Riddell.com 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

Riddell is an extremely well-known sports equipment retailer. Best known for being the official helmet of the NFL, Riddell’s products are also widely used in Major League Baseball, NASCAR and are the choice of thousands more athletes in the collegiate and high school levels.

Riddell1.com bills itself as being “for players only.” The product site offers athletes plenty to choose from, but their Fan Shop carries a very limited selection of merchandise.

Navigation on the site can be difficult. Clicking on the logo in the top left of the screen redirects users back to the company homepage and away from the Fan Shop. Visitors are given the choice to shop by different leagues and types of helmets, but clicking on the links opens up a drop down menu listing all the subcategories. This makes it difficult to browse the site, especially for those customers who don't know exactly what they are looking for.

Aside from helmet products, the Fan Shop offers “Personalized Collectibles,” such as cartoon prints, pictures of athletes and stadium signs that can be customized to feature someone's name. The site also offers “Nostalgic Metal Signs” and address plaques. This site, however, does not carry any autographed memorabilia.

The Good

  • Good selection of sports equipment and gear

The Bad

  • Extremely limited selection of licensed apparel and accessories
  • No autographed merchandise
  • Difficult to navigate

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