I was reading something online about how counterfeits in many industries have de-valued the real items because so many people are scared to buy them. When it comes to the 2007 Rookie Premiere autos, or non-2010 rookie premiere autos in general, I think this is definitely the case. Over the last few years, I have highlighted just how many of the fake ones exist, some even being graded as real by BGS and PSA. This will most likely not change anytime soon, but at least the 2010 autos are numbered to prevent it being a major issue in the future.

My problem has always been company and industry response to the prevalence of the fakes. Topps has shown an apathetic attitude towards enforcement on eBay, and its gotten to the point where some sellers are using that as an admission of authenticity. I have always hoped that there would be sweeping action on selling the cards, but I know that my hopes are nothing more than that. Sweeping action rarely comes.

Check out some of these terrible ones:

Adrian Peterson Fake Rookie Premiere Dual Auto

Adrian Peterson Fake Rookie Premiere Quad Auto

Calvin Johnson Fake Rookie Premiere Red Auto

Adrian Peterson Fake Rookie Premiere Auto

Even funnier, the fakes have even made it on to places like Check Out My Cards and Naxcom, places that should have no problem just taking down the listings to prevent their customers from being defrauded. I have contacted them on a few occasions, but have yet to see any action on their part either.

As for the people who constantly sell these awful fakes on ebay, the inmates are still running the asylum. The auctions are so plentiful, even now, that real ones are often swallowed up in the listings and go unsold out of fear. In addition, uniformed collectors don’t even have real ones to compare against the fakes, mainly because the real ones are so infrequently listed for the bigger 2007 rookies like Calvin Johnson and Adrian Peterson. It is made even more complicated by the fact that the actual cards themselves are real, therefore making autograph familiarity the only defense against getting caught in a bad deal. If you don’t know Peterson’s autograph, its going to be that much tougher to find out which ones are the real ones.

The best way to prevent buying a fake is to compare real autographs of the players from other sets against the ones on eBay. In most cases, the autographs are SO different when compared side by side that its obvious which are real. The idiots who created the fakes also didn’t take pen thickness or letter slant into account in many of them, especially in the Calvin Johnson ones, thus allowing for more red flag identification.

As the fakes went through generations of signatures, the scammers got better at replicating the autos, so you have ones that look almost identical to a real sig. Those are the tough ones to identify if you don’t have a trained eye, which is why it may just be better to stay away from these cards all together.

Remember, you are the only thing stopping you from buying, and that will always be a factor in fake prevention. The more education you subject yourself to, the better off everyone will be.