F**k the autograph BUY the Cert.

[Piedmont Sport]

Great repsonse whoever you are -BUT- if you use ebay they will pull it down if you don.t use PSA - JSA - GAI - and they want you to use the Q.P.

[thecatspajamas]

Admittedly, getting eBay to accept anyone else is even harder than getting buyers to do so. I think you'll find that they focus on higher profile/more expensive autographs though, in addition to those policed by agents of the signers themselves (off the top of my head I can't think of any sports figures this would apply to, but try selling a piece of KISS memorabilia that Gene Simmons didn't authorize (and get paid for) and you'll see what I mean). Over the years I've had them pull Clemente, Muhammad Ali, and Michael Jordan signed items that were legit but didn't have one of their approved authenticators. But those were only a small percentage of the overall number of signed items I have sold. Most are below eBay's threshold of caring. The more buyers who see a "good guy's" name out there though, even on lesser items, the more overall confidence they will build in shopping outside "the boys" category.

AND if eBay is ever going to change their stance on which authenticators are okay to use, it won't be because one or two guys vouched for someone. I have to believe that they chose the companies that they did because those were the ones that were widely accepted (at the time, whatever you may think of GAI now) among collectors. Personal gripes aside, those were the companies that were well-known. Knowing how eBay works, whatever person or persons made that initial selection probably didn't do any more research on authenticators than buyers do, and laziness is surely a factor in why they haven't updated their "approved" list as well. I still think that, if they ever did open their eyes to re-assess their approved list vs. what is currently accepted, having a list of other good authenticators along with well-hashed-out reasoning as to why they are good and why those eliminated from the list are not would go a long way to building that concensus opinion among the collecting community.

And any long-term pipe dreams of eBay changing for the better aside, I'd just like to see a boiled down list of who is good and trustworthy. Every second or third board post seems to deal with why such-and-such an autograph is clearly no good or how we can't believe X company would let that one pass and surely Y individual would have failed it, etc. I wouldn't be so much interested in a black list as a list of the "good guys" who have a good track record.

Lance Fittro

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by Piedmont Sport

Great repsonse whoever you are -BUT- if you use ebay they will pull it down if you don.t use PSA - JSA - GAI - and they want you to use the Q.P.

Frank, that is totally untrue.
The only time my certs were pulled was when they were with your items.
It is still a mystery to me why that happened.
Did your attorney ever find out? Did she question ebay about that? I was told that was going to happen.
Frank, did you have other items pulled when they pulled the items with my certs and Kevin Keating's certs and Yawkley's certs? Perhaps items that did not have any certs?
You cannot use an authenticator on the ebay banned list but you don't have to use the recommended authenticators.
If you have a cert on ebay you have to say where it came from.
It cannot come from a banned authenticator.
It can come from anyone else.

[Piedmont Sport]

Rich - hate to differ but they will pull the stuff down if the Q.P. does not come back from psa as good - you can read the guideline - they have the right to remove it - SO - if the Q.P. is hit - it alerts ebay if it fails. Thats what we have found out. They also said since i have all positive feedback it would be ok to list uncerted - or other certed items by others, other then the big 3 -- but if it fails or reported to ebay they can take it down and give me a strike and remove my power seller status - if it contiues they will issue a suspension.

[Piedmont Sport]

Sorry Rich - didn't answer one of your questions - Yes others were pulled 6 total - and yes 4 of the 6 were from another service. We have written ebay and my councel awaits response.

[RichardSimon]

Frank - your original post said that only the big three can be used by ebay sellers.
My point was that was not at all true. Though an item can be pulled if it is deemed bad by PSA or other ebay members who report the item. I believe ebay than investigates and determines whether an item should be pulled.

[Big Dave]

There's a guy over at http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum2/ named Sammy that is pretty good at spotting the good from the bad, and he does it for FREE.