Quote:
Originally Posted by drc
eBay wouldn't do it for liability reasons, because all their existence they have done their very best to stay away from being seen as responsible for the authenticity of auction lots. They have protected themselves from liability by saying the transaction is between the buyer and the seller and eBay is just the web site where the sale takes place. Once they start a service to directly authenticate lots, even if just some lots, it would be harder to make that argument.
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+1
Also keep in mind that, while it seems like there are a ton of autographs on eBay at any given time, they are a tiny sliver of the overall pie of sales on eBay. Risk vs. Reward would never allow them to go down that road.
But, since "this would never happen" was not one of the choices here, let me say that I would never trust eBay to set up any such system for any reason other than to make money for eBay. Meaning they collector's best interest (validating authentic autographs and weeding out fakes) would never be their primary concern. At best, they would implement a system whereby if the buyer could prove the autograph they purchased was a fake, eBay would refund their money (and probably find some way to make the seller pay for the refund). There would be some elaborate series of hoops to jump through to get your money back, but I would never trust them to set up anything other than a money-back-guarantee system funded by the authentication fees, not a true authentication.
And somehow the final value fees would go up and further restrictions would be placed on sellers, as happens with any major change at eBay.