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Authenticity is Everything
How valuable is eBay feedback for autographs?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on
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+1
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Permalink Reply by Bruce Juice on
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Good video. Steve doesn't say to never buy on ebay - just not to totally trust those perfect feedback numbers. I know many forgers on there with 100% feedback as well.
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Permalink Reply by William Negle on
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It's worth noting that the feedback rating is determined only by the previous 12 months of sales. There can be any number of negative feedbacks buried pages and pages back into a seller's record - no easy task to ferret out when the total feedback exceeds 5,000.
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Permalink Reply by Yony Mark on
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Martin.
I've read your comments, and your text sounds like you took this personally (which, is no surprise considering that you're an eBay seller yourself).
You are correct that there are good and bad in all walks of life. Steve Grad is not the only example in the authentication companies. I can't tell you how many times I've seen forgeries with JSA / PSA / Beckett authentication. The famous reality show Pawn Stars also had someone named Drew Max, who also got caught authenticating forgeries.
But eBay is something else. eBay is driven by profit. On eBay the platform is semi-anonymous so it's much easier to sell fakes, and since the feedback system is 100% free-text, it most of the time only represents if the customer got the item fast enough / packaged well enough, etc. etc. It is absolutely not correlated with the item's authenticity.
You can find a legitimate seller with 97.5% positive feedback just because of that one person in Alaska who got his item frozen in the ice, and you can find a seller with 100% positive feedback who's selling a stock of "signed index cards" that he forged (because index cards are super easy to forge), with all feedback being positive.
That's not to say authentication companies aren't driven by profit. They certainly are! But authentication companies are judged 100% on their judgement of the item's authenticity. It is much easier for an eBay seller to sell fakes and then "start a-new", than it is for Steve Grad to clear his bad reputation.
If you dig into the old threads on this forum (Circa 2010 and earlier), there is lots of dirt on crooked forgers who sold junk under various eBay aliases. I remember reading a blog post about some forger who sold acoustic guitars with a forged Paul McCartney sketch and signature on these acoustic guitars. That forger claimed that he "got it from Paul McCartney at his private acoustic show tour in 2007", something like that.
In conclusion, what I'm trying to say is eBay has it's faults. The authentication companies have their faults.
But I'll still trust most COAs from reputable authenticators, than I'd trust most eBay sellers.
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Permalink Reply by Martin Slack on
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Hi Yony,
Thanks for your reply and agree with all you say but with reference to the Paul McCartney.....Why would anyone pay £400-£500 for a signature that they have not had authenticated. Twice recently, I was looking to buy 2 signatures, one of Walt Disney, that was in an auction in Germany and once in England at an auction, I purchased the Bela Lugosi.
I contacted Phil Sears at a cost to me of between £20-£30 and he told me it was signed by one of Walt's associates...the name escapes me.
The 2nd time ....I purchased the Bela Lugosi and when it arrived, I contacted an authentication website again at a cost to me and they said it was a fake . I sent it back and I received a refund.
It was down to me, the buyer to find out if these items were fake or not....not the seller.
I would not buy any single item myself from Ebay that is going to cost me more than a £100 without checking it out first.
I sell autographs but....I try mainly to buy autograph books that are harder to forge as they are nearly all from the same period.
The book must smell old and musty when it arrives or that will put doubt in my mind.
I don't have COA's for 99.9 % of my signatures as a lot of them were signed before I was born or when I was a child but.......I am not here to rip buyers off and I am very proud of my feedback.
I did Not take it personally but I was standing up for other sellers , that are being honest and trying to make some money from Ebay as well
As I previously stated, I have 10.000 listings and you are welcome to look through them and.....please buy some. I will give any member of autograph live 40% off any of my items you buy.
I am very proud of my feedback on Ebay and I had to work hard to get it.
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Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on
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It isn’t a matter of standing up for honest eBay sellers. Steve acknowledged that there are both good and bad sellers on eBay. The issue is the eBay feedback system. How can it be anything other than junk if a forgery seller can have perfect feedback? What does it mean for an honest seller to have 100% positive feedback if a dishonest one can have 100% too?
“Why would anyone pay £400-£500 for a signature that they have not had authenticated?” They would buy it if they are knowledgeable about the signature, have a high degree of confidence in its authenticity, and don’t want to lose it to another buyer. On the other hand, there are much more expensive signatures than that with a cert from a reputable TPA that I wouldn’t want for $10.
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100% positive feedback from an honest seller just means that the item will most likely be well packaged and shipped to you on time, and that the seller's communication is good.
The same can be said for a seller selling forgeries.
The feedback in most cases, is absolutely unrelated with the authenticity of the items for sale.
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+1
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“Why would anyone pay £400-£500 for a signature that they have not had authenticated?” They would buy it if they are knowledgeable about the signature, have a high degree of confidence in its authenticity, and don’t want to lose it to another buyer." - Ballroom
+100
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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on
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I pay little attention to whether an item is authenticated or not. I use my own experience and also that of other experienced collectors if I need outside opinions. Regarding ebay feedback, I do use it, but only to weed out obvious scammers. Also if someone has an item with zero feedback, I likely would not take the chance.
But to the subject of the video eBay feedback on its own should not be used to determine authenticity of an item.
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+1 again!
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That’s true. Feedback can make you aware of certain things such as fast and safe shipment of items. Also, buyers sometimes leave negative feedback after an item fails authentication. That said, it’s junk in the sense that a perfect feedback rating doesn’t necessarily mean that the seller is even reputable.
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