The long labor day weekend last weekend meant I finally had the chance to soak up some much needed sunshine poolside and engage in some leisure reading. Whilst catching up on the last two weeks of posts from the blog-o-sphere, an article from Blushing Noir- one of my favorite beauty blogs I follow- titled,  ”My Recent Experience with eBay- A Cautionary Tale,” caught my attention. The post recounts this blogger’s experience with injustice as a seller on eBay, and was at once shocking, disappointing and also, I felt, an important experience to share- [to read the full story, click here].

So often we recount the horror stories of buyers being scammed on eBay, but the reality is, sellers are just as much at risk, if not more so, for being scammed. Once considered to be a reliable space online to buy and sell legitimate designer goods- eBay has expanded into a space where both buyers and sellers are wary of purchasing and posting their high-end wares for sale.

This may explain why we see so many of these smaller, niche, marketplaces for luxury wares now cropping up online. Sites like Klury.com, TheRealReal.com and, (you guessed it)- eRelyx.com offer consignment services for everything from a pair of Chanel Sunglasses, to a Rolex Watch. But more importantly, these start-ups seek to restore consumer faith in the online marketplace. By standing in the middle of each transaction, they are able to give not only buyers, but also sellers, the security and comfort of knowing each item for sale is authentic, and each sale is genuine.