I know a few people who have been frauded by 3rd party authenticators. Not naming any company's names, but this person went to the Masters 8 or 9 years ago and he and a friend managed to get 4 Tiger Woods autographs in-person. They sent them in to be authenticated. Three came back as real, the other not real.
Me being an autograph dealer online and "out in the real world," it amazes me how much stock buyers put into 3rd party authenticators like they are the end all be all.
I am careful what I buy and who I buy it from. I try to purchase large collections, especially vintage collections assembled in person.
I have been selling on eBay since February 1998. What turned into a way to make extra cash in college has turned into a really good secondary business.
I am proud to say that on my years of selling on eBay not one of the signed pieces I sold have come back as fake. In fact, only one of my auctions received an email from another dealer. I remember it well...it was a Don McMahon signed gumcard. Turns out his wife ghost signed a lot of items he got in the mail. Oh well.
About less than 5% of autographed items I sold was slabbed or had a sticker on it. However, I do state that I would refund the purchase and authentication cost if the item was deemed fake by an authentication service of the buyer's choice.
Like someone said earlier, when you see a really hard to find signature, what kind of reference do these companies have to compare the sigs with.
There have been a lot of problems with 3rd party authenticators, and not just in sports autographs.
There is a lot of info on the web, and not just personal attacks. Heck, there is video on the web of the Sal Bando fiasco at a local card show. It is really eye opening.
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01-22-2010, 03:14 PM
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