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To help overcome situations like this, it helps to have independent third parties who are able to adjudicate quality.
为了解决这样的情况，有能够评判质量的独立第三方是有帮助的。
It is often easier to sell a used car to a mechanic or a dealer, for instance, who will then be able to provide a guarantee to a less knowledgeable buyer.
例如，将一辆二手车卖给机械师或经销商往往更容易，他们之后能向不太懂车的买家提供担保。
Many luxury brands provide authenticity cards with bags when they are sold, so that customers can prove their purchase is real.
许多奢侈品牌在出售手提包时会提供保真卡，这样顾客就可以证明他们购买的包是真的。
Checking these and other markers of quality is precisely the kind of role that the luxury-resale platforms, which provide authenticity-checking services, are supposed to fulfil.
检查这种和其他的质量标志，正是提供验真服务的奢侈品转售平台应该履行的职责。
Yet the task is increasingly difficult.
然而，这项任务变得越来越困难。
This became clear in January, when a lawsuit brought by Chanel, a French fashion house, against What Goes Around Comes Around (WGACA), a vintage store in New York, went to trial.
这一点在1月份变得清晰，当时法国时装品牌香奈儿对纽约古着店WGACA提起的诉讼进入了审判阶段。
Chanel provided evidence that WGACA, which markets itself as providing a “100% authenticity guarantee”, may have sold counterfeits.
香奈儿提供的证据表明，WGACA自我宣称有“100%真品保证”，但可能出售了假货。
In 2012, 30,000 authenticity cards, which are included in every Chanel bag, were stolen from the warehouse of one of the firm’s manufacturers.
2012年，香奈儿的一家制造商的仓库里有3万张保真卡被盗（每个香奈儿手提包里都会有这些保真卡）。
No bags went missing.
但手提包一个都没丢。
Their serial numbers were then voided in Chanel’s database.
这些保真卡的序列号随后在香奈儿的数据库中被作废。
Joseph Bravo, an executive at the firm, said that he was later asked by police in Florence, Italy, to identify one of these cards which had been tucked into a fake bag.
香奈儿的高管约瑟夫·布拉沃说，意大利佛罗伦萨警方后来让他鉴定其中一张卡，这张卡被塞进了一个假包里。
Chanel provided evidence that 50 bags with voided serial numbers had ended up being sold by WGACA.
香奈儿提供了证据，证明50个带有无效序列号的手提包最终被WGACA出售。
On February 6th the jury sided with Chanel, awarding the firm $4m in damages, for copyright infringement and other infractions.
2月6日，陪审团站在香奈儿一边，裁定该公司因侵犯版权和其他违规行为而获得400万美元的赔偿金。
Chanel is also suing the RealReal over counterfeit issues, which the reselling platform denies.
香奈儿还就假冒问题起诉RealReal，但RealReal对此予以否认。
“Today’s verdict was not about not selling a counterfeit,” argued Seth Weisser, the founder of WGACA, but “selling items which were voided in Chanel’s database.”
“今天的裁决不是关于不要卖假货，”WGACA的创始人塞斯·威瑟辩称，“而是卖香奈儿数据库中被作废的商品。”
He stood by the firm’s 100% authenticity guarantee.
他坚持公司有100%的真实性保证。
But the decision plants a seed of doubt about what is being sold.
但这一决定让人们对正在出售的产品产生了怀疑。
If even the professionals cannot be trusted, then what?
如果连专业人士都不能信任，那又能怎么办？
The theory of lemons suggests that the market for used handbags might collapse.
柠檬理论表明，二手包市场可能会崩溃。
Nobody should be happy with such an outcome.
没有人会对这样的结果感到高兴。
The reselling platforms lose out for obvious reasons.
转售平台之所以会输，原因很明显。
But brands lose out, too.
但品牌也是输家。
A robust resale market provides an additional reason to buy a luxury bag.
强劲的转售市场为购买奢侈品包提供了另一个理由。
Whereas a white T-shirt is a pure consumption good, likely to be used until worn out and discarded, a fine handbag is closer to buying a car: the product is an asset that depreciates over time, yet still holds value.
白色T恤是纯粹的消费品，可能会一直被穿到磨损然后被丢掉，而精致的手提包更接近于买一辆车：产品是一种资产，随着时间的推移会贬值，但仍然有价值。
(It can also cost about as much as a vehicle.)
(它的价格也可能与一辆汽车差不多。)
The collapse of the market would also be a blow to shoppers.
市场的崩溃也会对购物者造成打击。
Lemon problems vex economists quite so much because they prevent willing buyers and sellers of perfectly good cars and handbags from striking deals that would benefit each party.
柠檬问题之所以让经济学家如此烦恼，是因为这个问题阻止了好汽车和好手提包的买家和卖家达成对双方都有利的交易。
Chanel has proven its point about how hard it is for third parties to authenticate its products.
香奈儿已经证明了第三方鉴定产品有多难。
It may now be wise for the company to use its ample resources to find a more robust way for them to do so.
现在，明智的做法可能是该公司利用其充足的资源，为第三方找到一种更稳健的鉴定方式。
