What do you think of this DiMaggio ball?

[CMIZ5290]

Not good.....

[RichardSimon]

So 3-3 say it is not good (I assume Scott's smiley meant not good).
I agree with that consensus.
Now take a look at where that ball comes from and who it is certed by:

http://sports.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleN...6&ts=off#Photo

[J.McMurry]

what does "Pre-Certified" mean exactly? is this another item for sale thats not really for sale?

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by J.McMurry

what does "Pre-Certified" mean exactly? is this another item for sale thats not really for sale?

Jody - I have never been sure what pre certified means. Does it mean they really did not look at it but trust the auction house? Does it mean they had a cursory look at a scan or a quick opinion kind of thing? Your guess is as good as mine.
But you would think that between PSA and the two former major autograph dealers on their staff that they would get this one right.
And the item is for sale, it has a $55 bid currently. No excuses on this one, it is really for sale, it is not in preview.

And btw - I have an account with Heritage though I have never bid there. I logged onto their site the other day (after I posted negative comments about the Cobb ball fiasco) and my account was suspended.

[Bilko G]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

And btw - I have an account with Heritage though I have never bid there. I logged onto their site the other day (after I posted negative comments about the Cobb ball fiasco) and my account was suspended.

WOW

[Moesalty]

I, by no means, am anything of an "expert", but was fortunate enough to obtain several DiMaggio autos in person. The "m" looks nothing like mine... For what it's worth.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by Moesalty

I, by no means, am anything of an "expert", but was fortunate enough to obtain several DiMaggio autos in person. The "m" looks nothing like mine... For what it's worth.

There are lots of problems with that autograph with the "m" certainly being the most prominent.

[Big Dave]

Well, with the help and complicity of eBay, they have wiped out all their competition, so what do they care if they become / are like all the other incompetent losers that everybody complains about?

[travrosty]

Several people have had their accounts banned, canceled and suspended for voicing their concerns over this issue. I think what happened to Richard stinks. Is this what Heritage is all about?

Heritage takes a bow like they are doing everyone a favor, only AFTER people had to bring this to the public's attention, because after privately bringing it to heritage's attention, they were told to go away.

So then Heritage promises to be a good corporate citizen and fix the problem because they realize it's not the best way to do business, then this same good corporate citizen hands out behind-the-scenes suspended, canceled, and banned accounts.

Funny, that wasn't mentioned at all in their statement they made to the public regarding this issue. They didn't say 'By the way, we will be making this change, but suspending the accounts of those who brought it to light and challenged us in the public square.'

This wasn't a preview item, but live and open for bidding, like the boxing glove I showed also. We were promised this only happened to preview items. So this item actually has the precertification from PSA? I guess so since we heard from Heritage that the items that had this phantom notation weren't for sale, no way no how, and never would have been for sale. so this must not be a phantom pre-certification then, but real?

Is it live or Memorex? Heritage? Please forward a message to this board and explain.

And if anyone speaks freely about their concerns. Well, what can I say? I am no longer able to log in and bid at Heritage either since this all came about a few months ago.
I had never placed a bid with them, but was told my account was suspended because they had tried but failed to satisfactorily do business with me. If I had never placed a bid with them, how is this a failure to do business? It didn't have anything to do with doing business with them.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by travrosty

Several people have had their accounts banned, canceled and suspended for voicing their concerns over this issue. I think what happened to Richard stinks. Is this what Heritage is all about?

How un-American can they get? This is still a free country last time I looked.

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by J.McMurry

what does "Pre-Certified" mean exactly? is this another item for sale thats not really for sale?

PSA's "Pre-Certified" is basically what they used to call an "Auction LOA" without the piece of paper. Same kind of guarantee that they had looked at it as before, but if you want the full LOA, you can send it in within so many days of the auction and get a discount on the fees.

Supposedly, anything that is "Pre-Certified" is guaranteed to get a Full LOA if you send it in, so it's like getting the thumbs-up without the re-sellable documentation. They're reason for changing to this was something about too many "Auction LOAs" being used in the same way a full LOA would be when auction winners flipped the items on eBay and elsewhere.

I'm not weighing in on whether they're right or wrong or the real motivation behind the change. Just giving info. I have no idea what would happen if you submitted a pre-certified item that they then determined to be non-authentic, or if pre-certified items are handled differently when re-submitted than a newly-submitted item would be.

[Fuddjcal]

this is going on way too much lately and its ridiculous.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

PSA's "Pre-Certified" is basically what they used to call an "Auction LOA" without the piece of paper. Same kind of guarantee that they had looked at it as before, but if you want the full LOA, you can send it in within so many days of the auction and get a discount on the fees.

Supposedly, anything that is "Pre-Certified" is guaranteed to get a Full LOA if you send it in, so it's like getting the thumbs-up without the re-sellable documentation. They're reason for changing to this was something about too many "Auction LOAs" being used in the same way a full LOA would be when auction winners flipped the items on eBay and elsewhere.

I'm not weighing in on whether they're right or wrong or the real motivation behind the change. Just giving info. I have no idea what would happen if you submitted a pre-certified item that they then determined to be non-authentic, or if pre-certified items are handled differently when re-submitted than a newly-submitted item would be.

So supposedly they have looked at it but have not issued a piece of paper for it?
According to another post in another thread it does not even mean that but I don't know for sure and I would not state that as fact. The other post stated that pre-certified meant that they did not even look at it and the auction house is the only entity that has "authenticated" it.

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

So supposedly they have looked at it but have not issued a piece of paper for it? According to another post in another thread it does not even mean that but I don't know for sure and I would not state that as fact. The other post stated that pre-certified meant that they did not even look at it and the auction house is the only entity that has "authenticated" it.

PSA's definition of "Pre-Certified" from their website, near the bottom of the page:

http://www.psacard.com/about/what_is_grading.chtml

"PSA/DNA Pre-Certified
As a hobbyist, you may see the PSA/DNA Pre-Certified logo in various auction house catalogues or online. It is a service unique to auctions and to autographs found within. The purpose of the service is to let the prospective bidders know whether an autographed auction item will pass PSA/DNA should that person win the item and want to send it in for authentication immediately after the auction closes. If you see the Pre-Certified logo, it means the item has been reviewed by our experts and is absolutely guaranteed to pass."

Also found an announcement from May of 2009 when PSA stopped issuing "Auction House LOAs" and started using the term "pre-certified."

http://www.auctionreport.com/psa/psa...ction-service/

Feel free to speculate what this actually means in practice, but it does not mean that PSA gives the auction house wholesale license to rubber-stamp their name on any item the in-house authenticator deems legitimate.

[RichardSimon]

So according to the Heritage ad for that ball and the PSA website, PSA did examine that ball and deem it authentic. And PSA guarantees its authenticity.

[earlywynnfan]

[QUOTE=thecatspajamas;978473]PSA's definition of "Pre-Certified" from their website, near the bottom of the page:

http://www.psacard.com/about/what_is_grading.chtml

"PSA/DNA Pre-Certified
As a hobbyist, you may see the PSA/DNA Pre-Certified logo in various auction house catalogues or online. It is a service unique to auctions and to autographs found within. The purpose of the service is to let the prospective bidders know whether an autographed auction item will pass PSA/DNA should that person win the item and want to send it in for authentication immediately after the auction closes. If you see the Pre-Certified logo, it means the item has been reviewed by our experts and is absolutely guaranteed to pass."



Well, not to throw a monkey wrench in this, but I won a small group of baseballs from a smaller auction a couple years ago. They were PSA pre-certified, and there was one $100 ball and several $10 balls. The auctioneer owed me a favor, so he said he'd send the good ball for an official cert on his dime. Guess what? It failed!

I imagine that the authenticators go through the room, checking out lots. They scan each lot, picking the most desirable or most forged autos and giving them a quick eyeball. How do you guys imagine this works?

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com