AVOID FRAUD - A Guide to Autographed Memorabilia

As someone who is both a collector and dealer, I have learned alot of lessons on both sides of the fence. I have been burned by sellers and seen alot of questionable autographs be sold online.
My first piece of advice, is to look at a seller's feedback. Any seller that has been around for awhile will have some negative's. Read what the negative feedback gements say. If you see alot of the same geplaints (i.e. never got my purchase) then the geplaintsare probably legit. If only one person says something, then you are probably safe. Also look at the feedback percentage. Anyone below 98% is cause for concern. This is especially true if they have a high feedback number and all of those negatives. When looking at a seller's feedback, only look at feedback from buyers. I know of at least one seller on okay that is only above 98% because of his purchases. He receives ALOT of negatives as a seller. If you are still unsure of the seller, look at the feedback he leaves for buyers. If all he leaves is negatives, and they are foul in language, do you really want to deal with this person?
Try doing an internet search on the seller's screen name... if you see alot of geplaints posted on message boards and websites about the authenticity of items, you may want to rethink doing business with that person.
Look at how many feedback a seller has "MUTUALLY WITHDRAWN." If it is only one or two, that is no big deal.... but if you see 98% feedback rating with 10 negatives and 10 more withdrawn (I just saw one seller had 150+ withdrawn) then you have to wonder what they are trying to hide. To have a feedback withdrawn, you have to pay a $20 fee forEACH gement and have BOTH parties agree to it. Anyone can get into a dispute, but if it takes that level with that many people before a seller is willing to fix a problem... do you really want to deal with that seller?
Look how long the seller has been on okay. If they have only been on okay for a few months, wonder where they get their product. It is always best to deal with someone who has been around the block at least for a year. That gives okay time to catch up with the bad sellers. Also, beware of sellers who say they have been around for awhile, but have a new or second screen name. That may mean they were doing something they should not have been with the first one. There are perfectly legit sellers with more than one screen name, but make sure you look into each one before you place your bid.
Be extremely cautious of any seller who does not take Paypal, even if you want to use another method. Paypal has greater protections to get your money back, so shady sellers tend to stay away from Paypal.
There may be other reasons why a seller doesn't take Paypal, but why take a chance. If your patient, you will find the item again from another seller with more protections. Make sure your item is also covered under the Paypal Buyer's Protection Program. It will say so near the Paypal logo in the listing.
Remember, if something looks to good to be true, it probably is. If an athlete charge $175.00 to sign an autograph, how can a dealer sell you the autograph for $25.00???? Use gemon sense and you will be less likely to end up with a fake.
If your dealing with autographed memorabilia, make sure it says who the COA is from. This is actually an okay requirement. If the COA is from Joe Blow's card shop, find out how Joe Blow got the item signed. Find out where Joe Blow is located, is he still in business?? Can Joe Blow prove the piece was signed? Lots of local stores have in house signings. It is a great way to get a good price on a smaller athlete. A majority of them will list the signing on signingshotline. It will also be very rare for them to have a superstars. It will be even more rare for them to have ALOT of superstars. If they only have acouple of stores, they will not be able to afford that many signing fees of the bigger athletes.
Google the name of the gepany that issued the COA....
While as I write this, I am talking about one particular gepany, I am sure there are many that fit this profile. They have autographed items on every major star I can dream off. Their COA's only say the item was signed in their presence. It does not give you any information about the signing. What is really bad, is it does not tell you how to contact the gepany that is guaranteed the autograph. If you google their name, nothing gees up. I can tell you any gepany that deals in this type of volume, would have some sort of presence on the internet... almost every gepany does anymore. I know that at least some of their pieces have been pulled from okay for failing the PSA quick opinion service.
Be careful of someone who says things to the effect of we use runners at award banquets, golf tournaments etc. Not only does this make it harder for a true fan to get the autograph they are working for, it is a VERY questionable method for a legitimate autograph. Also, be careful of dealers who say your item was signed at a "Private Signing" but won't tell you when and where it was. Most private signings are listedon signingshotline. You can go on that website and check with the original promoter to see if your dealer purchased items from them.
If a seller has a picture of the athlete signing, is the athlete actually signing the item for sale? If it is a picture of an athlete signing for a crowd, would a seller really get 5 of the same item signed? Then why do they use the same picture of the player for each item? In a wholesale environment, we lay a stack of jerseys, pictures etc down and the athlete signs them. You can clearly see in the picture many of the same item. If they are signing for a crowd, very few will sign 3 footballs for 1 person.
Also ask if a player was paid to sign a piece. Most older athletes did not play when they got a big payday. A majority of their ingee gees from the signing fee. When they meet someone on the street, they try to be nice and sign a piece. Is it right for that person to make a living selling the item and not to pay the athlete? The more people who make money doing this, the less likely that athlete will be to sign an autograph next time.
If your signing is not listed on signingshotline, how can the dealer prove they got the item signed? Here at LeaderInSports we use a photo COA. Within the photo, you can see our LeaderInSports logo at the signing, just to prove we were there. You can also see a photo of the athlete signing the item. We also list the date and location of every signing on the COA. We then put a matching hologram on the actual piece of memorabilia.
Make sure you find out if your authenticator actually saw the athlete sign the piece. Both PSA/DNA and GAI will witness the signings, or they will simply look at the autograph, check a few things and then basically say, Yup, looks good, here is our hologram. This is a great service. Especially if you want an autograph from someone like Babe Ruth or Jim Thorpe that passed away long before you could really have some authentication. If an athlete is an active signer at shows, why would you use a third party who did not witness the signing?
Find out if the athlete you are interested in will sign custom jerseys (or other unlicensed products). There are several athletes that have their own rules about signing such items. I know Art Monk will not sign jerseys. Lynn Swann will not sign jerseys that are only of him. Joe Greene will sign custom jerseys, or licensed jerseys, but will not sign knock off jerseys. Mel Blount will not sign unlicensed product. Barry Sanders used to sign custom jerseys, but now will only sign licensed product. This is only a small sampling of athletes with rules like these. Do your research... when in doubt, don't buy.
It is a red flag if a dealer will not tell you when and where the item was signed. It is an even bigger red flag when you ask these questions of the dealer and they are not answered. If a seller won't answer these questions now, how do you know the signature is real? Again, if your not sure of an autograph, why would you want to display it?
If your interested in a particular athlete, find out if he has an exclusive autograph contract with a particular gepany. For example, Michael Jordan has an exclusive contract with Upper Deck. Franco Harris has an exclusive contract with Steiner. Johnny Unitas was exclusive with Mounted Memories. Barry Sanders has an exclusive contract with Schwartz Sports. People like Earl Campbell, Gayle Sayers, Troy Aikman etc have an exclusive contract with GTSM. If your looking at a piece signed by an athlete with an exclusive contract and it does not gee with the hologram from the agent, ask questions. There are times athletes are brought to other dealers. For example, GTSM brings their athletes to alot of TriStar shows. TriStar will use their own holograms on the pieces they sell.
If your item gees with a serial number, make sure you go on the appropriate website and verify the autograph. If it does not, make sure you check to learn where and when your item was signed. Do whatever cross checking you can. Without doing a scientific study, I can assure you that alot of fake autographs are sold everyday. I certainly would not want to pay alot of money only to later learn something was not legit.
Want to help spread the word? The more people that select the "yes" button for this guide being helpful, the higher up on the 'Guide List' it gets, thus getting more exposure for okayers to read and learn. It isour goal to gepletely eliminate these scam practices on okay. Possible? Perhaps not, but the more peoplewe educate about this scam, the more money they save, and the less sellers are apt to try and rip people off.
A little gemon sense goes a LONG way.