I have purchased a lot of autographs ceritifed by PSA/DNA over a one year span in 2006-2007. Then I noticed that these cerificates don't look hard to duplicate to me. I felt I could duplicate it myself. I attempted to see if a UV black light can let me see the invisible markings PSA stated to have put on their items. PSA has stated that the 4 digits that are on my items didn't come from them and is most likely put on by Topps since it was their product in the 2006 Topps hall of fame autographed baseball hobby box. I had something done by then that was missing the PSA sticker and COA but the Topps mark was on the baseball having me assume it was PSA that put it there.

1) The PSA sticker will have a crosshatch like a checkerboard style background. As stated on PSA's website, "The label can be removed but will checkerboard upon removal leaving behind fragments of the label" which would explain why I see this.

I have bought some autographed items on ebay that don't have the checker style on the sticker. I have also noticed that some of the stickers looked like they were tampered with. Like a piece of the white would be missing on the sticker meaning somebody tried to take it off and probably put it on another. Another thing was the sticker doesn't stick entirely as well either which gives another evidence of being tampered with. The stickers are supposed to be tamperproof meaning they will break if you try to take it off. If you see even just a little dot that is missing on the sticker or maybe a small crack somewhere or the white color of the sticker looks really faded, it is definately tampered with. The PSA sticker looks like its plastic with a glossy look on it. I purchased a Reggie Bush autographed football during his rookie season in 2006 certified by PSA. The white PSA sticker looked so discolored compared to other PSA stickers, almost clear looking, it was the first time I've seen one like this, and gave me the suspision I bought a fake PSA autograph. It looked like someone took some water and washed the sticker off and put it on another football. I showed the football to several autograph dealers in Cleveland, and they never saw a PSA sticker like that one either.

A question that came up was wouldn't the sticker come off anyways within time. The oldest PSA item that I have is Bob Feller from 2005, and the sticker as of Sept. 2009, still looks perfect and it's really stuck on too. I have a Tristar certified Tim Couch auto that I personally got way back in May, 2003 and that sticker is still in great condition and sticks well too. Even though Tim Couch sucked, the sticker still looks like the day it was put on. It's not the same as a PSA sticker, but a Tristar sticker is still a sticker nonetheless. And both stickers don't look like they are coming off anytime soon on their own. The one problem that I had happen was a Tristar sticker eventually fell off my Quincy Morgan jersey. The jersey itself is ironed on and is the only autographed ironed on jersey that I have certified by anyone. I got the autograph myself in person during a Tristar show, and in less than a year the sticker fell off on its own. The sticker is intact with no breaks. It's the only time I seen this happen. PSA, and all the other companies will say that if the numbers on the sticker matches what it saids on their website, than it is real. Well I have a tristar sticker that I can put on another Quincy Morgan jersey and sign it myself and it would be deemed real by them. Quincy Morgan isn't worth anything, but proves what these companies are saying aren't totally true. It's not the same company as PSA, but I'm willing to bet that a PSA sticker will do the same thing as a Tristar sticker.

I had a PSA certified auto that was deemed not genuine by JSA. But as stated on both company websites, it is just their professional opinion and is not a 100% guarantee to be accurate.

I have heard rumors of fake Upper Deck autographed memorbilia floating around. I can only tell if an Upper Deck autograph item is real on jerseys. Upper Deck will always have authentic jerseys just like the ones the player wears. If the jersey itself is not an authentic, then it is a fake. Fake jersey means fake autographed Upper Deck product. You can tell if a jersey is fake by looking at the stitchings on the jersey. If you see a poor quality on the jersey somewhere, or if its a silk screen(ironed on) jersey for newer players is a good sign to stay away. I have seen fake jerseys where everything is stitched on, but the stripes are silk screened, a very easy one to spot. Now the autographed framed jersey numbers are totally different. Some of these have an appearance of a jersey but really isn't a jersey, such as the Michael Jordan Pro Mesh Jersey Numbers where the letters are silk screened, but the numbers are glued on. You should examine the jersey numbers to see anything out of place in the stitchings.

There are authentic jerseys that are silk screened for the older players during the 1950s to some in 1990. It wasn't done for every team, each team is different. Some evidence is an Emmitt Smith 2-color triple patch card I pulled from the 2006 Topps Triple Threads, and the letters were silk screened. A 2008 Donruss Classics triple 3 color patch of Chuck Bednarik, Marion Motley, and Dick Lane and a Triple threads Barry Sanders triple 2 color patch that had sewn on logos and numbers. Barry Sanders played virtually the same years as Emmitt Smith.

Most of the older retired players authentic jerseys are mostly made by Mitchell and Ness. Mitchell and Ness doesn't make every single jersey of every great player. For a list of the players they do make a jersey of, you can visit their website. I would advise people to just buy it from Upper Deck directly to be certain you get what you paid for.

Global isn't as good of an autograph authentication as many may think. I gave them an autographed Drew Gooden jersey during the 2007 The Nationals Show in Cleveland, which I got personally and they said it was no good. They told me that since the autographed was written so sloppy they couldn't put their company logo on this item. They said "We're not saying its not real." What are you saying? Your job was to tell if its real or not. Who in the world would want to forge Drew Gooden's autograph. Nobody in Cleveland would want to forge Gooden's autograph, he signed so many of them in Cleveland already that almost everybody has one. They are not as good as I thought they were. I got the Gooden authenticated by JSA and they said it was good. I told JSA about what Global said and did. They said they couldn't believe it. I showed them the form that Global gave me. JSA now knows that Global isn't as reputable as it may be. I would question any autograph Global authenticates until I get a second opinion. Most autograph dealers in the Cleveland area have agreed with me that GAI isn't as good as PSA or JSA.

I don't like the certificates JSA gives out either. Its just a piece of cardboard. I feel that these authentication companies need to do something different to make it hard to duplicate certificates and stickers, and at the same time be able to show people that the autograph was indeed authenticated by them without having to take the item to them all the time to know if its really one of theirs or not. Upper Deck and Tristar use holograms and holograms aren't easy to duplicate. It's not impossible, but it is very difficult that an average Joe can't duplicate it. These third party authenticators need to start using real hologram stickers. This way, not every average Joe can make a copy and also reassures the consumers.

From what you've read so far, don't be discouraged to buy PSA ceritifed autographs. You should go to PSA's website and look for authorized PSA/DNA dealers and buy from them. Same for JSA.

One thing, to all of you people that are looking to buy NFL jerseys on ebay, real or fake. Almost all jerseys on ebay are fake. If you got it for less than $150, it is guaranteed a fake. You can tell if a jersey is fake or not by looking for the imperfection on the jersey. All fake jerseys are sewn on a embroidery machine, and anything sewn on a machine will have imperfections somewhere. I know this because I work for an embroidery factory. I have 8 years experience, I can tell you that the authentic jerseys are done by hand with no sewing machine. That is why the authentic jerseys look so perfect in quality than compared to the EQT(football) jerseys or swingman(basketball) jerseys. The colors on fake jerseys will be slightly different than on authentics. Just wanted to point out some ways to tell if a jersey is real or fake. Whether you want to buy fake or real is up to you. Jerseys sold by ebay members outside of the US, such as Korea, China, etc. are all fake. The letter font for the player's name could be different on fake jerseys. Fakes would have some sort of silk screen (ironed on) somewhere on some jerseys. Real swingman basketball jerseys all have one layer of stitches for each logo, number, and letter. Most fake swingman jerseys will have 2 layers instead.

In my own opinion, I would never pay over $100 for a jersey. I would wear one fake jersey that costed me $35 over a real one that costs $200.  The jersey will be all worn out in a few years from wear and tear just like every other shirt, dumping a $35 dollar shirt is better than dumping a $200 shirt. Yes it is against the law, but why would you want to spend real money on a real jersey. Its just a shirt with numbers and a name on it. It's not like a jersey is made of high quality material such as silk, leather, etc. If you want the real thing, your just buying a shirt for $200 and it only costed Reebok about $20 in US money. If people can duplicate Reeboks jerseys almost similarly, then it should have costed them the about the same amount as Reebok to make a jersey. Reebok has workers working in sweat shops for very little pay. Almost similar to slave labor. Most of their jerseys are made overseas because labor is 10 times cheaper over there. Reebok will never make a jersey in the United States and the money we spend on the real thing goes overseas to foreigners instead of staying in the USA. That's why our economy is so bad. It's just my opinion on how to help the economy. I remember when 'Made in USA' used to mean something years ago, and now people think anything made in USA is junk or too expensive.

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