Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

[ivo610]

Re: Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

These previous issues with poster from Steiner, are they in any way related to authenticity of an item? If so I would like to hear more about this issue if he is part of their management and their spokesperson for this issue.

[BCowan]

Re: Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

IVO the previous issues as earlier referenced had nothing to do with authenticity of an item. The issues from 2006 that I was posting on the forum and not clearly representing myself as a Steiner employee at the time. This to my knowledge is a closed issue and something that occurred years ago. If my involvement in this thread is a concern to anyone I will gladly stop at this time. I don't want this thread going off topic because of me. I was simply engaging in this discussion as a forum member who I believe is in good standing and doing so because of a request from a fellow forum member. I am not an official spokesperson for Steiner Sports on this issue, the only official spokesperson for this matter is Brandon Steiner. Again I was just jumping in as a forum member and to clear up the major accusations that were circulating regarding Steiner Sports taking returns and reselling items and knowingly selling fraudulent items, neither of which is accurate.

[Phil316]

Re: Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

Brooks,

If a buyer returns an item questioning authenticity what happens to that item when returned to Steiner?

[pungent]

Re: Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

I am not an official spokesperson for Steiner Sports on this issue, the only official spokesperson for this matter is Brandon Steiner.

Brooks, will Brandon be coming here to address and interact with the community? As you mentioned, he is the official spokesperson for your brand and the members here would be very interested in hearing what he has to say in clarifying these issues.

[ChrisCavalier]

Re: Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

IVO the previous issues as earlier referenced had nothing to do with authenticity of an item. The issues from 2006 that I was posting on the forum and not clearly representing myself as a Steiner employee at the time. This to my knowledge is a closed issue and something that occurred years ago. If my involvement in this thread is a concern to anyone I will gladly stop at this time. I don't want this thread going off topic because of me. I was simply engaging in this discussion as a forum member who I believe is in good standing and doing so because of a request from a fellow forum member. I am not an official spokesperson for Steiner Sports on this issue, the only official spokesperson for this matter is Brandon Steiner. Again I was just jumping in as a forum member and to clear up the major accusations that were circulating regarding Steiner Sports taking returns and reselling items and knowingly selling fraudulent items, neither of which is accurate.

Brooks is correct. That matter has been resolved.

-Chris

[sportsnbikes]

Re: Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

There was a bunch of Steiner COA's signed by Jeter and Ortiz being sold stand alone on eBay. I know Steiner was made aware of it because I emailed them. They never responded and I do not think anything was done about it.

I e-mailed them also. No response here either.

[commando]

Re: Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

I am not a Steiner apologist, and I don't even own anything of much value from the company. But it makes no sense for a multi-million dollar organization to jeopardize their reputation by knowingly selling a few questionable $300 jerseys (or a $5,000 helmet, for that matter). They are heavily dependent on the information given to them by the teams and players when they purchase their inventory. In a perfect world, Steiner would employ people who sit around all day and photo match equipment... But is that realistic, especially when a shipment of two to three hundred jerseys arrives directly from the team?

Several here have pointed out some of the mistakes made by MLB authenticators, even though that program was designed to be error-proof as humanly possible (with "human" being the key word here). Mistakes do happen, and can you imagine Steiner getting a random email from someone claiming the jersey they bought isn't what the Yankees or Giants said it was? What the heck are they supposed to do? They can refund the money, which the seem to gladly do, but now what? The team says one thing, the collector says another, and Steiner is stuck in the middle somewhere.

Several great points have been brought up here, but my advice is to be careful before you accuse anyone of knowingly selling a bogus item. If you want to have more interaction with company owners/reps here in the forum, you've got to cut them some slack and give them time to figure out what the problems are, how they happened and how to fix them.

[swainer]

Re: Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

+1 Commando. I know it sucks for those with the items in question but this needs to play out first. Glad to see you back posting by the way!!!

Peace!

John

[carbonrosa]

Re: Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

I once heard that the players don't sign the letters at the same time they give them their game used items. Is that true?

This was true with the Mariano Rivera Charity Auction. I won the Robinson Cano 2013 Game used glove in mid December but didn't receive the Mariano Rivera signed COA stating he received the glove from Cano for his charity until the first week in February. Unfortunately the COA they sent had the wrong date with "Game Used 2012". I called Steiner this week and was told to mail the letter back which then they would mail me a new COA. Just not sure how long this would take since Rivera would have to resign a new one....Frustrating

[allstarsplus]

Re: Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

+1 Commando. I know it sucks for those with the items in question but this needs to play out first. Glad to see you back posting by the way!!!

Peace!

John

Well said. There's not enough there right now to point fingers at Steiner, and sometimes things aren't what they appear.

This could be nothing more than guilt by association and not sure if there is guilt until the legal proceedings play out and keep in mind that Steiner isn't even named in the lawsuit.

What I think has been exposed if even nothing comes of the civil lawsuit is that the authentication system in the stadium clubhouses are lacking as the reliance in this case is on the clubhouse manager, the athlete, and the trickle up to the team and the dealers that handle the product could be flawed.

I'm a big advocate of a better authentication system. To me, buying items that lack independent initial authentication can be tainted and that's what this whole lawsuit brings to the surface.

[jbean023]

Re: Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

I have proof of Steiner reselling a Cubs jersey that was authenticated incorrectly and I told them about it and showed them proof of everything I could find. It's a minor player but still the principle. I still buy from Steiner but do my homework. You need to do your homework in every aspect, shouldn't have to but it's the new day and age. Every auction house has listed a questionable jersey, just depends on how they resolve the issue. Just like collectors don't buy Lou Lampson items anymore, do your homework and you're okay. He didn't get to where he was by authenticating fakes his whole career, had to sell some good ones to get to where he was.

[BVC]

Re: Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

I have proof of Steiner reselling a Cubs jersey that was authenticated incorrectly and I told them about it and showed them proof of everything I could find. It's a minor player but still the principle. I still buy from Steiner but do my homework. You need to do your homework in every aspect, shouldn't have to but it's the new day and age. Every auction house has listed a questionable jersey, just depends on how they resolve the issue. Just like collectors don't buy Lou Lampson items anymore, do your homework and you're okay. He didn't get to where he was by authenticating fakes his whole career, had to sell some good ones to get to where he was.

This is only my 2nd post, but I joined this forum specifically to discuss issues I'm seeing with game-used memorabilia, so I might as well jump in at this point. I don't buy much modern game-used stuff, but I quickly discovered that the trail from the football field to my hands was littered with opportunities for mistakes.

An item goes from the player [to the equipment manager] [to 'NFL Auction' or the specific team's auction] to the final seller (auction house, Steiner, etc). Sometimes PSA/DNA enters the mix. I believe that the final buyer has the right to know what the authentication was at each step, and who did it. Until that happens, it's only safe to purchase photo-matched items.

It would be easy enough for sellers to explain this to us, but the information is sometimes out there if we do our homework, as you suggest. Example: PSA/DNA 'authenticated' game-used NFL footballs for the SuperBowl. They accomplished this by marking the balls BEFORE the game started: 120, including the special 'K-balls'. Does PSA/DNA authenticate these footballs AGAIN, after the game? or do they just take the word of the equipment manager? When these footballs get sold, will the COA's and seller descriptions say 'game-used', or 'prepared for game use'? I've personally never seen any balls sold as 'prepared for game use'.

[BU54CB]

Re: Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

I am not a Steiner apologist, and I don't even own anything of much value from the company. But it makes no sense for a multi-million dollar organization to jeopardize their reputation by knowingly selling a few questionable $300 jerseys (or a $5,000 helmet, for that matter). They are heavily dependent on the information given to them by the teams and players when they purchase their inventory. In a perfect world, Steiner would employ people who sit around all day and photo match equipment... But is that realistic, especially when a shipment of two to three hundred jerseys arrives directly from the team?

Several here have pointed out some of the mistakes made by MLB authenticators, even though that program was designed to be error-proof as humanly possible (with "human" being the key word here). Mistakes do happen, and can you imagine Steiner getting a random email from someone claiming the jersey they bought isn't what the Yankees or Giants said it was? What the heck are they supposed to do? They can refund the money, which the seem to gladly do, but now what? The team says one thing, the collector says another, and Steiner is stuck in the middle somewhere.

Several great points have been brought up here, but my advice is to be careful before you accuse anyone of knowingly selling a bogus item. If you want to have more interaction with company owners/reps here in the forum, you've got to cut them some slack and give them time to figure out what the problems are, how they happened and how to fix them.

I agree with most of what you said, except that many multi million and billion dollar companies and organizations jeopardize their reputations to make money.

Just because a company is large and has nothing to gain from tarnishing their reputation to make money, doesn't mean they won't.

[sportsnbikes]

Re: Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

I'd like to see B Cowen respond about the Steiner authentication letters being sold without the item.

How did the letters get out of the front door?

Has it been investigated by intra company employees?

[Roady]

Re: Steiner weighs in on Eli Manning controversy

If my involvement in this thread is a concern to anyone I will gladly stop at this time. I don't want this thread going off topic because of me. I was simply engaging in this discussion as a forum member who I believe is in good standing and doing so because of a request from a fellow forum member. I am not an official spokesperson for Steiner Sports on this issue, the only official spokesperson for this matter is Brandon Steiner. Again I was just jumping in as a forum member and to clear up the major accusations that were circulating regarding Steiner Sports taking returns and reselling items and knowingly selling fraudulent items, neither of which is accurate.

This is the 2nd time you have reminded us that you are not an official spokesman for Steiner and that you will stop posting if your involvement in it is an issue.

You post answers and make claims about Steiner but keep reminding us that we should not put any faith in your post.

Why are you posting answers for Steiner if your answers are not to be taken as official statements from Steiner? That would be like me posting as a spokesman for a company without being asked to do so by said company but reminding everyone that I am not the official spokesperson.
This makes no sense at all.