A Very interesting auction

[travrosty]

i have ALWAYS said that a third party company is not a bad idea if they would just guarantee their opinions. then it would be a third party guarantee and the certs would then be worth something. we are letting 2 people decide for all of us what is good and what is not, with no warranty on their end? bad idea all around.

[Splinte1941]

Originally Posted by travrosty

i have ALWAYS said that a third party company is not a bad idea if they would just guarantee their opinions. then it would be a third party guarantee and the certs would then be worth something. we are letting 2 people decide for all of us what is good and what is not, with no warranty on their end? bad idea all around.

Agreed, but you can understand why they can't guarantee signatures they never saw in person right? Which then begs the question what the entire point of a TPA is, and round and round we go.

Guaranteeing an opinion is a total oxymoron. You could argue they use this as their proverbial Get Out of Jail Free Card, but it is what it is. Collectors themselves are to blame for their importance and place in this business. It's supply and demand. The day someone realized they could make a fortune off forging what was once thought relatively worthless signatures, was the day someone hatched the idea to provide something to combat that.

[mighty bombjack]

Originally Posted by travrosty

i have ALWAYS said that a third party company is not a bad idea if they would just guarantee their opinions. then it would be a third party guarantee and the certs would then be worth something. we are letting 2 people decide for all of us what is good and what is not, with no warranty on their end? bad idea all around.

If you are talking about guaranteeing it, as in refunding money for the authentication if the auto can be proven fake (as in PROVEN, not held up against someone else's opinion), then I agree that the companies should step up and do it. It wouldn't make such a huge difference to them, as these cases are not very common. The Cobb that has been much discussed on these boards would fall here.

If you are talking about a TPA guaranteeing against what someone pays for an item at auction, then I think you're crazy. No company would ever do this without control over what an item sells for. That would open up such a huge can of worms (and a whole new level of fraud).