Question about PSA/JSA "Guarantees"

[Exhibitman]

We've got a mish-mash of issues here:

1. Is it genuine? Unfortunately, it is all subjective and speculative unless you were standing there when the item got signed. In court we call it hearsay evidence; I heard from someone else that something happened.

2. Is it certified and what does that mean? People pay for the cert as a substitute for knowledge because no one can be sure of anything they haven't witnessed. It is an expert [hopefully] opinion but many experts are for sale. In litigation we call the process of finding an expert who will say what your client needs him to say "whore-shopping." It is worthless unless the expert happens to have a cachet in the collecting community. Anyone bought a GAI-certed item lately?? And don't even get me started on the odious "auction LOA" that some auctioneers now use. Talk about a popcorn fart--the small print gives you a set time to pay for the privilege of allowing the TPA to certify the item that you are ostensibly buying certified--if it doesn't pass them the 2nd time you don't pay for the submission, but if it does pass you pay the cost for the upgrade to the full LOA. What a great deal, just fills me with confidence. I know the TPA that already did a cursory review of the item will go over it again with a fine tooth comb to ferret out the truth rather than rubber stamping it so as to collect another fee. Sure, and I have a bridge in Brooklyn too, for sale cheap. When you get one of those worthless slips of paper and it is past the deadline, woe unto you--the TPA will solemnly inform you that the auction LOA has expired and you will have to pay the full recert fee regardless of outcome.

3. As a seller is it worth having a TPA opine? Depends. There is a misperception in the collecting base as to what a seller is purchasing with a TPA cert. As a seller I am not buying an iron-clad guarantee it is authentic--truly, that doesn't matter to me since it is just inventory I am moving. I am buying freedom from having to warrant anything when I purchase a TPA opinion. As long as I have the item in one of their slabs with the cert on it--that is critical for the sales effort--I know I can resell it risk-free to me at auction or on Ebay [if it is one of their "blessed" TPAs]. What will a buyer do, say it isn't a PSA/DNA certified item? Now, that freedom comes at considerable expense. If I am selling a common signed card for $9.99, no way do I waste the money--I will refund the occasional bitchy buyer. If I am selling something a lot higher priced, however, I will hold my nose and use the TPA service.

4. As a seller should you cover the buyer's fee for TPA? Not if you want to stay in business. Those TPA fees are very expensive and will eat you alive. Offer to cover those and your business life expectancy will be about the same as a mosquito.

And last, my buyer's perspective: I try to do my homework and buy based on what I see and learn rather than a TPA opinion. That said, I recently purchased a Marciano signed PC with a guarantee from a local seller [I only buy unslabbed from locals so I can readily sue them to enforce a guarantee if needed]. I sent it to PSA/DNA [cost me $$$] and it got dinged. I got my money back but I also ate the TPA fee. I will never, ever do that again--I cannot afford to eat cert fees like that. What that means, in my way of collecting, is that there is no more middle ground for me as a collector. Assuming it looks good to me to begin with, I will either buy a slabbed/certed item or I will pay a rock-bottom price for a raw item on the assumption that it is worth the gamble and with the understanding that I will have to shell out to get a TPA cert on it so I can sell it. The "middle ground" [decent item, reasonable price] is dead to me. And no, I don't particularly care about the sterling reputation of the seller of the item because if I ever want to resell it that person isn't there, it is just me, and I better have a TPA cert or I will be treated as the lowball seller of dodgy raw items.

FWIW, my advice for the OP is to consign the items to an auctioneer who will do the TPA for free or provide its own COA and let them take all the risks. Without a TPA cert you will be treated as the typical Ebay scam artist and see low prices on your items because that, unfortunately, is where the market has gone for the weekend warrior type.