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I just got burned by a seller on Ebay. I've been around the block a few times as I've been an autograph collector for about 30 years. Some autographs are tough to come by. One that I really wanted is Neil Diamond. He's a notoriously non-signer. One popped up on Ebay. It had a JSA group letter of authenticity. That means that "someone" from James Spence Authentication looked at a large group of signatures and determined that they "looked" good. Being skeptical, as authentic Neil Diamond sigs are hard to come by I did a "quick Opinion" by PSA/DNA. They replied that they could not determine if authentic. I decided to take a chance and put in a high bid. I got it and sent it to JSA for official authentication and slabbing. Got it back a few days ago from JSA and they determined that it was fake. Attempted to contact the seller. No response. I'm going to eat this!! Oh well....anyone want to buy a Neil Diamond signed index cards cheap???

Happy Collecting!!
Chappy

Hi Chappy

Sorry to hear about your bad buying experience. Unfortunately, the majority of third party authenticators are far from honest and reliable. It's been well documented on a couple of autograph collecting blogs and sites, how dealers are giving the graders a good percentage of commission to have their fake autographs graded as authentic. This is downright wrong, but what can you do about a few unscrupulous people in the world?!

My way of avoiding being scammed is not buying auto's at all, but rather trying to obtain them myself. This is not everyone's cup of tea, but at least you don't have to deal with uncertainty/disappointment. In the case of non signer, I'd rather just not have their auto at all than be ripped off by some jerk!

Hi Shambler,

You know... I have to agree with you that I will just NOT purcahse another autograph. This last deal about the Neil Diamond sig did it for me. I am fortunate enough as an autogtraph collector to live in the Los Angeles area. There are always opportunities for me to score autographs and I will just no longer attempt to purchase from the Ebay scammers.

Chappy

Chappy wrote:Hi Shambler,

You know... I have to agree with you that I will just NOT purcahse another autograph. This last deal about the Neil Diamond sig did it for me. I am fortunate enough as an autogtraph collector to live in the Los Angeles area. There are always opportunities for me to score autographs and I will just no longer attempt to purchase from the Ebay scammers.

Chappy

Hi Chappy!

I'm sorry to hear about this experience. I have never bought any autograph in my life because of this - there's just too many fake autographs on the net and people trying everything to "convince" you it's authentic. And not to mention the money you lost! I agree with Shambler, I'd rather not have their autograph than buying a fake.

Good luck!
zanne

Something I forgot to mention about this whole ordeal is that it cost me $40.00 in fees from JSA to find out that it was a fake Neil Diamong sig.

Chappy

Although there are a small handful are reputable websites that don't sell fakes, I think it's far safer to just not buy at all. Considering you live in a celebrity hotspot Chappy, I'd make the most of it and go autograph hunting when you have free time!