By barclays 
Last week my nephew begged for official Premier League emblems to decorate his football boots. Honestly, I had zero clue where to get legit ones without getting scammed. So here’s exactly what I did:
The initial search mess
First I just typed “buy Premier League badges” into my phone while drinking morning coffee. Big mistake – thousands of results popped up like bargain websites and dodgy marketplace listings. Saw tons of emblems priced stupidly low, like £2 each. Felt sketchy as hell since real merch shouldn’t cost less than a coffee.
Filtering out the garbage
Decided to ignore any site that: had spelling errors, showed stock photos only, or lacked customer reviews. Clicked through about 15 sites before lunchtime. Found several that looked professional with actual product photos but noticed three had exact same images – total red flag. Also realized many weren’t official partners after checking the Premier League’s authorized retailer list on their site.
Testing the checkout process
Narrowed it down to four shops. Pretended to buy something cheap like keychains to test them. Two had crazy shipping fees at the final step (£15 delivery for a £5 item!). One asked for weird extra verification via email instead of standard card payment. Only one had smooth checkout with multiple payment options and clear shipping costs.
Verifying quality
Before committing, I checked fan forums and Reddit threads about emblem quality. Kept seeing complaints about flaking paint on badges from auction sites and random resellers. Somebody posted close-up shots comparing official vs fake – real ones have thicker stitching and holographic stickers on the back. Made mental note to always zoom in on product photos for those details.
The winning finds
Ended up with three reliable spots: one mega sports retailer that ships globally (takes a week but tracking works), another that specializes in club-specific gear with cool vintage designs, and surprisingly, a football memorabilia shop that does custom framing if you want display cases. All three showed proper licensing info at the bottom of their pages. Nephew got his United badge in 4 days – stitched perfectly onto his cleats!
Biggest lesson? Official stuff costs more for a reason. Never trust sellers using vague terms like “genuine style” – that’s code for fake. And always check shipping policies before getting excited about prices.
