eBay's New Autographed Items Policy

It's nothing major, but maybe the first step towards something to finally deal with the plethora of forgers out there.


http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/autographs.html

Autographed items are unique in that they can be highly valuable, but easily forged. eBay tries to keep its marketplace safe for both buyers and sellers of autographs, and has developed the following policies to protect our community members:

*Sellers may not list blank Certificates of Authenticity (COAs) or sell COAs as stand-alone items.
*Sellers may not refer in their listings to examinations or certificates of authenticity issued by the parties mentioned in the “Unacceptable Authenticators” section under “Additional Information” below.
*Sellers are strongly urged to follow the listing guidelines described in the “Additional Information” section below.

Disciplinary Action
eBay may remove any listing involving an autographed item if eBay believes that the listing or item may create liability for the buyer, the seller, or any third party.

eBay may also seek a disinterested third party’s opinion regarding any listing of an autograph or autographed item. If the third party has concerns about the autograph’s or item’s authenticity, eBay may remove the listing from the site.

Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions, including:

*Listing cancellation
* Limits on account privileges
* Account suspension
* Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings
*Loss of PowerSeller status

Yeah this just happened to me. My item was a Billy Martin ball, up for 6 days, ending on the day that eBay pulled it. I did not have a COA, but said it was guaranteed authentic. They gave me a policy violation for violating a trademark. I then had to get the ball authenticated by JSA (or PSA, ***) and did. I just sent them the LOA to get the violation removed.

I think their policy is terrible when it comes to autographs, and I expressed my concern. They told me my item was pulled because EBAYERS told eBay they didn't think it was a real auto. Who are they to say it is real or not? If eBay says they will only trust the 4 on their site, then why listen to random eBayers? I told them they should only allow items authenticated by those 4 companies on their site. That for sure would clean up their site of forgers. However, over 60% of the balls in the autographed originals category easily don't have this certification, and therefore would cut into a ton of their fees, so they turn their head!

Unacceptable Authenticators on eBay
Many eBay members have heard about a federal investigation by the FBI and United States Attorneys' offices into forgeries of sports autographs and certificates of authenticity that may have been falsely issued. As a result of that case, eBay will not permit the use of or reference to certificates of authenticity on its site that have been issued by the following parties:

*

All-Sports Cards & Memorabilia
*

Classic Memorabilia
*

Dave Niedema, a.k.a. Dave Madiema
*

Donald Frangipani
*

Forensic Document Services-Robert Prouty
*

Hollywood Dreams
*

J. Dimaggio Co. / J. Dimaggio Company
*

Legends Sports Memorabilia
*

North Shore Sports
*

Pro Sports / Pro Sports Memorabilia
*

R.R.'s Sports Cards & Collectibles
*

SCAA /Front Page Art Angela-John Marino
*

Slamdunk Sportscards Memoribilia
*

Sport Card Kid Hunting Beachor
*

Sports Alley Memorabilia
*

Sports Management Group
*

Stan's Sports / Stans Sports Memorabilia
*

Steve Ryan
*

Universal
*

Universal Inc.
*

Universal Memorabilia
*

W.W. Sportscards & Collectibles

Unrelated to this investigation, eBay does not allow Certificates of Authenticity from any of the following authenticators:

*

Donald Frangipani
o

Hundreds of COAs originally issued by Donald Frangipani may have been fraudulently copied or altered. Until further notice, eBay will not permit any use of or reference to certificates of authenticity issued by Donald Frangipani.
*

Robert Prouty
o

Forensic examiner Robert Prouty and a company known as Forensic Document Services caused a number of certificates to be issued based upon only limited, "cursory" reviews of autographs. Based upon information from the N.Y. Department of Consumer Affairs, federal law enforcement and Mr. Prouty, it appears that these limited reviews were not sufficient to provide meaningful assurances about the authenticity of the autograph. As a number of items issued with such certificates may be forgeries, eBay will not permit any such limited certificates of authenticity issued by Robert Prouty or Forensic Document Services to be used in any way on eBay.
*

Forensic Document Services

Any listings that refer to examinations or certificates of authenticity from these companies or individuals are not allowed.

Add *** to the list of unreliable "authenticators"