Ebay delibrately leaving bad items on the board - they need the $$$
 

For at least a week now, ebay has not been removing items that are being reported by their EMR people.
Apparently any thought of trying to help clean up the ebay autograph market has been removed from ebay's corporate policy.
How about if all autograph collectors on this board write to them and complain about this apparent policy change.

Are they responsible if it is brought to their attention and nothing is done about it?

I thought there was an inordinate amount of bad autos up currently. Here's one outstanding example

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JIMMY-COLLIN...item41716b1b10

Babe Ruth/Jack Dempsey Signed Baseball Forgery Ebay Seller Dino565
 

This piece-of-crap forgery sold for $2.000.

Listed and sold by Ebay seller dino565.


The scammers on Ebay are now running amok.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/140934792724...orig_cvip=true

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That "Quick Judgement Service" by AMA is hilarious. Based on their track record, couldn't they issue those without even looking at the item?

Does the "banned authenticators" list no longer apply as well?

Babe Ruth Cy Young Honus Wagner Signed Baseball forgery Ebay seller Mcollins10
 

For some reason, Ebay has stopped removing forgeries.

Check out these forgeries listed by EBay seller mcollins10.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VERY-RARE-AU...item20d03c7aee

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Mickey Mantle signed baseball forgery Ebay seller mcollins10
 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VERY-RARE-AU...item20d03c97f7

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Mickey Mantle signed photo forgery Ebay seller poffin CSC Collectibles COA
 

Check out these forgeries listed by Ebay seller poffin. The COAs are from CSC Collectibles (on Ebay's Banned COA list).

Ebay isn't removing anything these days from what I can observe.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/mickey-mantl...item4ac262d380

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http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mickey-mantl...item4ac262ce61

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Ebay doesn't care it's all about the money. I have reported about 6 things this week with Drew Maxx and Ace certs and they do NOTHING. They probably get so many complaints about bad autographs they blow it off as people just complaning. Like we don't know what were talking about. It will never change unless they get sued for some reason for millions of dollars or some amount to make an impact then maybe the'll wise up and listen to the people like us that care and want the hobby to get cleaned up. It's like taking 1 step forward and 5 steps back sometimes. I find lately all they seem to care about is making there website more attractive cause every time I log on something has changed in appearance but still the same bogus autographs that I tell them about.

It does seem that the new corporate policy at ebay is just let the crooks run wild.
All collectors should write to them and publicize this fact on other boards.
Autographs on Ebay are now as bad as any time in its history.
It is as bad now as in the horror days of pre Operation Bullpen.
When John G. was "moved" out of his role of top ebay policeman we should have known what would be next.

What Richard is specifically referring to is eBay appears to be no longer responding to EMR reports.

Keith - not to denigrate you or any collector who made reports to ebay. but those reports were almost never listened to.
The reports that they did listen to came from the dedicated volunteers of the EMR group. Now they are ignoring those reports to the detriment of the hobby.

When did this happen? I must have missed it if something was posted regarding his move. It does sound like with the change of head cop, the policies (or attentiveness to them) has changed, which is very disappointing.

Talk about a heap of garbage...

http://www.ebay.com/sch/skyline384/m...p2047675.l2562

That seller has numerous completed listings as well.

Yeah...look at the going price for a lot of those listings...and a few that have been pulled in the past...

The thing that throws me off with this seller is that a lot of his stuff is accompanied by a Wayne Stivers COA, who I previously believed as being pretty trustworthy..but man, that Collins is crap.

It happened last year.
Nothing was posted regarding his move. He was doing his job too well and he was facilitating the removal of too many items. He was costing ebay money.

I always like to look at sellers lists, the ones who have been caught with a bad item. This guy actually has a few good items mixed in with his junk.

I always have to chuckle when a COA does not list the address or phone number of the authenticator. What are they hiding?? :eek:
Yes banned authenticator items have been reported and nothing has been done by ebay.

Well they certainly have no qualms about removing cap gun auctions that don't have permanent orange stoppers in the barrel. How stupid of a rule is that? They ended three of my auctions for cap guns that were made in the 1950s and 60s because my orange stoppers that I crafted out of plastic did not meet their lofty standards.

they only removed "some" of the fakes anyway, so they are being fair now, either leave all the fakes up or take down ALL the fakes.

With a philosophy like that, thankfully you are not in law enforcement or anti-terrorism.

Officer: Chief, our estimates indicate there are a percentage of drunk drivers, rapists and con artists at large.

Chief Roste: You mean we are not catching 100% of violators? That's not fair to the ones we do arrest. Screw it. Let 'em all go.

Well written, Mr. Zipper!!!!

My sentiments exactly.

thats the dumbest analogy ever.

when the violators arre already caught, not AT LARGE. It's not liek we dont know fo the psa and jsa screwups, they have been caught, proven and turned in. Just not prosecuted fairly like the rest.

case in point.

you catch two guys robbing the store,

one white, one black, you bring them in, they book the black guy and let the white guy go.

now does your analogy hold up?


what you are saying is that we cant catch the psa or jsa screwups so lets let them all go.

but we already caught them and reported them, its just that its selective ENFORCEMENT, not the fact that we cant catch them all so let's let the ones we do catch go. We DID catch psa and jsa, its just that its ebay picking winners and losers.

I don't think you would have the same attitude if they delisted the psa and jsa fakes and kept the drew max fakes up? you wouldnt have a problem with that? It all comes down to whose ox is being gored. Just give me a good reason why psa and jsa fakes that have been proven to be fake deserve to remain up. you can't because you you like it that way. You like psa and jsa fakes. If you didn't , you would demand they come down the same as the rest.

a fake is a fake is a fake. These fakes are being laid right at ebays doorstep, they just choose to ignore some because of their cozy relationships.

So it's good i am not in law enforcement because I don't practive selective enforcement of the law? law enforcements job is to serve justice, which is suppose to be blind. two violators violating the same statute deserve equal treatment and justice under the law. not look one way for one and book the other. when the DA's brother in law gets his traffic ticket dismissed, when others have to pay, then that's a problem. But I guess you don't have a problem with that. I have had an EMR ask me for all the non psa and jsa fakes. what the heck is that? why protect companies who screwup and certify fakes. why are their fakes golden and something we shouldn't talk about and take proactive action with? Sacred cows for $$$$$$$$$$$$, power and other considerations in return for shutting up.

I need to capture your post for posterity.

The point is this:

This war you have with PSA and JSA has so warped your judgement and reasoning that you actually welcome the idea of unleashing thousands upon thousands of fakes into the marketplace out of pure spite.

And once again, Travis hijacks yet another thread with his incoherent ramblings about a white whale or strawberry ice cream.

Go start your own thread people can ignore. This is NOT about PSA or JSA.

autographs don't have a race but they have an affiliation.

if you are affiliated with us (psa, jsa), then your autographs are protected on ebay.

i would report all fakes no matter whose name or company is on them, and i would demand they ALL be taken down. no name is above being pulled as a FAKE.

why is a psa or jsa fake somehow a better, higher-cut of an autograph than a fake by anyone else?

its discrimination, no matter how you look at it. you can defend it or try to explain it away, but it's still there.

some emr's deserve to be emr's some don't. i know an emr who knows nothing about autographs, but he is an emr. why? I don't know.

other emr's sell a lot of autogrpah in their specialty on ebay, with disclaimers on their accounts to watch out for the OTHER sellers, who may sell fakes. and this guy gets to report to ebay the fakes he finds within that same specialty he sells for and promises coa's from the company he works for as well. that's what is screwed up about this whole deal.

if ebay won't treat a proven fake as a fake and pull it, then it doesnt' deserve the support of emr's or anybody.

Ebay should either start their own authentication service and require that all autographs be certed by team ebay, listing their authenticators on their website and making sure there are no conflicts of interest concerning these authenticators,

or

they should let all autographs on ebay without pulling anything down, just requiring that any company's or individuals coa that is listed with an autograph be registered with ebay first. listed on their website, with a weblink so you can go to that companies or indiduals website page, with a photo of the guy who looked at your autograph, his address, phone number, email which all been verified before hand.

this way the scammers will be reluctant to put their info down, and the rest will have their coa's up on ebay. and run a disclaimer in large print at the beginning of every autograph listing that be sure to visit the coa's website first, ask questions and be confident in the person or company that is issuing the coa. and that's it. if people are confident with someone you don't like. then let them be.

that way an autograph can either be listed without authentication, or it can be listed with a coa that must be picked out of the registered list before it can be listed. if the company or person issuing the coa you have isnt registered with ebay, then you cant mention or list the coa. all autograph without authentication are buyer beware as well, and it should say that you should be confident with who you are buying from. only the people and companies who take the time to meet the requirements will be allowed to be listed, and some fakers might do it, but their names, addresses and other identifiable info will be posted for all to see, no more GFA's.

if a coa is shown that isnt on the list, or a coa is listed that is a mismatch with the one shown, then one warning and after that, the seller is banned.

Travis, have you bothered to read the rest of this thread?

The point is, NO FAKE AUTOS ARE BEING TAKEN DOWN, regardless of who certed them.

It's exactly what you've been screaming for: ALL AUTHENTICATORS ARE BEING TREATED THE SAME: they are ALL being given free reign on eBay!

There is no preference being given by eBay to PSA, JSA or any other authenticator, and all alerts from emr's are being ignored. You should be dancing in the streets, not copy/pasting from your previous rants. The 50% of what you have typed that is coherent no longer applies!

+1

There was 50% that was coherent? I guess I was reading the other 50%. :cool:

Message to ebay: It's been brought to my attention that ebay may have recently had a policy change, regarding reported autograph forgeries. Some members of the autograph EMR team have recently been unsuccessful in trying to take down bad items that they see and report. I personally spend a lot of money on ebay every year, as I'm sure you can see and so do thousands of other autograph and sports memorabilia collectors. I certainly hope there was not a change in policy here that is making you move in a backwards direction regarding taking down fraudulent listings. Many other collectors will catch on soon enough and begin to look elsewhere when making purchases if ebay doesn't provide the proper buyer protection. Ignoring all the bad forgeries to make more $ is unacceptable. If you're the host, you take on a certain level of responsibility to police the listings and do your best to make sure the buyers are protected. As they are the lifeblood of your site in the first place. I realize some will always slip through the cracks and it may be hard to check out everything. However, you guys need to do a better job in taking down reported items.

Many experienced collectors, like myself, report bad items all the time. I think the majority of the time I see nothing done about it either. I only make reports when I'm 100% certain an item is bad and anyone with a trained eye who reviews my reports would have to agree, as I only report the most obvious and blatant items! It's very discouraging to watch a reported item continue on and become a completed listing for some unknowing buyer. Likely they are inexperienced young buyers and they end up getting burned. It's a shortsighted move on behalf of ebay to let these items slip through and let these buyers get burned. Once they gain more knowledge in the hobby later on, they will realize they were ripped off and ebay may lose that customer for good. It's penny wise and pound foolish!


That's the message I just attempted to send to ebay. ( I used every last one of the 2000 characters in the message) . Only, I can't find how to email it to customer support. The only way I could find to write any message to ebay was on some survey after I responded that the search was unsuccessful for the topic I was trying to get help to. I'm sure I didn't send it to where I'd want to.

anyone know the customer support email? Or do you think it would be best to send a physical printed letter to their headquarters? Anyone know that address?

I found this one... rswebhelp@ebay.com

thanks, I'll try that one

hahahaha @ "dancing in the streets".

Through the grapevine information, and totally unconfirmed, I have heard that a new exec at ebay has led to this policy change of not removing bogus autographs. His sole priority is profit and attempting to keep the site honest is no longer important. How very shortsighted and pathetically sad.
Guess it is time to post this vintage cut, minimum bid $1.99

What's a matter w that? Smalls and Benny the Jet would pass that off as good in the Sandlot:)

like i said, if they wont take down the jsa or psa fakes, then why should the other fakes get picked on when the psa and jsa fakes get a "get out of jail free card?

If they ONLY took down jsa and psa fakes and made it their official policy, i suppose you would be happy they are at least taking down something?

don't you see when the shoe is on the other foot, even you wouldn't hold the same opinion as before, but since the psa and jsa fakes stay up when the others didnt enjoy the same protection, to you that is better than nothing, but switch it around and it is NOT better than nothing.

i take the same tack either way, either get serious about removing fakes or don't. when they protected psa and jsa fakes, they didnt get serious, and now they are removing nothing, so they are not serious. nothing has changed.

the only ones that should be mad at the new ebay policy is psa and jsa, they now have competition for their fakes being offered. there was no shortage of fakes on ebay before even if all the non-psa and jsa fakes were removed. Still plenty of protected autos of the psa and jsa variety being offered, but i just never heard any outrage at that.

It was picking winners and losers. they were saying all psa and jsa autographs were winners and all others were losers.

i offered an autograph from a private signing session i did and it included a picture of the guy signing the item and it got taken down. why? politics only.

if it had no picture but a psa or jsa cert, it would have been golden. it's slanted from day one people!

zipper always claims hijacking threads, but its only hijacking if someone says something he doesn't like. zipper approved popular speech isn't hijacking.

I put out an alternative of what ebay could do, actually two of them. i really liked leon's suggestion. zero
maybe everyone likes what they were doing before, protecting psa and jsa. i know the auction houses love it, but it's one big nest of protection from the authenticators, the auction houses, the publications and the other hangers on who can make a buck off the current system of protection and back scratching. Don't rock the boat and don't change the status quo. The loser is the collector as always. Ebay will figure out what to do eventually. There were EMR's who are authenticators for the pre-approved companies, EMR's with big accounts on ebay selling their autographs. conflicts of interests abound. Let's clean it up and if ebay starts by going back to square one, then I await them to do some REAL cleaning up of the hobby and their auction house. But it will take a pair, not just saying to psa or jsa, "just list" whatever the heck it is you want and we will leave it up".

slanted schmanted.....I will not buy or sell anything on e-bay...ANYTHING PERIOD, if this is in fact happening. I'm sure missing 1 customer won't hurt them but they will be no better than the current selling platforms that are infected with 99% fakes IMHO and I'm not going to feed companies that sell fake autographs. If that's happening, tyou know they are selling fake high end purses, fake watches, fake gold , f that. I'm out. Good luck e-bay, it was nice knowing you.

Sorry, but EBAY doesn't sell anything.

It is comprised of individual sellers, each with their own specific reputation or lack of reputation they can hang their hat on. It's not hard to narrow down the items of a specific seller you trust, from all the other nonsense you find on Ebay doing a general search.

That's kind of like opening up an issue of SCD 25 years ago, and telling yourself I'm not going to buy anything from Richard Simon, because Coach's Corner also advertises in SCD.

This seems to make sense for eBay. It may not solely be a matter of letting everything go through so profits go up, but it could be them throwing their hands up at frustration with their accepted LOAs. Can you imagine the winding paths of truth, opinion, and politics that a fraud protection staffer at ebay must wander when dealing with autographs? I'd bet it makes the squabbles on this board look like afternoon tea. Further, remember the post about someone at eBay allegedly saying that the big alphabets sucked? Well, the natural progression of that Travis-esque frustration is to let everything go through and let the buyer beware.

They certainly won't start paying in-house people to authenticate and take down fakes, as that would cut into profits two ways.

So here we are.

Now that I certainly agree with. From what I understand, none of the EMR's were ever paid one cent by eBay, nor does eBay pay any of the other watchdogs for counterfeit items (Gucci, Prada, unlicensed KISS merchandise, bootleg Disney DVDs, etc etc). The difference is, those other companies have their own in-house experts who find and report the fakes directly to eBay to protect their own "brands". It's one thing for a company or individual to say, "We didn't produce or authorize that," and something else for a third party to say, "As a concerned citizen, I don't think that was produced by them."

It's hard enough for eBay personnel to figure out whose opinion to listen to in the first place when it comes to autographs. It's not like calling up Louis Vuitton and asking the head of their fraud department who their go-to guy for identifying fake handbags is. By and large, celebrities whose autographs are being sold do not have "authorized representatives" to make those definitive calls (I'm sure there are some that do, but most don't).

Considering what a small sliver of the overall eBay pie is represented by "autographed collectibles," there's absolutely no chance that eBay is going to pay someone in-house to do third-party analysis of signed items.

Travis, please don't ever attempt to speak for me. If you would like to ask my opinion, I am on the boards frequently enough that you can do so without having to "suppose" what my thoughts are on the subject. Your assessment of my opinion is so far off-base as to be both offensive to me and indicative of your own tenuous grasp of reality. And if you must quote me, please do so by using the quote button at the bottom so that at least something in your post will have proper punctuation and grammar.

You are absolutely correct, ebay never paid one cent to the EMR's.
EMR's only do the work for the good of the hobby. It is time consuming and no reward is paid by ebay except for a very small token which is given out at Christmas. (every year a pen, a memory stick, a thermos, etc). Works out to about five cents an hour.
I have now been informed that the card side is experiencing the same thing as the autograph side. EMR reports are being ignored and allegedly a re-organization has occurred in the oversight division.
THEY DON'T CARE ANY LONGER, if they ever really cared at all.

Ebay just sucks in general with everything now days. Pretty much quit selling on there awhile back but decided to sell something recently and was quite shocked at how far and greedy they have become. Sold an item on there for 1000.00 and between ebay and their surrogate evil stepchild, PayPal, they took 125.00 for fees. This is why I won't be back for a good while.

i am not speaking for you but people seem to be speaking for me!

lol

diagree dave...it would make them no better than the other platforms that don't filter fakes. I will not buy from those platforms. I will not buy a thing from a DEALER on e-bay then. How's that for you? I will not sell anything on e-bay. Is that clear enough for you?:)

Doesn't make sense to me, but you're certainly welcome to your opinion.

Individual sellers on Ebay do not make up Ebay policy. They use the platform just like any other tool. Advertising in SCD, setting up your own website, sending out your own price list, posting in the B/S/T on Net54.

It's not hard to separate trustworthy sellers, from untrustworthy ones.........though I suppose it's harder then just throwing everybody under the same bus.

Sorry if I offended you somehow.

I have been communicating with someone on the EMR team who is on the card side.
Based on what he has told me, ebay has never been very cooperative with the EMR team and at times has actually placed roadblocks in the way of the EMR volunteers.
Profit before doing the right thing seems to be the motto. Even though doing the right thing will result in greater profits in the long run.