Autograph Associations  |  Guarantees  |  Certificates of Authenticity (COAs)
More Hints

Autograph Associations

Buy only from dealers who are members in good standing to one or more of the following organizations.

These organizations encourage their members to follow ethical guidelines and selling practices. Membership to any of these organizations can't absolutely guarantee the dealer is ethical, however, if a dealer had a number of complaints lodged against him, these organizations would revoke membership. It's fairly safe to say, if a dealer is a member in good standing of these organizations, there are not a lot of outstanding complaints against this person.

Be aware that some dealers falsely claim to be a member of one of these organizations. If in doubt, contact the organization directly.

   Universal Autograph Collector's Club
(Note that being a member of the UACC only means the person paid the annual dues. However, UACC Registered Dealers are thoroughly screened and monitored.)

Professional Autograph Dealer's Association

International Autograph Collectors Club

    The Manuscript Society

IADA - International Autograph Dealers Alliance

Guarantees

Only buy from a dealer that guarantees the authenticity of the autograph FOR LIFE. A 30 day return policy will not suffice! The reason the 30 day policy is not good enough is simple; sometimes forgeries and Autopen patterns are discovered years after the photos have been on the market. Obviously, a 30 day refund policy is useless in this situation. Even the most ethical dealers make mistakes, and when they do, they will issue refunds no matter how long ago you bought the autograph.

Certificates of Authenticity (COAs)

Very often, COAs are not worth the paper they are written on. Anyone can buy blank "certificate" forms and run them through a printer to create a COA. If someone is willing to forge a signature, what will stop them from cooking up a worthless certificate of authenticity? A COA may help you feel better about a purchase, but unless all the other conditions on this page are met, don't buy something just because it has a COA.

According to the F.B.I.'s massive forgery sting, Operation Bullpen, several prominent COA companies were involved with forgery sellers by knowingly "authenticating" forged autographs. The COA companies named were:

• J. DiMaggio

• Sports and Celebrity Autograph Authenticators (SCAA)

• Forensic Document Service (FDS) - Robert Proudy and Jim Bellino

• Donald Frangipani 

eBay has gone so far as to ban any autograph accompanied by COAs from any of the above companies. Needless to say, autographs accompanied by one of these COAs is very likely a forgery and worthless. Beware of people trying to dump items that came with one of these COAs. In all likelihood, the seller will not inform you that the item was once accompanied by one of these COAs.

Some examples of legitimate COAs are:

• PSA/DNA

• UDA - Upper Deck Authenticated

• Steiner

• Superstar Sports

• TriStar

• Green Diamond (Ted William's Family company)

Obviously, a COA from a seller like "Betty's Beanie Baby Hut and Autograph Shack" is worthless.

More Hints

• Start with a small purchase. If you're happy with the service, then move on to more expensive items.
• Ask the dealer questions such as, "How long have you been in business?", "Where did you get this autograph from?", and ask for customer references. Stay away from any dealer that provides evasive or unsatisfactory answers.  Legitimate dealers will not mind such questions because they understand that you may be new to the hobby and concerned.
• Be especially wary of autographs belonging to "A - list" celebrities. Rip-off artists want to make money as quickly as possible, so they're more likely to forge an autograph of a hot celebrity. The autograph will sell faster, and it's likely that the buyer may not be as astute as a seasoned collector.
• Be wary of online auctions like eBay. You can get many good deals from online auctions on items like comics, cards and other collectibles. However, be careful when bidding on autographs (or any type of item that can be forged.) Your avenues of recourse are very limited and many sellers often "disappear" after unloading a bunch of fake autographs. Look for the same qualifications in an online auction seller as you would in any dealer.
  
  Don't put too much trust in eBay "feedback" comments. Some of the worst forgery peddlers have thousands of positive feedbacks. Bidders leave positive feedback because they paid for an item and got it safely and quickly...not necessarily because the item is authentic. Remember, if they knew the item was fake, they wouldn't have bid on it in the first place!

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