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Permalink Reply by Dan Gregory on June 21, 2015 at 2:03am

As others say selling an item with a PSA sticker can double or treble the price regardless of whether it is real or not.

I am currently well into a process here in New Zealand working with the authorities where a well known seller has been operating for years. The seller used to sell a lot of fakes with a sticker and letter from Chris Morales. Due to ongoing investigations I cannot reveal certain details.

More recently they have been selling items with authentication from PSA and JSA and are getting hundreds authenticated at a time. Some of these items include people such as local New Zealand sports people and musicians that PSA did not even have an example of the said celebrity yet issued a sticker and card for. When I tried to do the same PSA could not authenticate as they had no examples on file and refused to answer how they issued the other person an authentication.

Additionally we have been able to prove that some of the items that PSA authenticated for this seller were never signed by the person in question such as 1 person who has refused to sign items for 10 years yet appraently signed dozens for this seller and then PSA authenticated them.

Now I know with some items PSA does good work and they have to a degree helped clean up the hobby.

However; it appears that if you pay them enough they turn a blind eye and sticker anything you want and this is infecting the hobby and meaning many people are buying fakes that have authentication and this needs to stop and the sooner the better

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Permalink Reply by Ian Baldock on June 21, 2015 at 8:29am

Very well put, and their arrogance of not answering questions and no accountability doesn't go over well with me either.

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Permalink Reply by Paul on June 21, 2015 at 4:23pm

Do you think it's wide spread Dan or isolated to one or two dealers.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Gregory on June 22, 2015 at 2:27am

Hi Paul, I don't think it happens all the time but it seems some sellers get a free pass and many others don't such as Michael has said.

Even to happen a few times is not good enough as passing autographs as authentic when they have nothing to base their examples on is unacceptable for any TPA.

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Permalink Reply by James on June 21, 2015 at 4:49pm

Unfortunately, this is clearly going on. It's one thing to make a mistake, but situations like this aren't mistakes. It's just like when Reznikoff made $8 million worth of JFK "mistakes", he did so for a friend who was lying to him. Unfortunately, he believed his friend's story. If you are going to survive as a legitimate TPA, you need to evaluate each item independently from the source and forget about personal relationships. Eventually, if they keep doing this, it will catch up to them. Remember Maestro Auctions?

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Permalink Reply by Xwiesy on June 21, 2015 at 9:08pm

This is a problem I've brought up before. TPA's pass items for reasons other than the signature.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Kasmar-AutographPros.com on June 21, 2015 at 9:05pm

Interesting.  I have had 1000s of items PSA authenticated including countless full LOAs which aren't cheap so the amount of $ I've spent with them certainly constitutes "Enough Money" and I can tell you I get no special treatment.  At best I'll get some items not charged for due to sloppy signatures which they just couldn't render a decision on but otherwise, I've on many occasions had items I obtained in person fail their authentication.   I'm not saying their isn't favoritism out there or relationships which differ from my own but I will say it's not based purely on money because I've spent a lot.

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Permalink Reply by Xwiesy on June 21, 2015 at 9:09pm

I think there is some jealousy in this hobby. Press Pass is an ebay flipper and I think that rubs people the wrong way.

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Permalink Reply by Ian Baldock on June 22, 2015 at 10:27am

How do they get check marks and other assorted scribbles passed? That's what I would like to know.

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Permalink Reply by Rich on June 22, 2015 at 11:04am

My impression Press Pass will sell anything they can get away with, authentic or not.  They clearly have have an in with PSA and JSA, which allows them to get questionable and outright fake items authenticated as neither company seems to really scrutinize items submitted by them.  The "flipper" thing might be the least of their offenses.

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Permalink Reply by Dane on June 22, 2015 at 12:48am

Dan, with respect to the items you're investigating, are they PSA LOA or COA items? I know that my last order with PSA had all items photographed and posted on the PSA website, but past orders would only be photographed with an LOA.

Is it possible that PSA's authentication stickers on the items you found were forgeries, as well? I figure, if a seller is going to forge signatures, what's to stop them from forging a low-res sticker?

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Permalink Reply by Dan Gregory on June 22, 2015 at 2:25am

Hi Dane, they are all stickers with cards and PSA have confirmed to the authorities that they are genuine and were certified by PSA in each case. Originally I thought they were all fake cards and stickers but they are real which makes it even more frustrating

I hope to be able to share some of the items soon once I get the go ahead and will keep you posted.

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