eBay/PSADNA time frame question...

Cieron

There's an auction on eBay I'm interested in that would otherwise have red flags flying all around it, but the selller offers one of these "because I saw it signed in person, I will offer a double your money back guarantee if its not authentic" deals or whatever. The auction itself looks pretty shabby, but its consistent with all of this seller's other auctions as well: Picture of the piece and a photo of the alleged piece being signed by the player, a fairly uniform write up, and the same person getting the piece signed is in nearly all of these photos. I've compared the signature to others that are certified by some of the more respectable companies, and there doesn't seem to be anything blatantly suspect about it, but that's could just be my untrained eye.

So, I sent the seller a question regarding his official return policy, specifically asking him about how long I'd have to return the item if, for example, I sent it off to PSA/DNA to be authenticated and was not satisfied with the results (no return policy was listed on any of his auctions). All he wrote back was "3 weeks should be more than ample time". That's it. Now I don't know if that's 3 weeks from the sale, 3 weeks from my receiving the item or what, but the bigger issue for me I guess is how long does it take to submit and get back an item from PSA/DNA. Can anybody out there attest to that from experience, and not simply by what PSA's site says. I saw another post about somebody's submission report which apparently took a little over a month. Is that par for the course, and if so I guess this is too risky of an investment huh?

If anybody has any other ideas, or happens to know whether eBay can enforce "clauses" and so on written through their message system regarding auctions please let me know. Also, if you think what's described above, from experience, would tell you to stay FAR away, then please advise me on that as well. Many thanks guys.

Knuckles

Three weeks is not ample time.

You probably saw my submission report but here ya go anyway..
Click here to view my first PSA/DNA report.

wufdude

Stay away. Although you may be able to get an answer in 3 weeks, it certainly is nowhere near enough of a guarantee to take the risk.

Cieron

Yeah, it was yours knuckles. Nice stuff by the way. So should I politely ask for longer, explaining the time frame for the PSA/DNA process? I mean if the guy is willing to offer a 200% money back guarantee (which I personally think is a bit weird), if he's that confident, why would'nt he provide more of a window right? Unfortunately, I'm starting to think this might just be a bit too risky. At best the guy is an honest, quite prolific, autograph hunter, that is relatively new to eBay, and possibly autograph selling, and has no idea about the decorum and methods of making potential buyers feel comfortable. What are the odds of all that falling into place?

earlycalguy

Why not get a psa/dna quick opinion on the signature. you'd get a good idea from psa if the auto was real. if you did send it in you get the credit for the psa/dna quick opinion.

Knuckles

If the auto is $50 or more I wouldn't risk it.

edited to add... Private message me the auction if you want a better opinion. (I won't bid on it)

Cieron

I REALLY wanted to do that, but I stumbled across this guy's auction(s) fairly late in the game (less than 10 hours left when I found them). After reading the "Quick Opinion" FAQ or whatever, I figured it would be fruitless given that they request a 24 hour time frame. Plus, I've never tried it, so I wasn't exacly sure how the credit card shuffle would pan out if they didn't have time to render an opinion. I guess I just thought it would be a nuisance to PSA/DNA as well as my credit card company...

Cieron

Thanks Knuckles, message has been sent...

schr1st

Unless it's a really obscure autograph, Quick Opinion usually will get back to you within 24 hours. If you submit in the middle of the day like right now, you'll probably get your answer before 5:00 PST. If someone else has submitted the same auction #, you'll get your response even faster.

Cieron

Well, I bit the bullet on this one guys. My first significant purchases (by my lowly standards). This could work out rather nicely for me, or turn out to be a hard lesson learned. I'm hoping for the former of course, but I guess both have their upside. I'm praying PSA/DNA finds these things to be authentic, or I'm gonna be out some cash, because the seller is not responding too well (somewhat unreasonably IMO I might add) to my request for a more flexible time frame regarding his return policy. Actually, he's not responding at all at the moment despite sending me the invoice instantaneously.

I even told him that I wasn't interested in the 200% money back guarantee and would be perfectly satisfied with 100% should any item fail a PSA/DNA test. I just wanted 6 weeks instead of the 3 he considered "more than ample...". We'll see. Keep your fingers crossed for me if y'all don't mind. I've got a semi-bad feeling about this...

baseballfanatic

In this day and age, if it is too good to be true, it is. Unless you are buying some really rare autographs, there is usually a reason the autographs arent authenticated. First of all, depending on the sig, it will cost you 20.00 to have it checked out. It costs app. 8.00 to send it to PSA and 14.00 to have it sent back. Thats for one autograph. About 40 bucks. For an example, it would cost you the same 40.00 to have a Luke Appling autograph authenticated and you can purchase the autograph already slabbed on Ebay for between 10-25 bucks. If you are just starting out, take it slow and use the PSA/DNA quick opinion. Get some books or look in completed auctions for similar autographs. The best way to learn is to NOT get ripped off, but take it slow and learn as you go. There is a ton of stuff out there and there certainly arent any "rare 1 of 1" autographs on Ebay. Good luck with your collecting...

Cieron

*An update on this maiden voyage into memorabilia collecting, eBay, and PSA/DNA*

Well, just a few moments ago I finally, after about 6 weeks, received my first submission back from PSA/DNA. I sent 3 of the items purchased in the auction mentioned above just to test the waters regarding all of this allegedly authentic memorabilia I had "won". Unfortunately, and somewhat depressing actually, PSA/DNA could not place their stamp of approval on any of the 3 items. Needless to say really, this was a HUGE disappointment, but I guess I can always chalk it up as a lesson learned.

Including the PSA/DNA fees and shipping, and assuming the remaining 10 items would suffer the same fate if submitted to PSA/DNA, I'm taking about a $500 hit here. I guess I won't be purchasing any memorabilia anymore unless its already been authenticated, no matter how close the graph looks to the real thing (via PSA/DNA's online database), how consistent the seller's other auctions are, how many pictures the seller has of the signer's signing personally with the seller, etc. etc. etc. There were some risks, and I surely was a bit trigger happy, per se, as a new collector hoping he'd found a good deal, but if these 3 items are truly fakes, they're pretty decent ones. I bit. Throw in what happened here (see link at bottom) regarding this same auction, and its just been an all around comedy of errors and disappointment.

So what to do now? Try a different authentication service? See if the seller has a conscience? Have a bonfire tonight? The latter of those options would probably feel the best. Sadly, its probably the only option that offers any real resolution as well...

http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=11&threadid=435146&highlight_key=y&keyword1=shipping

detroitfan2

Sorry to hear of this news. I would definitely contact the seller first and politely explain what happened, telling him you wish to exercise his money back guarantee. Depending on what happens, I would leave feedback accordingly to warn others.

Good luck.

Cieron

Thanks for the sympathy Detroitfan. Heeding your advice, I have emailed the seller and politely asked for the purchase price back, minus shipping, in return for shipping the items back to him at my cost. I'm not holding my breath however.

On a slightly different note, after the first three items failed, would you even bother sending any of the other items to PSA/DNA? If no, is it appropriate to leave negative feedback on those items if he refuses to refund my money? I welcome any commentary on this...

lostdart58

<< <i>Thanks for the sympathy Detroitfan. Heeding your advice, I have emailed the seller and politely asked for the purchase price back, minus shipping, in return for shipping the items back to him at my cost. I'm not holding my breath however.

On a slightly different note, after the first three items failed, would you even bother sending any of the other items to PSA/DNA? If no, is it appropriate to leave negative feedback on those items if he refuses to refund my money? I welcome any commentary on this... >>




You leave negative feedback whether he refunds your money or not............( at best nuetral if he refunds your money...with explanations that his crap was not legit)

Cieron

WOW. The seller promptly responded with this:

"I am so sorry we have been having trouble with this company all of a suddenbut as we state in our description we saw these signed so we know they are authentic Please do send them back and I will issue you a refund on receipt Again I apoligize! [Name]"

Once again, wow. I really can't believe this after all the stuff I've been through with this seller. Now, as I'm obviously inexperienced in these matters, does anybody know if I'm protected somehow when I send the items back? In other words, is there a chance I send the items back and he simply never refunds my money without anyway of me holding him accountable through eBay or otherwise? As the items are basically valueless to me now anyway, I guess it doesn't matter, but then I guess I don't feel like being duped again either. I'll certainly send the package certified, with tracking and delivery notice and all that, but is his email (which was sent outside of eBay's system) binding?

I would think so, somehow, but, as a law student, I'm ashamed to say I'm not really sure about the answers to these questions . With that in mind, any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks again everyone for all prior assistance throughout this saga...

earlycalguy

it sounds like you are working with the seller and not paypal or your credit card. if you keep working with the seller then go with what you and he agree to. I'd call the seller - request his info via ebay if you don't have it - and talk live with him about how the return and your refund are going to be handled. if you trust him then go that route. if you have concerns then go the paypal or credit card dispute route and follow their instructions on what to do. if you didn't use paypal or a credit card then your options are limited.


either way - like you said get signature delivery confirmation of your return to the seller.