Real or fake - autographs on the web

I got so frustrated about that whole autograph thing that I had to go and do some research. How could I possibly buy Taki a real autograph, when I didn’t know how to find one.

Let me just say this:

I am shocked.

I can’t believe there are so many people selling fake autographs on eBay. I really had no idea about all this. Like many of my friends, we just sign up and bid, and I guess we get so caught up in the excitement of a ‘rare find’ that we don’t even think about whether or not it is real.
On my search, I discovered a group of people – maybe they sent me the email – from the UK. They’re like autograph spotters; they look out for shady sellers, help people identify fakes, advise on what to do if you bought a fake, etc. Though they’re in the UK, because so many of us buy from overseas sellers, they really are worth joining.

For autograph collectors – Taki, Bess, Lily, I know you’re reading! – you should go read these tips:

http://reviews.ebay.com/How-to-SPOT-an-ILLEGAL-SCRIPT-of-AUTOGRAPH-FORGERY_W0QQugidZ10000000000761445

http://pages.half.ebay.com/help/tns/ques_autograph.html

After all this, it really has made me think twice about bidding on eBay. The worst thing of all is that all this information was already out there, but I just didn’t know to look. It’s really a warning for other eBay bidders out there: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is!