Sportscollectibles505 on eBay, buyers beware.

Here's another seller of forgeries, Sportscollectible505

I stumbled upon this auction, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251142076354..., which is for an obviously fake "Queen signed" lp (it's a typical Fan Club fake instead).

He even states that will refound all expenses and 2 TIMES the price spent for this piece of garbage if refused by authentication companies.

I wrote the following to the seller:

Hello,

I'm the owner of freddieautograph.com. Just to let you know that this item that you're selling is a typical Fan Club forgery. None of Queen members signed that lp.

Just telling you, as you seem to be in good faith, and because if someone is gonna buy it you WILL have to refound double the price, as you stated, as NO authenticator will ever certify it. Try with Roger Epperson for example... Just tryin' to save you some bucks... ;)

This is the reply that I've just received; I decided to post it here because everytime I see someone being such a crooked, I wake up from my ingenuity and feel like an idiot.

Bring the owner of a fan club name does not make you an expert on autographs. I followed eBay protocol and alo had visual in person approval from an authenticator so I feel comfortable in what I am doing.
You currently have nothing for sale and I consider your email harassment. Do not contact me again nor my bidders as if u do I will contact eBay to have your account suspended .
I guarentee all autographs I sell if I get it authenticated and appraised from a reputable company accepted by eBay, amazon and other sites . I also compared my autographed item to others on eBay signed by queen and they were all matches.
Any further contact will cause me to contact eBay for swift and decisive action against u

Obviously, my next days will be dedicated to erase this scumbag and his shady business from the net.

Buyers, beware!

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Permalink Reply by Dan Gregory on September 17, 2012 at 10:49pm

Amazingly it's still for sale. Perhaps Steve or someone who has a line into eBay could step in here and advise them that this is not the real deal and the seller is trying to rip someone off.

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Permalink Reply by Marco Nobile on September 24, 2012 at 1:23am

Yeah, that would be nice, as the cheater keeps harassing me through the email in the most common ways used by this kind of scumbags.

After my reply to his previous mail, in which I showed him the link to this page and his admission on the "hall of shame" of my website, he changed his manners:

"I am not a crook as my auction states if it ever came back fake I will gladly give the refund that I have listed. I am doing nothing working and following all correct protocol. I dont know who you are so how do I know ou are real and just not one of the other sellers of queen memorabliila that wants my item off sale. Look at at from my stand point .
I am not purport rating any fraud at all. I send it off it came back acceptable to list., that is good enough for me."

Today, after 12 days of silence, I received this beautiful email, where our scammer returns to his harassing behaviour:

"Just and fyi I sent off the album and got another company to authenticate it with a letter of authenticity so nice try trying to discredit me. I have no need to tell you who did the authentication but it was one of Ebays reccomended authenticators. so now I have 2 differnt companies backing me, if you ever say anything false or malicious about me and this album again I will sue you for slander and defamation of character and put you out of business. I do not sell fake autograph items and now have two independent companies to back me.
If you think I am lying try it again and see what actions I take. I have very good attorneys to track you down and take appropriate legal action and sue you for the maximum amount of punitive and compensatory amounts allowed under the law./ I have already forwarded your prior threats and emails to the one website trying to discredit me. Stop the stupidity it will cost you greatly, just move on."

Kinda mafia style, isn't it? :)

By the way I'm reporting this item to eBay everyday and I wrote to FBI hoping for a new operation bullpen...

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on September 24, 2012 at 6:15am

Here's an image of the Queen album listing. Click to enlarge:

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Permalink Reply by A.B. on September 24, 2012 at 6:22am

Blatant fake

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Permalink Reply by Marco Nobile on September 26, 2012 at 12:58am

Thanks for posting, Steve.

Actually it's almost incredible that such an obvious fake could take away $ 2.500 from some naïve person. And it's even more incredible that an appropriate "filter" is not used by big marketplace companies like eBay, which in certain circumstances might even be considered accomplice to the crime of fraud.

After all this is why when you auction a top brand item like Nike, Vuitton etc, there's a kind of review board that checks if the article is a counterfeit before it goes online, as the site could be considered liable -and you don't want to face the army of attorneys defending such big multinationals.

Sadly when it comes to autographs it seems like there's no offical truth, just opinions -and every opinion has the same value. Who am I, after all, to write to eBay saying "Please, remove this item (and renounce to the commission you will gain on its sale) as it's a forgery, my opinion matters more than the seller's one"?