eBay Expands Its Authenticity Guarantee to Include Kids’ Sneakers
With the demand for kids‘ sneakers steadily on the rise, online marketplace eBay is expanding its Authenticity Guarantee to include styles for young sneakerheads.
EBay announced today that its Authenticity Guarantee, a service it created to both protect sellers and allow its buyers to shop with confidence, will now include new and pre-owned children’s sneakers that are sold for $100 or more. The online marketplace said eligible sneakers in infant, toddler and kids’ sizing will go through the same process that adult shoes undergo at its authentication facility.
This Authenticity Guarantee will extend to 40-plus brands, a list that includes Adidas, Nike, New Balance and more.
The Authenticity Guarantee functionality for kids’ sizes will launch today at 7 p.m. ET.
According to eBay, when a kids’ sneakers purchase is made, the seller will ship it directly to its authentication facility for a multi-point physical inspection. The inspection, eBay explained, includes a verification of the box, sizing labels, soles, stitching, logos and more against the seller’s listing description.
After the verification, eBay stated a unique NFC‑enabled tag will be applied to the left sneaker that provides detailed authentication information about the pair. This is also done to make the sneakers easy to list on Ebay.com. Then, the sneakers are sent via expedited shipping to the buyer.
And for sellers who choose to offer returns, eBay said its authentication program ensures the exact item that was sold is returned to the seller through a verified returns process. With this process, eBay stated the pair is shipped to the authentication center where the marketplace’s experts verify the item and its condition before returning to the seller.
Since the launch of Authenticity Guarantee in 2020, eBay confirmed it has authenticated more than 4 million items globally.
EBay is expanding its Authenticity Guarantee at a time when sneakers have never been hotter on the marketplace. Searches for the most popular sneaker brands on eBay, the company stated, climbed more than 6 percent in 2022. The two leading brands in terms of searches were Hoka and New Balance, which grew by roughly 40 percent and more than 20 percent, respectively.
The move comes less than two weeks after announcing it was expanding its Authenticity Guarantee to streetwear. With this expansion, all eligible streetwear bought and sold in the U.S. will be vetted and verified by eBay’s team of authenticators, who will use detailed physical inspection and advanced technical equipment in eBay’s new facility in New Jersey. Items from brands including Aimé Leon Dore, Fear of God, Supreme, Off-White and more that are sold for more than $200 will be eligible.
“Streetwear is as much in eBay’s DNA as sneakers,” Garry Thaniel, global GM of sneakers and streetwear at eBay, told FN sister publication WWD. “Collectors, hypebeasts, enthusiasts — people have been coming to eBay to buy and sell pioneering streetwear brands like Stussy and Supreme since the mid-’90s, and demand has only increased as more and more shoppers turn to the secondary marketplace to find the drops that they missed.”
