I�ve been thinking for long about venturing into the business of sports apparels, footwear and equipment. But the only thing that has been holding me back is the fear of getting fake supplies. Now, I�ve found a good supplier of soccer jerseys. I want to know how I can spot a fake soccer jersey. I want to make sure that I don�t buy counterfeits. Also, I want to know if buying wholesale supplies of soccer jerseys on the Internet is fine?

All over the Internet, you could find fake soccer shirts and jerseys. There are so many people selling counterfeit soccer jerseys that if you find an authentic jersey, it�s hard to believe. Some of the main factors that could help you in identifying a fake soccer jersey are:

1. Price: Price is the one feature that could easily help you spot fake jerseys. If the wholesaler is offering you jerseys for less than $40, it�s likely that his supplies are counterfeit. These soccer jerseys are available for around $100 at club stores. Then, how can a wholesaler sell jerseys to you at such low prices? He also needs to make some profits. Moreover, procuring soccer jerseys for $20 or $30 is not possible. You could get them at such low prices only if the stock is quite old.

2. Material: The material of counterfeit jerseys is low in quality. Often, the material is loosely woven and therefore fake jerseys hang lower than the original. You could also feel the difference in the stretch of original and fake jerseys.

3. Stitching: Unlike big brands like Nike and Puma, the manufacturers of replicas and fakes don�t have skilled manpower for tailoring. Therefore, if the stitching of a jersey is poor, it�s definitely a counterfeit product.

4. Sizes: Often, the companies that sell counterfeits don�t have soccer jerseys in all sizes. They prefer to keep their profits high through the economies of scale. Therefore, rather than producing jerseys of all sizes in small numbers, they produce common sizes like medium and extra Large in big lots.

5. Badges: The stitching, colors, embroidery, cuts, and prints of badges of a fake soccer jersey can never match with that of the original. In some fake jerseys, you�d find that the colors used in badges are of different shades, in some you�d find the material of badge is different, and in some you�d find differences in the cut of badges.

6. Location: If the wholesaler is located in Asian country like Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, then you are likely to get fake jerseys. Also, you should beware of sellers in the US that don�t posses the stock. Often such sellers dropship soccer jerseys from Asian countries.

I think that the wholesaler should be an authorized dealer of the brand to sell authentic soccer jerseys. You could check with the company if the wholesaler is authorized to sell its products.

You should carefully see the tags of the jersey. Check, where the jersey has been manufactured. If on the tags, it’s printed, “manufactured in Sri Lanka”, or “manufactured in Thailand,” then the jersey is fake. Adidas, Reebok and Nike don’t have their manufacturing units in these countries. Most of the manufacturing units of these brands are located in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Italy, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

yes, you’re right. But, I’ve found that the manufacturers of fakes have become really smart. They know where the authentic jerseys are manufactured and they accordingly print the country of origin in their tags. Therefore, I don’t think that by looking at the country of origin on tags you can identify if a jersey is fake.

I’m also interested in buying soccer jerseys. Can I get them on eBay?

I don’t think so. If you’re planning to buy authentic soccer jerseys from eBay, you should re-consider your decision.

Most of the eBay sellers use dropshippers for selling fake jerseys. Nobody would like to take the risk of importing counterfeit products into the US themselves, therefore many eBay sellers uses dropshippers that ship the jerseys directly to the customers. As these dropshippers are located in Asia, it’s difficult for the customs officials to nab them.

Most jerseys sold on eBay are replicas. Many sellers even mention it in their listings. There is a big market for replicas of soccer jerseys. Many people are happy buying replicas at one-tenth of the cost of an authentic jersey and the quality of replicas is also great.

If you get listings for authentic soccer jerseys on eBay, you should ask the seller to show you the pictures of the jersey. Ask him to show you the close-ups of tags, badges, logos and numbers. For example, the badges and patches in authentic NFL jerseys are sewn. So, if you want a NFL jersey, you should check if all badges and numbers are sewn or pressed.

In order to spot fakes, you need to know what the jersey of your favorite team looks like.

To avoid being cheated, enter into an agreement with your supplier where it’s clearly mentioned that if his supplies are found to be counterfeit, he will refund you the entire amount.

Mostly, counterfeit jerseys are smaller in size than originals. Like NFL jerseys are big for more comfort to players. But, if you buy a fake jersey, you might have to buy one size bigger.