Overview

Luckily, there are a number of legitimate retailers of sports memorabilia who provide high-quality, authentic items.

Unfortunately, the market also contains a large amount of fraudulent product. It is estimated that roughly half of the autographed memorabilia bought and sold in the United States, both online and offline, is fake. eBay is, by all accounts, even worse. Considering the size of the signed memorabilia business ? a $1 billion industry annually in this country ? this is a significant problem for retailers and consumers.

The Bad Memorabilia Retailers

• Websites that look "homemade" or one-person operations- likely don't have partnerships with legitimate suppliers.

• Prices that seem "too good to be true" compared with other sites.
• Scant or spotty product selection.
• Websites that offer little information about their history, personnel or authenticity guarantee.
• Sites that feature little original content to help inform customers.

The Good Memorabilia Retailers

• Feature professional Websites with large product assortment and easy navigation.

• Professional, "established-company" experience when calling the direct contact phone number or email contact.
• Offer a library of articles to help you make the right choice.
• Have been in business long enough to build industry credibility and establish relationships with well-known suppliers.
• Offer secure, hacker-safe transactions.
• Provide tamper-proof holograms and certificates of authenticity with every purchase.

  (Scroll below if you'd like a recommendation for a memorabilia retailer.)

Why should you take the time to do this research before you buy memorabilia? Because once you've broken the seal on your purchase, it's too late to return it, genuine or not.