Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by mark harmon on July 30, 2020 at 6:42am

it sucks spending money on authentication fees and then having the item fail. i think beckett should charge 10-20% of what the fee is and then if the item passes full authentication, then the customer would have to pay the remaining fee in order to have the item fully authenticated. 

so if it costs $100 to have an alfred hitchcock photo to be authenticated, the customer pays 10%, $10, for them to look at it and if it passes and the customer wants the item stickered, then they have to pay the remaining $90. that way if the item fails you won't be out $100

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on July 30, 2020 at 9:33am

An authenticator cannot charge less for "fails" for a few reasons.

1. It creates the appearance that there is a greater financial incentive to "pass" items.
2. It takes just as much knowledge and time to identify fakes as authentic. It's the same process and skill set. I am always puzzled why an authenticator should work for less because a collector has fakes.

There are lower cost Quick Opinion options that can basically serve as a preliminary screening of you have doubts about an item. 

Permalink Reply by Rich on July 30, 2020 at 9:36am

Isn't point #1 kind of already a problem, given the business relationships these TPAs commit to with certain clients?

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on July 30, 2020 at 9:51am

There will always be those who say that certain big clients get preferential treatment, whether it’s true or not. I don’t know how you avoid that. Not have any big clients? 

I don’t see that being the same as having an official policy that says you charge less for items that do not pass. Even if you’re 100% honest and make the calls as you see them with no regard to financial compensation, just the appearance of having an incentive is something to avoid.

Permalink Reply by Rich on July 30, 2020 at 9:58am

Well, these relationships prompt the TPA's to pass items they'd otherwise likely fail or be unable to render an opinion on. They've been outed for it again and again, so the financial incentive bias to pass items certainly exists. I get that it's not the same as charging more or less on an individual basis, but this lack of integrity is already there.

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on July 30, 2020 at 9:57am

Oh… And I forgot reason number three.

An authenticator opens himself to the most liability by failing items. Nasty and crooked sellers are often litigious and threaten over failures. An authenticator should not have to accept much less pay for the decisions that are the most risky. 

Permalink Reply by Overseas on July 30, 2020 at 12:54pm

the work of these authentication companies sucks. It happened to me with 3 articles that the JSA deemed unauthentic, I sell them in prepasscollectible and after a couple of months I see them on eBay with the complete letters of JSA! This is disgusting.

Permalink Reply by Rich on July 30, 2020 at 12:59pm

If they were music items, JSA is complete vomit with music.

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