Autograph Live Register of Crooked Dealers

Given that many, many dealers who are unquestionably ripping off collectors with faked items are regularly named and shamed on the forum, is it not time that we maintained a list of them for permanent display on the home page?

Threads with this important information quickly disappear. I would like to see a list of them available to site users - a permanent guide to known forgers operating on ebay and Etsy etc.

It would/could serve more than one purpose - as well as helping members and site-visitors to avoid losing their money it might actually serve as a deterrent to some dealers. Even one less faker off the market would be a result.

I am not talking about casual sellers who might mistakenly/inadvertently be passing off a secretarial as the real thing. I mean the industrial-scale forgers who are raking in thousands from unsuspecting and uneducated buyers.

Such a list would have to be carefully managed, obviously, with specific criteria/evidence required to add someone's name and perhaps even an appeals procedure to enable someone to have their name removed. I am brain-storming here but I find myself becoming increasingly frustrated with the ever-increasing litany of reports which actually don't lead to any change in the overall situation.  We discuss it and wring our hands - some of us may make a mental note about the source in question - and then we move onto a discussion about the next one.

With all the experience and expertise available from forum members surely this is an achievable objective which - albeit in a limited way to begin with - might actually have a positive affect on the situation.

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Permalink Reply by Steve P. on October 27, 2024 at 4:36am

I like the idea. 

Permalink Reply by ShortyUK on October 27, 2024 at 5:43am

As a total beginner/novice this to me sounds like a great idea.

I am not sure how the genuine authenticators out there with such a credible reputation as endorsed by this community would feel about this as on the one hand I would assume they would want to clamp down on those bad actors but on the other their genuine authentication might be required less?

Good luck with the objective/project.

Permalink Reply by Doug James on October 27, 2024 at 6:13am

I’ll kick things off with “thenovascotiakid” on eBay. Everything this clown sells is garbage yet he has 100% feedback from naive buyers. 

Permalink Reply by Eddy on October 27, 2024 at 12:04pm

"thenovascotiakid" is pretty crafty.  Some of them look kind of convincing (but still always off, imo). 

He's also a bit cunning as he does condition reports on his items that make them seem vintage.   

Here's one for a "John Wayne":

“Good shape ..(see scans).. ..Signatures are holding up good but some smudging.. Minor wrinkling as well and the edges are not cut perfectly straght. This could be trimmed to even it out but I will leave that to the new owner.. One of the few non-personalized ones i can find..”

https://www.ebay.com.my/itm/266517145072?itmmeta=01JB7N8JHE915A1SYA...

and for a "Harry Houdini":

“Good shape ..(see scans).. .. some fading of pencil Signature but good considering its approx 100 years old.. Some discoloring of the paper due to age as well as some creasing and wrinkles. Small dark mark that looks like it was taped in a book..”

https://www.ebay.com.my/itm/266501546889?itmmeta=01JB7NG910XD0WW44D...

Permalink Reply by Doug James on October 27, 2024 at 12:09pm

He has Doors piece that’s absolutely laughable. I’ve seen some horrible Presley pieces from him too. Just another bad Apple in the hobby which eBay will never do anything about. 

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on October 27, 2024 at 12:11pm

Halo's Collection, Signatures in Time (some), and Pengang to name just a few.

Permalink Reply by CJCollector on October 27, 2024 at 2:32pm

Someone posted a thread on Ebay seller Thenovascotiakid.

https://live.autographmagazine.com/forum/topics/ebay-seller-thenova...

Permalink Reply by Eddy on October 27, 2024 at 12:20pm

Here's one of the Etsy junk shops.  This one is especially brazen since they are now using for their shop the name of a different, honest dealership that is now retired:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/GoldenAgeAutographs?sort_order=price_desc

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on October 27, 2024 at 1:04pm

Eddy, please PM me as there is something I would appreciate you looking at.

Permalink Reply by Eddy on October 27, 2024 at 4:43pm

Eric -  I had messaged you earlier this afternoon after seeing this post. :-)

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on October 27, 2024 at 2:04pm

Findbooks,

You said that threads (discussions) with that important information quickly disappear. We have removed a tiny percentage of them, some dating back to 2009, often because the images were links that expired instead of uploads: ALWAYS save and upload images, don't link them.

Are you talking about deleted discussions?

Permalink Reply by Findbooks on October 27, 2024 at 3:00pm

No Steve, I'm not talking about deleted discussions. I'm really talking about how any forum works.

People post discussion topics and they may or may not elicit responses from others which may or may not keep them visible on the "live feed". If no-one responds they are soon shifted out of sight by incoming posts on other matters.

When someone posts something about an ebay seller - say "fakeautographs.co.uk" - and there follows a brief discussion about how awful they are, the discussion soon gets "bumped"  from the live feed by subsequent posts about Taylor Swift CD's and so on. 

That's the nature of any internet forum.

Now, if you are a forum member who is considering making a purchase from fakeautographs.co.uk and want to know if there has been any reviews or discussions about their reliability it might occur to you to use the search button to look for previous threads about them.

However, search results are often spotty - at best - and, frankly, does it even occur to most members or non-subscribing visitors to do this? I kind of think not - for whatever reason.

Effectively, this means that concerns raised by forum members about this seller are not immediately visible.

If we have a list - I guess organized alphabetically - of dodgy sellers - it makes this info so much more accessible and useful.

Is it spoon-feeding? Perhaps. But do we not have a responsibility to try - at least - to offset blatant fraud where no-one else seems keen to take this on?

That pretty much sums up my feelings, atm.

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