Steiner admits there are many "fake" Steiner products

[mbrieve]

I'm starting to lose my trust in Steiner, and I will no longer buy anything with a Steiner hologram UNLESS it's photomatched (all my Steiner stuff is photomatched so I don't have to worry about it).

A few days ago I helped a forum member declare that his Jeter home jersey that was supposed to be direct from Steiner isn't real. It had the matching holograms and the LOA, so nothing appeared wrong, until I attempted to photomatch the jersey to the timeframe it was worn (which was a 2-month period). I checked photos and video from every game and couldn't find it. He was also looking at an Alex Rodriguez game worn jersey and I did the same research on that jersey and couldn't find a match for it either! I checked every single game....no match could be made. There's just too many fakes that Steiner is selling. They're becoming the new Lou Lampson with their authentication.


And in regards to Steiner selling game issued jerseys; I believe they should mark the jersey with ANYTHING that can't be tampered with. I remember I once saw a Nolan Ryan jersey that was a Scoreboard jersey from 1989, and Nolan signed the jersey with the inscription "this is not my jersey". Probably the best inscription I've ever seen. Game issued jerseys need to be tagged in a special way to identify them easier. Would it really hurt them to write "GI" somewhere on the inner part of the jersey?

Were the Jeter and ARod jerseys directly from Steiner or were these on the secondary market (meaning somebody may have tampered with holograms). This is troubling no matter how you slice it, but it would be helpful to clarify the origins of the purchase.

[gingi79]

I am so happy they don't handle my teams. I sincerely hope Yankee collectors band together and refuse to deal with these people.

If Brandon Steiner was even 1 1/100th the business man, or could even spell the word ethics the same way say.....Barry Meisel does, NONE OF THESE ISSUES WOULD EXIST.

I realize I am only a college educated teacher and obviously not a businessman but if MeiGray can have exactly ZERO of the authenticity issues of Steiner, why can't they just steal the tagging deal and TADA! no more questioning.

How can you offer authenticity guarantees and not have a database of what the holograms line up with? Who came up that this plan? The 100 feces throwing monkeys who couldn't write MacBeth?

[nickacs]

Were the Jeter and ARod jerseys directly from Steiner or were these on the secondary market (meaning somebody may have tampered with holograms). This is troubling no matter how you slice it, but it would be helpful to clarify the origins of the purchase.

I have the Jeter in my possession and have been offered the ARod. At this time, I cannot comment on the origins and outcome quite yet as I am still reviewing and will be hopefully talking to a Steiner employee tomorrow.

If the outcome is that either/both are not legit, I will be more than happy to post everything from start to finish There are a couple GUU members that have helped me out tremendously so far and would appreciate their confidentiality as well in my situation. I've learned to do your research first and then post/comment later than making premature statements.

As the saying goes, "innocent until proven guilty"!

[ferro39]

Fair point, but this discussion has covered both signed items and game used items offered by Steiner. It seems that their main problem deals with people using their holograms in a dishonest way.

I don't have a dog in the fight, but it seems their main problem stems from their holograms and serial numbers not being entered into their database. However, when you become one of the big boys (as mentioned in my earlier thread) you become the target of counterfeiters...it is now up to Steiner to work to combat against this. Their continued success probably hinges on how they respond to this adversity.

that's the thing, though. they have never dealt with the adversity.

they have been keeping horrible records of their nyy game used items for as long as they have been handling them--everything from incorrect and vague letters to a slew of unidentifiable merchandise, which collectors are forced to do their own research on.

then there's their customer service, which is horrendous. the comical thing is that i actually no longer buy products directly from steiner because dealing with their customer service reps after they screw up an order (which, in my experiences, has been close to automatic) isnt worth the heart burn.

then, there stuff going on like this with no plan to counter attack.

meigray, on the other hand, addresses the problems when they pop up; alerts collectors about fake jerseys; is happy to field phone calls from collectors looking at jerseys both on ebay or for sale by collectors; and iirc, has even been proactive in getting bogus jerseys with bogus meigray tags pulled off of ebay.

if steiner was doing something, err anything, to help protect the people who keep them in business, we probably wouldnt be seeing the so-called pile-on here.

i mean, how out of touch are they with the same tino martinez GI BP jersey for sale for 2k for the past 9 years?

[mbenga28]

are the Jeter and A-Rod game used jerseys you're trying to photomatched MLB Authenticated?

There was the Andy Pettitte 2009 home jersey that I was really interested in picking up, but I could not find any photo matches that aligned the pinstripes to the NY logo and 2009 Inaugural patch and when I asked a Steiner rep if he could help me by letting me know the MLB Authenticated number so I could check on the database, he simply said the jersey is MLB Authenticated and wouldn't budge revealing the serial number on the hologram. was there something to hide?

[nickacs]

are the Jeter and A-Rod game used jerseys you're trying to photomatched MLB Authenticated?

No, neither are. That's another reason why it's very fishy. There's a Jeter '07 that's been on Ebay several times during the same timeperiod these Jeter/ARod's were worn and both Steiner and MLB hologram authenticated. And it can be photomatched with no problem.
I guess it's possible neither were MLB authenticated, but almost every modern day's bball superstar jersey has been. And these are 2 of the biggest and nothing? Hmmm....

Hate to say it, but lately I'm starting to feel that having a jersey MLB hologram authenticated has more "credibility" than just a Steiner letter/hologram# alone.

[skinsfan0521]

The whole point behind all of this is that if Steiner would just make a VERY SIMPLE modification to their website and inventory process, there would not be any of these issues. Sure, people would still be trying to counterfeit stuff, but at least Steiner would be making an effort to prevent them.

They offer an "Authenticity Guarantee" (link here), but what good is that "guarantee" if it can't be proven. If you go to that link, they claim (#2), that the have a detailed, signed affidavit of EVERY item that goes through their company. If that's truly the case, why is it impossible for them to determine if items are authentic or not... well, besides the "trust us, it's good" line. That just sounds like a shady used car dealer line instead of a respected business in the high dollar sports memorabilia industry.

Again, this could all be fixed in a weekend if they're really serious about helping collectors and securing the future of their company.

[mbenga28]

I'm curious to know the process in which Steiner receives their game jerseys, like from the Yankees. Do the Yankees just dump their inventory on them and let them figure it out for themselves what's game used/game issued and then Steiner creates the LOA? or do the LOAs accompany the items when the team gives them to Steiner?

What troubles me is that there doesn't seem to be the presence of a team representative authenticating these items as well. You just get a letter with a preprinted signature from Brandon Steiner unconditionally guaranteeing its authenticity. Whereas with MeiGray, you get both genuine signatures from Barry Meisel and (most importantly) another signature from someone affiliated with the team, or organization.

[BULBUS]

hey dork, welcome aboard. pretty impressive for your first post

[allstarsplus]

hey dork, welcome aboard. pretty impressive for your first post

First and last post. Dork_No-wits-ski is a banned previous member.