In a recent article by Darren Rovell he talked about the rise in websites selling counterfeit jerseys. A brand monitoring company concluded there were more than 1,300 websites selling questionable jerseys and these sites sell an estimated 800,000 fake jerseys a year. If you figure an average price of around $80 (that is the standard cost for a replica NFL jersey from any reputable site) you are looking at $64 million in revenue that is going to scamsters.
If you do a search for “football jerseys” you will see that nearly half of the sites listed in the top 10 are selling counterfeit jerseys. When searching for pretty much anything to do with jerseys you will see many sites selling fakes. I did some quick searches for stuff like “pittsburgh steelers jerseys”, “aaron rodgers jerseys”, and “super bowl jerseys” and all those search results were full of counterfeit jersey sites.
So how can you tell if a jersey is fake? Well, there are a few ways to quickly tell:
1. Price – The standard price you will fine for a licensed NFL replica jersey will be around $80 ($79.95 or so is pretty standard). A premier tackle twill jersey will be right around $110 and an authentic jersey will be $200-350 depending on the team. If you see a site selling jerseys for $20 or so you can be sure they are fakes. But the guys selling the fake jerseys have caught on to this and realized that people will spend more than $20 so you will even see prices for fakes up around $50-60 so they seem more like a real jersey. But pretty much if you see prices below the normal prices you can be sure they are fakes. Kids jerseys and ladies jerseys are less than the mens jerseys so keep an eye out for that also.
2. Colors – Most of the fakes have colors that are a bit off. You probably won’t be able to tell on the website because they very well could be using pictures of licensed jerseys but once you get the jersey and compare it to a real one you will see the difference
3. Durability – A real jersey can stand up to periodic washings. If you wash a fake it will fade quickly, stitching will come apart, letters will peel off, and in general it will be destroyed quickly.
Some people don’t care if they buy a fake. They are happy to save the money and buy a counterfeit jersey but usually they will end up disappointed. Many times it will take months for the product to arrive and when it does arrive they will see the poor quality. Also be careful of buying jerseys on Ebay. Most of the jerseys for sale there are just people buying bulk lots of counterfeit jerseys super cheap and selling them for a profit.
So when you shop for a jersey make sure you are dealing with a reputable retailer. On this site we have partnered with Football Fanatics, one of the largest licensed sports apparel stores in the world. They have been in business for years, have a great customer service department that is there to help you, they offer a 365 day return policy, and have an awesome selection of jerseys, hats, shirts, and anything else with a team logo on it. You can be assured that anything you find on this site will be a fully licensed, real product and not a fake.
Shop our selection of over 1500 nfl football jerseys today and support your team by buying a real jersey and not a fake.
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