Cartier has said that some diamond watches being sold on Walmart.com this past Black Friday — for as much as $18,000 — may not be authentic. Fortune reported that the upscale jeweler said that it could not vouch for the authenticity of the watches, sold by third-party Jewelry Unlimited.
As the publication noted, the retailing giant does not take possession of the third-party vended items and instead offers up its eCommerce platform to those sellers (charging a fee in the process). Cartier, for its part, issued a statement, saying: “Walmart is not a Cartier authorized retailer; therefore, Cartier has no knowledge or involvement in the selling or marketing of this watch nor can confirm the authenticity of the piece.”
Fortune stated that a high-end luxury merchant such as Cartier might view sales across Walmart as detrimental to its high-end cachet. The jeweler does have a presence on Amazon, said the financial publication. Walmart, for its part, has been in the midst of expanding its product offerings to reach towards a bit more upscale product line, with one notable brand coming through — Michael Kors.