Fraudulent Houston Astros COA

[hfd0035]

I recently purchased a 2007/2008 GU Roy Oswalt Home Jerseywith an Astros COA from forum member eGameused/ Chris Boyd described with“heavy wear”. Later to find out thejersey was issued and the COA was a fraudulentcopy. Heres the story on my very first GU Astros purchase….

It all started when I emailed Boyd about the Oswalt jerseyshe posted for sale on the forum for $250 each. In the email he said he also had an Oswaltthat was not posted on the forum with an Astros COA for $350. I chose the one with the COA and made plans tomeet.

On 9/27 I took my wife to dinner and then met with Boydaround 9PM to pick up the Oswalt jersey. We met in a mall parking lot next to the place we ate at. During theexchange, it was dark, jersey was nice and coded 0062, Boyd seemed nice, sothanks and goodbye. I got home late that night so I just set the jersey asidesince I had to work in the morning. Whos gonna screw you over $350 bucks,right? Wrong! Later on, when I closely inspected the jersey it looked issuedand the COA was a printed copy. I became worried and emailed Boyd about myconcerns 10/1. I also contacted Mike Acosta, the Astros Authentication Manager,to ask what an Astros COA looks like. Boyd responded to a few emails and then textmessaged me that he may have gotten theOswalt jersey mixed up with another and would exchange it for a differentOswalt jersey and a choice from his list of early 90s Astros jerseys. When Iresponded back via text messegeinquiring about my choices on the early 90s jerseys on 10/2, Igot no response. A few days later Mike Acosta got back with me and we set up ameeting for Thursday 10/11 since he wanted to see the COA in person.
Now the meeting with Mike Acosta. I showed Mike Acosta theletter and he immediatelty said that theCOA was a copy and never written or signed by himself. Also, the jersey was morethan likely issued and never worn. Acosta also stated that there are certainthings he puts in a jersey COA description and that he personally types and signseach Astros COA in ink. NO COPIES. Mike Acosta was so disappointed that one ofhis Astros letters was falsified that he replaced the jersey and letter that I purchased from Boyd and gave me a heavilyworn 2002 Roy Oswalt jersey with a COA. How awesome is that! Acosta also kept thefraudulent Astros COA as he said he wants to turn it in to MLB for review.

Anyway, I just wantedto post this and warn members about fraudulent Houston Astros COAs. This was myfirst Astros gamer and I’ll take it as a lesson learned. This hobby is supposedto be fun and I hope someone can learn from my mistake of not doing my homeworkon sellers or COAs. I would have neverthought a forum member would burn me but oh well. Thank you to the forummembers that helped me with Astros information. If you think your Astros COA isquestionable you may want to contact Mike Acosta, he’s a great guy btw.
So thank you for not responding back when I asked what myoptions were on the swap for this jersey. You never responded to my last textand now Mike Acosta Houston Astros Authentication Manager has the issued Oswaltand fraudulent/ fake whatever you want to call it, Astros team letter. I do notknow where or how you got the Oswalt COA you sold me but I would assume thatsomeone that has been collecting/selling as long as you have, that you would know what you are doing.

ASTROS TEAM LETTERS ARE NOT COPIES. EACH COA SHOULD BESIGNED BY MIKE ACOSTA IN INK. BEWARE.

[bd300]

That stinks that a fellow forum member did that to you. I'm glad to hear that Mike replaced the jersey with a real game used jersey. He's a great guy for doing that.

[Klattsy]

This would also be a good time for me to note that I have a paypal dispute with Chris at the moment. I paid for some RRS spring training pants which never arrived. I have emailed Chris 2x and also submitted a paypal dispute (3 days ago with no contact). In the time I have been chasing Chris he has been posting here still.

I mention as the overwhelming feedback in another thread was to call members out.

[trsent]

Happy to hear you got something nice in the end. I have one question about this whole situation that confuses me.

I thought dealers were not allowed to sell on the C to C marketplace per forum rules. Is this rule still in effect? I was told I couldn't sell on this forum (thought I can buy) as I am classified as a deal.

Here is the text from the C to C rules post:

"Participation in GUU Collector to Collector Classifieds forum is subject to the agreement of the following:

This forum is intended for collectors to sell among themselves. It is not intended for dealers, businesses or professional teams looking to sell their merchandise but simply a collector forum."

I hope someone can clarify on this topic.

[BurlesonBlue]

I'll go ahead and throw in my experience with eGameUsed.

I bought a couple of game used baseballs from him a couple of months ago and while getting them took a lot longer than I thought it would, they were a great price and exactly as advertised. So my experience with him was good, sorry to hear that some of you are having issues.

[frikativ54]

First of all, I want to say that as a fellow Astros' collector, this situation disappoints me greatly. I had always trusted that items with an Astros' LOA were legitimate. When things like this happens, they undermine my trust in team letters. Collectors should be able to have confidence in team LOAs.

I have the same questions as Joel about the Collector to Collector Classifieds. I thought dealers were not allowed to sell there. I emailed the moderators a while back asking about such things, and I did not get a response. So I just figured that it was a free-for-all for anyone who wanted to post there.

Sad to say, my experience with Chris Boyd has not been positive either. Those of you who are new to the forum may not remember eGameUsed's past history with game used bats, but it bears mentioning here. A few years back, Boyd was called out for doctoring a Pujols and a Carlos Lee bat. He later confessed.

Here are the threads:

Pujols bat

Carlos Lee bat

Chris later admitted to doctoring both bats, in a thread where I called into question his listing a game issued Bagwell bat on his website as game used. Boyd later sold the bat on eBay as game issued with no use whatsoever.

I know these threads are from a few years back, but I don't think that obviates the need to examine eGameUsed's history. In the context of the Team Letter, it tells a lot about the ethics of the man we are dealing with.

Here's a thread from only a year ago about a questionable Biggio jersey sourced to a Chris Boyd sale. As I recall, it was like pulling teeth for the guy who bought it to get his money back. Boyd eventually refunded the buyer, but it took pressure from me and other forum members for the guy to see any money.

In closing, I am very disappointed to read about this situation, but I'm glad to hear that it was made right by Mike Acosta with the Houston Astros. I've worked with Mike as well, and he is an excellent guy. He really was under no obligation to replace the jersey, but he did the right thing and made the situation better.

But where is Chris Boyd in all of this? Why the silence? If someone has a problem with an item, why not try to correct the situation? IMO, it's suspicious that he didn't immediately refund the forum member. If I were to ever have a problem with one of my transactions, I'd make it right immediately. I want my buyers to be happy and for them to be able to put their trust in me.

[jwal23]

Sending you a PM

[Preston]

I think I'm the black sheep here by saying I actually had a positive experience with Chris. I purchased a game worn Willy Taveras fielding glove at the Nationals, which I planned on keeping but Chris offered to pay me 500% of what I paid for it so of course I had to accept that offer - paid promptly and I shipped as soon as I received payment. Did offer to trade and do a cash and trade which I respectfully declined BUT still went through with his deal and didn't back down.

Sad that someone could get burned and was burned by another forum member (or anyone) - is it possible Chris did not know he had a bad item, or is the thought process that he knowingly passed a bad item to someone else? I'm believing the consensus here is that it's the latter.

Not sure what the state law is there but if he's lucky, under $500 is just a misdemeanor like it is in Tennessee...

[TFig27]

I too purchased an Astros jersey (Aaron Boone) from Chris Boyd that came with a fraudulent letter. I sent scans to Mike Acosta.

Not good, not good at all

[tella27]

I posted about egameused a few months ago - bought a jersey from him and it took almost 3 months to get. This was the jersey when he said he shipped it but wouldnt give me the tracking info. It took getting the police involved to get the jersey sent. I posted in his thread all the emails and nasty text messages but the Mod later deleted all of it.

My question is why is this member still allowed to troll this forum ripping people off and nothing is done about it? This is the 3 time he's been found to sell "doctored" items - this isnt opinions these are facts that are proved and the last one being direct from Mike. This member is nothing but trash and is backed by solid proof. This person should not be allowed to be on GUU any longer.

I tried to warn others that this guy was nothing but a scam artist but the Mods took down my post. I hope others read this thread and blackball him if for some reason he is not kicked off here.