Buying Bowling Balls Online or at the Local Pro Shop?

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 29th, 2010

Buying bowling balls online has many benefits, however, there are certain perks that are not necessarily included in your online purchase. The article below will breakdown the pros and cons of purchasing a bowling ball online.

The main advantage of purchasing bowling balls online is that the cost will be significantly lower than the price you may find at your local pro shop. By ordering online, you may not be subject to state sales tax on your purchase. If the website you order from is based in the state that you are ordering from, you will have to pay sales tax on your order. On the other hand, if the site is located in another state than your own, you will not be subject to sales tax.

Shipping is the one cost you will incur when ordering online. Some websites choose to list their prices including a flat fee ground shipping rate. Beware, that some websites, may say ?free shipping?, when in fact they add on a service or packaging fee that can be up to $5.00 or more. Other websites will list the bowling ball at a designated price, then add the shipping charged based on the zip code you are shipping to. Depending on where you are shipping to and from, it is best to compare prices across several sites in order to get the best deal.

Top weights and pin locations are one area that many bowlers might have specific request when purchasing a bowling ball. Some of the major websites will give you the option of selecting a certain range of top weight and pin location. Most of the time they are able to fulfill your request. If not, the majority of them will find the closest match and notify you of what it is before shipping the bowling ball.

Your local pro shop can easily get you the desired top weight and pin location for your new bowling ball. In fact, many may have it on hand and ready to drill the day you show up to their business. This is one significant advantage of purchasing from a local bowling ball pro shop. Another is the fact the pro shop owner can know your game or style and be able to provide you with the necessary information to make the best decision regarding your next bowling ball purchase.

With the new bowling ball, you will need to have it drilled. There are many online pro shops that do offer a ball drilling service. Most of the time there is a form on the website to enter your measurements into. What if you don?t know your measurements? Or even the layout you need on the bowling ball? This is where the local bowling ball pro shop exceeds in service compared to a website.

With buying a bowling ball online, the service with the website is almost non-existent. Whereas a local bowling ball pro shop will be readily available if you need new finger inserts, more bevel on the thumb, or even some bowling ball polish.

These are just a few of the comparisons between buying a bowling ball online and a local brick and mortar pro shop. Make sure to shop around, measure the pros and cons of each, and you will be on your way to making an informative bowling ball purchase.

An excellent resource to read up on the latest releases and find the hottest links to by a bowling ball from is www.buy-bowling-balls.com