💬 Discussion 💬
I run a small UK padel retailer AMA
Happy to answer questions about rackets, suppliers, margins, fraud, or building niche e-commerce - hit me!
Comments (32)
u/mind12p5w ago
Do you build an inventory of every racket brand or order them from the suppliers after the incoming order? Is it worth it to store them?
My assumption is that you could lose a lot by picking unpopular rackets.
Do you keep the free/low priced test rackets to provide them to buyers or sell them as well?
One of the hardest part in padel is picking a suitable racket but testing opportunities are non existent.
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we track what sells, suppliers help, sometimes random ones you wouldn’t think become your best seller (vertex hybrid), you end up with some dead stock but always try to improve and if you have to sell a little end of season at cost so be it.
but yeah we gotta hold stock - if people choose to order from a UK based businesses - they expect 24/48h delivery times, as would i!
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u/No-Interest49945w ago
Ha, ordered the vertex hybrid and will be delivered today. Going to try it this evening.
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u/spagnumzwei5w ago
How do avoid getting high on your own supply?
(How can you choose a racket, when you can just pick a new one everyday!)
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u/Environmental-Path325w ago
What is the margin on a top racket? I will assume it should be good because they can drop around 200 in almost one year.
What tier racket sells the most high, medium or low?
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30/35% across the year and you get discounted rates as the year goes on. So end of year you can pick up rackets for cheaper, sell for cheaper etc. Occasionally this can be higher (new releases) and on stock distributors/brands are overstocked on you might get an offer if you buy so many etc
medium - high
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u/PrestigiousShapedro5w ago
Do you have any idea what the opportunities are like for coaches?
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In the UK? We are crying out for good padel coaches and the money is good - generally lessons in and around London range from 70-125 p/h
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u/throwawaynewc5w ago
What fraud do you encounter in this line of work?
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Credit/bank card fraud on orders is pretty persistent
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u/spikefly5w ago
1. What are your favorite brands?
2. Notice any quality differences?
3. Any underrated brands (less popular but well built)?
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1. oxdog - for the build quality
2. siux seem to throw their rackets out the door - always chips and marks on them
3. hmm, tricky.. maybe Hirostar
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u/alwaysoverneverunder5w ago
The Siux one is strange. My wife and I have been playing with Siux for years now and the rackets were always pristine when we got them. They take a beating during play and do chip, but usually on the top edge where it doesn’t really matter. Currently playing with a 35 euro Siux that I really like.
The weird thing is we encounter a lot of people in our club that have issues with the Bullpadel Vertex where the face breaks just from smashing in a couple of months.
I wonder what causes the differences. How stock is stored, where you get the racket, good packaging and transport from factory, actual quality based binning and selling the inferior binned ones to certain retailers?
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u/Due-Instruction-26545w ago
Do you genuinely care if the customer buys what is good for them or are you ok with selling what sells?
The reason I am asking is cause when we were choosing a racket for my wife, I asked the sales guy to give me a rundown of the specs. He said *whatever I say doesnt matter, women ultimately choose the racket based on the design/colour* Then my wife proceeded to choose the PRETTIEST racket. Granted, I think it is also a great Bullpadel racket, but alas.
So, do you care if a customer makes a sort of a mistake?
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u/phillipcarlyle5w ago
Can you share some details on how you procure product? What do you buy for and are you required to sell at a manufacturer price?
How much inventory do you hold at one time?
Very cool to start a padel business. I’m jealous.
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We deal with brands and their local distributors and distributors further afield, some are easy to deal with and welcoming to smaller retailers and some are not. Having multiple sources is important though as padel grows, especially as fast at it in the UK as supply of popular rackets can be hard to maintain - so don’t have all your eggs in one basket. Manufacturer price is important yes, there is a lot of pressure on this - some bigger retailers can get away with bending the rules a bit more than us.
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u/Medium_Cockroach47265w ago
How did you start? I’m interested in launching a padel business as well in Belgium. But only want to do dropshipping. Can you give some tips?
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Find some suppliers / distributors - see if they'll help you drop ship and build a website
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