I collect some autograph material at time, most of the time I buy it by accident. I'll be looking for art work or some comic by Adam Huges, then I'll come across something signed by him. However everything by Adam Hughes I buy on ebay seems to be signed. Adam Hughes has sighed prints, sketch books, comics, books..etc. The list goes on and on. This guy hand must be tired from doing all those autographs. The truth to the matter is that Adam Huges name is just to easy to forge. Adam Hughes always sign his work AH!. Every unscrupulous user on ebay has a field day with his name. Due to the fact alone they can make fakes easily and sign AH on anything they want. Abbreviation signatures are the worst thing to buy on ebay. With a few strokes with a pen or marker you have authentic signature. How can this be combated the forge autographs? Minimize the inauthentic item you buy on ebay with a few steps.

Description

Reading the item description from top to bottom helps more than people think. A lot of scammers like to fill the page up with tons of information, because they know people are not going to read the entire listing. They have one section in red that is just designed to catch your eyes. It is usually something about payment method and the other half is about you have seven days to pay them or they will report you. That will probably be the one thing some read. However, you have to read it all. You have to look for any thing that states reprint, copy, stamped and so on. Most of the time you can stop holes in the ad, but most don't take the time to read it. For example. A seller has a one of a kind sketch book for say that is signed, however he has 50 copies. Scammers usually have the only one of a kind item, then after they sell it another one a one of a kind item appears

Research

Researching your item is an important key. Know what your buying. Research helps, so take the time to do some. If you have an example of the of the person signature or something that you already own with a signature then compare that to the signature on ebay. If you do not own any example of the person in question signature then look to your browers/Google and fine one.

Pictures

Close ups. If the seller doesn't have a close up of the signature then do not buy. If the seller has an unclear or blurred picture of the signature then do not buy. If your up to it, then try emailing the seller asking for a close up of the signature. When you get no reply, that is your first sign not to buy from that seller. Be careful and make sure that seller isn't using the same close up shot of a signature on every item that they are selling.

Money Back

If the sellers are selling the real thing then would have a money back guarantee or some kind of return policy. If the seller cannot guarantee the authenticity of the item then that's a clue. If your pay by paypal, you have a chance of getting your money back if the item is a fake. But be warned that scammers can close their account a few days after you pay them. So when you do report them to paypal their is nothing to get back because the account is closed and no longer exists. Ebay isn't much help in that matter of money retrieval. Study the seller before you buy. Ask some of the seller customers some questions. Especially the strange customer that bought over forty items from that particular seller that month

COA

Certificate of Authenticity (COA) is a garbage. Why? Because they can be easily forged. Certificate of Authenticity (COA) give a false sense of can reassurance a security. A one can make one from their home PC with the correct type of paper and printer.

Feed Back

Check your Seller Feedback. See his history on Ebay. Fellow ebayers opinion are important. But something that you should be aware of is that a lot of bad seller/scammers has multiple accounts and could be giving them self false feed back or covering up negative feed back. Some of the seller fake accounts are hard to spot because they buy all their Ebay purchase on one account and sell on another. Look for accounts with 20 or 40 items all bought by the same person.

Be A Detective

Be an investigator and ask question. You don't need to be a fancy detective coat to ask questions. If the seller doesn't respond or just avoid your question then you should avoid them. Do not buy from them.

Study your purchase one you receive it becaue you want to look for anything to prove or disprove the item is a fraud. Look out for prints. Prints are pictures that are produced with the signature already apart of the picture. The other type of print are just copies of the original picture. Very easy to stop because the signature is below the glossy surface. Holding it close to the light can reveal that every thing is just one layer, not two. Another neat trick is rubbing your finger across the surface of the picture. You should be able to feel the difference in texture between the picture and the signature. Some people also write with a heavy hand, sometimes you a turn the picture on the back to see the imprint the pressure of the pen made against the paper.

Auto pen machines can sign autograph quickly and look identical to the real thing. Auto pen isn't perfect. There is nothing to stop the nature vibrating of the computer and other near by machinery so most of the time you get a shaky signature. It's hard to look for abrupt stop and starts that the auto pen usually make if your not sure what you looking for. While some auto pen looks like the real thing while others jus look strange. Some time auto pen makes some of the signatures look child like or as if a drunk man wrote it.

Marker Abbreviation written signature are what I consider the worst. Just avoid buy anything on line with the Signer just Abbreviation his or her name because it is to easy to fake with a few strokes of a makers. Many artist use a marker to sign a sketch.

If your unsure about something then don't buy it. If the bids are skyrocketing on an item for no reason. Its a safe bet that the seller is bidding on it. If the sellers is just trying to get a huge lump sums without a normal auction then it a good chance what their selling is fake. Setting up a buy Now for 500 or 5000 is crazy. If the item they were selling really worth that much it would be easier to set up a normal bidding auction with a reserve price on it.

Thanks for reading my guild. I hope you find it useful.