Nowadays, it's rather expensive to demo racquets. Most local tennis shops do not have a broad array of racquets on hand. My tennis club doesn't have the Tour 90 or Tour 95. They have the head heavy tweeners in the Wilson line but no player's racquets. Many of the shops have gone to a $5 per day per racquet charge. Then there the problem of the grip sizes and foremost, the syn gut that most demo's are strung with. Buying a used racquet, restringing it with your string may be the most economical and realistic way to demo a racquet. If you don't like it, you can sell it on these boards. New racquets are usually backordered for demo at TW. Head has a good demo program for ranked juniors where you can purchase any racquet they make for $75, up to 2 racquets a year. Now that's what I call a righteous demo program!
Expensive to demo
- Thread starter edge
- Start date
This seems expensive to you? The places I use charge a few dollars and let you have the thing for several days. Seems reasonable to me. Keep in mind that one effect of internet commerce is that local merchants may charge, or charge more, for services they used to give away, as they have figured out that you use their demos and then buy elsewhere much of the time.
Edge, you pretty much said what I've been thinking. Your point about buying a used racquet is a good one, if you're looking at a racquet that's been on the market for a while. However, if it's a racquet that's just release, you'll have limited success finding one used.
The club that I go to also has a limited selection of racquets. However, I've had some success by finding out which Pro is sponsered by which company. Then I ask that specific Pro to talk to a rep about getting a demo. The problem with this aproach is that there aren't any Pro's at my club sponsered by smaller brands like Volkl or Estusa.
The club that I go to also has a limited selection of racquets. However, I've had some success by finding out which Pro is sponsered by which company. Then I ask that specific Pro to talk to a rep about getting a demo. The problem with this aproach is that there aren't any Pro's at my club sponsered by smaller brands like Volkl or Estusa.
Yes I do think $5 per day is expensive. Take 3 racquets for a weekend and that's $30. With the new array of interesting racquets coming out, if you demo the Tour 90, Tour 95, ROK, LM Prestige M & MP, Tour 9V, Tour 10V, NXG and Diablo, you've set youself back $90. Yet, you will want to try them out to pick the most favorable racquet. My local guy let me demo the Tour 90, Tour 95, the ROK and the Tour 10V with no charge. Now they usually charge $5 per day but the the Volkl rep suggested that I get the Volkl's (for my 13 year old tournament ranked son) from him for expediency otherwise she would mail me demo's. Their Tour 9V was always out so I had to get it at another place. So when I took them back he asked me if I was going to "do" anything. I said my son wanted to try the Diablo and he refused saying that he had already let him try a number of racquets. He wanted me to bring my son in to discuss racquets with him. Now WTF? I don't want him to "sell" my son a racquet. I know enough about racquets and this sport to question my own son. Now rather than recommending this shop, I consider him a greedy shop owner. Was I suppose to "buy" a racquet from the few I tried out? Screw him, I would rather him charge me for the demo's rather than pressure me to buy when I was not ready to buy. And I have known this guy for 6 years and have purchased racquets, shoes, apparrel from this shop. We eventually decided to use the Volkl 9V supplied free by Volkl.
Larry Baldridge
New User
The thing about buying a used racquet is that you may not know how many times it has been strung, at what tensions, and what care was given to it during the processes of string removal and string installation.
BreakPoint
Bionic Poster
Why do pro shops charge for demos at all anyway? Don't they get these demo racquets for free from the manufacturers? I know most Wilson and Prince demo racquets are clearly marked "DEMO" on them. If the racquets don't cost them anything, why not allow people to demo them for free? Wouldn't that foster a good relationship with your current and potential new customers who may end up buying lots of racquets, shoes, balls, accessories, clothes, etc., from your shop in the future? Seems like an inexpensive and wise way to market your pro shop to me.
B
big r
Guest
Local shops should be charging a lot more for the demos than they are!
If I ran a shop, I'd say you're welcome to demo as many racquets as you'd like for a 3 month period. I'd charge $50-$75 for the program, then I'd sell the racquets at internet prices. This seems like a reasonable way for the local shop to add value and still make money.
If I ran a shop, I'd say you're welcome to demo as many racquets as you'd like for a 3 month period. I'd charge $50-$75 for the program, then I'd sell the racquets at internet prices. This seems like a reasonable way for the local shop to add value and still make money.
Craig Sheppard
Hall of Fame
The shop I used to use in California charged $40 for 3 months of demos. Unlimited amount of demos, you keep them for a week at a time. At the end of the 3 months, you get $40 off the price of a new racquet. That worked really, really well and was quite a deal. Of course they sold racquets at near MSRP, so you're notgetting any racquet deals, but the cost of the demo program was a steal, IMO.
-Craig.
-Craig.
LoveThisGame
Professional
BreakPoint said:
Don't leap to conclusions. Manufacturers charge for demos.
My demo policy is $5 per racquet for up to a week. Buy a frame within 40 days, and the demo money you just spent is deducted from your purchase.
A friend of mine took his racket to a local shop to get it restrung with Natural Gut. He had purchased several rackets from this shop over the last 10 years and had always returned to the same shop for restringing.
He asked the owner if he could use a demo for a couple of days while his racket was being restrung. The owner wanted to charge him $5 a day for a demo.
My friend got very upset because he had spent hundreds of dollars in this shop and also was about to spend $50 on a gut string job and the owner wouldn't give him a free demo.
He did not get a demo but he did go ahead and get the gut string job. When he went to pickup his racket, he told the owner that he had lost a long time customer because he would never come back to his shop.
He asked the owner if he could use a demo for a couple of days while his racket was being restrung. The owner wanted to charge him $5 a day for a demo.
My friend got very upset because he had spent hundreds of dollars in this shop and also was about to spend $50 on a gut string job and the owner wouldn't give him a free demo.
He did not get a demo but he did go ahead and get the gut string job. When he went to pickup his racket, he told the owner that he had lost a long time customer because he would never come back to his shop.
