Why is it that there is such a wide range of prices, for seemingly identical products among the online table tennis retailers. Are the expensive ones just ripping off their customers, or are there good reasons for their higher prices? Should you just shop around for the best price, or are there other things to consider? Well to answer that we need to discuss quite a range of issues, which I’ve summarized below.
1. Physical location and import charges
Although for online shops, the physical location should not matter, it does make quite a difference to the cost price for the distributor or dealer. For a distributor to import table tennis goods, they need to pay for exchange rate costs, shipping, import duties, customs fees and charges and taxes. All of these tend to considerably cheaper for Asian importers compared to western importers. This obviously adds to the cost of the goods. If the goods are locally produced, then almost all of these costs would be much lower.
2. Labour costs and rent
Running an online shop still requires staff and storage facilities. For some countries, like most Asian locations, particularly labour costs are MUCH cheaper than in most western countries. Rent or storage facilities can also vary a lot depending on the physical location.This obvious make the running costs of the business higher.
3. Margins
For a successful business the dealer/distributors needs to set the margins, to ensure that it covers ALL their costs, but also to make enough money to make the business viable. This margin can also vary depending on the location, as the costs and standard of living can vary wildly.
All three of these points make a case for the Asian shops to be the most viable, and since their costs and margins should be lower, their list price for products is generally lower as well. If western shops have higher prices, it certainly does not necessarily mean they are ripping you off, they may simply be determining price based or cost price and running a viable business.
Now as a consumer, you might well say that you really don't care about the costs of retailers, as it's their business not yours. You would simply shop around for the cheapest price regardless. However there are a few other important issues to consider, listed below, which may affect your decision on where to buy from.
4. Shipping costs and custom charges
Shipping costs can vary wildly, and some retailers may work out more expensive when you take this into account. In some countries, occasionally customs will hold the parcel and decide to charge import duty on it. In Australia for example, personal goods under AUD$1000 will not attract taxes and customs duties, but over this amount you'll have to pay 5% duty, 10% GST plus processing fees. All countries have different structure for this.
5. Information and extra services
Many online stores provide a no-frills sale, meaning all they do is handle the payments and post the goods. This reduces their costs, as their staff don't need to understand the goods or offer advice. However some stores will offer you lots of expert advice and information on the products. Although their costs may be higher, you're much more likely to get the right products first time, instead of having to try a few. Some stores also offer other services such as gluing, sealing, selecting products of certain weights, etc. Of course if you don't require the extra service, you can simply get advice from the stores that offer it, and still buy from another cheaper store.
6. Reliability and reputation
For some stores the cheap prices are enough to ensure continuous business, customer support or reputation is not a priority. Although you'll probably get your goods most of the time, if there are any mistakes or faulty goods, you'll have a real hard time get it resolved. You'll need to consider how important this is to you. If you can only afford a rubber from the cheapest store, then you may not have a choice, but if you're the kind that worries about shipping, mistakes or warrantee issue, you may wish to pay a little extra for the piece of mind.
7. Sales volume
Taking all this into account, there is still variations in price between stores in similar locations that we may not be able to explain. Obviously the cheaper store may simply have lower margins, but there could be other reasons for their cheaper price as well. Some of the larger stores buy goods in much higher volumes, allowing them to negotiate a better deal with the manufacturer. This may allow them to offer cheaper retail prices as well.
8. Different grades of products
One issue that many people may not be aware of, is that a few manufacturers offer different grades of products, although they are often marked or packaged the same. The grade may refer to the quality of the products, or is simply reflected in the 'quality control' of the products (i.e. consistency). They may sell the lower grade products at cheaper prices to countries that simply cannot afford the higher cost goods. Some of the online stores can buy the lower grade goods locally, and sell them online internationally as the same product. For example some of the Chinese manufacturers produces lower grade products for the local market, and sell the higher grade products to the export market, since they will pay a higher price, but demands better quality and quality control. So by shopping around you may find a better price, but it may not be the same product. It is not known if this happens to products manufactured outside China as well, but it seems to be far less likely.
Although we cannot blame anyone for shopping around for the best price, it is well worth taking the points discussed above into account, as it may just change your decision. If you are unsure about a particular retailer, a great way to find out about them are table tennis forums. Topics like retailer reputation or problems are often discussed, so search around and see what you can find out, or ask the question if you cannot find it. Sometimes the retailers themselves even run a forum, where you can discuss issues or ask questions on topics you're not sure about.
Hopefully this guide will explain some of the price discrepancies between online retailers, and help you make the right choice for YOU. There will always be the rogue retailers that simply want to make a quick gain, but we can certainly not judge or decide on a retailer purely on price alone.
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