Plenty of Blame to Go Around for the Fake Autograph Market

Thousands, perhaps millions of people have been screwed by fake autograph sellers over the years. From buyers who spend their money on completely worthless signatures, to legitimate sellers like myself who have to compete with these criminals every day, all of us are victims.

I’ve been thinking about this lately and realized just how much blame there is to go around for this problem which never seems to get much better:

The forgers. Obviously, without the perpetrators themselves, this problem would not exist. These scumbags probably tell themselves that their crimes are victimless (false) and that they’ll never get caught (maybe true, maybe not).

Law enforcement agencies. Look, I get it. Fake autograph fraud isn’t as serious as terrorism or drug trafficking or bribery. But it’s still a crime and it’s a pretty big business. The FBI’s Operation Bullpen and follow-up Operation Foul Ball sting operations took place MORE THAN A DECADE AGO. Sorry, that doesn’t cut it. That sends a clear signal to forgers that the FBI doesn’t care, whether that’s true or not.

Third party authenticators. If you’ve read my blog, you know how I feel about these companies. James Spence (JSA) and PSA/DNA have good reputations that are entirely undeserved, in my opinion. Both companies are, at minimum, unacceptably sloppy and/or incompetent. Global Authenticated (GAI) is much worse — they appear to be corrupt to the core. It’s notable that the FBI didn’t bother enlisting any of these companies to assist in their investigations, which is why none of them are mentioned anywhere on their Bullpen or Foul Ball web pages. In fact, on the San Diego FBI’s Operation Bullpen page, it states, “The counterfeit market has been able to flourish because of the role played by authenticators who fraudulently (or mistakenly) certify forgeries as genuine signatures.” Third party authenticators like to claim they are part of the solution, but in fact they are part of the problem.

Marketplaces. The debut of eBay led directly to the growth of the autograph market, both legitimate and fake. eBay literally created thousands of new autograph dealers, many of whom were dishonest. It took eBay a long, long time to get a handle on this problem, and they made many missteps along the way. However, it’s clear that eBay now is very much aware and concerned about this problem and has removed countless fake autographs and fraudsters from its site. Are there still plenty of fakes on eBay? Yes, of course. But compare eBay’s aggressive actions in recent years to the blissful ignorance of Amazon, which has been notified many times about all the fakes on their site and hasn’t taken any action to the best of my knowledge. The same goes for all the smaller marketplaces.

Celebrities and their agents. If I’m a famous entertainer or sports star, I guess I have more important things to worry about than people faking my autograph. But it’s still stunning that while so many of them such as Andrew Luck care if their images are used inappropriately, they don’t seem to care that people are forging their autographs and making money selling them. Anthony Daniels, who played the droid C-3PO in all six Star Wars movies, is about the only celebrity I know who obviously DOES care. If the celebrity himself or herself is too busy, then his or her agent should consider getting involved in cracking down on forgeries.

Companies that do paid signings. When I was working for Beckett Publications about 20 years ago and still very naive and uneducated about autographs, we published a magazine about Michael Jordan and featured some items signed by him. Or so we thought. We got a call from Upper Deck Authenticated, which had an exclusive contract with MJ, complaining about us inadvertently showing fake Jordan autographs. UDA, more so than other companies that do paid signings, has been fairly aggressive about protecting their contracts by going after fakes, though not as much lately it seems. However, as far as I know, companies such as Ironclad, Mounted Memories, Steiner and TriStar Productions have done almost nothing about this problem in recent years even though they are arguably affected more than anyone. As the author of this article notes, the highly questionable Derek Jeter autographs “authenticated” by GAI are killing the market for real Jeter autographs certified by Steiner.

Customers. People who buy fake autographs and never realize it are not at fault. Your average person is fooled fairly easily and never discovers they’ve been had. However, sometimes customers who buy a fake later realize it, and often do nothing about it, or just pledge never to buy autographs ever again. That doesn’t help matters. What they should do is to file complaints with the FBI, their state’s attorney general, the Better Business Bureau and the marketplace (if applicable).

Dealers. I do my best to educate my customers on how to avoid being burned, but I know a lot of legitimate autograph dealers who don’t bother. I also know a lot of autograph dealers who rely exclusively on third party authenticators to back the authenticity of their autographs. That’s just plain irresponsible and lazy, especially considering how many mistakes these companies make. You’re the one selling the autograph, so it should be YOUR reputation that’s on the line, not some third party authentication company’s.

The problem with fake autographs will never completely go away, but it could be minimized if more people took action themselves instead of considering it to be someone else’s responsibility.

The Disappointing LPGA Career of Michelle Wie

Back in 2003, when former golf phenom Michelle Wie was still a teenager, legendary four time Masters winner Arnold Palmer said of her, “She’s probably going to influence the golfing scene as much as Tiger, or more. She’s going to attract people that even Tiger didn’t attract, young people, both boys and girls, and families.“

Looking back nine years after Palmer made that statement — which was followed by similar predictions of greatness by Ernie Els and other golf notables — Wie, like Tiger, has gained worldwide fame and has become wealthy from endorsements with companies such as Kia Motors and Nike. Wie followed Tiger’s footsteps attending Stanford (although she was ineligible to compete on the golf team) and even graduated, which Tiger never did.

But the comparisons to Tiger end there. This Thursday at Augusta National, Tiger, having already won his 72nd PGA Tour event 2 weeks ago, resumes his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’s record 18 major wins, having won “only” 14 to date. Wie, on the other hand, has a paltry 2 LPGA Tour career wins, zero major titles and has only ONE top 10 finish in the last 16 majors she’s entered.

While Wie is still only 22, 14 years younger than Tiger, it’s fair to say that her LPGA career to date has been profoundly disappointing. Even worse, it seems like her game is declining. Wie’s 2011 season was worse than 2009 or 2010, and she’s gotten off to a horrendous start in 2012, badly missing the cut at the last 2 events including the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

I’ve cut my Wie autograph prices by more than 50% and would be pleasantly surprised if I sold one this year. Yes, I am an autograph expert, not a golf expert, but having been a passionate LPGA fan who has closely followed her career since 2003, I am qualified to at least voice my opinion, so here goes. Wie’s parents B.J. and Bo need to stop following her around and remove themselves completely from her golf game before it’s too late. I’m not the first to make this suggestion and I won’t be the last.

Goodness knows, Michelle’s parents have been milking Michelle for almost a decade, including entering her in men’s and women’s events all over the world when she was still a teenager. By now B.J. and Bo should have enough money to do whatever they want, and they should take that opportunity to simply leave Michelle alone. They never allowed Michelle to have a completely normal childhood, which is bad enough. What’s worse is by pushing her to compete against men when she was just a kid, they never let Michelle learn how to win consistently against GIRLS, which is probably the main reason why she never has.

Tiger played and dominated every level of competition before moving up. He learned how to win consistently and gained invaluable confidence and experience by doing so. Michelle became the youngest winner of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links in 2003 and somehow that signaled to B.J. and Bo that it was time to rush Michelle into the fast lane. What a tragic mistake.

A dozen years before Wiemania, a tennis player named Jennifer Capriati came along. Like Wie, Capriati’s parents (especially her dad) were greedy and impatient, and pushed Jennifer’s career into overdrive before she was old enough to understand. Jennifer had modest success like Wie, but when she failed, she collapsed under the pressure her parents had built up. Fortunately, Capriati was able to take control of her own life at about the same age Wie is now. Capriati then won 3 Grand Slam titles and reached #1 in the world before her career was cut short by injuries that may be related to playing too much, too often as a teen.

I hate to say it, but at this point Wie needs to look in the mirror and decide if she wants to salvage what’s left of her golf career. The good news for her is that golfers have much longer careers than tennis players. The bad news is, at 22 Wie is already 5 years older than some of her competitors, and only slightly younger than #1 Yani Tseng. Yani has already accomplished what Wie probably thought she would have by now, having won 5 majors and narrowly missing her 6th this past Sunday.

Wie, who as a kid dreamed of playing in The Masters, should probably forget about dominating the LPGA Tour for now and go back to square one, which is making cuts. It’s certainly possible that Wie could eventually match or surpass Capriati’s 3 major titles, but first she needs to get her parents out of her hair and hire real professional golf teachers to help fix her game. Otherwise, Wie may eventually be remembered as the most hyped, least accomplished player in LPGA history.

Why Amazon.com Is The Worst Place To Buy Autographs

New visitors to AutographsForSale.com may be surprised by my warnings about buying autographs from Amazon.com. After all, Amazon’s customer service is consistently ranked #1 among all shopping websites. So what’s the problem?

First, some buyers don’t understand that not every product listed on Amazon.com is sold by Amazon. Most are, but many aren’t. The ones that aren’t are sold by individuals or companies on the Amazon Marketplace, which is very similar to eBay.com. And Amazon Marketplace products are seamlessly mixed in with Amazon products — you have to really be paying attention to notice any difference.

Everyone knows that with eBay merchandise, it’s buyer beware. Ironically, eBay actually has become a safer place to buy autographs than Amazon. That’s because Amazon’s reputation makes people think that its Marketplace sellers must be screened by Amazon, or are somehow more legitimate than eBay sellers. This is completely FALSE.

Marketplace sellers are NOT screened by Amazon, and Amazon rarely if ever evaluates autographs on its site for authenticity. I am quite sure that Amazon doesn’t have a single employee who knows the first thing about autograph authenticity. In contrast, eBay has put programs, people and systems in place to evaluate questionable autographs. Not to say that all autographs on eBay are real, but countless sellers of fake autographs have been kicked off the site.

In some ways it’s actually EASIER to defraud customers on Amazon than eBay. If you buy on Amazon and have an a customer account, you can list almost anything for sale that you want, including autographs, provided that the product is already listed on Amazon.

Let’s say you see a LeBron James autographed basketball for sale on Amazon.com for $500. If you want to sell one, all you have to do is click on the “Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon” link button right underneath the “Add to Cart” and “Add to Wish List” buttons. You can then offer your basketball (whether real or not) for sale for whatever price you want, and you don’t even have to show a photo of it. All buyers see is the existing product’s photo(s).

You don’t have to be a genius to see how these “competitive listings,” as Amazon calls them, are ripe for fraud. This system may work OK for DVDs, but for autographs, it’s a disaster. I was recently interviewed by eCommerceBytes about this issue here. Now, if you DON’T see the item you want to sell listed on Amazon, all you have to do is get a Professional selling account for $39.99 per month. Then you can create and list as many new products as you want, including autographs — whether real or fake.

When asked about fraudulent sellers, Amazon always points to its A-to-z Guarantee program, which allows customers to file claims and get refunds if they are unsatisfied with what they receive. With fake autographs, the catch obviously is that for a customer to file an A-to-z claim, they have to be aware that they’ve bought a forgery.

In fact, human psychology is such that buyers of fake autographs have an incentive to disbelieve any suggestion that they’ve been taken. This especially applies when their purchase was made from a huge company like Amazon which has such a sterling worldwide reputation. And yet, I can assure you that hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars is spent every year on fake autographs on Amazon.com, probably sold by a relatively small number of crooked companies and individuals.

But don’t just take my word for it. Several veteran autograph collectors and dealers noticed numerous fake autographs on Amazon last month and posted their findings here. By the way, I had absolutely nothing to do with this, I just stumbled upon it last week.

I can only hope that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies eventually crack down on this serious criminal activity taking place on Amazon every day, because it’s hurting legitimate autograph dealers like myself and defrauding who knows how many unsuspecting customers.

What Does the Future Hold for Tebowmania?

You may have noticed that AutographsForSale.com has several Tim Tebow autographed Florida Gators items for sale, but not one Denver Broncos item. The reason is simple. I try to avoid stocking up on autographed items that have more downside than upside. I could be wrong, but I am unconvinced that Tebow will be successful in the NFL over the long haul.

For the past month, I’ve been engaged in multiple lively Tim Tebow discussions on Facebook with friends and friends of friends across the country. On one side are the Tebow “believers,” who, in my opinion, have exaggerated his rare flashes of brilliant quarterback play while downplaying his more common inept play.

It started when a Cowboys fan posted on his wall that he wished Jerry Jones would trade Tony Romo for Tebow. He was serious. As was a San Diego Chargers fan who implied that he’d rather have Tebow behind center than Philip Rivers. And both opinions were voiced BEFORE Tebow’s shining moment, leading the Broncos over the Steelers in the first round of the playoffs.

As the discussions continued, I soon realized three things. One, I was in the minority. Two, Tebow believers love citing intangibles like “inspiring” and “leader” and “winner.” (Whenever I hear those words associated with a quarterback prospect, it reminds me of the notorious blind date recommendation “she has a great personality.”) Three, saying anything negative about Tebow — even if limited to his ability, skills or performance — gets you labeled a “doubter” or a “hater.” Many Tebow supporters seem to have an issue distinguishing criticism of him as a person vs. criticism of him as a quarterback, which is after all what he’s paid to be.

I don’t hate Tebow; in fact, I deeply admire him as a person. He is an incredible role model and he has a huge heart. I’d rather see him Tebowing in the end zone after a touchdown than countless other players dancing or showboating or taunting after routine catches or tackles any day. Tebow’s effort, faith, humility and sincerity seem beyond reproach. But regarding his future as a successful NFL quarterback, I’ll admit I am a “doubter.”

All season long I said the same thing. A quarterback in the NFL has the most demanding, highest pressure job in American team sports. Look no further than the Cowboys and Chargers fans ready to discard Pro Bowlers Romo and Rivers. But the harsh reality is that Tebow is consistently struggling to complete 45% of his passes in a league where the WORST quarterbacks complete close to 55%, and the best complete over 65%. Even against the Steelers Tebow managed to complete only 10 of 21 throws. Tebow can run for a first down or even a touchdown here and there, but it won’t matter. Unless his passing improves by leaps and bounds, Tebow’s failure in the NFL is a matter of when, not if.

And yet, Tebow supporters seem to ignore this obvious reality, citing his late season six game winning streak (over mediocre teams when the Broncos defense played its best) or obsessing about his dramatic playoff win (at home against a wounded Steelers team led by a gimpy Ben Roethlisberger, missing 3 defensive starters, and helped by winning the overtime coin toss). Based on the skewed metrics Tebow supporters use to hype him, Mark Sanchez is a superstar and Joe Flacco is already a lock for the Hall of Fame.

It’s no fault of Tebow’s, but the adulation he’s received has outpaced his actual NFL accomplishments by the length of several football fields. It doesn’t help that many people of faith have decided that God is using “divine intervention” to help Tebow win. Even if that’s true, it can’t be proven, thus fueling cynicism while making Tebow supporters even less credible.

Considering how Tebow believers have prematurely projected “NFL superstar” on him, while demonstrating how thin skinned they are when his on-field performance is criticized, I wonder how negatively they’ll react if any other issue arises. Imagine if Tebow has a conflict with a coach, or some unnamed Broncos front office person questions his priorities, or if he gets benched and the cameras catch him pouting. Unless Tebow actually walks on water, these and worse scenarios are not out of the question, and the result could be a nasty fall from the lofty pedestal upon which he’s been placed.

Tebow is not the first high profile athlete to be very public about his faith. David Robinson and Kurt Warner are two fairly recent examples. They didn’t attract much controversy because their fans didn’t prematurely elevate them to “can do no wrong” stature as they have with Tebow. Robinson and Warner won professional championships, which in turn drew added attention to their faith. Tebow was one of the greatest college quarterbacks in recent history, but in the NFL he’s won ONE playoff game (Flacco has won five, while Sanchez has won four).

I think it’s great that so many people root for Tebow. He’s clearly a positive force in the NFL. But I think his fans shouldn’t be offended when he’s judged by the same standards as the other 31 starting QBs, and not build expectations for him so massive that he’s almost certain to fall short. Otherwise they may be inadvertently setting up an ugly backlash to Tebowmania. I might miss out on some sales if I’m wrong, but if I’m right I don’t want to be stuck with Tebow autographed Broncos items that I may not be able to give away in the not too distant future.

Life and Death in the Autograph Business

Perhaps the trickiest and most difficult part of being in the autograph business is dealing with the death of an athlete or celebrity whose autographs you have for sale.

When a celebrity dies, his or her autograph immediately increases in value. Sometimes by a little bit, sometimes by a whole lot, depending mostly on the celebrity’s age and sometimes the cause of death.

Especially in the internet age, the news of a celebrity death travels at the speed of light, much faster than I or any autograph dealer can increase the prices. As a result, a certain type of people — a kind term would be “opportunists,” a less kind term would be “vultures” — try to buy up the dead celebrity’s autographs at the old prices.

The first time I remember this happening was with Dale Earnhardt Sr., who died in a crash near the end of the 2001 Daytona 500 race. Within 15 minutes of the official announcement, faster than my website host could publish my price changes to the live site, I received 4 orders. Three of the 4 customers attempted to order 2 autographs. I thought about it for an hour or so and decided to cancel the orders, sending out polite explanatory e-mails. At least one of the customers got very irate, calling me greedy, and threatened to sue.

As a precaution, I got some advice from an attorney and confirmed what I suspected, which is that merely placing an order is not an enforceable contract, but legally represents nothing more than an offer to buy. As I have always prided myself on providing excellent customer service, it was not an easy decision to cancel the orders. However, it seemed to me that these customers (none of whom had every bought from me before) were taking advantage of the situation.

Eight years later, a similar thing happened with the shocking announcement that Steve McNair had been murdered. I canceled a few orders, but this time I don’t remember anyone getting terribly upset. If they had, I would have said this. I was willing to sell you his autograph all along, but you only wanted to buy it immediately after he died to get a bargain price. Which of us is really being greedy here?

Don’t Bother Sending Wayne Gretzky Autographs to PSA/DNA (or Anywhere Else)

I’d be lying if I said I was a big NHL hockey fan. My adopted city of San Diego has never had an NHL team. Even the local minor league team, the Gulls, went defunct in 2006. I did live in Dallas when the Stars moved from Minnesota, and obtained dozens of autographs in person from the Stars and visiting teams during the 1990s.

One player I never got in Dallas was Wayne Gretzky, obviously considered to be one of the best players in NHL history. I always had bad luck with him in Dallas. One year he signed for everyone, and I mean everyone, on his way to morning skate — but I was at work. On the way back, he assumed that everyone had gotten him multiple times and refused to sign despite my pleas.

But after moving to San Diego I more than made up for that bad luck. The first time I got him was at a roller hockey rink grand opening in Escondido (just north of San Diego) around 1998 or 1999. In 2000 he hosted the LAPD Golf Tournament and signed up a storm. Since then I’ve seen him at other golf tournaments and he’s been pretty good about signing at all of them. What’s interesting is how inconsistent his autograph is. In an earlier blog post I wrote about how my favorite NFL player Dan Marino’s autograph was impossible to authenticate due to inconsistency. If anything, Gretzky’s autograph is even more inconsistent than Marino’s.

On AutographsForSale.com I currently offer 46, yes 46, different Wayne Gretzky autographed items from cards to photos to magazines to pucks to jerseys, and even a glove. I am quite sure that is a much better selection than any of my competitors. A few are from Upper Deck Authenticated, one is from a paid signing by Gartlan, one is from a paid signing with Gateway cachets. The rest were obtained in person by me or someone on my behalf (most at golf tournaments, but also at the team hotel when Gretzky was coaching). None were bought on the open market. They are all 100% authentic.

Yet if you compare the signatures, there are sloppy ones, neat ones, shorthand ones and full name ones. The best ones (mostly but not all from UDA) you can read the 99 he usually writes below his signature. On the rest sometimes there is just a single 9 visible or sometimes nothing legible at all down there. Which brings me to my main point. What business does PSA/DNA have accepting money to evaluate the authenticity of a signature that differs so much, even when signed at the same event? The answer? None. (Yes, I know that I have a Gretzky autographed 1999 NHL All-Star Game ticket certified by PSA/DNA — I got that signed at the LAPD Tournament and PSA/DNA graded it for free as partial compensation for an extremely valuable unsigned ticket that they “lost.”)

With a Gretzky autograph, the difference between a PSA/DNA sticker and a UDA sticker is about the same as the NHL career point totals of Wayne (2857) and his brother Brent (4).

Gerald Ford’s Autopen Tricked PSA/DNA (and Me)

Recently I received an e-mail from someone trying to sell me a few autographs of high profile celebrities including Michael Jordan, Gerald Ford and a few others. As a rule I never buy a Michael Jordan autograph unless it’s from UDA or I personally witnessed Jordan sign it. MJ’s autograph is among the most forged in the world, and inconsistent enough to make authentication after the fact almost impossible, similar to Dan Marino (I wrote about this in detail in a previous post).

The Gerald Ford autograph, on a letter referring to the Warren Commission’s conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald killed John F. Kennedy alone, was in thin blue marker and dated (Ford served on the Commission). The seller said he had sent this letter and a book to Ford’s library and they got them signed for him. Knowing that former presidents were notorious for using autopen machines, I was of course concerned about this possibility.

So I checked eBay for similar items. Lo and behold, there was one almost exactly like it “authenticated” by PSA/DNA. The signatures were a perfect match, indicating that both letters were signed by an autopen machine. The dates were different, but a little research determined that some autopen models are programmable. This is yet another black mark on PSA/DNA’s reputation. Isn’t the first job of an autograph authentication company to determine first of all, whether the autograph was signed by a human? Epic fail — especially since someone was fooled into paying $200 for it.

This discovery made me question the three Gerald Ford autographs that were listed for sale on my website, two on cachet envelopes and one on a golf ball. Although none of the three signatures were the same, they were very similar to the letters. Furthermore, I discovered that Ford, like many former presidents, used dozens of different autopen templates, and that some autopen models worked on three dimensional objects such as baseballs and golf balls. I immediately removed all three Ford items from my website as suspected autopen signatures. I’ll bet that 99% of Ford autographs offered on eBay and elsewhere are autopenned.

 

I sent an e-mail to my prospective seller with my findings and, no surprise, received no response. I now wonder if this person had e-mailed several autograph dealers knowing what he was peddling was of questionable authenticity. I’m glad I didn’t get burned, and I’m glad I was able to remove my questionable Ford autographs before someone bought them.

The bottom line is that former presidents and other dignitaries use autopen machines for a reason. They don’t have the time or desire to hand sign anything except the most personal correspondence. No, they obviously don’t care that these items will later be knowingly or unknowingly offered as real hand-signed autographs. If you mail an item to someone who has been known to use an autopen, that’s what you’ll get returned to you.

Many years ago, when she was still First Lady, Hillary Clinton personally appeared at a book signing for “It Takes a Village” in Dallas in which buyers met Clinton but received pre-signed books. Lo and behold, it was later discovered that none of the books were signed by Hillary, but her autopen machine. I’m not sure who made the decision to defraud buyers like that, but I consider it unacceptable. She got enough flak that on her next book tour, for “An Invitation to the White House” she personally signed the books with beautiful full name autographs.

Book Recommendation: Autograph Hell by Charles Irion

I am ashamed to admit that I wasn’t aware of a 2008 book titled Autograph Hell until seeing a post on the website AutographAlert.com. Autograph Hell, which I read cover to cover in two days, was written by Charles Irion, a passionate autograph collector who became disillusioned when he discovered how much of his prized collection turned out to be questionable or definitely fake.

Irion examined the role of third party authentication in the autograph industry’s huge problem with fraud, and summed it up with the subtitle of his book: “It doesn’t have to be real, it just has to be authentic,” an actual quote from an autograph dealer. If the quote makes no sense to you now, it will after you read the book.

Like most collectors, Irion built his collection with a variety of methods, including in person. And like many collectors, Irion was shocked when some autographs that he obtained personally from the celebrities were judged as “not authentic” by third party authentication companies. Irion also discovered corruption and favoritism and conflicts of interest with these third party authenticators. If you’ve read my blog posts, you’ll see that Irion’s discoveries mirrored many of my own. Irion’s book confirms and strengthens my belief that third party authentication is one huge scam that, regardless of the intentions of those companies, has done more harm than good to the autograph business.

In other chapters, Irion summarizes the FBI’s Operation Bullpen (which was the title and subject of an entire book written by Kevin Nelson) and provides a detailed and revealing history of autograph collecting, and associated fraud. I had no idea that autograph collecting dates back centuries, and so does autograph forgery! Believe it or not, autograph forgery is directly linked to one of history’s most infamous serial killers, Jack the Ripper. Not only that, but celebrity complaints about autograph hounds bugging them dates back several decades.

The bottom line is if you’re an autograph collector or autograph dealer, you owe it to yourself to read Autograph Hell. You can buy it directly from the author from his Autograph Hell website, and he’ll even sign it for you.

Amazon Loses California Sales Tax Evasion Battle

It took the world’s 8th largest economy to defeat the USA’s largest tax evader.

If you’ve read my previous blog posts about Amazon.com, you already know this greedy company was built by Jeff Bezos on the premise of nationwide sales tax evasion. Other states, notably New York, disputed Amazon’s notion that it could legally avoid collecting sales tax. Amazon fought tooth and nail against New York and every other state that dared to demand Amazon collect sales tax, using lobbying, bribery and lawsuits to avoid doing so.

Finally, California — the world’s 8th largest economy — jumped into the battle with Amazon, and the outcome finally changed. Amazon tried its usual tactics by cutting off its California affiliates. Only problem with that strategy: as noted before, Amazon owns A9, Alexa and A2Z Development, three California companies with numerous offices and hundreds if not thousands of California employees, making the affiliate issue irrelevant.

Amazon fought long and hard against California’s new sales tax law, even using the state’s own system against it by spending over $5 million collecting signatures to put a proposition on the ballot. But the Democrats in the California legislature cleverly circumvented Amazon by crafting a revised law that, if passed by a 2/3 majority, would nullify Amazon’s proposition. Unfortunately, enough idiotic Republicans fell for Amazon’s anti-tax language smokescreen that a 2/3 majority was impossible to achieve.

But rather than face the uncertainty and massive expense of the ballot proposition, and realizing that it would probably lose any court challenge, Amazon decided to compromise. Governor Jerry Brown just signed the compromise law. Amazon will start collecting California sales tax one year from now, barring any new federal legislation that addresses the issue before then. Amazon can try to spin this, but they lost. California could be the first domino to fall as other states now realize that Amazon can be beaten (and how to do it).

A note to those idiotic Republicans: you cost your state $200 million in revenue that could have prevented library, park and school closings. Amazon tricked you into an unnecessary compromise. If you had any brains at all, you would have realized that Amazon was bluffing all along. All you had to do was vote for the revised law and Amazon would have started collecting sales tax immediately.

It’s painfully obvious that Republican politicians are so pre-programmed to vote against anything having to do with taxes that they often never bother to comprehend the actual issue at hand, which in this case was simply forcing Amazon to comply with existing sales tax laws like their competitors. Shame on them, and also shame on Amazon for evading sales tax collection for more than 10 years. At least in California, that evasion finally ends in 2013.

Amazon.com Declares War on California

If you live almost anywhere in California, you’ve seen the signature collectors in shopping centers and in front of stores like Ikea, Lowe’s, Target and Walmart with signs saying “Stop Internet Taxes” or messages to that effect. These signature collectors are hired by Amazon.com and probably being paid minimum wage with a bonus per signature collected. They have no legal obligation to tell you the truth about what they are doing or why they want you to sign. In fact, most will gladly lie in order to collect a signature.

Here are the myths and truths about this issue:

Myth #1: All internet purchases are sales tax free, and Amazon is trying to stop California from raising taxes or adding a new tax.

Truth: The opposite is true. California is owed sales tax on ALL purchases of taxable goods on the internet OR at brick and mortar stores. However, a 1992 Supreme Court ruling (Quill Corp. v. North Dakota) regarding a mail order business stated that businesses that did not have a “substantial nexus” in a particular state could not be forced to collect sales tax in that state. The ruling did not mean the purchase was tax free, because in fact the purchaser actually owes the tax to the state he or she lives in, called use tax. Use taxes are almost universally ignored by purchasers because they are either unaware of them OR they are aware that the state isn’t going to annually audit the entire population in order to dig up all of their out-of-state purchases and collect use tax.

California’s new law, AB153, signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown, simply clarified existing sales tax law in order to force Amazon.com to collect California sales tax that it should already have been collecting. Amazon, of course, claims that it doesn’t have a substantial nexus, which brings us to . . .

Myth #2: Amazon.com is exempt from collecting California sales tax because it doesn’t have any brick and mortar stores in this state or anywhere else.

Truth: Websites of retailers that have brick and mortar locations in California such as Target.com DO collect California sales tax from California residents because their physical stores obviously constitute a substantial nexus. However, the 1992 Supreme Court ruling did not narrowly define a “substantial nexus” as retail only, otherwise the ruling would have stated “retail location” instead of the much broader term “substantial nexus” which could be warehouses or any physical facilities.

The fact of the matter is that Amazon.com has a massive, not just substantial, nexus in California. Amazon owns A2Z Development Center Inc, which is the developer of the Kindle and has offices in  Orange County,  San Francisco and San Luis Obispo. Amazon owns A9, a search engine technology company with offices in Palo Alto. Amazon owns Alexa, another internet technology company headquartered in San Francisco.

Myth #3: By asking Amazon to collect sales tax, California hurt itself because Amazon cut off all its affiliates within the state, reducing income and causing layoffs.

Truth: This might be the most ridiculous whopper of them all. Amazon cut off its California affiliates in a vain attempt to declare itself without a nexus in the state (conveniently ignoring the three large California companies that it owns) and to retaliate against AB153. For California to reverse itself because of Amazon’s misguided, greedy attempt at punishment would be a public declaration that the government of the world’s eighth largest economy can have terms dictated to it by a greedy, gutless guy in Seattle named Jeff Bezos. The loss of income and jobs is unfortunate but caused entirely by Amazon, and it’s a mere drop in the bucket compared to the California sales tax that Amazon has evaded collecting for more than a decade.

Myth #4: Requiring Amazon to collect California sales tax will cost Californians money and hurt the economy.

Truth: Again, the exact opposite is true. The California sales tax that Amazon is not collecting is giving Amazon an unfair price advantage over every other retailer in the state. As these retailers lose business, shed employees and go bankrupt, untold billions of dollars are lost in business, income, property and sales taxes, damaging California’s economy. Furthermore, the sales tax revenue that Amazon refuses to submit to the state contributes to layoffs of firemen, policemen and teachers. It contributes to library, park and school closings. It contributes to college budget cuts, forcing students to take extra semesters because they can’t get into all the classes they need to graduate.

Amazon’s refusal to comply with AB153, and sending scumbags to collect signatures to reverse the law in front of the very retail stores they are actively trying to bankrupt is a declaration of war against the state of California. If you sign this petition you aren’t contributing to a fight against higher taxes, you are contributing to your own state’s demise in order to benefit a greedy, unethical, massively profitable corporation that couldn’t care less if the state went belly up. Signing this petition is like stealing money from your kid’s PTA bake sale and mailing it to Jeff Bezos.