Everyone at Icons wants every one of our customers to get their order in time for Christmas. We will do everything we can to help but we wanted to explain the deadlines and why they are what they are, and try to lay this out as clearly as possible.

Icons use FedEx for 98% of our shipments. The remaining 2% is for shipments too Scotland, Northern Ireland the UK islands such as Jersey where we ship using the Royal Mail next day signed for service to keep costs down.

As such we have to go by FedEx's own delivery guidelines. Their general postage guidelines to us are as follows and importantly, days here refer to working days. Our post goes at 4pm each working day, we get all orders out that have come in over night and up to midday, but after that they then go out the next day from the office. This is why we say on the site that it takes 48 hours to dispatch. Then the FedEx timings kick in. If you order beyond midday on a Friday for instance, it isn't dispatched until Monday 4pm from London.

• Ireland, Benelux & Mainland Europe - next working day by 10am
• Non-EU and Eastern Europe and the Balkans - next working day by the end of the business day
• USA and Canada - next working day by 10.30am (to the vast majority of ZIP codes)
• The Middle East, Caribbean, Central and South America - within 2 working days
• China, Australasia and Africa - within 2-4 working days

We send out normal and deluxe packaged items direct from the UK office so you can get them within these time constraints (Dispatch times plus FedEx delivery times). Now things go wrong of course, like two years ago when the UK postal system ground to a halt when snow closed the airports, which is why we use FedEx. They allow us to send out tracking numbers to all our customers so they can see where their item is on the road. Two years ago most non-UK customers could see that their presents were stuck on airfields. We know FedEx is more expensive but we don't want to cut corners with the delivery of our items, we want to do everything we can to get them to you on time and in perfect condition.

 

BESPOKE FRAMED ITEMS

It takes the same 48 hours to process and order, then an overnight postage to Coventry where our framing factory is based. It takes 7 working days to have something framed. We cannot stress enough that that is working days, and does not include weekends. On our site we have the option to frame any product listed. We call this bespoke framing and up until Thursday December 6th you can get anything framed, to anywhere on the planet in time for Christmas. However, a bespoke framed item to China, Japan or Australasia needs two working days to be processed, one day to get to the framers, seven working days to be made and then 4 working days for FedEx to get it to you. Therefore an order placed on Thursday December 6th before midday, will arrive in say Australia on Christmas Eve. Hence the warning and the point of this blog and calendar.

PRE-FRAMED BEST-SELLER ITEMS

After the success last year, we are going to pre-frame a number of items again for about 25 of our best-selling shirts, boots and photos. This isn't everything on the site, just the best sellers, and there will be finite amounts of these. Because these items will be framed and ready to go we can dispatch these items with the same deadlines as the normal FedEx post. As such we can send a pre-framed Gerrard Liverpool Shirt to Japan on Monday December 19th, if the order is placed before midday UK time. We can dispatched pre-framed, deluxe and normally packaged items right up until Friday December 21st as it takes one working day to get to the UK, Ireland, mainland Europe and most major cities in USA and Canada. Obviously this leaves no margin for error on the delivery side, so if you live outside of a major city in these, or any other country, factor this into your timings.

We can dispatch an item using FedEx's Saturday delivery service to any of the countries that are within one working day. This costs more so you will have to ring or email the site and pay over the phone or through another channel. The office is on +44 020 7267 3934. Again the post comes at 4pm and we need some time to process the order, so realistically the order needs to be placed before 2pm.

CHRISTMAS EVE IS ON A MONDAY

We are working on Friday December 21st, but not Saturday 22nd or Sunday 23rd. FedEx and Royal Mail will be picking up on Friday to deliver Monday but not picking up Monday December 24th to deliver the next day of course as that's Xmas Day. Items ordered over the weekend of the 22nd/23rd unless collected or biked will not arrive for Christmas. We can bike items that day to within the M25 or you can pick up something between 9am and 5pm that day (and no later). We will have to assume any orders over that weekend that don't have an explanation email are for non-Christmas presents.

CHRISTMAS

FINAL FINAL DEADLINE

The final deadline for postage to UK, Ireland, Western Europe and major North American cities is effectively Friday December 21st before 12pm but we can't guarantee that your item will be delivered on Christmas Eve so we suggest ordering it 24 hours earlier. We can deal with biked items within the M25 and collections on Christmas Eve, but we will leave at 5pm that day and shut the office down until the Thursday.

CHRISTMAS

Of course if your item is not for a Christmas present then please, please tell us. We will assume everything is and rush around getting it sent or framed, but if it's for work, a January birthday or you don't celebrate Christmas in your country, then let us know and we can put it on a different timing schedule.

OFFICE OPENING TIMES

We are not in the office from the end of the day on Friday December 21st and will have a skeleton staff working on Monday December 24th (Christmas Eve) and we're back in again at 9am on Thursday December 27th. The days in between are all UK holidays, we will be checking the email and backend system to check if there are any disasters but we'll be on a skeleton staff rota. Tuesday January 1 is New Year's Day and a public holiday in the UK.

JANUARY SALE

The January sale always starts on Christmas Eve, so we will change the site and put up the showcased special offer products then. If you have questions about them, we will most likely respond when we're back in on the Thursday. As is the nature of January sales items that were one price before Christmas become a lower price on Christmas Day as the sales start so we won't be refunding anyone the difference.

 

 

 

Here at Icons we are very proud of our reputation and what we do. We've got a section on the site called 'Why Buy from Icons' and it lays out our credentials for anyone to have a look at.

Also one of our suppliers, Emailvision - our email marketing partner, wanted to make a video about Icons and use it as a case study for their own marketing purposes. We think it sets out our own credentials well and is worth looking at if you have any concerns about our authenticity or our professionalism.

If you interested in email marketing check out Emailvision's website.

Icons Press Release: July 2, 2012

UK Football Fans Fall In Love With Leo Messi

Signed Leo Messi products from Icons.com outselling the rest by 4 to 1

FORMER Manchester United Merchandising Director, Edward Freedman, says sales figures for Icons.com’s Leo Messi signed memorabilia prove the Argentinian maestro is now the UK’s best-loved player.

Freedman chairs Icons.com - the most trusted football memorabilia supplier in the game, providing sought-after signed shirts, photos and other products to fans and gift buyers throughout the world.

The former Managing Director of Tottenham Hotspur, hailed by The Economist as “football’s merchandising guru”, says Messi memorabilia now outsells Ronaldo, the next best selling player, by a factor of 4 to 1 and leaves Rooney and Gerrard trailing in his wake.

The Icons Chairman said:

“UK football fans love Spanish football and Messi in particular. He’s the neutral’s favourite with most football lovers now agreeing he is the best in the world, if not the best ever. The UK public has fallen in love with him.”

“Everyone wants to be close to greatness and by owning a signed Messi shirt then you’ve got the world’s very best. When Icons.com says ‘signed by the world’s best’, we mean it.”

Icons also sell its memorabilia in Harrods where the Argentinian legend outsells otherplayers by 5 to 1. Icons.com now sell his shirts to 78 countries around the world.

The company stocks ten Messi products including a signed and framed Barcelona 2011/12 home shirt; a dual signed Barcelona 2011/12 home shirt with Andrés Iniesta; a signed Adidas boot and a selection of signed iconic photographs of the great man in action.

Messi’s range of signed memorabilia outsold Icons range of other products - signed by the likes of Kaka, Robin Van Persie, Luis Saurez, Andres Iniesta and even Diego Maradona - by the bucket load between April 2011 and April 2012.

Freedman added:

“Does this mean UK football fans are getting less tribal and more sophisticated? That remains to be seen. But it does show how strong the Barcelona and Messi brands have become. They are setting new standards for the game and, in turn, reinventing the football memorabilia market.”

You can view and buy Icons’ range of signed products at www.icons.com.

For more information on this product, or Icons.com, or for interviews with Edward Freedman, please contact Ben Lee on blee@hardhat.co.uk or 07961 820 579.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. Sales figures through Icons.com from April 2011 and April 2012:

Player - Team / Nation = Units sold

Leo Messi - Barcelona, Argentina = 2021

Cristiano Ronald - Real Madrid, Portugal = 496

Robin Van Persie - Arsenal, Holland = 481

Kaka - AC Milan, Brazil = 477

Luis Suarez - Liverpool, Uruguay = 409

Andrés Iniesta - Barcelona, Spain = 386

Steven Gerrard - Liverpool, England = 365

Wayne Rooney - Man Utd, England = 274

Diego Maradona - Argentina = 261

Fernando Torres - Chelsea, Spain = 254

2. Icons has been in business since 1999. Icons is one of the oldest memorabilia operators in the country, if not the world.
3. Edward Freedman has over 40 years experience in the retail industry and in the late 80s was Managing Director of Tottenham Hotspur. He then moved to Manchester United and became Managing Director ofManchester United Merchandising from 1992 onwards. Over the next six years he transformed the commercial side of the club's operation and built Manchester United into the biggest brand in world football. He was also a key player in the formation of the Premier League and was hailed by The Economist as "football's merchandising guru".
4. Icons.com are an international brand and supply to well over 70 countries each year and haverepresentatives in North America and regularly supply customers in Japan, Australia and the Middle East.
5. Icons.com employs the highest standards in the signed football merchandise industry to assure customers of the authenticity of its products. At each event, photographs document each signature and Icons creates a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) for each item including the date and venue and a picture of the product and the signing image. Each product carries a uniquely coded Icons hologram whose identical twin is added to the COA which is signed by the Icons Managing Director.
6. Icons were awarded the world's first ever signed football memorabilia license by FIFA in 2010. This summer Icons has been awarded the first ever official license for the UEFA Champions League.
7. Icons have partnered with Sky Sports’ Revista De La Liga programme for years now. They are also now the official partner of the Abu Dhabi Media Company who own the rights to the Premier League throughout the Middle East.
8. Icons also run regular promotions with the likes of Sky Sports, The Blizzard, 442 and GuillemBalague.com.
9. A Spanish version of the Icons website is available for Spanish fans.
ENDS

Check out the new Icons home page on Google +. This will allow lots of customersa and friends of Icons from around the world to interact with us more directly. Join today and add us to your circle.

Follow Icons on Twitter too @icons_football

As you know Icons has a long-standing relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo. We did our first signing with the Portuguese superstar in 2005 when he was only 20 and had just arrived in Manchester. His years with Manchester United were especially successful for him, the team and for Icons as his worldwide popularity grew to almost unprecedented levels.

When he moved to Real Madrid in the summer of 2009 as the world's most expensive ever footballer, Icons were the first and only people to secure a Madrid signing with Cristiano. Since then Cristiano has gone on to establish himself as the greatest goalscorer in world football today, averaging 6 league goals for ever 5 games he's played in over the past two seasons.

This season he has already scored 6 hat tricks and Icons undertook their second Madrid signing with him in February this year. With Real Madrid 10 points clear in La Liga at this moment in time, surely more silverware and accolades are coming his way. Coming into his prime at only 27, and with the Champions League and European Championships to look forward too, where he is the captain of his national team, it seems that this year is destined to be a monumental one for the 2008 World Footballer of the Year.

Check out below some of the photos of Ronaldo signing throughout the past seven years with Icons. Icons are proud to have an on-going long-term relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo, we've seen him grow from his early United days into the global superstar he is today, and this trusting relationship means he only signs for Icons, and no-one else, whatever their websites may say

To view the full Cristiano Ronaldo Icons range click here

Everyone at Icons wants every one of our customers to get their order in time for Christmas. We will do everything we can to help but we wanted to explain the deadlines and why they are what they are, and try to lay this out as clearly as possible.

Icons use FedEx for 98% of our shipments. The remaining 2% is for shipments too Scotland, Northern Ireland the UK islands such as Jersey where we ship using the Royal Mail next day signed for service to keep costs down.

 

As such we have to go by FedEx's own delivery guidelines. There general postage guidelines to us are as follows and importantly, days here refer to working days. Our post goes at 4pm each working day, we get all orders out that have come in over night and up to midday, but after that they then go out the next day from the office. This is why we say on the site that it takes 48 hours to dispatch. Then the FedEx timings kick in. If you order beyond midday on a Friday for instance, it isn't dispatched until Monday 4pm from London.

• Ireland, Benelux & Mainland Europe - next working day by 10am
• Non-EU and Eastern Europe and the Balkans - next working day by the end of the business day
• USA and Canada - next working day by 10.30am (to the vast majority of ZIP codes)
• The Middle East, Carribean, Central and South America - within 2 working days
• China, Australasia and Africa - within 2-4 working days

We send out normal and deluxe packaged items direct from the UK office so you can get them within these time constraints (Dispatch times plus FedEx delivery times). Now things go wrong of course, like last year when the UK postal system ground to a halt when snow closed the airports, which is why we use FedEx. They allow us to send out tracking numbers to all our customers so they can see where their item is on the road. Last year most non-UK customers could see that their presents were stuck on airfields. We know FedEx is more expensive but we don't want to cut corners with the delivery of our items, we want to do everything we can to get them to you on time and in perfect condition.

 

BESPOKE FRAMED ITEMS

It takes the same 48 hours to process and order, then an overnight postage to Coventry where our framing factory is. It takes 7 working days to have something framed. We cannot stress enough that that is working days, and does not include weekends. On our site we have the option to frame any product listed. We call this bespoke framing and up until Thursday December 10th you can get anything framed, to anywhere on the planet in time for Christmas. However, a bespoke framed item to China, Japan or Australasia needs two working days to be processed, one day to get to the framers, seven working days to be made and then 4 working days for FedEx to get it to you. Therefore an order placed on Friday December 11th before midday, will arrive in say Australia on Christmas Eve. Hence the warning and the point of this blog and calendar

PRE FRAMED BEST-SELLER ITEMS

For the first time this year, we are going to pre-frame a number of items for about 15 best-selling shirts, boots and photos. This isn't everything on the site, just the best sellers, and there will be finite amounts of these. Because these items will be framed and ready to go we can dispatch these items with the same deadlines as the normal FedEx post. As such we can send a pre-framed Gerrard Liverpool Shirt to Japan on Monday December 19th, if the order is placed before midday UK time. We can dispatched pre-framed, deluxe and normally packaged items right up until Thursday December 22nd as it takes one working day to get to the UK, Ireland, mainland Europe and most major cities in USA and Canada. Obviously this leaves no margin for error on the delivery side, so if you live outside of a major city in these, or any other country, factor this into your timings. We are open til 5pm that day so you can call into to our Kentish Town office, or asked for something to be biked if you want to pay for it, but these are for real last minute special exceptions.

FINAL FINAL DEADLINE

We are working on Friday December 23, but not Saturday 24th. We can dispatch an item using FedEx's Saturday delivery service to any of the countries that are within one working day. This costs more so you will have to ring or email the site and pay over the phone or through another channel. The office is on +44 020 7267 3934. Again the post comes at 4pm and we need some time to process the order, so realistically the order needs to be placed before 2pm. We are in the office on each day until 6pm and in at 9am so you can call between these times, or email any time.

CHRISTMAS

Of course if you item is not for a Christmas present then please, please tell us. We will assume everything is and rush around getting it sent or framed, but if it's for work, a January birthday or you don't care about Christmas, then let us know and we can put it on a different schedule.

OFFICE OPENING TIMES

We are not in the office from the end of the day on Friday December 23rd and we're back in again at 9am on Wednesday December 28th. The days in between are all UK holidays, we will be checking the email and backend system to check if there are any disasters but we'll be on a skeleton staff rota.

JANUARY SALE

The January sale always starts on Christmas Eve, so we will change the site and put up the showcased special offer products then. If you have questions about them, we will most likely respond when we're back in on the Wedensday.

 

 

 

Icons have enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the world's most famous department store for over four years now. Our world class signed sporting items are loved by their international clientele. Harrods have been stocking our items from the world's best footballers since the start but they also now stock items from the superstars of tennis, boxing, cricket, basketball and the NFL.

This September Harrods have expanded the area in their sports department where the Icons products are showcased. The new gallery area shows off our unique, one-off and specially framed items that their customers love. If you're in town from now until Christmas check it out.

Players like Jamie Carragher are fast becoming a throwback. Liverpool's defensive rock and vice-captain has only ever played for one club, and chances are that's how it will stay. In an era where players chase lucrative wage hikes and transfers, our Icons Legend of the Week #6 stands out for his unwavering loyalty.

Like fellow Kop legends Robbie Fowler and Ian Rush, Carragher was a boyhood Everton fan. After signing up with Liverpool, however, it soon became clear where his true allegiances lay. Liverpool is his club, and he is their legend.

The boy from Bootle signed a professional contract with Liverpool in October 1996, and three months later former manager Roy Evans handed him his debut in a League Cup semi-final against Middlesbrough. Now 33 years old and in his 16th season on Merseyside, Carragher boasts a total of 669 appearances for the club, making him their second longest-serving player after Ian Callaghan.

Fittingly, Carragher's first Liverpool goal came in front of the Kop. Since that strike - a header in a 3-0 over Aston Villa in early 1997 - he has added only four more. But it's at the other end of the pitch where Carragher excels. A brave and astute defender, Carragher first cemented his place in the first team as full-back during the 1997/98 season. It wasn't until the arrival of Rafael Benitez in 2004 that Carragher was moved to centre-back, where he's been a commanding presence and a driving force ever since.

Carragher celebrated his first senior trophies at the end of the 2000/2001 season. Playing at left-back, Carragher was a regular starter in the side that won the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup.

It was in the 2004/2005 season, however, that he truly blossomed. Carragher made 56 appearances alongside Sami Hyypia at the heart of Liverpool's defence during that campaign. The formidable partnership he formed with the Finn was integral to Liverpool's successful Champions League campaign, which culminated in that famous comeback against AC Milan in Istanbul. In extra-time, suffering from cramp and with the scores level at 3-3, Carragher pulled off some typically heroic last ditch blocking to deny the Italians. His bravery and never-say-die attitude pulled Liverpool through to win the penalty shoot-out. He was voted the Reds' player of the year.

Carragher's international career never reached the same heights. He featured 27 times for the under-21 side before making his debut with the seniors on 28 April 1999 against Hungary. Despite an impressive total of 38 caps, Carragher never managed to consistently hold down a starting place, and in 2007 he retired from international football citing a lack of playing time. In 2010 Carragher was persuaded to come out of retirement by Fabio Capello for the World Cup in South Africa, but England endured a disastrous campaign, and Carragher subsequently reaffirmed his desire to devote his focus to Liverpool.

To the Anfield faithful, Carragher's international career is of little concern. With Kenny Dalglish back at the helm, there is a feeling on Merseyside that this could be Liverpool's year. The legend in the dugout will be looking to his counterpart on the pitch to keep things steady at the back. If there's one man who can make that happen, it's Jamie Carragher.

Here at Icons we obviously love a good game of football - and we also love new football games.

We've all entered the new game from Fantasty Football League. It's called Fantasty Fives and to find out more click on the link below. Personally, I've gone for Given in goal, Samba at the back, Adam in midfield with Chicarito & Defoe upfront. Good luck beating that tasty lot.

So sign up for the great new Fantasy Fives game – pick your dream Premier League 5-a-side team & win £1,000 (as well as tremendous Icons prizes)! Enter here now!

We predicted that Sergio Aguero was going to be one of the biggest names in world football when we did a signing with him way back in April 2010. Icons, as ever, was first, undertaking signings with the best players in the world.

We did Lionel Messi when he was 18 before he'd play 30 times for Barcelona...

...we did Cristiano Ronaldo when he was 20 and had just arrived from Portugal...

..and we did the first signing with Fernando Torres as soon as he arrived in England.

As each of these players has grown into a global superstar they've regularly signed with Icons, partly out of a sense of loyalty to a company that showed faith in them from an early age.

As for Sergio and his arrival in England, probably the best parallel we can draw is with his predecessor at Atletico, Fernando Torres. Before El Nino arrived, he was well-known in Spanish football but not that well-known in world terms. Within a year or so he was biggest Premier League shirt seller in the world. Aguero has the package to do the same: he plays the beautiful game in his own unique way - think Zola, mixed with Dalglish and a hint of Romario - and with his movie-star looks, Japanese nickname and Diego Maradona as a father-in-law, he is going to be a sensation over here.

We have Argentina and Atletico shirts and photos as well as Nike boots which can be framed with a Manchester City background for any fan of the Citizens. Sign up to the icons newsletter too as we're sure to make an announcement of his first UK signing soon.

Icons, signed by the world's best, spotted early by the world's best signed football site.