We have yet to hear one legitimate positive reason for anyone using a third party autograph authenticator. We have tried endlessly to interview some who call them selves "autograph authenticators." No one will step up to the plate and answer intelligent questions. The only time you can pin one of these guys down is at a trade show or when they occasionally appear at a baseball card store. Even there, the principals of the authenticating companies hide behind a curtain or stay in the back ground as so many times they just don't know and fail a genuine autograph and won't face the in person signature collector.

The amount of mistakes these companies make is immeasurable. It's a great business, if that's what you want to call it. Anyone they desire to hire and put on their authenticating staff can offer simply their opinion and get paid dearly for it. All this with NO GUARANTEES. When third party opinions are questioned in court the judge will usually say, everyone can have an opinion. There's no law against being stupid!

Collector's are becoming educated. Our mail is overwhelming. Each month this site seems to have a record number of visits. The following are clips from emails from just the past several days from readers of www.autographalert.com

"...one of the sources I have bought from in the past has been @#%&*. It appears that some of the items being sold by @#%&* have been to say at the least a bit questionable." The writer is referring to an auction house who uses a third party authenticator.

"...keep up the good work!! I no longer purchase from any of the PSA/DNA crowd and work diligently with private dealers..." "....just one more reason not to bid or consign with them..." The writer is referring to an auction house who uses a third party authenticator.

"..I enjoy your site and the investigative work you do on the authenticators. Keep on digging!"

"...I was amazed at what stuff gets passed off as genuine by third party authenticators..."

".....I love your website www.autographalert.com...."

"...just finished reading through your entire web site's news history, and it was tremendously informative..keep up the good work...."

"...keep up the great work, I always start my day by first checking your site...."

"...why this site is not mandatory reading for every collector is beyond me...."

Who pays for these 3rd party authenticator opinions? You do when you bid at a handful of autograph auctions. First you have to ask yourself why would any auction house use a third party authenticator. Most of the collectors we talked to come up with the same answer. The auction house sells the autographs based on some third party authenticating companies opinion. An opinion that was made where in most cases the authenticator never personally saw the autographs. Yet, the auction house can state, we put it up for sale because the authenticator said it was genuine. How sad is this?

Again, we ask who pays for these opinions? Answer is YOU DO!

We have looked into some of the autograph industry's active autograph auction houses and their charges. Each auction house charges a buyer's premium. That's a charge over and above your high bid. The auction's are listed in alphabetical order.

What stands out is RR Auctions has the highest buyer's premium in this group. They are the only one of the above listed auction houses who uses a third party authenticator. Who pays for the service of authenticators who don't even physically see the original autograph to be auctioned. You do!