Special Notice: Retail Shopping Secrets!
The current state of the autograph industry is not good at all, many would say in a very constant steady decline. Years of fraudulent activities by many autograph sellers on the net have really put a hole in peoples buying confidence when it comes to autographs and I am not surprised by this at all.
I know that in my own experience looking over 1000's of autographs on many auction sites etc and seeing what was being offered as the genuine article, made me so angry, and so really disappointed at the same time. Years of seeing this and trying myself to compete with these fakers, was pointless and expensive. I had the genuine autographs which cost real money to get onto the market, and the fakers with absolutely no overheads, just the simple cost of a photo and a felt pen. How can you compete with that? ...Absolutely No Chance At All!
I have recently left the hobby for what I say will be for good. I personally have spent 1000's of hours and I am currently about $20000 in the red on an autograph hobby which I have really totally enjoyed in the past, but I can honestly say, I just don't enjoy anymore. I really feel that the whole industry will never fully recover from the past. You can only beat a dead horse for so long. It is a shame when you consider how many genuine dealers who have been and are currently being effected by this. Their experience and knowledge and dedication to autographs has been and is being wasted.
Also currently 1 and 2 of the genuine big guys in the industry are currently undercutting autograph prices selling them cheaper than the price they supply a lot of other dealers with. Things are really getting bad in an industry when you can't even afford to compete with the fair autograph players who are also in the industry. A real double whammy. It will I say become true that one day there will be only one real player left in the genuine autograph industry and when that day comes there will be no real autograph industry and I hope that they realize that.
It is amusing to me that not so long ago these same dealers who are currently in positions of power in the industry were jumping on other dealers for undercutting the market prices. Times have really changed or maybe they are just desperate to make a sale who knows? What I do know is that the damage they are currently doing is more irreparable than the years of the fakers selling there wares on auctions sites all over the net. Because they are cost killing there own kind. It really does make me angry when the real players in the industry who have the real power to make change don't do so unless it totally suits them and there business motives. What ever happened to good old, just the pure fun of doing it. Sure we all have to eat, I will never argue against that, but just how much do you really want to eat???
However before I rant and rave, to the good side of the coin. Real autograph fans have now moved in great numbers towards collecting autographs by mail. This is a great part of the hobby which is having a real emergence and I really support this. This aspect of collecting has the advantage of giving people a close feel to collecting and as a direct result a hands on education as well. In years to come as a result hopefully new dealers and much needed new ideas may emerge to take control and regain the hobby to what it should be and I really do hope for that day.
Its a good economic point that when one opportunity disappears, and that opportunity had real value, customers will always find a way to gain that same value through a different available means. And this is what is exactly what is happening in autographs. The net provides many good points and also just as many bad points. It has helped in many ways bring the hobby into decline, but on the other hand is helping it into a new direction. Change is good but change also takes time and I feel it is going to take a great measure of time to repair the damage that has been done. But hopefully time will really figure this one out for autographs.
When something dies, something new is always reborn.
