Brandon Steiner, the Scarsdale resident whose name has been synonymous with sports memorabilia for 32 years, has created a new website for buying and selling collectibles. This follows the Oct. 29 date Steiner Sports Memorabilia Inc., had given the New York State Department of Labor for closing its headquarters at 145 Huguenot St. in New Rochelle and laying off all 60 of its employees.
After building Steiner Sports Memorabilia into a significant force in sports collectibles, Steiner sold it to Omnicom in 2000 and remained with the company. Earlier this year, company assets were sold to global sports merchandiser Fanatics Inc., and Steiner was forced out.
Steiner”™s new internet venture, CollectibleXchange.com, had been conducting beta testing for several weeks before going live for full public use in the first week of December.
“We have about 6,000 or 7,000 items and are growing at a rate of about 1,000 items a day,” Steiner told the Business Journal.
Website operation and maintenance are handled by an outside contractor, while Steiner has set up a location in Yonkers where 11 employees are at work. They receive items sent by collectors who want to sell, arrange for authentication of autographed items, process collectibles newly-supplied by athletes and others and ship items to buyers. Steiner said that he plans to add additional merchandise hubs around the country as the operation grows.
Rather than just being a website, Steiner wants to position his new online presence as a marketplace where collectors, sellers, sports stars, celebrities and others can feel comfortable. Among the services available are appraisal, authentication, framing and consignment sales. Although the website was built to offer merchandise at fixed prices, Steiner is planning to add auction events.
Over the years, Steiner was known for having exclusive arrangements with prominent sports stars who would autograph items only for him. Among them were Eli Manning of the New York Giants, Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks and Mark Messier of the New York Rangers.
“I had a ton of exclusives from Muhammad Ali and Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera and everybody else, but now I think I”™d rather just be a party with the player to show them how to activate this business, make the most amount of money, and make my small cut,” Steiner said, discussing his plans to partner with various sports stars to help them build their own collectible lines. This would include giving the celebrities access to customer emails and data the website receives.
“I”™m going to help them put a collectible line together that makes sense for them and for the consumer and not press them to do things they don”™t want,” he said. “I”™m going to help them with licensed products and apparel and different things we can create together.”
Steiner noted that his experience in selling on the internet goes back to the late 1990s, when it supplemented what he was doing in brick and mortar retail space. Today, internet sites such as eBay have brought sports collectibles to everyone”™s computer, tablet and smartphone. A recent search of eBay in the sports collectibles category found 749,686 items for sale.
Steiner said that feedback he”™s gotten indicates collectors have two major concerns.
“I think authentication is number one ”“ safety and being sure things are real. And price is an issue.” He noted that price is an important issue for sellers as well as buyers. “The most frequent question I get asked is ”˜I have something, what is it worth?”™”
Steiner, age 60, continues to offer his services as a motivational and inspirational speaker. He has written books on business and personal success. He founded The Steiner Agency, which arranges personal appearances by athletes along with events for corporations and organizations.
“People ask me, ”˜Why don”™t you just retire,”™” Steiner told the Business Journal. “I love the business, particularly enjoy the interaction with the athletes and helping them get their brand extension, and the customers, and the ”˜wow”™ thing.”
