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6 Comments:
The seller of this obvious fake Derek Jeter autographed baseball is "sports1503." He has recently made his auctions "private" so that bidders are not contacted. He has also sold quite a few fake autographed golf balls from Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer, etc. He uses the COA from "Phat Graphs." Anything from "Phat Graphs" is a fake.
Kingjr22, you sound like I felt two years ago when I first started my own personal investigation into the fake autograph memorabilia industry. Yes I am still "pissed off" but in a more controlled manner, and, I don't think anyone here is going to "bash you" except for the bad guys that read this blog. You are correct when you write that the "problem starts at the top." First of all, the fake autograph memorabilia industry is a billion-dollar-a-year industry. Let's just say that every fake autograph item on Ebay was removed today. That would be a enormous drop in revenue on Ebay and they know that. Are they aware of hundreds (probably more like a few thousand) of sellers selling fake autograph items? Yes they are, make no mistake about that. Here are just two examples of that in seller's "Americansportscollectibles" and "Diamondsportslegacy." Ebay is well aware that those two sellers have sold literally thousands of fake autograph items (and that is just between those two sellers). "Americansportscollectibls" has sold over 3000 just by himself. That is just one seller! Mnay of us thought that after "Operation Bullpen" back in 2000 that the fake autograph memorabilia was a thing of the past. The truth is it was just the beginning. After "Operation Bullpen" Ebay was cleared of any responsibility for that mess even though they made millions in fees off of all that fake autographed memorabilia that was sold. All "Operation Bullpen" did was spawn a generation of copy-cat bad sellers. During my investigation I discovered rings of sellers working together selling the same fake autogrpah items. They all used "mail forwarding" addresses ("Diamondsportslegacy" still uses one). That particular ring was group of seven sellers working together. It took me months to convince Ebay to do something about that ring. That ring sold well over 15,000 fake autograph items, maybe more. That's a lot of money in fees and commissions for Ebay not to mention the Paypal fees. And yes, many of the "bad sellers" use the 1-Day auction to avoid detection and to make quick sales. Ebay can "void" a sale even after the auction has ended but they rarely do it. But what the people who buy all of this fake junk? What are they thinking when they are bidding on that garbage? First of all, you get the people that believe that just because it is on Ebay that it must be a authentic autograph. Or they think that because it comes with a "COA (Certificate Of Authenticity)" that it must be authentic. Anyone can print a "COA" from their PC these days. You get the wannabe collector who wants a cheap authentic autograph and that's why they bid on the junk. What they actually get, of course, is a cheap fake autograph. You also get the buyer who intentionally purchases fake autographs on Ebay so they can resell them on Ebay or at card shows. As Bigtruck about all of the fake Albert Pujols autograph items at card shows in his area. When I go to a card show here in NJ I notice all of the Jeter fakes that I recognized as being sold on Ebay. Those people know exactly what they are buying. Enforcement and education are the key. Checking on a seller's feedback history is key. If you see they have sold a ton of Derek Jeter and Eli Manning autograph items that aren't Steiner Sports, UDA, Tristar, MM, etc. then that has to raise a flag. Ask questions, submit "Quick Opinions." The buyers have kept these "bad guys" in business. The buyers are just as much to blame as anything else. They are literally millions of so-called collectors who now own fake autograph memorabilia that is sitting in their office or home. It doesn't hurt to have some common sense, too. Ebay considers itself a "Open Forum" when it comes to their auctions, but that "Open Forum" should also allow "us" to question the sellers of suspicious autograph items. The double standard is that Ebay sometimes considers that "harassment" which is absurd. Asking questions is "harassment?" There is a seller on Ebay named "simplythebest1933." Until a few days ago his Ebay ID was "diamondsfinest25." He was selling a ton of fake autograph items. When I challenged him on his items he immediately removed his own fake autograph items and changed his Ebay ID. He now sells figurines. And this was a seller who claimed he acquired all of his autograph items in person in New York. I guess my "harassment" worked. The truth is I didn't harass him, I simply challenged the authenticity of his autograph items. I will write more later.
The other day I saw a game used Inaugural Busch Staduim baseball with a photo of Pujols signing it...only problem is, the picture was taken at the old Stadium, and ALbert was signing a flat item, not a ball. The seller never responded to my questions about it, and it sold for 110 bucks. I DO NOT feel sorry for the idiot that bought the ball. Common sense would have told that person to stay away.
Yes, Bigtruck, well said. Maybe there is a way for someone to contact Mr. Pujols about all of the fake autographs. Can you imagine the impact of Mr. Pujols contacting Ebay about all the fake autograph items on their site. That would force Ebay to do an about-face on the way they look at fake autographs on their site. It used to be that Derek Jeter's autograph was the most commonly forged on Ebay, now it's Mr. Pujol's autograph that is the most commonly forged. Like in football, the most commonly forged autographs are those of the Manning family, Joe Montana, Dan Marino and Reggie Bush. The low-lifes that sell that fake junk are just that, low-lifes. Intentionally ripping people off. They are crooks. They commit fraud. They do it with the intention of making money by selling fake autograph items. And they do it on all of the auction sites.
That same photo is being used for this auction!!! Fake signature I imagine??? Any advice on getting an authentic signed ball for my b-friend for xmas? Thanks!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=014&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=330062259245&rd=1&rd=1
TLM
Is there a list of trusted E-bay seller somewhere? As a new buyer I feel I can't trust anyone. Which COA do you trust and how do you know they are real? I thank you all for doing your part to help keep Ebay as REAL as you can.
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