I think someone on EBay is faking autographs.

[TheCollector]

Good input from everyone! I was actually going to buy some autographs for my school auction so I didn't really care if they were pre-prints but I'm wondering - not to get too technical - but what do they do? Do they compose these things on a computer and print them out or what? It's not fair that there's this "counterfeit" world out there. :x

Hey plhepner2

Thanks for your post!

Undoubtably a lot of the autographs sold on Ebay are questionable in origin You are far safer to try to get your own, through the mail, especially if you are collecting for a fund-raiser or charity auction.

One thing I will point out for you though, is that proper PREPRINTS are not fakes or counterfeits. They are purely photographic "facsimilies" of actual autographs. Many celebrities are unable to keep up with the demand for their authentic autograph, so they sign a photograph which is then duplicated by their agent or another official source and sent out to fans. These photo / copies are of high quality.

What you are confusing this with on Ebay are some sellers who either fake an auto on a photograph, copy the photo many times and sell the copies, or occasionally get a genuine autograph and copy that for all it's worth and sell the copies.

The difference is that these copies tend to be low-quality prints produced on a standard printer, and not worth the paper they are printed on.

I, like many of the "Charity Collectors" on this forum encounter the same thing every time we have hold a charity sale on Ebay. Believe me, if there was a better way to reach such a large audience for an auction, I would be doing it!

Without going into too much detail, I know some quite major celebs quite well through the course of my work. I can then get some autos which others may not be able to, but when it comes to selling them (via Ebay) I cannot ever get them to reach anywhere near what they are actually worth.

To give you an idea, a personally signed photo from Sir Elton John with a COA from his agent failed to meet the reserve of £100 at Christmas on Ebay. I know 100% that it is genuine, but "apparently" so are the other 30 on sale at the same time on Ebay

Unfortunately Ebay can be a blessing and a curse to the autograph buyer. It really is a blind auction!

Ian

[Piper]

My favorites are the ones where the seller has misspelled the celebrity's name. Like, at least make an effort, dude!

Haha that is funny who was the celeb that had their name spelled wrong?

Renee O'Connor (I hope I spelled that right, LOL.) I don't recall if it was really *spelled* wrong, but they put the accent in "Renee" over the wrong E.

[robert_holik]

NO, DO YOU REALLY MEAN THAT THEY FAKE?!?!?
I DIDNT KNOW THAT (sarcastic)