Cheap NFL Jerseys Online - What You Need to Know

The NFL and all of its subsidiaries and franchisees are trademarked and wholly owned by the National Football League. This can become very important if you're buying jerseys or other NFL products online. Knowing this before you hit the "Submit" button could save you time, money, and a potential headache with U.S. Customs.

All NFL products are trademarked and only licensed manufacturers, suppliers, and vendors of the trademark are authorized to sell them. What this means to you, as an online shopper, is that if you are buying a "knock-off" you may run afoul of U.S. Customs. There are a huge number of websites offering deeply discounted, "replica" NFL products out there. Well, some of them may legitimately be able to offer the real deal at better prices because they buy in bulk, but that's not what we're talking about here.

The NFL's logos, as well as all of its team's logos, names, symbols, etc, are trademarked. They are considered to be the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of the owners, namely, the NFL. When you buy a knock-off, you are basically bypassing the right of the NFL to receive its royalty on your purchase. It's not the purpose of this article to go into whether or not the NFL overcharges for the right to advertise their goods, however, when you purchase that replica NFL product, say, a jersey, you are in effect, violating trademark laws.

Obviously, that's problematic, even if you're buying from a company here in the U.S. When you make your purchase online, frankly, you don't know where your shipment might be shipped from. That's important because if the shipment turns out to be shipped directly from a foreign supplier, you run the risk of involving yourself with U.S. Customs. It's Customs responsibility to regulate and police all imports into the States, and one of their responsibilities is to uphold IPR violations.

Now, often times, you can tell if you're ordering from a foreign manufacturer. Notice those Chinese characters in parts of the website? Dead giveaway. But, often times, you won't know. The website you order from may very well be a U.S. supplier who simply has orders drop-shipped directly from their supplier, which could very well be a foreign factory. When this happens, you become an accidental importer, and, should the shipment get scanned or routinely inspected, it is you who will bear the responsibility of clearing your goods with U.S. Customs. Put mildly, Customs takes a dim view of IPR violations.

I'm not trying to scare you. Chances are Customs will simply seize your goods. They are well aware of how this situation could arise. You, in good faith, make your purchase and the vendor has attempted to circumvent trademark restrictions. It's rare that action is taken upon the purchaser, but it's something to be aware of. But for your own safety, the least you should know is that this does happen every day, and if Customs seizes your goods, that means you don't get them, the foreign supplier doesn't get them back, and who is out the money? If your online vendor doesn't honor your refund request, chances are it'll be you.