Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by fab432 on February 17, 2018 at 1:00pm

More and more auction houses are addding something to the effect “that they have not or did not authenticate the signatures and the buyer should be comfortable bidding as there will be no returns allowed”. This is total nonsense as I’m pretty sure these auction houses know most of these sets they are selling are not genuine.They are happy to take the consignment knowing a craftily worded description just might snare another unsuspecting buyer. That is why I always email the auction house to tell them they are selling non genuine signatures (if they are) however that rarely causes them to remove the lots from the auction. Perhaps if 5 or 6 people informed them they would be more motivated to remove the crap and only accept items they are 100% sure are legit!!!

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Permalink Reply by KarlKeaton on February 17, 2018 at 6:10pm

That’s so true. People tend to assume that auction houses are experts, it takes a collector or someone with more experience to realise what a minefield purchasing Beatle autographs is. 

Even if they do realise this and happen to know who the respected authenticators are the services of most of these top authenticators is generally unavailable to them for advice on an auction purchase.

I guess small auction houses could present the same argument in their defence but the “get out” clause is an  inelegant solution at best and a route to deception without responsibility at the worst.

This forum provides potentially invaluable advice for free.

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Permalink Reply by fab432 on February 17, 2018 at 6:15pm

Amen!!!

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Permalink Reply by Evan on February 17, 2018 at 6:47pm

Actually I did purchase a statue from an auctionahouse through invaluable.com and it turned out to be a shoddy load of crap being produced in a tourist assembly line in Nepal soemwhere despite the house claiming it was Qing dynasty period. I complained to invaluable and immediately got my money back. For whatever that is worth. 

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Permalink Reply by KarlKeaton on February 17, 2018 at 8:42pm

I know nothing about them really but a general thought is that a lot operations selling shoddy goods seem to operate by offering refunds instantly to those who complain while profiting from the many that don’t. That explains a lot of the 100% records on things like EBay.

Happy to hear about your refund.

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Permalink Reply by michelle on February 17, 2018 at 9:40pm

yeah great to hear about the refund, - it must have been pricey as well. Quite a few of the smaller auction houses in uk are also no longer allowing you to pay by debit cards either but only cheques or bank transfer

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