Fake Peterson Logo Back Up On Ebay

When 2009 Ultimate Football came out, I was very excited for a number of the cards in the set. None more so than the Ultimate Patch Auto cards, which were beyond awesome. The Adrian Peterson from the set was one of the cards I HAD to have from the product and I set out to buy one as soon as I could. The first one that was posted was a blurry picture but still good enough to bid on. Not willing to wait, I offered the guy almost 50% more than I expected the card to go for, but he wanted to let it go. Less than 3 hours later, another one showed up on ebay, this time with 3 color patches, to which I hit the BIN as quickly as I could. Funny enough, that price was less than I offered the first guy for his one and two color patches Peterson.

Moving forward in time, the person who ended up winning the Peterson I originally bid on wasn’t exactly the best of people. The card, number 6/10 was put back on eBay with two reebok logo patches and a shield logo tag patch, hiding the serial number and expecting people to not see what's up. Obviously, since I had been watching all the Ultimate Patch cards, this one set off red flags immediately. Eventually someone brought to my attention that this card was the one I had previously bid on, and it had been destroyed for nefarious purposes. Regardless of my proof, the card was sold for a lot of money, again to someone who didn’t take the time to do a simple google search.

Well, its back up on ebay, and this time, the person wants even more money than it sold for originally. Stay away, stay FAAAAAAR away.

EDIT: Looks like the card has been taken down and replaced with something else. Maybe the seller was notified it was fake and actually took it down like a good person should.

GAI Should Automaticall Raise Red Flags

Im sure that many of you are also autograph collectors as well as card collectors. File me under that heading too, as my allegiance has always been more to the autograph collectors than the card collectors. Its rare that I buy a non-autographed card, and that leaves me in quite a predicament when I want to buy a certified auto on eBay.

Lately I have noticed a lot of autographs popping up that not only arent real, but have a GAI certificate with the item. GAI used to be a company that at least had some loose standards in authenticating autographs, but that has changed recently according to a number of connected people in the hobby. Therefore, like me, you may start to see a lot of GAI certified autos that arent at all close to being legit. Although some GAI certs may actually be for real autos, Im not sure if I would risk my hard earned money if I didn’t know the autograph as well as I know some. The company just has way too many red flags and it is the reason that people like Kevin Burge use them almost exclusively. Due to company revenues issues they have been known to issue a cert on any order that is submitted, and that leaves a lot of fake autographs out there that look real to the average collector.

Again, im not saying that you should disregard buying an auto just because it has a GAI cert, but I would exhaust all options before you head in that direction. If there is another option, why risk it, right? Use your head and think, if a company is out there that can generate revenue any way they can, this seems like it would be the first course of action to get more people to utilize your service.

We already know that non-money starved companies like PSA are just as willing to authenticate fake topps rookie premiere autos, so who is to say that they don’t employ the same practice here. Autograph authentication has always been a third party opinion, not a third party FACT, and that leads to a lot of stuff happening that normally wouldn’t be an issue. Its tough to say that most of the autos they certify are fake, but it isnt out of the realm of possibility to think that it is just another tool to generate revenue through the normal conflict of interest it presents. Let's not forget the video of Beckett partner JSA certifying a baseball signed in the parking lot of a show.

A lot of people may criticize my site for being overly negative when it comes to the tendencies of people operating in the hobby, yet time after time, issues like this come up. When they do come up, everyone has such a peachy keen outlook on things that they refuse to think they could be on the wrong side of a scammer transaction. Watch your ass people, as this hobby tends to eat people alive when they don’t think anything bad can happen to them. Any time money is involved in anything, people will find ways to exploit other people to get ahead. Don’t think for a moment that respected hobby sources may be on the take as well. I have never forgotten that, and I attribute a lot of my own success as a result of that personal mantra.

Ignore The Uncirculated Holders

Just because you come across an item in a Topps uncirculated holder, doesnt mean its real. Ever since Topps started using them back in the earlier part of the decade, scammers have used them as a way to legitimize a fake card.

These holders are no longer used, obviously for football, but also for Baseball. In football, they werent even used for the entire 2009 season. That didnt stop this guy from trying to pass this off as real. See, the sticker is so easily peeled off and reapplied, that anyone can take out the crap uncirculated card and replace it with a different one. Not sure why he chose that Moreno, but scammers usually arent the smartest people.

Then there is the buybacks, as I posted about last week. For the buybacks in 2005 and 2006, many of them came in these holders. Usually, that meant that every fake buyback from Topps came in one. There were also a few Upper Deck ones that came in topps holders too, and as soon as I see one, ill laugh and post it here. This Mauer is one of my new favorites, as the guy doesnt even have the confidence to show the actual auto in his scan. Nice pic dude.

Either way, dont be fooled by an uncirculated holder. They rarely prove anything and have actually become more of a red flag than an authenticator.

Do Your Best To Avoid Buyback Headaches

Buybacks suck when it comes to the real/fake debate. Don’t let yourself think any differently, no matter how legit they seem. Its one thing if they are the 20th anniversary Ken Griffey Jr buybacks from Upper Deck with a matching COA, but its another thing if it’s a random Pujols card. Topps and Upper Deck spent a lot of time coming out with buyback auto cards over the last decade, and it has led to people trying to take advantage of those cards more than anything. It is too easy to fake them because the cards werent autoed when they were first released. Scammers pull any card they can find out of their common box, sign the front, put a peeled sticker from another card on the back, and call it a day. If they have honed their trade, they get one of the topps uncirculated holders and use that to give it more "legitimacy." Don’t fall for it.

The main target of many of the fake buyback sellers is 2006 Bowman Originals, a product based solely on thee cards. In this high end product, Topps bought some good cards and some really crappy cards and had them resigned by players like David Wright, Pujols, and others. They put out boxes with one buyback auto per pack, and sold them at a ridiculous price for people who wanted to own the "original" cards signed by those players. There were two main problems with this set, primarily stemming from the way it was produced. First, for every one of the great players that graced this product, there were 20 that werent so great. In fact, the Wrights and Pujolses were numbered low enough that they became very valuable to player collectors who wanted a shot at them. This led to the second problem, stemming from the hand numbering of the cards. Because Topps hand numbered each of the cards in this set instead of serially numbering them, it was easy to see where scammers would have a field day. Topps also failed to provide a COA or foil stamp on the cards, which means that the uncirculated holder was the only thing standing between a scammer and the buyback gold.

Now that you have the background, it should be clear why you SHOULD NOT buy a buyback auto unless you are 100% sure it is real. That means a correct price, a well regarded seller, and a history check on the auto/card/seller itself. Compare and contrast with similar cards, study the makeup of the set, and try to determine a reason why it would be real. Approach guilty until proven innocent, because I have yet to see anything convincing to show me that buybacks are actually worth my time.

Here are some obvious fakes and the way scammers get you. I even saw a topps holder on a UD card once. Yes, they are that dumb sometimes.

Bowman Heritage Albert Pujols - Umm no. This card has a sig that isnt even close, and the fact that it’s a jersey card from Hertiage proves its fake status. He also has sold a few fake SPA patches in the last few months as well.

UD Masterpieces Ken Griffey Jr - Fake sticker, fake buyback, everything about this card is wrong. All buybacks feature on card signatures with few exceptions. This is not one of those exceptions. Plus, this card is pretty damning evidence to boot.

Tiger Woods Upper Deck Golf - Same seller, same result. These arent even close. Why even waste your time?

Basically, so many of the buybacks are too close to call, so it may be better to just avoid them. This is especially true if the player is high prestige. Although people have wised up, a lot of others have not. There are a lot of collectors obsessed with cards like this, and it continues to make demand high. My advice, just walk away and buy a nice version of another type of auto you know is real.

Scammers Are Usually Dumb, But Its Getting Funny Now

As expected, the 2009 Ultimate Baseball jumbo patches are quickly becoming the most easily faked cards on the market. Because there is a square window with no swatch protection (like a cardboard overlay or design like this one), scammers have been able to easily remove the existing patch without a problem.

People like Aruba202, along with others, have taken it to a laughable level unseen since the release of the jumbo patches in 2005 Prime Patches. His patches are so ridiculous that I actually found my wife chuckling at how bad they were. I have posted on this subject before, but its getting too funny to ignore.

Here are some of their greatest "hits":

David Ortiz "World Series" Patch - These patches are never real, and most people have caught on. That didnt stop this douche from going to the well one more time. I LOLed.

Tom Seaver "Mets Logo" Patch - For this product, Upper Deck took great care to match the pic on the card with the patch on the card. Aruba didnt get the memo.

Mariano Rivera "New Yankee Stadium" Logo Patch - When a team has no patches on their jersey, scammers go nuts when they have the chance to exploit a new sleeve patch. This one has already been sited as having a one color patch that was covered up by this new patch by overlapping it. Here is another for sale, sold by the same seller originally.

Carl Crawford "World Series" Logo Patch - Here is another laughable WS patch. What is even funnier is that people think these are real enough to bid on them.

Chipper Jones "Anniversary" Patch - Chipper has some amazing patches in this product, but this isnt one of them. The guy also has a fake Flacco SP authentic, and a couple fake rookie premieres for sale. Im not falling for it.

Cal Ripken Jr. "Anniversary" Patch - I am saying this one is fake despite the appearance of other similar REAL patches like this in the product. The guy has sold questionable patches in the past and this is a particular patch that scammers have been faking for years.

Really, im not sure if I would even think about buying from this part of the product simply due to how many ones out there that I couldnt even confirm. Who knows if cards like this, this, this, this, this, or this are even real? Some look to be on their third or fourth sale, and others are sold by people with no questionable history. With Upper Deck baseball in the hobby's past, there will surely be no way to prevent further faking at all.

At least things are getting entertaining now.

Its One Thing To Be Bad At Faking

I just dont understand the stupidity of some people. Why anyone even think of spending their hard earned cash on something as expensive as a Mark Sanchez SPA without looking at it first is beyond me. Look at this auction, and you will see exactly why I condemn the people who sell, as well as those who dont think before bidding.

See the problem? Its the image from the fucking sell sheet. The guy has posted an auction with the intent of selling a scan from the sheet UD puts out to promote the set. Some may say he is showing this pic because he cant get his own on eBay, but he even says in the description that the lines are from his scanner.

Hopefully this gets pulled before someone gets screwed out of hundreds of dollars.

Stay Away From These SPAs

While I was out, Heel posted on the makeup of what an SPA scammer is all about. He mentioned a guy, ufjumper7, who is starting to make waves as quite possibly the dumbest faker in recent memory. Usually, scammers use two accounts to complete their fakes, one to buy and one to sell. Obviously ufjumper didnt get the memo. Must not have had a cover sheet, I guess.

Over on FCB, a good break down of his purchases versus sales was discussed, further cementing what Heel originally posted. Here are some of the examples:

LeSean McCoy BEFORE - 1 color patch, same sig, same number.

LeSean McCoy AFTER - Ridiculous patch, same sig same number.

Mark Sanchez BEFORE - 2 color patch ( a good patch ruined), same sig, same number.

Mark Sanchez AFTER - Logo patch, same sig, same number.

Matt Stafford BEFORE - 1 color patch, same sig, same number.

Matt Stafford AFTER - 4 color patch, same sig, same number.

Also, as I failed to mention in the original draft of this post, the guy has bought close to 30 versions of redemptions from the guys who havent signed yet. I think its safe to say what is going to happen with those.

Is this really what we have come to? Scammers arent even trying anymore. I hope this guy gets crapped on by a dog today, a nice runny one, that would only be a portion of what he deserves.

h/t Wheeler

I Hate The Culture Of Scams

Ive always taken a firm stance against douchebaggery in this hobby, mainly through outing the scams that I find to be the most detrimental to my overall experience with cards. For some reason, there is an unlimited supply of asshats to join the ranks of people looking to take advantage of others, and knowledge to combat them is at a high premium. Most of this is probably due to lack of coverage in major news sources, time needed to learn about countermeasures, as well as a lackadaisical attitudes by the manufacturers. This is combined with a secondary market that functions both online and in storefronts, thus limiting policing bodies.

That’s not to say that memorabilia in general hasn’t received national attention, as operation bullpen and FBI raids at the national sure completed the picture of who is taking notice. Im just wondering if maybe sports in general takes on more of these scams than with other money making ventures. Is it because Memorabilia is so valuable and easy to fake?

Lets take a look at some of the more recent card scams for evidence, as it has become very easy to fake and make money off of them. With the rookie premiere autographs, as well as the patches in cards that you can cut off of a 10 dollar ebay bought replica jersey, the opportunity cost of scamming people is micro. Its those types of situations that worry me to no end. I could go on the most widely read sports site in the world, post non-stop for a year and still not even make a dent because of the culture created by the bodies who have the ability to police the problems.

Then, when you look at sources like the idiots over at Beckett, who have a pedestal to reach a lot of collectors, they don’t. Instead, they only address this situation when the manufacturers give them the window with a press release or something. They never take the opportunity to inform, as it shows a weakness or vulnerability in collecting, and they are in the business of sounding the "all is well" alarm 24/7/365.

Even places like social media outlets created by the manufacturers have the opportunity to address the sitution, but rarely take that chance. They also don’t want to show the chink in the armor or the weak link in the chain because Its bad for business. Even though places like Panini have offered patch faking countermeasures, nothing is valid until you already own the card. Add in that the quick opinion button for PSA only applies to autographs, and there is nothing to help the general collector to avoid scams.

I have mentioned before that a national photo database is a great idea, but that only will be used by collectors who use internet media for their collecting habits. I think the best thing would be for the manufacturers to utilize an outside service to comb through questionable auctions, and prompt eBay to pull them down. They wont catch them all, but they will catch some.

This does bring us to another huge issue, which is eBay themselves, as they make tons of money off the sellers who sell fakes and get away with it. Each of those final values sends a percentage to eBay's bottom line, and to take those away is taking money out of their pockets. When you factor in that most people don’t avoid ebay despite these things, you have a recipe for disaster.

When it comes down to it, scams are always going to be a part of any commodity that has money making ability. I just wonder why cards continue to be the easiest to thrive in when you are a criminal. Granted, now with mediums like blogs that garner thousands of readers per day, and don’t have to answer to their advertisers, hopefully the weak link will be exposed more. At that point we can begin to repair it, and hopefully we wont have to live in this type of culture for much longer.

Have Old SPA 3 Colors Become Too Risky?

I was going through some of the older SPA rookie patch autos on eBay, and I have gotten to the point now where I am questioning most of the three color patches from years past. Obviously if you are looking at Chris Henry or Jerome Simpson, its one thing, but for players like Sidney Rice, Adrian Peterson, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Chris Johnson, etc, it may be too risky now to get one. I am beginning to support the thought that three colors may be a bad idea when you can have a two color for less money, and you know its more likely to be legit.

Because so many fake RPAs have been sold, some of them are making their second or third go around, and at this point, we may not even be able to trace it back to a shady seller. This means, legit people who happened to unknowingly buy fake patch cards are selling them now, and they only deserve my ridicule for not doing their research.

This also begs the question if it is only safe to buy cards like the RPAs early in the release time frame when the donkey rapers havent gotten their grubby mitts on them yet. For now, I am going to say that it is heading in that direction, or at least until UD gets off their lazy ass and does something to help us.

Its at this time that I am happy to be someone who buys early, because I know the cards I buy arent fake. On top of all of that, I have become EXTREMELY skeptical by nature, so I havent even bought a three color before. If you are in the market for one, I would be sure to think twice, or at least run a few photobucket searches to see if its been posted before, because you never know.

Lastly, I have seen a rash of non-graded, authenticated, RPAs hit ebay with obviously fake patches. Remember before jumping on one of these, "Authentic" cards just minimally examine the authenticity of the card's patch area, and dont authenticate the patches. Just because a card features a Beckett blue slab doesnt mean the patch is real. It just means the card is real.

As always, the biggest defense is your response to seeing red flags. If you watch your ass, you will be fine.