This guide is meant as a follow up to our Avoid Fraud guides (Please make sure you read one):  AVOID FRAUD

These guides focused on how to tell if an autograph was real.  The guide you are currently reading will expand on that topic a little more, but mainly it will focus more on how to get the best deal for an autographed jersey.  This is from an insiders prospective.

Stat (Statistics) or Limited Edition Jerseys - Lots of sellers will list jerseys as a Stat jersey, or a limited edtion jersey.  Below will be definitions of those terms:

Stat Jerseys - A stat jersey is usually simply a signed jersey that has some of the players career statistics embroidered on them.  While this does look nice, it usually only costs the dealer about $10.00 more to manufacture and does not significantly raise the value of the jersey.  On the retail side, it is our opinion that these jerseys are worth $20.00 - $50.00 more than one without the inscriptions.  It is nice when they say how many jerseys are done in this manner, but again, they are not worth as much as if the player hand wrote the inscriptions.

Limited Edition (LE)- Alot of dealers will use this term in an attempt to raise the sale price of thier item (remember, everyone is in business to make money).  You need to ask yourself what is really limited about this jersey?    Obviously, if the athlete has added hand written inscriptions over and above what they normally do, that is worth alot more than the embroidery.

Be careful of dealers who only have the most desireable number (i.e. number 1 of ___).  I know of at least one dealer who simply buys 1 or 2 signed jerseys from someone else.  He then has them embroidered saying it is that great number and sells it at a premium.  How is that really a limited edition?

BE SURE THE PLAYER'S NAME IS SPELLED CORRECTLY - Believe it or not, people will buy these not knowing of the mistake.  I know I have seen things like TONY DORSET (DORSETT) of the Dallas Cowboys, JOE GREEN (GREENE) of the Pittsburgh Steelers, MARK MOSELY (MOSELEY) , and  SONNY JURGENSON (JURGENSEN) of the Washington Redskins.  There are many more examples, but you get my point.

BEWARE OF KNOCK OFF JERSEYS - No matter what anyone says, if it has a team or NFL logo (and is not actually a real jersey), it is illegal to sell.  When you purchase an item, at some point, you will no longer have it (Even if it is sold at your death).  Even if you are selling something as an autograph, if it has a counterfit tag on the item, it can be impounded by the police.  A large percentage of athletes will not sign knock off jerseys.  Most will sign generic jerseys that were made for the sole purpose of the athlete to sign.  That means if you buy an autographed counterfit jersey, your chances of a forgery have just gone up.  If you suspect a jersey is a counterfit, you can email the picture to the appropriate trademark department i.e. (email us for help finding this contact).  They will give you their opinion as to the authenticity of the jesery (not the autograph).  I can also assure you that a high percentage of the "brand name" jerseys for sale on ebay are in fact knock offs.

BEWARE OF "SUPER BOWL" PATCHES..... A real licensed Super Bowl Patch from the same game the player was in, would be a really nice thing to add to your collection.  The problem with most of them on the Stat jerseys is that the dealer embroidered them on.  Since the Super Bowl Logo is a copyrighted item, this now makes your item counterfit and again, would leave you or your family open to selling illegal items.

I recently had a conversation with a prominent dealer/promoter.  He bragged about how good his counterfit jerseys were.  He even proceeded to tell me how his supplier will use different NFL hologram serial numbers on the pieces making it even harder to detect.  Remember, you don't want to own something that if you try to sell, can be impounded as a counterfit and cause legal issues for you. 

BE REALISTIC:  if a Reebok authentic jersey sells for an average retail price of $250, that means a dealer will probably pay $125 for the jersey (using basic wholesale principals).  If that is the case, how are you going to buy a real Reebok authentic jersey autographed by your favorite player for 99.99?  If they are going to lie to you about the type of jersey, how do you have faith the signature is real?

YES, PLAYER OF THE CENTURY JERSEYS ARE ILLEGAL.  They are not licensed by the NFL but do have the team copyright information on them.

Deal only with ethical dealers... if the will mislead you once, then how can you trust anything else from them.  There are several dealers who will put PSA, UDA (Upper Deck Authenticated), MM (Mounted Memories), Steiner or such other titles in the subject line... but then when you read the listing, the item is not authenticated from these "BIG NAME" authenticators.  One dealer says in his listing that he guarantee's it will pass PSA, so that is why he puts it in the subject line.   I cannot say it enough, if you see them misleading you about one thing, how do you know they won't try to slip something else by you?

When in doubt, don't buy!!!!!  Do your checking.  Most sellers have multiples of an item.  Take your time to make sure you don't get burned.  More than likely, you will see the same or similar item up for sale again.

Jerseys with silk screened numbers - Be cautious of autographed silk screened jerseys (meaning the numbers are not cloth).  If the item is signed by a Sharpie pen, it will more than likely fade in the first couple of years.  Paint pens do seem to hold up on the silk screening.  Again, if your not sure how an item was signed, then don't buy it.

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