eBay is now CHARGING for Authenticity Guarantee Program
 

Well not really. They have added it as a paid option in watches. All watches over $2000 still go through the program for FREE. Now we all have the option of having watches from $500 to $2000 authenticated for a $80 fee.

I consider it exactly the same as having PSA grade a expensive card. Sure they are not perfect but most people are not going to spend the 100s if not 1000s of hours it takes to tell a fake/alteration from a real/unaltered one.

Are they charging the buyer or the seller?

I would hope the buyer since it is their choice.

I’d be curious to know how deep they go in terms of matching proper parts and actually looking at movements.

Hmm...seems only a matter of time until they do this with trading cards.

I am sure they get every cheap replica that sells under $500. The ones that go in the $500-$1000 range should be caught by someone that knowns that model. The higher end $1000+ models are pretty spot on and so good you can actually swap out the fake parts with real ones because they are that perfect.

I am on a watch forum and fake watches are a big problem like trimmed cards in PSA slabs in this hobby.

That would be awesome. They could raise the free service up to cards over $500. Then offer the paid service for cheaper cards like they done with watches.

That would make sense. Hopefully it will be less than $80 if the card is worth under $500...

$10 seems like a good number. What does Beckett charge for their raw card review?

I don't know but $10 seems totally fair for the service.