Question about GAI (Global Authentication Inc.)

I dont know them, but if its to good to be true, then ussually its to good to be true.

If they where recongnize the item you are wondering about would have been bought i presume.
 
If I remember correctly, GAI was formed by the same guy who formed PSA. That being said, I believe they were under some scrutiny a while back. I'd do some google research first.
 
I've heard they are directly involved with a notorious patch/auto faker because of cash issues. Sportscardsuncensored has something about this. I would stay away.
 
http://www.sportscardsuncensored.com/2009/10/gai-has-made-deal-with-devil.html

http://freedomcardboard.com/forum/v...k=t&sd=a&sid=7083431154447856cf029e416a7680ed

Here's an email response from Steve Sipe, one of the head guys at GAI, about the Burge issue:

Listen very clear. We have not done business with or encapsulated ANY items for Kevin for over two years. Enough said and this must be items from many years ago, old staff issues.

As for your candor about our business well everyone has an opinion I guess. Nice way to address an issue pal......

Steve Sipe
Global Authentication
 
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Scott, do you have a link for the item? I generally have no issues with GAI, and as usual, all charges being thrown at them are being accepted as true with little or no factual evidence to back it up. I will say I have far more faith in GAI than I do in the other graders because I have specific cases where they were wildly wrong.
 
The_IceBox said:
http://www.sportscardsuncensored.com/2009/10/gai-has-made-deal-with-devil.html

http://freedomcardboard.com/forum/v...k=t&sd=a&sid=7083431154447856cf029e416a7680ed

Here's an email response from Steve Sipe, one of the head guys at GAI, about the Burge issue:

Listen very clear. We have not done business with or encapsulated ANY items for Kevin for over two years. Enough said and this must be items from many years ago, old staff issues.

As for your candor about our business well everyone has an opinion I guess. Nice way to address an issue pal......

Steve Sipe
Global Authentication
Click to expand...

Whenever it happened - those cards are still out there (lots of them) with their name on the slabs.

It looks bad, and it devalues their brand.

Maybe the autograph you are buying today is authentic, but if the reputation of the grader / authenticator is questioned, it certainly doesn't look good if you ever need to move it.
 
The reputation of every grader/authenticator is in question. None of them are foolproof, and I've found quite a bit more leading to questions about the other authenticators than GAI.

In this instance, the questions about Burge's GAI cards has just surfaced and has been denied by one of GAI's principles. Maybe it will be proven to be false, or maybe not. If the slabs were stolen or faked, how can that be the fault of the company?

Can we at least wait until we have some more evidence before we start sullying people's names?
 
The_IceBox said:
In this instance, the questions about Burge's GAI cards has just surfaced and has been denied by one of GAI's principles. Maybe it will be proven to be false, or maybe not. If the slabs were stolen or faked, how can that be the fault of the company?
Click to expand...


Whether it's the company's fault or not, the fact remains that now the authenticity of anything with a GAI label can be called into question.
 
The_IceBox said:
The reputation of every grader/authenticator is in question. None of them are foolproof, and I've found quite a bit more leading to questions about the other authenticators than GAI.

In this instance, the questions about Burge's GAI cards has just surfaced and has been denied by one of GAI's principles. Maybe it will be proven to be false, or maybe not. If the slabs were stolen or faked, how can that be the fault of the company?

Can we at least wait until we have some more evidence before we start sullying people's names?
Click to expand...

They didn't deny that there were fakes in GAI slabs, they just said they must be old, nor did they claim they were stolen. In fact, they acknowledged doing business with one of the biggest scumbags in the hobby.

If they have no way of distinguishing between their current slabs (which are presumably reliable) and their old ones - it doesn't matter when they quit doing business with Burge.
 
leafschik1967 said:
They didn't deny that there were fakes in GAI slabs, they just said they must be old, nor did they claim they were stolen. In fact, they acknowledged doing business with one of the biggest scumbags in the hobby.

If they have no way of distinguishing between their current slabs (which are presumably reliable) and their old ones - it doesn't matter when they quit doing business with Burge.
Click to expand...

It was a two-line response from a Blackberry right after the information came to one of the company heads. Yes, we should totally bury them on that response.

I don't disagree about doing business with Burge, but I think it somewhat depends on when it was done. I don't know much about the guy, but how long has everyone known he's a crook?
 
The_IceBox said:
It was a two-line response from a Blackberry right after the information came to one of the company heads. Yes, we should totally bury them on that response.

I don't disagree about doing business with Burge, but I think it somewhat depends on when it was done. I don't know much about the guy, but how long has everyone known he's a crook?
Click to expand...

He shouldn't totally be buried based on a single response, but the fact remains - some brutal looking fakes are floating around in GAI slabs, and surfacing mainly from Burge. Those two things are more likely to bury someone's credibility rather than help it.

I have emails from 3.5 years ago regarding him (Burge). And his ebay accounts were routinely getting booted at that point, so I don't think that was his first encounter with scumbaggery.
 
BGS is just as bad or worse than PSA. How many times have you seen the same seller with tons of high end rookies getting 9.5 and 10? I remember one guy putting up a UD Premier Datsyuk rc every month, all being 9.5s, all different cards.

Do enough volume with them and they'll grade anything.
 
Burge started with the scumbaggery around 6-7 years ago at least. It started with trimming and grading cards (which the companies did for a very long time without even noticing the size difference), he then moved on to the world of bogus patches as well as forged autographs (especially "buyback" autos). The scope of what he's put into the market - thinks hundreds of thousands of dollars of bogus or altered merchandise.

He currently operates under these ID's (and I'm sure there's more):

shoeless-joejackson
peopleschoice7373
cardsrahabit
jmvariety09
blameitonthealcohol (buying account)
 

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