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One day Ebay and PSA decided that they both could make a fortune under the guise of a new business called PSA Quick Opinion. They would both market the "Quick Opinon" service as a "protection" service for the buyer and seller of products signed by authors, celebrities, athletes and more!
Here's how it works. A seller lists a book (for example) on EBAY that is signed by Barack Obama (for example). After PSA and EBAY realize that there are hundreds of such listings on EBAY, PSA estabishes an "expert" quick opinion evaluation service for Obama's signature. This is a wonderful buyer protection service at this point! PSA is now an expert on identifying an authentic or fraudulent Obama signature!
Now a potential buyer of the Obama book pays PSA $7.49 for the Quick Opinion.
Their expert ( probably some kid getting $10 per hour ) returns his evaluation as
"likely genuine" or " likely not genuine". If the evaluation comes back "likely not"
the listing is removed by EBAY and the seller can be SUSPENDED from EBAY!
I listed such a book and was suspended! The book was authentic and signed at a rally by Barack Obama! But here is what my buyer did. He bought my book and I sent it to him. Minutes before the listing closed he submitted the signature to "PSA Quick Opinon" and then payed for the book. After he received it he contacted me and said the signature was fake. I assured him it wasn't and issued a refund based on trusting he was sending the book back. Well, I never got the book back and was suspended. EBAY will not respond to me. PSA says it's not their problem to deal with.
In closing, the buyer of my book is a major seller of signed books on EBAY! he ususally has thousands of listings on any given day. Imagine the income EBAY and PSA makes from him. I decided to submit four signatures from his listings to PSA Quick Opinion and all four came back "likely not genuine"! 100% returned as FAKE! Did EBAY remove the listings? NOPE! They remained and two of the books sold! I contacted EBAY and no response!
Just who does EBAY really protect?
By the way, there is a book seller on EBAY called wwwflatsigned.com. The owner is Tim Miller. A REAL GREAT GUY if you mean what I know!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
yeah. ebay does pull some ho ### to make taht extra buck. customer service? 4 get about it! no matter who you contact, they are not "equipt with the tools to handle that problem" or concern, or they don't have an answer. we get 7 days to respond to any strike or issue thats been addressed to our account, but they have no problem ignoring repeated requests from the account holders.
I am new to ebay and had no idea that they trated the "little guy" so badly. Thanks for the warnings.
This is organized crime by eBay. There should be a class action suit against eBay. My brother has lost thousands of dollars selling genuine items. Based on PSA DNA's phony opinion, eBay suspended his account and sent his customers an email advising them to stop payment or get a refund. They also suspens his PayPal (BANK) account. Yes PayPal is a bank and they are getting away with murder. No other bank would get away with this BS.
Sellers use PSA DNA to get their competition suspended. Guess what, they also WORK FOR PSA DNA and eBay!
SCAM, FRAUD, RACKETEERING etc...
Message to eBay: You better cut ties with PSA DNA because they will bring DOWN. There will be a class action suit worth BILLIONS $$$.
PSA/DNA Authenticator Was Also The Consignor
From The NY Daily News, 4/23/06
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Memorabilia Mayhem
The sports memorabilia biz is most definitely not for the faint of heart. Collectors have long complained about deceptive advertising by auction houses; even more infuriating are the authenticators who claim to be independent but actually consigned the very items they claim they objectively appraised.
Those complaints, usually posted anonymously on Internet sites, are about to get a very public hearing in open court. A lawsuit filed in Boone County (Ind.) Superior Court by sports memorabilia dealer Bill Daniels accuses industry giants Mastro Auctions and PSA/DNA Authentication Services of fraud and questions the business practices and integrity of sports memorabilia's most important companies.
"I'm trying to fight this battle for every collector who has said, 'I got screwed but I have to take it, '" Daniels tells The Score.
The suit, scheduled for trial in June, says Daniels spent almost $20, 000 to buy more than 2, 000 autographed 8x10 photographs - including pictures of Mickey Mantle, Alex Rodriguez, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky and Muhammad Ali - during Mastro's December 2004 auction.
The signatures, according to Mastro's catalogue, were authenticated by PSA/DNA. "The mother lode of autographed 8x10 color photos, " the catalogue said. "The photos average NM/MT (near mint to mint) condition with '9-10' (on a scale of 1-10) signatures."
But Daniels says he got "sick to my stomach" when he received the photos. Sixty-five percent were damaged, with bent corners, creases and smeared signatures. Another 48 were in poor condition because the signatures were illegible. He also suspects some of the autographs may have been signed by players' secretaries - or may be forgeries.
Daniels contacted Mastro to get a refund, but when the company refused to exchange the lot or compensate him, he filed suit.
Mastro president Doug Allen says that's not accurate. "We offered Mr. Daniels the opportunity to return any photos he claims are undersized or have smeared autographs for a full refund on that portion of his purchase, " he said in an E-mail. "Mr. Daniels refused the offer.
"I do not believe Mr. Daniels has ever identified an autograph he purchased that is not authentic, " he adds.
Officials at Collectors Universe, PSA/DNA's parent company, did not return requests for comment.
Daniels and his attorney S. Andrew Burns later learned that PSA/DNA authenticator Zach Rullo, whose signature was on the letter of authenticity that accompanied the photos, was one of the consigners.
"That's a conflict of interest, absolutely, " Burns says. "The biggest problem is that although they tell you how PSA is the leader in authentication and that they authenticated the lot, they never tell you that Zach owned it."
The quality of that authentication is also an issue; Burns says records indicate a three-man team that included Rullo spent 16 hours over two days poring through the 56, 000 items offered in the 2004 auction. That's just a few seconds per item, the attorney says.
"That's not enough time to move the photos from one stack to another, never mind compare the signatures to exemplars or review the quality of the photos, " he says.
Daniels, who says he spent $100, 000 on Mastro auctions the year before he purchased the photo collection, says sports memorabilia's biggest auction house has lost a valuable customer. "They hold themselves out as the industry leader, but I'd like some checks and balances" Burns says about PSA/DNA. "If an auction house says something comes with a PSA/DNA letter of authenticity, I don't want to hear that PSA/DNA merely rubber stamped it."
HA! the mob called it "protection" too! Yes, this is organized crime. eBay will also suspend your account if you don't pay up and get your item "authenticated" by PSA DNA. I have proof of this in the form of a recorded phone call. When eBay suspends your account, they end all of your auctions and email all of your customers telling them to stop payment, file a dispute and get a refund! Virtually destroying what for some people is their only source of income. Class action? Sign me up!
Completly agree with your statement. Im a dealer currently on eBay for sports memorabilia. Over the past month i have been doing numerous PSA quick opinions. One of the most shocking is GRIDIRION AUTHENTICS! I must have submitted over 20 of their items. About half came back not ligit. Then a week later i did the same thing. I picked out 20 of thier items. All of the sudden they all passed. This was within a week apart and they were the exact same items. Now being a dealer for over 15 years i do know that GRIDIRION AUTHENTICS is a SHADY company but yet they still continue to sell on eBay! PSA and JSA both agree that this company isnt 100% ligit. SCAMMING HUNDREDS UPON HUNDREDS OF CUSTOMERS PER MONTH! Not only did i do Gridirion I checked out other dealers on eBay as well. Envoy collectables was another that came back not ligit. Im currently experimenting with the PSA quick opinion and will post further comments at a later date.
Quick Opinion Service./?
I purchased a Brett favre Auto Jersey from a republe dealer in the Toronto Area, paid a good dollar, after I purchased other Favre auto, decided to sell the jersey.
Ask half the price on ebay, looking to break even, . Did all pictures of the jersey and the letter of Authenticity. I honestly believd this to be an actual auto, compared to the other one I have, from favre himself with the hologram.
Answered all the questions during the auction as best as I could and honestly, after several bids it was sold, then this person got the opinion of this so called service and they said it was likley NOT genuine.
Just makes you really wonder about this service and then the guy backs out of the deal because of this opinion. We all have our opinion, but it certainly makes you wonder now a days how some one can look at a scan and consider themselves an expert.
Shame on ebay for putting up with this ###.
.
OK, Enough is enough, how do we go about getting eBay and PSA F*^KED up for doing this dodgy crap? I for one was a powerseller of 4 years, 100% FB, left my job a couple of years back to focus more on my ebay business and then bang, "suspended indefintely" all due to a "quick opinion" rendered 4 or 5 times on my auctions.
PSA/DNA are as bad as Ebay saying each listing NEEDS to have paypal as an option, who owns Ebay, who owns Paypal, the same people...NEVER !
Time for these As*HOL#S to get some of thier own back, suggestions please...I think we need to start with an online international petition, then some sort of page where they go and sign up to being willing to be apart of a class action lawsuit.
Someone make a site EBAY-LETTING-PSA-SCAM-US.COM or something similar, I will be the first to join, hmmm or will I be the first to make the website...my conditions are I get 1% of your total settlement, LOL !
The right lawyer will make millions of this !
It is almost always the most fraudulent eBay sellers that despise PSA quick opinion the most, because it is one of the only ways eBay shuts down the serial autograph forgers and forgery sellers. YES it is easy to see WHY SOME people hate PSA.
nofearman, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT U ARE TALKING ABOUT!
Ebay and these frauds that call themselves EXPERTS are so deeply in bed together that is is SICK. What people do not understand is that there is a handful of "SELLERS" that are also in bed with both (or at least the 3rd partiers) groups and ARE allowed to stay on ebay, dispite what they put on. AND if they identify you as a competitive THREAT then you can GUARANTEE you will be removed. It is honestly one of the biggest SCAMS going on on the internet. Take a look at the website AUTOGRAPHALERT.COM and read the article dated 11/8/10 - here is an portion of what this article reads: One well-known and respected veteran of the hobby has had enough. Under the condition of anonymity, he informed autographalert.com that he has been working with two F.B.I. agents and advising them about how horrific this situation is. It is now way past being out of control. This individual has written a very lengthy and informative letter to the Director of the F.B.I. He tells it like it is and pulls no punches. Many of you have been victimized by these third party authenticators and the Director of the F.B.I. gets to hear your side of the story.
Something is being done for the health of the autograph hobby and it is suggested if you have had a bad experience in the past with one of the high profile autograph authenticating companies or when you have a bad experience in the future that you sit down, do your part and write a letter explaining how you have been victimized to:
Office of Director, Robert S. Mueller, III
Federal Bureau of Investigation
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC [protected]
For your info two Special Agents with the F.B.I. are also actively working on autograph fraud and they are well aware of 3rd party autograph authentication.
IT IS TIME that ALL of the honest autograph sellers band together and write to Agent Mueller, (I have) and perhaps something can be done. Can you imagine the millions of dollars GOOD autograph sellers have lost over the past years on ebay! A class action law suite would put these companies and ebay where they need to be OUT OF BUSINESS!
DO NOT USE JSA or PSA! They are destroying the autograph world! Real collectors know this already! If you like collecting Autographs and Sports Memorabilia then do some reasearch on these two horrible wastes of money! I suggest you start at AUTOGRAPHALERT.COM, learn the facts of JSA and PSA ! A guy named John Reznikoff works for BOTH PSA and JSA, he is also the guy who person helped in the sale of $7 to $8 million of forged Marilyn Monroe and JFK forgeries. And as well as "authenticating" for these to companies, He is a Dealer! Bit of a conflict of intrest I would say...For real, read up on these people killing this great hobby! Go read that site, i have no ties to that site but I thank God that it is there educating collectors! I ask that EVERYONE write to Ebay and tell them to get rid of PSA ! Go to the site I mention above and read about all the stuff they mess up and how they have forgers working for them and authenticating for them! Please read it, you will have alot of ammo to use when you write to Ebay telling them reasons to ose PSA and or JSA...- jim
Go read how PSA and JSA are killing the autograph community at autographalert.com
You wont be able to stop reading, it will make you sick, PSA and JSA are SCAMS !
I have just been bitten by the eBay fraud. I listed a couple dozen "REAL" autographs from my dads old collection. I saw most of these autographs being signed as a kid but alas, I am a small time player on eBay so the "expert" emailed my buyers, told them I was a fraud and shut me down. All my listings were simply deleted and no one would tell me why. The "power sellers" or "big time players" on eBay will not allow for real competition on the site. eBay takes their word as the word of God. It is fraud plain and clear. It is also slander/lible as they are calling us frauds and cheets. Free market? I don't think so.
### ebay, paypal, PSA and JSA (Beckett). ### them all.
The more posts that are made, the more search engines will pick up the websites.
1, 000 of ### ebay and psa websites later, new channels will start running stories.
MSMBC and 7 on your side come to mind.
Cheers to the ### ebay and psa movement!
I agree ebay/ psa and jsa are as bad as they come, hundreds of written letters on autographalert.com you can read all of it, they cannot shut autographalert.com down, they tried but its real, read the stories about how bad psa ripps off people, if you are someone your stuff is deemed real, if not too bad. but I got them and good. I sent them my signature on a 3x5 two of them... they both came back, fake? WHAT MY OWN SIGNATURE CAME BACK FAKE, REALLY? WOW. and we sent them in real 100% in person autographs, they all came back fake, want a better one, we sent in a jsa authenticated item, it came back fake, wow their own items comming back not real...
John Reznikoff is not an honest man. He contacts eBay sellers of autographs and makes them offers . These are offers you CAN"T REFUSE because once you refuse, your autographs get pulled and you get a MC999 message from eBay. His buddy John Eaton forged thousands upon thousands of autographs and John Eaton's cousin Bob Eaton of R&R sold off a large amount of his cousin's pieces through his old R&R Enterprises Catalog . Today Bob Eaton sells consignments as R&R Auctions. Bob Eaton is like a god father to an elite groups of high profile Autograph Dealers, who all have a VESTED interest in PSA DNA as a tool to control the Autograph Hobby. To show how much harm they are inflicting into this hobby, they had a meeting to discuss the low value of Charlton Heston autographs. The low value of Heston autographs is no reflection of the successful acting career of Charlton Heston, but rather the vast number of items this man signed willingly. Charlton Heston NEVER employed a secretary to sign autographs. Recently a study was released by the motley crew of Eaton, Reznikoff, and other high profile autograph lords to render all Heston Autograph to be (wrongly) labeled as secretarial, while showing examples of the Real Heston Autographs(john Eaton Forgeries) to be the so-called real ones. Charlton Heston prided himself for signed all requests PERSONALLY and never fooling fans with secretarial. These idiots are tarnishing Mr. Heston's good name. reputation, and his memory in the name of power, wealth and greed.
id psa/dna authentication service trying to control the market? and put the small time collector who enjoyed have a signed ball be told its not authenticate for no reason. why are so many balls turned down when all the signatures are the same? i wonder about psa when they also sell. conflict of interest?
We tried to set up an account on ebay with "celebrity donated" items with proceeds going to fund projects for children with intellectual disabilities. We faced MC999s like you would not believe. A phone call to PSA revealed an offer to "Authenticate" the "celebrity donated items" at a significant cost, so we aborted the project