I want to make fellow collectors and dealers aware of the what are at best questionable practices and at worst dishonest actions from Juan Iglesias and Joe Rivera. Many of you may be familiar with Juan and Joe, as they are active sellers of "game used" memorabilia. I actively purchase game used memorabilia, both for my personal collection and for resale. In this particular situation, I partnered with another buyer to purchase two game used bats from Joe and Juan. They claimed that these two bats came directly from a former MLB player, who obtained items from teammates throughout his career. These bats did not have PSA, MLB, Steiner or similar authentication. I purchased these bats were for resale purposes, not for my personal collection. Anytime I purchase items for resale, I make sure that the sellers will back the authenticity prior to completing the purchase.


In this situation, my partner emailed them to confirm they would accept returns if the bats did not pass authentication. We were assured by Joe Rivera that "Authentication is not a problem at all, we will stand behind everything that comes from us." Subsequently, these bats were sent to PSA/DNA for authentication and both were rejected as game used by Taube at PSA. In John's words "I don't think they are game used, maybe BP and that may be liberal." We immediately notified Joe and asked to return the bats for a full refund. We have emailed back and forth with Joe Rivera and Juan Iglesias for over 2 months, only to be told they disagree with PSA's assessment. They even went as far as to suggest that we send them to MEARS for authentication and bring them to the hobby that way. I think it is clear to all serious bat collectors that PSA is the accepted industry leader for bat authentications and we would not be interested in selling an item as authentic, without disclosing it has failed John Taube's assessment.


The end result is that we have two bats that have failed PSA and Juan and Joe are not willing to refund our purchase. They feel that sending these bats around to other authenticators, until they pass, is an acceptable practice. Game Used Universe was created to provide transparency to the hobby and protect potential buyers from such practices. Further, sellers who privately sell a bat that fails authentication is not the end of the world. I have personally sold a bat that failed PSA. However, I made it right with the buyer. To refuse a refund, especially when those terms were agreed to prior to the purchase, is unacceptable. At this point, I would not recommend purchasing anything from either Juan Iglesias or Joe Rivera. At best, I feel we were unintentionally scammed and they have not followed through on their word. However, based on some other feedback I have seen, I'm not even sure it is unintentional.


If you have concerns about items you have purchased from either Joe Rivera or Juan Iglesias, please feel free to contact me directly. I will be happy to share any additional information you may need. As far as these two bats are concerned, I am not planning to bring them into the hobby without full disclosure of PSA's opinion. So at least they are in good hands....



Dougiedshow@aol.com



Doug Reiser