Product Trends Magazine

About Pro Sports Memorabilia: Pro Sports Memorabilia offers one of the largest selections of authentic sports collectibles around. Unlike some companies or individuals that specialize in sports memorabilia, Pro Sports Memorabilia only sells items that come directly from the athletes themselves.

The big pitch: Are you an avid sports fan who enjoys collecting an assortment of memorabilia? Perhaps you have a favorite team or player that you admire. While collecting sports memorabilia can be both exciting and rewarding, many buyers are often hesitant to make a purchase. How do you know you’re getting exactly what you’ve been promised? Buying sports collectibles can be expensive and not all dealers are trustworthy. Fortunately, sports fans from around the world can now turn to Pro Sports Memorabilia.

All items sold by the company are officially licensed by the MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL. No matter what type of product you wish to purchase, you can rest assured your item is authentic. Over the years, Pro Sports Memorabilia has established an ongoing relationship with several famous athletes including Dan Marino, John Elway, and Vince Carter. This allows them to provide customers a constant supply of some of the best sports memorabilia available.

The company offers a wide selection of sports collectables including those from some of the less popular sports such as tennis, soccer, or boxing. Whether its photos, clothing, or autographed game balls that you desire, Pro Sports Memorabilia can provide you with the items you need. They even carry a number of NASCAR items for racing fans. Whether you collect sports memorabilia for yourself or your business, Pro Sports Memorabilia can provide you with top quality name brand items that have the endorsement of both the players and the establishments. You’ll no longer need to be concerned about an item’s authenticity.

At Pro Sports Memorabilia, all signature items are obtained from athlete appearances. Pro Sports Memorabilia have a number of popular autographed items that make the perfect incentive award for companies to give their employees. Whether you’re looking to boost overall morale or just award the outstanding achievement of one individual, Pro Sports Memorabilia can provide you with a number of affordable gifts to choose from. Instead of the usual ink pen or mug, why not give your employees a gift that they’ll truly appreciate?

Company rating: Pro Sports Memorabilia is one of the most trusted names in the sports collectables industry. They offer authentic quality items from a number of different sports. Best of all, purchases can be made 24 hours a day via their website or toll free number. In addition, most in stock items will ship the next business day. Four and a half stars.

About StarStruck/Proteam: StarStruck is one of the biggest catalog and internet retailers of licensed Major League and Minor League goods and merchandise. Not only do Star Struck / ProTeams produce their own catalogs, they are also responsible for the official catalog for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Baltimore Orioles and the New York Mets. Star Struck/ProTeam stocks an enormous range of sports-related goods, including (amongst other things) caps, T-shirts and jerseys, as well as paraphernalia and collectibles. Customers can browse their impressive selection over the internet or in their attractive print catalogues.

The big pitch: Not only does Star Struck/Pro Teams stock merchandise for all the major and minor leagues of baseball, football, basketball and hockey in the United States, their range also extends to soccer, auto racing and college goods.

If you are a sports fan that likes to show your loyalty by wearing your team’s gear, then Star Struck/Pro Team is the perfect place for you to shop! If you are looking for a gift for a sports enthusiast, then look no further because you are almost guaranteed to find the ideal present at Star Struck/Pro Team. And Star Struck/Pro Team makes gift-giving even more hassle-free, since you can easily browse their goods and pay online, as well as arrange for direct shipping to the gift recipient at the same time.

Star Struck/Pro Team also carries an impressive international range of sports goods, as well as patriotic paraphernalia such as USA Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines items. If you want to add that very personal touch to your item, you can arrange for your cap or jersey to  your name or your favorite player’s name.

Star Struck/ Pro Team has exceedingly high production standards and their major league sporting merchandise is made from only the best and most durable fabrics and materials. As such, you are assured of getting a strongly-stitched, long-wearing item to take you through season after season of your favorite sport.

Product Trends Rating: Star Struck/ Pro Team is THE website for sports fans. Whether you are a die-hard or a dilettante, Star Struck/ Pro Team offers an absolutely massive range of items spanning both American as well as international teams. Because of their focus on excellent production techniques, their goods are without doubt the best quality merchandise of their kind, and with easy pay-online options, shopping is a pleasure. Star Struck/Pro Team rates 4.5 stars.

It’s played in coffee houses from Tehran to Timbuktu, and it has been since the days of Alexander the Great. The game is backgammon, and it hasn’t changed much over the years. That is, it hadn’t changed much, until the advent of the internet. Now, this ancient pastime that combines luck with skill, talent with instinct, has a new home, and literally millions of new devotees.

Internet backgammon allows you to find a litany of strangers (and friends) to play against with just the click of a mouse button, and on sites like PartyGammon.com (a subsidiary of the world renowned PartyPoker.net), you can even gamble on your game.

Of course, you don’t have to gamble – it’s easy and free to play using the PartyGammon backgammon school, in which you get to use tutorials and no-wager games to your heart’s content, but when you’re ready for the big action of hardcore betting, you’re perfectly able to do that using their proprietary software.

There are always thousands of players on the system, and the PartyGammon.com folks offer a wide variety of different backgammon games, such as HyperGammon (in which each player only has three pieces), and NackGammon, where each player has four pieces at the back instead of two. The system also offers the option of speeding up standard games by setting them to 45 second turns, 30 second turns, or even 15 second turns.

To make things even more interesting, you can choose to join one of the regular tournaments, in which you can win big cash prizes, or even the annual one million dollar backgammon championship, with a first price that’ll see you quitting your job and never working another one again. If you enjoy backgammon (or even if you’re new to the game), try it out at PartyGammon.com – you can learn for free, take advantage of their tutorials, meet new friends who play at the same level, and climb the ladder to a million dollars – what more could you ask?

Try it now at PartyGammon.com

About the company: "For those interested in online gambling, there are literally hundreds of websites devoted to sports betting available. Betting online is a fast, fun and safe way to enjoy gambling but wading through all of the options can be time consuming. SportsInteraction.com makes the whole process a no-brainer. With a whole suite of betting options available, you’ll want to get started with its easy sign-up process right away."

The big pitch: Fast, Easy and So many options.

SportsInteraction.com is your full service online sportsbook. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week SportsInteraction puts all of the latest betting information at your finger tips. Access your account, transfer funds and place bets at your convenience.

Add to that a 24-hour customer service line and you’ve got one of the easiest sportsbooks to deal with period. Bet on the world’s leading sporting events with up to the minute odds and a variety of different betting betting options. Point spreads, teasers, combination bets are among the few. Its your choice to decide how you want to play.

Inevitably any business is going to have the occasional dissatisfied customer. In our search for customer feedback on SportsInteraction, we noted a few unsatisfied customers. Of the few that we found, the complaint all seemed to center around payout issues. The common factors in these situations was that deposits were made, but the users wanted immediate refunds for a variety of reasons. It seemed in a few cases that no consideration was given for deposit verifications. SportsInteraction resolved the situations quickly, and many are still using the website for all of their online betting. So then how do you get paid? Fill out an online form specifying your payout amount and the form of payment and your payout is mailed to you the next business day.

SportsInteraction has more then just sports betting available. It is also a full-featured casino-style gaming site. With a variety of game types to choose from, everyone will find something that excites them. There are even poker tournaments available for those interested. Opening an account was quick and fairly easy. Just a form to fill out online and as soon as money is deposited, you are ready to begin placing your bets. Deposits are accepted via Credit Cards or E-check for United States residents. You can also mail in a check or money order (Just make sure to allow mailing and processing time). With a minimum deposit of only $20, it is really easy to review what the site has to offer without making a big commitment. So from Sports betting to Casino style gaming, SportsInteraction.com is your one-stop gaming site.

The Product Trends rating: All in all when it comes to online betting, there are so many choices and many of them are too similar to give them a second glance. Licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, SportsInteraction stands out from the pack by providing a solid online interface and a streamlined betting system that gives you an unparalleled sportsbook experience. Four and a half stars.
–Reviewed by Cygnus Dean

To try Sportsinteraction.com for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: "Betfair is the world’s leading online betting exchange, a concept it has pioneered. Driven by cutting-edge technology, Betfair enables punters to choose their own odds and bet against each other, even after an event has started. Betfair processes more than 3m transactions a day and at peak times matches more than 12,000 bets a minute."

The big pitch: You choose the odds you’re prepared to accept, or lay odds for other users to bet with you!

If you’ve ever been involved in sports betting, you’ve probably cursed, like we have, the fact that if you don’t like the odds on offer, you’re kind of screwed. If you’re convinced that the New York Yankees will beat the Houston Astros, but the line is heavily in New York’s favor, you can either bet a lot of money to win not much back, or you can win not a lot of money and barely even make a profit.

But Betfair changes all that by hosting the world’s first betting marketplace where you, the user, decide what odds you’re prepared to take on just about any sport there is, and other users either accept those odds and take your bet, or set their own odds that they hope you’ll agree to. Think of it as eBay for sports gambling odds.

The reason this is a good thing is simple - somewhere out there, there’s a sucker who honestly believes the Tampa Bay Devil Rays will beat the Boston Red Sox, and they believe in that theory so much that they’re prepared to offer you good odds in the hope that they’ll win your money. You, on the other hand, know better, so you take that knucklehead’s bet and when the Sox cream the Dev’s, you clean up.

If you’ve ever wanted to be a sports bookie for a day but didn’t have the resources to do so, this is your chance. If you’ve ever wanted to add a little spice to the Denver Broncos game, but didn’t have any buddies around to bet with, this is your chance. And if you’ve ever wanted to bet on the NHL, profesisonal handball, greyhound racing, snooker, rugby league, Australian Rules football, darts, cricket, chess and whether or not the FTSE-100 will go up or down today… this is your chance.

When you make your bets, there’s no tax to worry about and no commission to Betfair itself. In fact, you only ever pay a commission on your NET winnings in a given market - so if you lose, there’s no fee beyond the money already lost. If you win, you can keep on gambling and pay a 1.5% commission to Betfair on your FINAL winnings, which is fair enough. On top of that, Betfair’s research has found that, on average, the odds you get through their website come out to 20% better than what you get from professional bookies.

Now, if you’ve been reading this far, I’m thinking you have one very important question left, and it’s one of those questions that are always worth asking when a casino or gambling website is involved - is the company behind it reputable. Well, let me tell you this: In 2003, Betfair won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the UK, which allow them to carry the Queen of England’s emblem on the website until 2008. This award is only given upon recommendation of the Prime Minister of England, and following a full assessment by the UK Department of Trade and Industry, so that’s a pretty big deal. The half million bets lodged daily through the service are the cherry on top. Join today!

The Product Trends rating: In all honesty, we love this concept and believe it’s the future of online gambling over the next decade. As thousands clamor to play online poker (which you can also do at Betfair), the next big thing will be person-to-person bookmaking, and Betfair is the only place we’d trust to do that properly and securely. Five massive stars.

To try Betfair for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: We sell more hockey equipment from Bauer, Mission, Itech, Gear, Tour, Shock Doctor, TPS, Easton, CCM, Eddy, Oakley, Koho, Eagle, Reebok, Kuzak, BSB, Hyper, Factory and Nike than anyone! […] Hockey Giant’s business is carried on in a modern 55,000 sq. foot warehouse operation in Carlsbad, California which features a state-of-the-art inventory management and control system, teleservice, warehouse pick, pack and shipment, and customer service operations, all of which support the company’s internet and retail store operations.

The big pitch: Millions of dollars of new inventory, and live online help and call center support.

For a lot of formerly enthusiastic hockey fans, the return of pro hockey to the North american sports scene won’t register more than a ripple of enthusiasm, but for the millions of kids that strap on the skates each winter and play the game because they love it, you would almost think that hockey never left.

This year, as the kids prepare for another big winter season, parents will once again be forced to look far and wide for good quality, low-priced hockey equipment, and those paying attention will go no further than Hockey Giant.

If you’re looking to spend no money on your kid’s hockey habit, you’re probably already spending more time than you’d like in places like Wal*Mart, looking for a good deal and trying to nickel and dime the purchase to the nth degree. But here’s the problem with that: Wal*Mart sucks. Their products suck, their prices, while cheap, are cheap because the goods themselves have been produced in a way that can undercut the usual quality items.

To be sure, if you want a cheap toilet brush, go to Wal*Mart and pay a few cents for a piece of plastic. But if you want your kid to be safe, if you want them to have good quality equipment that will help them play well, if you want to only buy a pair of skates ONCE, and not have to replace them every few months when they fall apart, then you need to wean yourself from the bargain bin habit and look for a quality supplier.

Which is not to say that Hockey Giant is expensive - it isn’t. In fact, under the company’s clearance page we found deals like Bauer Mega 20-50 youth inline hockey skates marked down from $109 to just $39, and Hyper Titanium junior inline hockey pants marked down from $99 to just $29. We even found BSB Professional Race Oil discounted from the original price of $12.99 to just TEN CENTS!

Hockey Giant’s regular prices are decent to begin with, and regular weekly specials offer great deals on ice skates, goalie skates, elbow, shin and shoulder pads, helmets, composite sticks and shafts, wood sticks, replacement blades, hockey jerseys, caps, inline wheels, bearings, stick bags and much, much more. In fact, sign up for their specials newsletter, and when the prices hit the floor, you’ll be the first one in line to pick up the good deals.

Hockey Giant takes the usual line-up of credits cards, but one thing worth noting is that they also take Paypal payments - and for orders over $150, they’ll ship it to you for FREE!

Got a product question? During office hours their website features LIVE SUPPORT from someone at the company. Not sure about sizes? They can set you straight. Uncertain what piece of equipment will best suit your 8-year-old? They’ll help.

The Product Trends rating: Four stars, without question. This is a well run organization with great prices, a useful website, and whether your kid is a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, or a budding prospect, you’ll find whatever you need at Hockey Giant.

To try Hockey Giant for yourself, click the image below:

Do you have a sports-oriented website? Plenty of people do, and a common mistake those people make is by not tweaking their content to include keywords that will draw in more traffic. Even if your theme is baseball, a mere mention of the word "NFL" can bring ni people who would otherwise have missed your site altogether. Add "memorabilia" and the numbers start to ramp up considerably… so check out our list of the top 15 most popular keywords in sports searches and make changes accordingly:

1. Sports Memorabilia
2. Sports Recreation
3. Sports Gambling/Book/Betting
4. Sports Tickets
5. Sports Illustrated
6. Yahoo Sports
7. Fox Sports
8. EA Sports
9. Sports Medicine
10. Sports Car
11. Sports Nutrition
12. Card Sports
13. Water Sports
14. Sports Movies
15. Sports Bras