Autograph collecting can be fun and rewarding for everyone if a few simple precautions are taken. Be sure to read this guide and spend some time educating yourself before bidding. Ebay does not police sellers and as a result forgers are all over ebay. Do you really want to spend your money to buy an item that later will be worthless? Of course not!

EDUCATE YOURSELF:

1- READ THE AUCTION DESCRIPTION COMPLETELY - Make sure that the autograph isn't being described as a preprint, reprint or copy. There are MANY sellers of these illegal duplications on eBay.

2- Research - Search Google for autograph collecting web sites. Ask them lots of questions. Buy a book or two on autograph collecting. The worst place to try and educate yourself on authentic autographs would be ebay.

3- Don't rely on a COA. They are completely worthless and NEVER prove an item is authentic. There are a few exceptions to this rule. One example- Steiner Sports COAs can be trusted. We hope you understand that the issuance of a COA does not make an autograph legitimate on its own: something that many forgers would like you to believe. What counts is the credibility of the dealer.

4- Get to know the Seller - Check the seller's feedback and history on eBay. Check out their current and completed auctions. Are they constantly listing high profile and very rare autographs every week? Look at the autographs. Are the signatures unique or do they all seem to look very similar? It is very obvious when the same 'hand' has signed most of the items. The best guarantee a buyer has for autographs is the credibility and experience of the dealer and the probability of the dealer being in business in the future.

5- Ask a question - An honest seller will have nothing to hide and will not get defensive.

6- Your safest bet: Only buy from UACC and IADA dealers. Remember, high feedback numbers only prove a seller has fulfilled their obligations to the seller and prove nothing about authenticity of the items sold.

7- $9.99 autographs: Authentic autographs do not sell for $9.99. Lets do the math, the photo itself costs around $2. That leaves $5.99. Subtract the ebay and paypal fees and that leaves about $4.00. Do you really think a person would wait all day to get an item signed and then only ask for $4 profit for the time and trouble? I highly doubt it. Some stars even charge $20 just to sign a photo. We need to be realistic here.

8- Once the item arrives- Analyze the autograph to make sure that it is not a preprint (photos, books and letters only). To test photos, simply hold the photo at an angle to nice bright light. A real ink signature will actually be on top of the photo and will reflect differently than the rest the photo. A preprinted autograph will reflect exactly the same as the photo and will look as though it is actually part of the photo. Once you see this for the first time you will be able to locate these easily. Books and letters are more difficult but the process is basically the same.

9- Think about ink- It is easy to fake a signature using a felt tip pen.The felt tip pen has only been around since the 1960s (first Sharpie was made in 1964) and the metallic silver sharpie was introduced in 2002. Any autograph before 1960 will be in pencil or pen. 

10- Use an authentication service: PSA/DNA will check any ebay auction and give you their opinion on the possible authenticity of the item. This can be done long before you bid and they usually respond in 24-48 hours. This service costs less than $10. Check their website for details. 

11- Private Feedback- If an eBay seller has made their feedback private, just move along to another seller. There is no reason for private feedback other than to hide feedback that exposes a seller as a forger. These sellers often state they are protecting their bidders privacy by doing this. Ebay takes care of bidder privacy already. NEVER BID ON AUTOGRAPHED ITEMS FROM SELLERS WITH PRIVATE FEEDBACK!
Update: More and more legitimate sellers are moving to private feedback. There has been a massive increase in bogus second chance offers that have fooled many buyers into giving out their paypal info or even sending out money orders. To help stop the flow of these offers many sellers have had to make their auctions private.

12- Return Policy and UACC- make sure the dealer has a return policy that they will stand behind. It's best to buy from UACC members and dealers. If there is a problem with the seller the UACC will go to bat for you to try and resolve the issue.



REMEMBER: ANYBODY CAN SIGN UP FOR EBAY, BUY SOME 8X10 PHOTOS, SCRIBBLE SOME WORDS AND THEY ARE INSTANTLY AN AUTOGRAPH SELLER.

ONE LAST WORD:

There are many autographs that just don’t exist in any real quantities. How about a real Pink Floyd Signed Album or Jerry Garcia signed photo? Or even better, Led Zeppelin by the entire band? If you want bogus stuff there are people selling sometimes three at a time of these musicians. It is simply impossible.
I started putting together my own private list of known forgers on eBay about two months ago and I am up to 197 sellers so far (Luckily, 90% of them have been suspended by eBay.). That is just a tiny portion as my list only contains sellers who list certain specific items I watch for. If I was more broad in my searching you can imagine the numbers I would find.

Update:
The other day an eBay seller contacted me to sell some of his autographs. He said he needed some quick cash. Unfortunately, they were not authentic. Guess what? He purchased them on eBay and got some via the mail. He was convinced they were real because they came with a COA. Unfortunately, this happens often and in the future it will only get worse. The forgers have been running rampant on eBay for years. Think of all the bad autographs that buyers are now stuck with....

Your best bet is to buy from us! We don’t sell it unless we witness the signing.

To all readers of  this guide, if you found this information useful a YES vote would be appreciated.
If you did not find this guide helpful would you please contact us and let us know what we could change to make it better.

I hope this has helped you!

Sincerely,

Michael Hoppe

NOW TAKE YOUR NEW KNOWLEDGE AND GO BID ON SOME OF OUR AUTHENTIC AUTOGRAPHS!


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To all readers of  this guide, if you found this information useful a YES vote would be appreciated.
If you did not find this guide helpful would you please contact us and let us know what we could change to make it better.