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Authenticity is Everything
Lack of Professionalism from "The Autograph Guys" a.k.a. gatewayautos
I had watched several youtube videos about "The Autograph Guys" and decided to check out their website. There were a few items that caught my eye and decided to put in a reasonable best offer for them since that option was given. It took a few days to even receive any kind of response, but here it was:
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"we got all them on ebay buddy put the offers in through ebay give it a few days I gont have the denzels on yet but will later this week
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To which my reply to them was the following:
"Hello,
I can't even begin to count how many things are wrong with this. First of all, what kind of a horrible grammatically impaired response is this? You are supposed to be representing a more professional business and I receive a response that looks like a twitter message from a middle school student. Secondly, your prices greatly vary on the same items between the website and ebay which puts forth a terrible vibe for any potential customers like myself.
You don't even try to seal a deal through your own website contact form and follow up with a way to do a direct deal through paypal. Your lack of professionalism astounds me and has completely put me off for any potential business.
Had you handled this is in a more appropriate manner not only would you have received a first order of at least a couple hundred dollars from me, but would have more than likely gained a repeat customer if treated with some kind of dignity and proper service, and lastly would have given some praise to others through word of mouth. Instead you will receive the exact opposite.
Thanks, but no thanks.
Pathetic."
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris Piazza on
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Good for you!
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Permalink Reply by Michael T on
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That is the reality of today's eBay. In-person collectors are selling their autographs themselves now but only a rare few have any business acumen.
You should see how some of these sellers package the autographs for mailing. You would laugh!
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Permalink Reply by Tyler Gray on
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Well, I'm an in person collector and partial dealer as well. I've got to admit though, I keep way more than I ever sell, but I try to approach it with a little more professional manner and provide service (i.e. e-mailing people to inform them of the item being sent, provide tracking, respond quickly to questions or comments, package them properly, etc). It does amaze me how people have sent me items before such as just tossing an 8x10 photo in a large envelope with no protection what-so-ever and are then surprised when I inform them the photo is all bent and creased from delivery.
I never thought I'd receive such a lackluster response such as this one from a business that has a perceived image from many to be a higher standard than just your average joe handling transactions solo.
On top of that, I'm a teacher and I've had several students both at the elementary and middle school level with far better writing skills than the terrible message I received from "The Autograph Guys". That is a pathetic first impression, which clearly leads me to believe the rest of any transaction would be just as unprofessional all the way through. No thanks. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.
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Permalink Reply by Rick Meyer on
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Doesn't take a rocket scientist to chase autographs and peddle them on EBAY. You think all those folks are college graduates?
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I'm not expecting that at all, but to have a response with no punctuation, spelling errors, and worst of all just re-directing me to put offers on ebay items that don't even exist yet is inexcusable in my book. That's just a red flag telling me to avoid them altogether.
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Permalink Reply by Steve Viola on
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Amen. I've seen them out there. I'm embarrassed to stand with them at times.
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Permalink Reply by Jerome Turner on
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I'd be more worried about what fake autographs I'd be purchasing from them. This AC/DC guitar they're displaying on their website is absolutely horrible.
http://www.theautographguys.com/images/showroom/IMG_2878.JPG
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I'm not so sure, doesn't look all that bad to me at first glance. Anyhow, the point is not to turn this into a thread blasting them about authenticity. It's about the lack of professionalism and poor manners which reflect a less than stellar first impression on a potential customer.
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Permalink Reply by Carl Ryan on
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I want to say that their is another thread on here about these guys, and that alot of questions were raised, but i could be wrong.
I just took a look at their site and their signed LPs, and i have some major issues. I am pretty tired, so i didnt look at things in depth, but i will come back to it later. The autographs, if fake, are certainly much better than average. But here is the thing, their prices are crazy for some of the LPs i looked at. Way Way underpriced in most examples. I mean a fully signed Green Day Album for around 80 dollars?
They have some very desirable names, that arent easy to get, and all are under 100 dollars for the most part. Yet if they hit ebay, i am confident that most would probably go for quite a lot more than the buy it now prices on their website. It really doesnt make sense if these are authentic. I am a believer that if its too good to be true, then it probably is. And some of these prices fall into that range.
I have to admit that the autographs do look good at first glance, but i cant imagine them going for the price they are if authentic
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They're probably one of those dealers that have authentic product mixed in with fake product. These type of people will also "finish" group items themselves if they are missing people. So you have an item with 3 or 4 real autographs and 2 fake ones making a "complete".
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Permalink Reply by Steel on
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I agree with Jerome. From items I'm familiar with, some of their items look good, but others (like the Sidney Crosby autos) do not.
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Permalink Reply by Chris David on
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I believe Zac is Zach Grullo one of PSA/DNA authenticators. He has been selling autographs for years a large conflict of interest. I met him one time graphing a all star game in Chicago he was a arrogant ass. I bet him and his buddies get psa stickers with no discrimination.
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