Autograph Collecting is a fantastic hobby, as your collection grows, it accumulates value, until you have a fantastic collection of genuine autographs which you can one day either sell, or even pass it down your family for future generations to continue! But fake autographs are becoming a serious problem on the internet, so it's important you know how to spot them, and avoid purchasing. The leading autograph authenticator in the Celebrity Signed Memorabilia Industry, PSA-DAN, states that only 33% of Tiger Woods autographs it put under scrutiny were actually a genuine piece of memorabilia. The rest were forged by scam artists in order to sell to avid fans to make money.
eBay is one of the main places fake memorabilia is found, mainly as people go looking to buy cheap autographs, but little do they know, they're paying for fake. And why pay for fake when you want genuine? Typically the seller on the site provides an image and a description of the product, and to the buyer, it looks real, and no questions get asked.
Some seller even provide a phony Certificate of Authenticity, and a 100% satisfaction guarantee, but the certificates provided are often from their own company! Which should really set alarm bells ringing straight away. And the guarantee? Most people don't want to send their product back because they don't feel completely sure if their product is actually fake, so tend to just keep quiet. This is wrong, and you have any suspicions whatsoever, you should always contact the seller right away, and if you bought the item on eBay, contact them and they will try to resolve the matter for you. You can also report suspicious memorabilia to the UACC (Universal Autograph Collectors Club).
Always ask the seller if you are not 100% confident in buying the item. Remember that the seller should be proving the authenticity, not you, and should be more than happy to help you. If they avoid questions or can't state where and when it was signed, then you should know right there and then that this is a fake, and it's not worth your investment, at all. Some sellers may say that they purchased the autograph from a registered UACC dealer. If this is the case then ask them to produce a name and a membership number. This can be checked on the UACC website.
Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Laura_Greenfield
eBay is one of the main places fake memorabilia is found, mainly as people go looking to buy cheap autographs, but little do they know, they're paying for fake. And why pay for fake when you want genuine? Typically the seller on the site provides an image and a description of the product, and to the buyer, it looks real, and no questions get asked.
Some seller even provide a phony Certificate of Authenticity, and a 100% satisfaction guarantee, but the certificates provided are often from their own company! Which should really set alarm bells ringing straight away. And the guarantee? Most people don't want to send their product back because they don't feel completely sure if their product is actually fake, so tend to just keep quiet. This is wrong, and you have any suspicions whatsoever, you should always contact the seller right away, and if you bought the item on eBay, contact them and they will try to resolve the matter for you. You can also report suspicious memorabilia to the UACC (Universal Autograph Collectors Club).
Always ask the seller if you are not 100% confident in buying the item. Remember that the seller should be proving the authenticity, not you, and should be more than happy to help you. If they avoid questions or can't state where and when it was signed, then you should know right there and then that this is a fake, and it's not worth your investment, at all. Some sellers may say that they purchased the autograph from a registered UACC dealer. If this is the case then ask them to produce a name and a membership number. This can be checked on the UACC website.
Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Laura_Greenfield
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