So you might be wondering where all of this ‘sample talk’ is going…it’s leading to this dude @nearjigsaw reaching out to me with a predicament - he’s been trying to sell a Jordan 1 Frag ‘sample’…which

So you might be wondering where all of this ‘sample talk’ is going…it’s leading to this dude @nearjigsaw reaching out to me with a predicament - he’s been trying to sell a Jordan 1 Frag ‘sample’…which…is looking to be about a $25k-$50k shoe…but a few people have been questioning the shoes authenticity…@englishsole and a few are saying they’re fake, and a few other folks are saying they’re authentic…how does a problem like this get resolved? And…what does ‘authentic’ mean in this case? 
 
Unless the source of the acquisition is credible IMO…and…believe it or not…’credible’ to me (other than a Nike employee) is a thrift store (lol). I don’t know that I’d even consider most consignment stores as being ‘credible’ because it’s just too simple of a con. Seriously, tho, thrift shops. The VAST majority of sample heat I’ve found over the years has been through thrift stores and almost every single pair of samples I’ve come up on have come through thrift stores. Why thrift stores? IMO it’s employees or ex-employees or people who simply have no idea what they have and are just dropping them off to get rid of them. No thought goes into it at all. Most high-functioning sneakerheads are not spending their time digging through the bins at Goodwill. So a surprising amount of dope shit STILL ends up there. 
 
Anyway…what do you think dude should do? Without the ability to get them ‘authenticated’ by anyone who can actually authenticate them, how does one prove they’re real? I know there are companies out there that promise they can ‘authenticate’ them - it’s a physical impossibility. Even NIKE can’t ‘authenticate’ them. Why? BECAUSE THEY OFFICIALLY DON’T EXIST. 
 
For what it’s worth - if someone came to me with these and said ‘do these look real to you?’ There’s NO WAY I’d be able to say they don’t. They look exactly like I would expect them to look. The common telltale signs that I look for - they’re just not there. But would I put money behind that verdict? Absolutely not. Mostly because I’m not a sample collector, but also because - THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO WAY FOR ME TO TELL. 
 
So as a seller, what do you do? Who do you look to for help?