Authenticity. Are you being taken for a ride?
Check this page before you start! http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/How-to-avoid-fake-autographs-on-ebay_W0QQugidZ10000000000960387
Check this new website now! www.isitreal.com
Authenticity means a lot to us and the many other UACC and AFTAL registered dealers we speak with every day of the week. We have been selling on ebay for over 8 years, then it was easy, just list and upload, and most items sold easily at a fair market price. Now things are a little different!
8 years later we have hundreds more sellers, many which have no knowledge of autographs whatsoever, but all claiming to be experts! Many of these sellers are simply buying fakes from other ebay sellers (usually in the USA) and then reselling them here in the UK. As long as it comes with a COA they believe it is real and are happy to sell it on as such. Sadly they are deluding themselves and deceiving the many buyers they find for their fakes.
Do you believe in COA’s ? We have issued a COA with every item we have sold since the day we started over 15 years ago; each one carries our details, name, address and UACC and AFTAL Registered Dealer Number. Every week we have items sent to us from people who have purchased items on ebay believing them to be genuine, and in almost every case they have been supplied with a COA which has no details on it whatsoever other than the name of the fictitious company that issued it. Do you have any of these in your collection? If so I suggest you take a closer look at what you have been buying.
A COA is only as good as the person who issued it; and a good COA does not make a fake item genuine!
Do you buy from Private auctions? If so then you should be aware these are used not for the reason that the seller gives you (usually to stop you being spammed by others selling the same items), but for 3 very different reasons. Firstly, by using Private bidding the seller can bid against you without you knowing, and second, to prevent you from finding out how many other similar items he has sold in the past month! But the main reason is that it stops others, normally their past customers who have found out that they have been ripped off, from warning you about their fakes.
Are COA’s worthless? Because of the number of fakes and forgers on ebay, the COA has become almost a worthless piece of paper; some UACC dealers are not even issuing them anymore. We will however continue to supply our combined invoice and COA for all customers. We are also able to suuply a 7-page document with all items with a sale price of over £75 This combined COA Appraisal and Insurance valuation is accepted by all major insurance companies should you ever suffer a loss. We normally charge a minimum of £29.95 for these as they do take a little time to put together. They give you a full rundown of the item including condition, provenance etc, plus a valuation for insurance purposes. We also keep a copy of the document here just in case you should lose everything! We can supply one of these for any single item over £75 for the reduced price of £15
Authentication and appraisal. We have been authenticating items for other collectors and dealers for some time, and are one of only 2 UACC Registered Dealers in the UK who have attended both the UACC Appraisal and Authentication course in the USA. We can appraisal value and authenticate any signed item you may have at a cost starting at £29.95 We can value collections or single items, either at your home or our office.
Autografica are UACC Registered Dealer 179 and this can be checked by going to the UACC website at www.UACC.org We have been selling signed memorabilia for over 18 years, and selling on ebay for almost 7 years (thats before ebay UK ever existed!). We are were voted UACC dealer of the year in 2000, won the Presidents award for Quality in 2006 and now hold a position on the ethics board as well. WE recently helped form the new AFTAL (Autograph Fair Trade Association) of which we are currently Vice Chairman. We have been featured many times on radio and TV including 'The Real Hustle' and BBC's 'Inside Out' programe, and and also organise the annual Autographica event, where you will find all good dealers.
The dealers in the West Midlands selling hundreds of fake music signed items seem to hav ebeen dealt a blow recently. Trading Standards in the area seem to have taken a dim view of these forgers peddling their fakes on ebay, and as a result a numbe rof the big names have been wiped out. eBay too have taken some action against these and others selling fakes, and so eBay is not quite so awash with fakes from the West Midlands or abroad. But be warned, the Cyrprus forgers are back already, and lets face it, when they are making £1000's of per week, they are not likely to give up that easily are they? So keep your eyes open for these sellers, the signs are all there, you just need to be able to spot them.
You can find out more about UACC members and Registered dealers by clicking here.
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