Before you read any of this, we are not saying that all memorabilia is fake, only that you may want some general comments in helping you choose your item. There are many good dealers on eBay and they must band together to get rid of the garbage out there. We receive calls and e-mails all of the time asking about various dealers and items on eBay and our feelings about their authenticity. We have put together the following to help buyers decide for themselves. These are our suggestions on this issue. You, as a buyer, must choose your own comfort level.

1. Check the seller’s feedback! No seller is perfect and you can not please every one all the time but 20-40 negatives should give you a clue. Do not just look at the number. Click on the button and look at his totals and comments.

2. Does the auction have a picture? Never bid on an autographed item without a picture. If the item is not from a large company you may want to compare the item you are watching with a Steiner or Mounted Memories similar item to compare signatures. If a dealer has it listed as a private auction, stay away . This is done because a dealer does not want a former customer or more knowledgeable collector telling you about him or his item! Also, a comment on auctions that says to ignore all negatives as they are from competitors is ludicrous! One can only leave a negative if he was the high bidder on an auction (or the seller). If this were the case, every seller would have tons of negatives from other dealers. It is simply a ploy to get people to ignore a record of poor service. No seller on eBay has enough valuable or unique items to be worth dealing with if they have poor service.

3. Is the dealer working with other reputable companies in the industry such as Steiner Sports, UDA, Mounted Memories, TriStar etc.? If not, we would stay away. You can feel comfortable with dealers who are distributors with these companies, as at the first sign of impropriety, these companies would stop doing business with them. They do not need the bad press! (Note: some less than reputable dealers have seen this on our site and are buying and reselling items from these companies and have opened accounts with some of the larger companies just to advertise they are a distributor for them. Be careful until the big companies shut these guys down.

4. Be cautious with dealers who claim that they got everything in person or offer everything with their own COA. Ask how a dealer obtained an autograph. If he does not want to tell you, or he gives a vague answer, be concerned. These answers tell you nothing. A reputable dealer will tell you how and where they obtained an item. Remember that nobody can get every item, not even the big boys like Steiner and UDA, so a dealer who has every big name like Marino, Elway and Montana with his own COA is a concern.

5. Be aware of who athletes sign for exclusively. Examples are:

Michael Jordan -Upper Deck Authenticated Exclusive
Derek Jeter - Steiner Exclusive
Mark McGwire -Steiner Exclusive
Ted Williams -Green Diamond Exclusive

Items from these athletes through sources that can’t lead back to these exclusive companies are questionable at the least.

5. Don't be swayed by a COA. They are easily printable and mean nothing if not backed by a reputable dealer. Also according to Sports Collectors’ Digest, it is now recommended to only buy items with numbered COA's such as our HALLogramed COA or, UDA, APE etc. As you can not guarantee what item a non-numbered COA goes with! The one exception is Steiner and Mounted Memories, since they have quit numbering their COA's with recent signings. A real forensic COA cost at least $75.00+ per item per signature. So if an item is not very expensive, true forensic examinations are not cost effective. So these $7.50 Forensic COA's on eBay mean nothing and tend to make the item more questionable. Truthfully, any forensic COA on a living athlete is questionable to us. Should you stay away from all auctions from dealers who advertise these $7.50 forensic COA's with any of their items? We would, but again, it is up to you.

6. Beware of items "too good to be true". Realize that most dealers have to pay an athlete for his autograph. If the seller is running a dutch auction for an item, and the price is so cheap that he could not have possibly paid the athlete his going rate, that would be cause for concern. We, as dealers, do not sell below cost. Everyone must make money to stay in business.

7. If you see an item you like, check other auctions preferably by UDA, STEINER etc. to match the autograph. If it does not match, stay away. We did a test on Staubach and Bradshaw items for a week and over half were obvious fakes. TSC did the same with Sosa balls and felt 90% were fakes. If all the larger companies would do this we might be able to clean up all the crap.

8. If you’ve got a deal too good to be true, it probably is. A reputable dealer can not match a $19.99 Hank Aaron ball and will not try. No dealer has an endless supply of Rare Cuts or Mark McGwire items. Look at the seller’s closed auctions. If this is his third Babe Ruth Ball in 6 weeks, I would be worried. Truthfully, I can not see why anyone would sell an authentic Ruth ball using an online auction, but someone may. Do your homework and use good judgment. Remember that it is your money. A fake is never worth anything you paid for it.

Do your homework. Check and re-check before you bid. Only educated buyers will ever stop the scum who knowingly sell fakes. Believe me, honest dealers hate them as much as you do, as they make buyers feel they should be able to by authentic autographed items for much less than they can. Remember that a legitimate dealer can never sell for as low as a dishonest one because he has to pay the athletes! Companies like the ones who were recently shut down are still out there on eBay today. If you do your homework and follow at least some of these suggestions, you won’t be burned by the ones still out there.
One last thing before I go. The worst thing to hit Ebay since all the fake crap is the reproduced autographed photo. It will not take long for all these photos to be flooding the market and since they are copies of actual autographs they will be hard to determnine what is fake. Mark my words--this will hurt this industry like a ton of bricks. Tell those sellers to take this junk and use it as toilet paper but get it off Ebay. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------