Modell's Sporting Goods Review

(If you'd like to skip this article and see our top pick for a memorabilia retailer, click here.) We’re a nationwide group of memorabilia enthusiasts who created this Website to protect and inform consumers. It's estimated that over half of all memorabilia on the market is fake. With this in mind, our goal is to ensure people buy items that are both authentic and well-priced.

Overview

Modell’s Sporting Goods prides itself on being the country's oldest, family-owned and operated sporting goods retailer. The company also stresses its commitment to "hometown teams," and sponsors more than 20 professional sports teams, NCAA teams and arenas around the country.

Modell’s has a comprehensive Fan Shop, featuring all the most popular sports and products from the WNBA, the College World Series and more. Browsing the Fan/Memorabilia section of the website is easy, but can be cumbersome because of the number of product sub-categories.

Modell's carries a good selection of team apparel and accessories, but has a limited selection of signed memorabilia. All of the site’s merchandise is authenticated by Modell’s and by the vendor that sold the individual piece to the company. Modell’s also offers a buyer’s guide for memorabilia hunters, detailing what it means to buy an officially licensed products and how to obtain athlete signatures.

The Good

  • Good selection of sports apparel
  • Original content

The Bad

  • Limited selection of autographed memorabilia

Our top pick for 2008:  SportsMemorabilia.com

SportsMemorabilia.com, which has been selling memorabilia online since 1996, is our top pick across the four fields of authenticity, price, ease of shopping and service.

SportsMemorabilia.com features a comprehensive authenticity guarantee and formal relationships with the major memorabilia wholesalers. All items come from organized athlete signings which were witnessed and logged.

The site is professional, easy to navigate and the one-page checkout is simple to use. They employ HackerSafe, THAWTE and 128-bit SSL to secure online transactions.

Searches on Google and Better Business Bureau for “SportsMemorabilia.com” yielded no negative mentions or complaints against the company. There have been no reported instances where a product was returned for lack of authenticity.

The site ranks #1 in Google’s organic (unpaid) search results for terms like "sports memorabilia" and “memorabilia”. Websites don’t pay for placement in these rankings— they are a reflection of Google’s trust in the site and the Website’s age.

In addition to a nice product assortment, the site includes other resources such as a blog and resource library. Information about the company’s background and founders is easy to find. The SportsMemorabilia.com staff, reached both via 800 number and email, was courteous and knowledgeable.

>>Read more about SportsMemorabilia.com