autographs

[Guest]

[sue]

..

[rns91294]

Thanks Sue, and Welcome to the forum

I was recently in the market for a Hermione auto, but got lucky enough to trade my OOTP Harry auto for a POAU Hermione auto at a local card show.  Now, my question about this is....How is this seller getting the actually Artbox card to forge the auto on to?  Unless he is able to forge theentire card, which I guess is pretty possible these days. Sad.

[rns91294]

If you can post the pictures, that would be great! I am pretty sure you can also post the seller's eBay ID that was removed, but let's see if anyone else can confirm that for us.

[Bitsy]

Pictures should be ok to post and very helpful to collectors. I would think posting the ebay ID is permitted, but we should wait for one of the moderators to verify this...

Does this situation only apply to the OOTP Hermione auto cards?

I know you feel sad that your first post is a negative one, but in reality you are helping many, many people who wish to add a Hermione auto to their collection...and I think that deserves a big "Thank You!" 

Welcome to the Shack! 

[kbmum]

We've allowed people to post info like this in the past.  Please post the two scans and the eBay ID for the suspended account.  There have been reports of fake autos for other sets, but I think this is the first time we've heard about it for HP.

A person wouldn't need to steal blank cards from Artbox to produce fake autos, but I'd rather not explain how it can be done.

[kbmum]

I have some questions.  Did you contact Artbox about this?  Who certified the card as fake?  Are the signatures done in marker or are they printed?

[kbmum]

With a printed signature, there's no doubt it's a fake.   Hopefully, the police can resolve the matter. 

[rns91294]

Wow Sue, thank you for all the details. You should definitely let Artbox know about this.  You had me a bit scared that maybe mine could be a fake too, even if from a different set, but since you said it is very noticile before even taking out of the holder, I feel safe mine if fine. Phew. Thanks for the head up though! An auto card should not be flimsy, and the auto should definitely not be a print, but actually written in marker. I am so sorry you are going through this huge mess. Please keep us posted.

[Bitsy]

Wow, Sue, thank you so much for informing us all of this news. Truly, this needs to be reported to Artbox as soon as possible. I also agree that if this person receives cases from a distributor, that distributor needs to be made aware of the situation. 

Really a shame that this occurs, isn't it? 

[sfmuggle]

I agree.  It takes the fun out of collecting and it's too bad you're the victim of such a scam.

[stoney]

Hi Sue,
First of all, a very warm welcome to the forum. I'm sure you will be made to feel as welcome as i was when i first joined. 
Sorry that your first post couldn't of been a happier one. I don't like to see things like this happen to people (especially when a lot of money has been paid) as i can imagine how i would feel if it happened to me.
I had no idea that this seller was doing things like this  as i have bought a number of HP items from the seller in question over the last couple of years (most recently a Gentle Giant Professor Snape bust about a month ago).
I do know though that this person has gone under a few names in the last couple of years on ebay. First of all Starlight Gifts, Then Black Equinox and most recently hogwarts-magic.
As far as i am aware the seller is no longer registered with Ebay. Unless they have managed to open up another account in the last couple of weeks.
Things like this really do put you off of collecting and it's just a shame that there are people out there who do this sort of thing.
I remember a friend of mine who paid around £1000 for a LOTR Cave Troll staue on ebay a few years ago and all the seller sent him was a photo of it!! . He contacted ebay and the police but was told that there was nothing they could do!.
Good luck with contacting Artbox Sue and don't forget to keep us posted.
Here is to happier posts in the future.

[stoney]

Thankfully Sue, only a tiny minority of sellers on ebay are like this but unfortunately we only get to find out who they are after things like this happen.

[MuggleMum]

Hi Sue
I joined the forum under similar circumstances to you...my first post wasn't a nice one either but everyone on here was great about it and I have made some really nice friends since.
I have come accross the seller you mention, she started out as strawberrypebbles years ago then changed to various others including gold-digger-uk(very apt) and blackequinox. I have warned collectors about her in the past after I saw she was selling fake props as real ones. She was selling Daily Prophet pages(suposedly the real things and unless she was the luckiest woman in the world and managed somehow to get hold of a shed load of them she was printing her own. I also know she used to own a printing company and I was also informed she was buying blank newsprint paper under her other id.....bit sus me thinks? A lady I know well from Ebay bought the 1st one she printed(for over £100) and after seeing this seller sell  more of them I contacted the person I know and told her my fears. Ebay has taken its time but is now well and truly aware of this seller and now everytime she starts a new id they shut her down...they must track her ip address now i think.
She also owns thousands of pounds worth of cards so could easily copy more and keep originals.
There will always be sellers like this out there but forums like this help to stop others falling into their traps.

Welcome to the forum Sue
 

[rns91294]

There have been other forums where it seems like there are always fights breaking out, or people just bash others for no reason. This is one of the first forums I have ever been to where I rarely (if at all) see any of that.

[gimli]

Hi all sorry i haven't been by for a while but this is terrible I am so sorry to hear this is going on

I hope the police catch up with this awful person

[Nienna]

Hi Sue
I joined the forum under similar circumstances to you...my first post wasn't a nice one either but everyone on here was great about it and I have made some really nice friends since.
I have come accross the seller you mention, she started out as strawberrypebbles years ago then changed to various others including golddigger_uk(very apt) and blackequinox. I have warned collectors about her in the past after I saw she was selling fake props as real ones. She was selling Daily Prophet pages(suposedly the real things and unless she was the luckiest woman in the world and managed somehow to get hold of a shed load of them she was printing her own. I also know she used to own a printing company and I was also informed she was buying blank newsprint paper under her other id.....bit sus me thinks? A lady I know well from Ebay bought the 1st one she printed(for over £100) and after seeing this seller sell  more of them I contacted the person I know and told her my fears. Ebay has taken its time but is now well and truly aware of this seller and now everytime she starts a new id they shut her down...they must track her ip address now i think.
She also owns thousands of pounds worth of cards so could easily copy more and keep originals.
There will always be sellers like this out there but forums like this help to stop others falling into their traps.

Welcome to the forum Sue
 

Mugglemum - I've just done an Ebay search on the golddigger_uk ID and got nothing at all ... there IS an active ID of golddiggeruk but this person is located in Suffolk & the ID is about 18 months old and still in use, so I have my doubts the ID I found is one of hers. I would hate for an innocent party who happens to have a very similar ID being accused of something which they know nothing about.
Sorry, I just thought I'd mention this in case others decide to run an Ebay search on the ID you posted ... 

Welcome to the forum Sue - a pity the circumstances weren't nicer, but I hope this nasty incident won't put you and your sister off card collecting for good.

I think this incident is the worst possible thing we could ever have been told about regarding auto cards and it will do SO much harm to the honest small and medium-sized Ebay sellers - buyer's confidence in the product will be severely undermined because of this.
We all thought (wrongly as it now turns out) that we were onto a safe bet with these cards ie. with regards to authenticity and I suppose we've all been a bit naïve haven't we? I retrospect we should've seen this one coming and it was only a matter of time before a high-end auto card was forged and then sold. *sighs*
Bad news for all collectors ...

[LikORish-Spider]

Also had the tendency to bid extremely high for cards she fancied....even higher than me  , I know 'cuz she outbid me more than a few times.

[sfmuggle]

Hi Sue
I joined the forum under similar circumstances to you...my first post wasn't a nice one either but everyone on here was great about it and I have made some really nice friends since.
I have come accross the seller you mention, she started out as strawberrypebbles years ago then changed to various others including golddigger_uk(very apt) and blackequinox. I have warned collectors about her in the past after I saw she was selling fake props as real ones. She was selling Daily Prophet pages(suposedly the real things and unless she was the luckiest woman in the world and managed somehow to get hold of a shed load of them she was printing her own. I also know she used to own a printing company and I was also informed she was buying blank newsprint paper under her other id.....bit sus me thinks? A lady I know well from Ebay bought the 1st one she printed(for over £100) and after seeing this seller sell  more of them I contacted the person I know and told her my fears. Ebay has taken its time but is now well and truly aware of this seller and now everytime she starts a new id they shut her down...they must track her ip address now i think.
She also owns thousands of pounds worth of cards so could easily copy more and keep originals.
There will always be sellers like this out there but forums like this help to stop others falling into their traps.

Welcome to the forum Sue
 

Mugglemum - I've just done an Ebay search on the golddigger_uk ID and got nothing at all ... there IS an active ID of golddiggeruk but this person is located in Suffolk & the ID is about 18 months old and still in use, so I have my doubts the ID I found is one of hers. I would hate for an innocent party who happens to have a very similar ID being accused of something which they know nothing about.
Sorry, I just thought I'd mention this in case others decide to run an Ebay search on the ID you posted ... 

Welcome to the forum Sue - a pity the circumstances weren't nicer, but I hope this nasty incident won't put you and your sister off card collecting for good.

I think this incident is the worst possible thing we could ever have been told about regarding auto cards and it will do SO much harm to the honest small and medium-sized Ebay sellers - buyer's confidence in the product will be severely undermined because of this.
We all thought (wrongly as it now turns out) that we were onto a safe bet with these cards ie. with regards to authenticity and I suppose we've all been a bit naïve haven't we? I retrospect we should've seen this one coming and it was only a matter of time before a high-end auto card was forged and then sold. *sighs*
Bad news for all collectors ...

Thanks for posting the user ID and I sure we all will avoid.  Nienna touched on an issue I didn't really think about til now.  I'm not a dealer or big seller but, from time to time, will sell off extra cards (some of which are considered expensive).  Anyway, some buyers may think twice about buying from the small/medium seller (who are mostly honest and selling legit goods), which may result in fetching lower prices.  It's bad news all around 

[Nienna]

Sue - thanks for clarifying the ID for me, I didn't know about this particular one and I've since found it and made a note of it. 

I also agree with mugglemum's comment that Ebay are most likely logging her IP address and pulling her accounts fairly quickly. The more disturbing news (for me) is that she once owned a printing factory ... sheesh talk about having the contacts and wherewithall to produce fake Potter material by the palletload!!! 
Her foray into card collecting is only relatively recent ... like the last 18 months or so ... but in that time she has bid and bought very aggressively in an attempt to get all the cards in each set and the mind boggles at how much she MUST have spent in such a short period of time to do that given how many inserts there are with each new release, but I suppose if she was selling fake props and other expensive items on a regular basis, those funds would have help bankroll the card collection.
I despair of people being so dishonest - I just don't understand the mindset behind it ... and no, I'm not wet behind the ears by any stretch of the imagination! 

John - you're telling me she outbid YOU!! I'm totally shocked though I'm not sure what shocks me most ... the fact that she beat you or the fact that you're admitting to it!!    (only teasing  )
Seriously though, she must've wanted those cards pretty badly and I imagine the sellers must've been rubbing their hands with glee when they saw you two in a bidding war for their cards!   

sfmuggle - don't underestimate the effect this is likely to have on sales of the more expensive cards you or I would like sell as spares from our collections at some point in the future and yes, some of the sellers I have in mind are also forum members who many of us have dealt with on a regular basis - I'm sure there will be repercussions once the word hits the streets.
All of us thought the auto cards would be cast-iron-guaranteed originals because they're done specific printed cardstock and individually signed with sharpie markers (or yardbrushes in some instances!) - I can't think of anything else which will undermine the market as quickly as something like this happening becoming widespread knowledge. 

[sfmuggle]

I agree and, as a buyer, it makes me hesitate a bit too (knowing what I know now).  I really try to stick with reputable long time sellers and/or sellers who I know are yakshack members, but that's not always possible.