eBay x Stoll & Co. : Behind our Authenticity Guarantee
This campaign met watch enthusiasts on Reddit and collector forums to introduce eBay's Authenticity Guarantee: a first-of-its-kind trust program for pre-owned luxury goods. Message association landed 4x above North America benchmark and set the creative direction for years to come.
MY ROLE
Social Lead, Luxury Watches — Insight, Strategy, Creative Direction, Execution
PLATFORM
Facebook, YouTube, Organic Social (@ebaywatches)
OUTCOME
Co-branded product, launched 2020, still on shelves in 2026
$1M+
Estimated first-year sales for the co-branded product
6yrs
Years on shelves since launch, still selling in 2026
0
Dollars spent to generate the original consumer insight
1
Tweet that started a multi-year brand partnership
THE INSIGHT
The community did not distrust the Authenticity Guarantee. They distrusted the unknown.
When eBay launched its Authenticity Guarantee for watches in September 2021, the reception in the collector community was not enthusiasm. It was skepticism. On Reddit, Omega forums, Rolex forums, and WatchUSeek, the questions were consistent and specific: Who are these authenticators? Would opening the caseback void a warranty? How can eBay possibly verify the movement of a luxury Swiss timepiece?
I was reading those forums not as a passive observer but as primary research. What I found was that the underlying concern was not really about eBay's ability to authenticate. It was about transparency. The buyers who were asking "how do you know you can trust their judgment?" were not asking an unanswerable question. They were asking a question nobody had bothered to answer yet.
Consumer behavior, observed organically
Real Instagram posts of consumers combining Outshine bars with Tajín, unprompted, well before any brand involvement.
@thischicmayra
Organic post celebrating the flavor combination, part of the earned cultural momentum that validated the insight in the Hispanic market.
THE ACTION
The credentials that made the community stop and listen.
Stoll & Co. was not a random vendor. Founded in 1982 by watchmaker Ron Stoll in Dayton, Ohio, it had grown into the largest independent watch service center in the United States. Factory authorized by over 30 Swiss luxury brands including Omega, Cartier, IWC, Panerai, and Tag Heuer. An 8,000 square foot facility with 65-plus watchmakers and specialists holding a combined 600-plus years in the craft. When collectors asked "who are these people?" the answer was hiding in plain sight. I just needed to put it on camera.
THE RESULT
Three videos. Two days. One internal team.
The production was entirely internal. No agency. The North America Creative and Social teams handled everything: concept, location scouting, filming, editing, and distribution. Day one was location scouting and filming the authentication process. Day two was interviews with Ron Stoll, Michael Edelman, and Jamie Dolinar. The format was documentary-adjacent by design. Over-produced content would have felt exactly wrong for a collector audience that prizes authenticity and craftsmanship over polish.
The editorial strategy was to craft three distinct stories from the same footage, each addressing a different layer of the trust question, and then cut them across multiple lengths for different paid placements: 6s, 15s, 30s, and 60s, all built around the same core narrative.
The :30 was the standout performer across all formats: tighter watch aficionado audience targeting combined with CRM lookalikes drove 4.7M impressions, 1.4M thru plays, and 2.3M post engagements from that cut alone.
