plans to add 21 other streetwear and luxury brands to its authenticator program, including Adidas, Burberry, Gucci, Jordan and more, by the end of September.
Dive Insight:
Searches for “streetwear” on eBay were up approximately 100% year over year from April 2022 to April 2023, the company said. In 2022, BAPE, Fear of God, Off-White, Stone Island and Supreme were the top selling streetwear brands globally on eBay.
“EBay has pieces from nearly every notable streetwear drop that’s ever happened – whether in 1993 or 2023,” Garry Thaniel, global general manager of sneakers and streetwear, said in a statement. “We’ve heard loud and clear from our enthusiast community that they want to be able to come to eBay to buy and sell apparel in the same seamless way that they can sneakers. With the launch of Authenticity Guarantee for streetwear, we’re delivering on that ask.”
Each verified item gets a unique authentication tag with a QR code. The tag is fastened to the item and customers can access the item’s credentials by scanning the code. The same code can be used to re-list the garment in the future. Brands themselves are not involved in Authenticity Guarantee.
This is the sixth category of items eBay now authenticates, along with streetwear sneakers, watches, jewelry, handbags and trading cards. It’s just the latest authentication effort from the marketplace, which has focused heavily on the area in recent months. Last month, eBay acquired AI-powered authentication company Certilogo for an undisclosed sum. The deal is part of various efforts to strengthen eBay’s verification process for secondhand fashion.
In April, eBay introduced its “Certified by Brand’’ luxury resale program, where brands can authenticate the sale of their secondhand items. Items are categorized as either Direct from Brand or from a Brand-Authorized Seller, indicating that they are new or pre-owned inventory from the brand’s manufacturer, have previously been authenticated by the brand or come from an authorized reseller. Participating brands in that program include Alberto Milani, Ernst Benz, Konstantin Chaykin and Zodiac Watches.
In February, eBay bought AI fraud detection company 3PM Shield to aid in finding suspicious merchants on its platform. The company also bought Sneaker Con Digital’s shoe authentication arm in November 2021
