former ebay head Gonzalez purported said psa and jsa suck according to post.

[markf31]

Originally Posted by travrosty

I know a lot of people want the bill mastro era to keep rolling along but its coming to an end so they will just have to adjust. going after me doesnt help their cause but it makes them look desperate. the side of the hobby that is exposing the fraud is advancing, and the defenders of the status quo have been losing ground and they hate it so they have to lash out.

i posted a link to a story, it's obviously a very powerful story or else people wouldnt be so mad and come after me. i didnt write the story, but its only the beginning of exposing the truths in the hobby that have been hidden and buried for a long time that many people do not want others to know but it cant be stopped anymore.

But the number of people who want to see good changes in the hobby, who want to eradicate the fraud, eliminate the forgeries and clean the hobby up greatly outnumber those who want to perpetuate the current wrong in the hobby, but they are too often the silent majority. Just because a handful of people are up on their soap boxes and yelling loudly does not mean they represent the majority of us collectors.

Too many casual collectors for the most part are not aware of the rampant evil imbedded in the hobby. And a large number of us in the hobby are not educated enough, skilled enough or knowledgeable enough to pursue this great hobby without the help from trusted and reputable authenticators. Unfortunately there never seems to be enough Richard Simon’s in the hobby to help us out.

If you eliminate TPAs, where does that leave the hobby?

[Mr. Zipper]

Originally Posted by markf31

If you eliminate TPAs, where does that leave the hobby?

In preparation for Travis' response, grab a big bowl of popcorn and pull up a comfy seat.

You will soon be regaled with a tale of a magical time before TPAs when everyone bought from 5 trusted dealers, everyone studied for months before they purchased every autograph and everything was much better.

The reality that is being denied is that the Internet fundamentally changed the way collectibles are bought and sold. It created a channel for collectors to easily and inexpensively sell to one another. No more having to consign or sell your collection to a dealer to sell it efficiently. The middle man was cut out of the equation. The next logical step is that an independent party emerges that provides a service so otherwise unknown collectors could sell items with some measure of credibility. It has happened in every single hobby where grading and/or authentication matters.

The irony is we continually see some people bashing the TPAs and promoting good dealers such as Richard or Jim. But when it is time for them to sell, they bypass selling it to a dealer and they use a TPA cert to sell it themselves. You can't have it both ways.

Any reasonable observer will admit no company is perfect and there is room for improvement and constructive feedback should be encouraged. But overall, I believe the TPAs have made buying safer. If you are looking to buy a Mantle, Williams, Jeter, Puhols, DiMaggio, Koufax and so forth, they get it right almost all the time.

Regrettably, there appears to be no middle ground with some people. If you are not bashing them all the time or give them credit for anything, you are "one of the insiders."

I think Travis could add to the hobby. Unfortunately there is no balance. When he was on Autograph Magazine Live, he had many opportunities to help collectors with his opinion on Boxing autographs, however not once did I ever see him help in a positive way or offer his opinion (unless it was to note an item a TPA got wrong in his opinion.) He derailed thread after thread with his rants and now loudly complains that he was banned because someone was trying to "silence" his message.

Sadly, there is so much anger that it has impaired all sense of reason, fairness and proportion.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a space consultant for JSA.

[alexautographs]

You are in many respect correct, Zip...but we dealers are paid for our expertise. If you hire a "plumber" on eBay and get the Three Stooges flooding your house (my favorite episode!), in a way you deserve what you get. Buying on eBay or at shows, if you haven't carefully checked out the seller, is like buying at a flea market - caveat emptor.

And at the risk of sounding snide...why should Travis, Richard, me or any other pro spend our valuable time vetting other people's material for free? My time is $200 an hour. I'll do it for the trade and for friends but professionals don't work for free. Ask Spence.

[shelly]

I have read through this tread and I have not seen a person say they emailed John. I thought that would end all the talk and banter. What I have also read is how many of you are his friends. Do the right think and see if its fact or fiction. John is a good guy and I would love to here what he has to say.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by shelly

I have read through this tread and I have not seen a person say they emailed John. I thought that would end all the talk and banter. What I have also read is how many of you are his friends. Do the right think and see if its fact or fiction. John is a good guy and I would love to here what he has to say.

I wrote to John a few days ago. He says "He's doing fine."

[Mr. Zipper]

Originally Posted by alexautographs

And at the risk of sounding snide...why should Travis, Richard, me or any other pro spend our valuable time vetting other people's material for free?

Fair point, but I was not aware Travis was a professional. In fact, he just said Wednesday, "i am not an authenticator, a dealer, and i haven't made ten cents in the hobby."

Which is odd because I also distinctly recall him stating numerous times that when he sells something, because of his expertise, he gets just as much for it as if it were certed by a TPA.

In any case, presuming he is primarily a collector, it would have been nice if he shared his expertise in a positive way when he had the opportunity.

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by Mr. Zipper

Fair point, but I was not aware Travis was a professional. In fact, he just said Wednesday, "i am not an authenticator, a dealer, and i haven't made ten cents in the hobby."

Which is odd because I also distinctly recall him stating numerous times that when he sells something, because of his expertise, he gets just as much for it as if it were certed by a TPA.

In any case, presuming he is primarily a collector, it would have been nice if he shared his expertise in a positive way when he had the opportunity.

I NEVBER said that BECAUSE of my expertise, i get the same money on my autographs as a tpa. Quit lying.

I have always said that autographs get the same whether tpa or not because they are real, period, whether me or someone else sells them, especially when you have to deduct the 100 dollars it costs to get a psa or jsa from the final selling price. a rocky marciano sig brings in 400- 420 with a tpa cert. it brings in 375 to 400 if not. sometimes it is a 400-400 tie. even allowing for the largest margin, deduct 100 for the cert, and the tpa marciano brings in 320 compared to 375 for the non tpa cert. who won?

I am very experienced in boxing autographs, that makes me a pro in that sense of the word. I haven't made it my profession that i make a living or part of a living off of, but when someone says "he's a real pro!", they are saying he knows his stuff. and in boxing, i do.


i give my opinion for free to my friends that know me, and even to a few new people that get my email from others.

what i dont enjoy is correcting spence and grad over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Then I have just done their work for them and THEY get the 150 bucks and didn't have to be accurate with their work and take my correction and put the notes in their exemplar file. They have just learned from me, cashed the check. Didn't have to be accurate at all, and then they still go out and call themselves super experts.

but we correct them in public to show people they don't know what they are talking about in boxing, we still have a tons more to show.

maybe that is why the email said what it said and people are mad the cat is out of the bag.

Then i get a snide comment that says "if he hasn't written it himself" which is accusing me of writing it, or accusing me of knowing who wrote it. "Travis purportedly knows who wrote it"

Typical tactics used by those who don't like the subject matter to smear. go after the person whom they don't like.

Autograph Magazine Live does the same thing. If you expose something rotten they don't want exposed, you get hit from all sides and eventually banned.

But go after GAI mercilessly all day every day and you get applauded. So there are approved people to rip, and unapproved, and I have seen it before and went through it before.

Ebay guy happened to say in an email what he really felt, and now everyone knows and it is embarrassing to SOME. Not to me as I am in agreement with him.

[shelly]

I have one question to all the people that have had there fun with Travis.
The question is who on this board would you trust the most to authenticate any boxing item.
1 Psa
2 JSA
3 ACE
4 Morales
5 PAAS
6 The Donald
7 Ted Taylor
8 William Tell
9 Drew Max
10 GAI
If None of the above tell me who that might be.
If you make fun of this question which I am sure some people will. Then we are back to the school yard.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by shelly

I have one question to all the people that have had there fun with Travis.
The question is who on this board would you trust the most to authenticate any boxing item.
1 Psa
2 JSA
3 ACE
4 Morales
5 PAAS
6 The Donald
7 Ted Taylor
8 William Tell
9 Drew Max
10 GAI
If None of the above tell me who that might be.
If you make fun of this question which I am sure some people will. Then we are back to the school yard.

From what I have seen the first two should exclude boxing from the list of items that they are willing to authenticate.
I would feel much more comfortable with Travis authenticating boxing then with anyone on the list.

[shelly]

He said She said should have been over at least 90 threads ago. Time to put it to bed and go on to the next disagreement.
Here are a few suggestions. Do you like a left handed players autograph better and why. Do teams that have more players who's names begins with c play better?.If you where to get a famous swimmer to sign something what other than a photo would that be? Last but not least who was the best looking women athlete in the Olympics and why would you like her autograph. That should make for a few arguments.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Travis, if John G. really wrote that in an email to someone, why didn't that someone sign his or her name to that article post? Why be a gutless coward about it if it is true? My curiosity is "Why post it anonymously?" The content really is irrelevant in my eyes.

As controversial as Peter Nash may be, he doesn't hide behind a pseudonym or write it anonymously. I respect that.

You see you have to understand something, Travis posted a link to that to get attention. Nothing more, nothing less. And he got what he wanted.

It is purported that Travis does know the author of that article/post. If Travis can use the word purported, why can't anyone else here?

Travis, isn't the author of that article/post, part of the same gang (all using pseudonyms and anonymous posters) that attacks my friends and myself anonymously? If they're going to attack me, why are they such cowards about it? Why are they hiding?

That site recently mentioned Net54 and here's what they wrote:

This is a blog that discusses mostly baseball cards but also autograph collecting. There can be some interesting discussions on this site. But like most sites if the person blogging is not a real name, take it with a grain of salt for it could be your ex getting revenge against you!

Guess what, the coward that posted the above comment, posted it anonymously.

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by thetruthisoutthere

Travis, if John G. really wrote that in an email to someone, why didn't that someone sign his or her name to that article post? Why be a gutless coward about it if it is true? My curiosity is "Why post it anonymously?" The content really is irrelevant in my eyes.

As controversial as Peter Nash may be, he doesn't hide behind a pseudonym or write it anonymously. I respect that.

You see you have to understand something, Travis posted a link to that to get attention. Nothing more, nothing less. And he got what he wanted.

It is purported that Travis does know the author of that article/post. If Travis can use the word purported, why can't anyone else here?

Travis, isn't the author of that article/post, part of the same gang (all using pseudonyms and anonymous posters) that attacks my friends and myself anonymously? If they're going to attack me, why are they such cowards about it? Why are they hiding?

That site recently mentioned Net54 and here's is what they wrote:

This is a blog that discusses mostly baseball cards but also autograph collecting. There can be some interesting discussions on this site. But like most sites if the person blogging is not a real name, take it with a grain of salt for it could be your ex getting revenge against you!

Guess what, the coward that posted the above comment, posted it anonymously.

i dont know who wrote it. I know your m.o., keep poking someone until they say something you think can get them in trouble and then take screenshots and then go tell teacher for your little scooby snack. I have no idea who posts there. i used to write articles when it was a forum people could join and write at. I exposed the auction loa mess and others exposed the pawn stars debacle, stories you won't find being broke wide open at scd or autograph magazine live.

if the story was elmo retires from sesame street, i am sure you would spend all this time on it? of course the content is relevant.

You certainly have a lot of questions for the author at anl, keep asking me though.

mr. dragnet type questions aimed at the clouds or at nobody is really funny.

keep this thread going, my threads get all the love. or we could talk about some mickey mantle that sold for $11.45 cents.
'
Lot more threads about the truth "they don't want you to know about" concerning the autograph hobby coming very soon.

[alexautographs]

The problem is that by all accounts it appears that the TPAs are in some way in cahoots with their larger-volume clients. When that happens, the temptation to pass bad material or upgrade lesser material become significant.

The TPAs have pretty much taken over the baseball world. In my trade, historical autographs, except for RR auction they are non-entities but trying hard to make inroads. Customers still depend on the reputation and expertise of the DEALER, not the sales and marketing departments of the TPAs.

We also have the horrendous reputations of Morales, Drew Max, and other such $&)(;$$&@$$ who IMO are so inept they've poisoned the well for ALL TPAs.

Just my two bits.