Question about PSA/JSA "Guarantees"

[cjedmonton]

*The comments below do not apply to established autograph dealers

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How often do we encounter an unauthenticated autographed item where the seller "guarantees" it will pass a major 3rd party authentication?

Yet, how often do we come across a seller who not only offers a full refund on the item itself if it fails to pass the mustard, but also offers to reimburse the buyer of his/her out of pocket expenses to submit said item to PSA/JSA?

As a future seller of a number of vintage unauthenticated signatures, I'm just trying to figure out my best plan of action:

1. Spend the out of pocket expense to submit everything to PSA/JSA

2. Back my confidence in the item by offering to reimburse the buyer of both the sale price and authentication fees they spend, only to have it kicked back?

3. Make no such claims of authenticity since no one, in theory, can make an absolute 100% guarantee (short of witnessing it being signed in person or being the person who signed it themselves).

I am leaning toward #2 to give bidders a bit more confidence when bidding, but in reality, it seems like it would only come across as a halfhearted attempt. Really, I'm just a random stranger who says he will offer a full refund including fees. What legitimate proof can I offer a bidder?

Thanks and sorry for the mild ramble.

Chris

[travrosty]

dont handcuff yourself like that. you are exposing yourself to the whim and fancy of psa and jsa if you do that. if an autograph that you know is 100 percent legit fails these services because they dont know the autograph, or that they just rolled out of the wrong side of the bed this morning, you are out a lot of cash, and it's not your fault. i would guaranee the authenticity of the autograph yourself, but a jsa or psa fail does not trigger your guarantee, rather real evidence that it is a fake autograph should trigger you guarantee.

josportsinc.com has a good guarantee disclaimer.

http://josportsinc.com/catalog/autograph.html

people i know have been burnt so many times by promising an item to pass psa or jsa, only to see these services get it wrong that we just throw up our hands now and say no way.

[ibuysportsephemera]

Were you there when the autographs were obtained? If not, how do you or anyone else "guarantee" that they are authentic. If you are continuing to auction these items on eBay, take lots of pictures... including really close up ones, give really good descriptions and explain the provenance of the piece the best that you can. Unless you missed the boat (i.e. a facsimile that you mistook for the real thing) and don't describe something correctly, let the consumer be the judge and bear the responsibility of the authenticity. If you read Net54 for any length of time, you will see that just from pictures autograph guys make determinations about authenticity on a regular basis.

Jeff

[cjedmonton]

Okay, good advice from both. Thanks. I'm still torn between taking the auction house route or sticking with Ebay.

Although I am committed to spending the time to take plenty of pictures/scans and provide a good description for each item (without explicitly "guaranteeing" anything), I obviously want to avoid any drama from a disgruntled buyer if a signed item turns out not to be authentic.

Fortunately, the provenance is rock solid, so hopefully that will be enough to give bidders enough info to draw their own conclusions.

[mighty bombjack]

Here is my take as a seldom autograph seller. A seller needs to stand by the authenticity of an item. You should have a return policy so that the buyer can inspect the item in hand. If you want to give the buyer enough time within that policy to send an item to a third party, than do so, but never offer to cover their expenses for that.

[earlywynnfan]

I sell a lot of low-end stuff on ebay. I offer a guarantee on the cost of the item. I tend to respect the people here more than PSA or JSA, but they are the popular choices. I had one item (a Soriano ball) get caught between dueling authenticators. I truly feel it was good, but I refunded the buyer because I want them to be happy. I don't think you need to worry about paying the buyer's fees as long as you are up front about it.

Ken

PS: You have Richard Simon right here, why not see how much he'll charge you?