Major problem with eBay - Help is requested!

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Posted By: Jon Canfield

Hello All,

Today I ran into a major problem with eBay and I'm hoping the board can help me out in this situation with some advice. Well, let me start at the beginning...

About 3 weeks ago, I listed a Babe Ruth autographed 8*10 for sale on eBay. However, 5 days after I listed it, eBay canceled my auction, stating that a PSA/DNA quick opinion had been made on the piece, and that it was probably unauthentic. When I read the news, my jaw dropped. I have been collecting vintage autographs for a long time, and I am almost certain that every piece I own or sell is 100% authentic. However, this story has a funny twist... You see, this Babe Ruth autographed photo came directly from Jim Spence. In fact, I still have the original receipt from the purchase of the photo of him. So, here's my problem - Spence has just said a picture he sold is unauthentic. This not only cost me a sale, but also got me a warning from eBay. I emailed eBay with a copy of the receipt from Spence's sale as well as a lengthy explaination. However, as you can imagine, eBay never responded. I decided to wait to talk to Spence about the incident in person at the National, rather than try to get to the bottom of this problem over the phone... The way I see it, he has sold me an unauthentic photo of Ruth (even though this photo is 100% authentic and I'm sure of it...). Anyway, so I thought that this matter would simply have died here and I would just sulk for a couple days over the lost sale but get over it! Well, I was wrong!

Here's where this story gets worse and I need help...

At the same time, I was also auctioning off a Cap Anson signed piece. Now, this autograph was purchased from Chistopher Klem. One of the high bidders at that time had purchased the PSA/DNA quick opinion on the autograph and it came back as being "probably authentic". That bidder ended up being outbid, and the Anson piece sold to a dfferent high bidder. Well, after about 2 weeks of having not received the payment and getting no response via email from this high bidder, I filed a non-paying bidder report with eBay and relisted the Cap Anson signed piece this past Sunday on eBay.

About ten minutes ago, I received an email from eBay stating they have ended my auction for the Cap Anson signed piece. The email said "We regret to inform you that we have consulted with an independent professional
third party verification service, which has concluded that the following
listing(s) is inappropriate:


2736715392 ADRIAN CAP ANSON SIGNED AUTOGRAPHED DISPLAY"

The email then went on to say "Since this is not the first occurrence of a violation of this sort, eBay has
reviewed your listings and decided that we will decline to accept your
autographed listings in the future unless certain conditions are met."

Now, this is a major problem since this same autograph was verified as being probably authentic by PSA/DNA only 3 weeks ago!! What the heck!! I'm down right p*ssed off and have no idea what I can do now?! To add injury to insult - I have now been suspended?! eBay has said that if I get all my autographs verified by PSA/DNA, I can resell. Well, for the $250 they want for authenticated pieces, they can shove their authentication service right up their rear end. I mean, how could I even trust PSA/DNA to authenticate my autographs when Spence can't even authenticate his own pieces - after all, he sold me a fake Ruth 8*10, right? (This is sarcasm here by the way).

So, what do I do? - Any suggestions? If nothing can be done, this can at least be a lesson to all. I'm not out any cash here, and I know my autographs are good - but this is a shot at my reputation - I have 100% positive feedback, and over 200 of my feedbacks have come from autographs. This problem outlines how bogus this PSA/DNA quick opinion service truly is. I mean, come on, we all know you can't verify autographs from a scan, but god - eBay has taken this too far! Quick Opinion is a marketing ploy to milk another $7.00 out of the hobby, but I can't see any viable way to get around it...

I have contacted eBay with a lengthy email detailing this whole situation again, and I'm hoping we can resolve the issue. However, since I only generate about $1000 is sales a month on ebay, I'm confident they are going to just p*ss on me. So, any suggestions as to what I can do here? If anyone has any similar stories with ebay or PSA/DNA, I'd really like to hear them too. I'd like to at least have some ammo with me when I take on ebay Also, besides advice - anyone have a number to call? I searched and searched but could only come up with the email address I need to use...