---
title: "Luxury Goods Authenticator"
description: "Examines designer handbags, watches, sneakers and other luxury items to determine whether they are genuine before they are resold."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/luxury-goods-authenticator"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Luxury Goods Authenticator

**Category:** Production · **SOC code:** 51-9061 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 51-9061.00

Examines designer handbags, watches, sneakers and other luxury items to determine whether they are genuine before they are resold.

Also advertised as: Authentication Specialist; Handbag Authenticator; Luxury Authenticator; Sneaker Authenticator; Watch Authenticator.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $48,570 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $23.35/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $35,510 to $77,860, with the middle half between $39,890 and $61,440
- **Total US employment:** 597,370
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +2.5% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 66,700 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 43/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 597,370 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $35,510 |
| 25th | $39,890 |
| 50th (median) | $48,570 |
| 75th | $61,440 |
| 90th | $77,860 |
| Mean (average) | $53,450 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| AK | $78,150 | $76,349 | 300 |
| WA | $64,420 | $60,198 | 12,010 |
| MD | $61,790 | $58,871 | 4,600 |
| HI | $59,740 | $54,333 | 650 |
| DC | $59,730 | $54,349 | 70 |
| CO | $58,350 | $56,622 | 5,220 |
| MT | $58,070 | $61,356 | 580 |
| WY | $57,900 | $62,466 | 990 |
| DE | $57,190 | $57,300 | 1,020 |
| MN | $57,170 | $57,969 | 9,710 |
| CT | $57,090 | $55,101 | 7,460 |
| RI | $54,940 | $53,715 | 1,790 |
| NH | $54,800 | $52,609 | 3,050 |
| MO | $54,420 | $59,923 | 12,480 |
| CA | $54,300 | $49,043 | 61,130 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/luxury-goods-authenticator/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/luxury-goods-authenticator.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 602,000 in the 2025–2035 base year to 617,200 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 15,200 jobs, or +2.5%. About as fast as average: 2.5% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 66,700 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 69.8% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 26.9% |
| Some College Courses | 2.6% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 0.7% |

## What the work involves

- Inspect luxury items for signs of counterfeiting
- Compare hardware, stitching and materials to brand references
- Verify serial numbers, date codes and certificates
- Grade item condition for resale listings
- Photograph and document authentication findings
- Escalate uncertain items to senior specialists
- Update reference guides as new counterfeits appear

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Writing — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Production and Processing — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Expression — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Perceptual Speed — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Flexibility of Closure — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C), Investigative (I).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 5.81 |
| C — Conventional | 5.36 |
| I — Investigative | 4.01 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.38 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |
| S — Social | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 95.4 |
| ISTP | 80.1 |
| INTJ | 75.5 |
| ISFJ | 75.1 |
| ESTJ | 74.5 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Inspector, Tester, Sorter, Sampler, and Weigher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/inspector-tester-sorter-sampler-and-weigher) — median $48,570
- [Calibration Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/calibration-technologist-and-technician) — median $67,820
- [Industrial Machinery Mechanic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-machinery-mechanic) — median $64,520
- [Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assembler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronic-equipment-assembler) — median $45,930
- [Aircraft Structure, Surface, Rigging, and Systems Assembler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/aircraft-structure-surface-rigging-and-systems-assembler) — median $65,380
- [Electromechanical Equipment Assembler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electromechanical-equipment-assembler) — median $45,930
- [Weigher, Measurer, Checker, and Sampler, Recordkeeping](https://nuecareer.com/careers/weigher-measurer-checker-and-sampler-recordkeeping) — median $46,380
- [Engine and Other Machine Assembler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/engine-and-other-machine-assembler) — median $53,710
- [Machine Feeder and Offbearer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/machine-feeder-and-offbearer) — median $41,220
- [Electrical and Electronics Repairer, Commercial and Industrial Equipment](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-repairer-commercial-and-industrial-equipment) — median $74,090

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/luxury-goods-authenticator