I suggest you don't buy online. I find it quite troublesome. California is a badminton state lol. Plenty of badminton stores around, well at least near me
Well, Jing, thats because you live in the bay area. Thats like the badminton capital (if you can call an area a capital) of CA. Here in Sac/EG/NorCal, we're not as fortunate as the SF/SD/SJ/Sunnyvale/Milpitas/TriValley/SoCal people. The only store near me is Racquet Solutions, and even then, they only stock Head rackets and strings, so not much variety, so also higher prices. OMGaBeginner09, I'm not too sure about Badminton Avenue but I can say for sure: BadmintonAlley.com is HIGHLY reliable. Very competitive prices too. And if you call your order in, talk to the manager and you may be able to get a slight discount for ordering if you order quite a bit. They also have a physical store in Sunnyvale, so if you don't like shipping and are in the area, you can simply pick it up. There's another good one in Arcadia, I forget the name, perhaps the other BCers can help us out on that one. IMO, stay away from San Diego Badminton, I've heard a few good things, but many many bad things that far outnumber the good. Not worth the trouble IMO when Badminton Alley is pretty much trouble free. If you're going to order online though, it'd be useful to know what you're looking to buy i.e. racket brands, shuttles, grips, etc. at some places, its cheaper for certain items, but more expensive for others.
well, I'm not saying buying online is a bad thing. It's just that you don't get to see your product face to face, so if there's a defect or something wrong with the shipment, it's gonna get troublesome. But if buying online is the only solution, then go for it by all means. Just be careful out there. Badmintonalley.com is a very good site as singnflip4life mentioned. There's another site: racketsupply.com It also has a physical store in Saratoga I believe, and has racket brands such as Kason and Victor. Badmintonavenue.com looks pretty legit but I believe the prices in the other stores mentioned are a lot better.
Oh of course, I'd much much rather see the product in person. Most especially if buying used, unless I am absolutely someone reputable is selling it, like Ants or Dink or Sgbad. And sending badminton rackets can get kind of finicky because of their fragile nature and odd size.
Badmintonavenue.com is a reliable and legit badminton supply store. I bought many products from them in the past and I never had problems with them. The prices vary from store to store depending on what you are ordering. What you'll find cheaper here may be selling at higher prices elsewhere and what other products may be selling higher than other stores prices. So best to shop around and check the price yourself. Also a lot of their products if add upto $100, you get free ground shipping in the USA and if you have a big order, call up and talk to someone and you'll get better pricing. It worked for me. Badmintonally.com is also a good site..no problems with them in the past either.
im curious if badminton avenue is actually reliable, i've searched up on reviews and stumbled upon one that said his shoe box was open and the shoes were used, Is badminton avenue for sure reliable???
The shoe box is always "open". How would it be closed?? And the shoes in that instance could have been tried on by someone in the physical store before ... But if you don't trust it, simply don't buy there ... simple as .
I bought all my badminton stuff (rackets, shoes, shuttlecocks, bag, grip wraps) from the store. No bad experience although my last purchase was a little over a year ago. They are located in CA.
I haven't ordered from them "online" but I've been to the gym where they ship their products. They moved their "warehouse" to their san jose location over by Fleming Court (1191 W Montague Expy Milpitas, CA 95035) The actual location is very reliable and their products are legit, though I would only recommend only buying Yonex. Most of their other brands don't move very frequently from their inventory. Depending on when you call them, you could get someone great or someone not so great on the phone. So I would take your chances when calling. They are NOT very responsive through emails though.
I have always purchased my rackets online since where I live, in Toronto, there isn't that many places I know that carry the racket I want. Often I have to weigh the cost of my purchase. I have to take into account the price of the racket, taxes, string, and shipping fee. Sometimes badmintonavenue.com offers a better overall pricing than the domestic source and if your timing is right you can get 10% discount when they have sales. The website is a reliable source of badminton equipment. They carry Yonex, Victor, Black Knight, Carlton, Adidas. If there's any problem at their end they would let you know either by email or phone. So far I haven't had any issues with them. It usually takes about a week for me to get my racket delivered. The tracking system is very good. I get updates constantly on the status of my purchase. It's $30 for shipment to Canada via USPS. And knowing that I spend too much already, they make sure that I don't have to pay extra on duty.