I WANT TO BE PERFECTLY CLEAR.... CHARITY AUCTIONS ARE A GOOD THING.  YOU CAN GET A ITEM YOU REALLY WANT AND HELP A GOOD CAUSE.  I AM SIMPLY ADVISING THAT YOU ASK SOME OF THE SAME QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF THE PIECE, JUST LIKE YOU WERE BUYING IT ANYWHERE ELSE.

This guide is to help correct a common mistake in the collector's mind.  Many collectors assumes that charities get the autographs directly from the athletes or teams.  This is simply not true most of the time.  Most charities selling an autographed item, received it as a donated piece.  You still need to do all the checking as if you purchased it from a store or online.

Most charities have little or no knowledge of the autograph industry.  They are happy to take donations of something and then use that donation to raise money for their cause.  The problem does not lie with the charity, but with the person making the donation.

If you doubt there are slimeballs out there who are doing such horrible things, just turn on your local news.  There are people out there that will  forge an autograph.  Then they will donate it to a charity to get the tax write off.   Yes, there are plenty of people this questionable in the world.... just look at the number of forged autographs on the market.

Think about it his way.  A dealer can purchase an unsigned 8x10 for about $2.  They can donate it to a charity with a bad autograph and get a tax write off for $100-$200.  At a 30% tax bracket, they are reducing thier tax to the government by $30-$60 for each picture. 

For example, Michael Jordan is exclusive with Upper Deck (UDA).  That means he will not sign autographs for other companies.  I know of one charity that has received several pieces of donated Michael Jordan autographs, all with the same "JOE BLOW" COA.  I seriously doubt that Joe Blow would have been able to offer Michael Jordan enough money to break his contract with UDA and sign multiple pieces.

There are plenty of charities that actually have the athlete at functions and then sell the piece.  You should simply ask about where the piece came from before you spend your money.

Prior to purchasing any piece, you need to ask the same questions that are listed in our AVOID FRAUD guides.  If the piece comes with a COA from the charity, make sure they saw it signed.  If it comes with a COA from an outside source, make sure you treat it just like if you were purchasing it from a local store or on Ebay.

Please click on the below link for our most popular "AVOID FRAUD" guide:  Avoid Fraud Guide

I am writing this guide because of the numerous inquiries I get from my AVOID FRAUD GUIDES.  A majority of the questions concern pieces that were purchased from charities and the consumer is therefore assuming that it has to be real.

Did you find this guide helpful? 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 eBayers to read and learn. It is our goal to significantly reduce the amount of forged autographs sold in the industry.  Is this possible?  Perhaps not, but the more people we educate about this scam, the more money they save, and the less forgeries are apt to be on the market.