Backcountry.com, REI, EMS -- all are household names. But you (the customer) pay for that branding. Ever stumble across Basegear, Backcountry Gear, or Neptune Mountaineering? These independent gear shops frequently have great deals, offer free shipping, and are tax free. But you've likely never heard of them for a few reasons.
(1) They don't offer kickbacks to referring websites. Supertopo's PriceFinder, for example, only links to sites that will share revenues with it. Makes sense: as a website owner, I send traffic to retailers I have the potential to profit from.
(2) They are local shops first, ecommerce sites second. They don't know how to promote themselves online --it's not in their wheel house. And how effectively can they compete when competitors use robots to ship packages? Here's an anecdote: I signed up for Basegear's mailing list about a year ago and have yet to receive a promotional email.
But I digress. I'm looking for someone to aggregate these independent websites into an agnostic deal finder. The site needs to make money from traffic (advertising), not revenue sharing.
Here is a list of online gear retailers (comment if I've missed one):
Not to mention daily deal sites:
(1) They don't offer kickbacks to referring websites. Supertopo's PriceFinder, for example, only links to sites that will share revenues with it. Makes sense: as a website owner, I send traffic to retailers I have the potential to profit from.
(2) They are local shops first, ecommerce sites second. They don't know how to promote themselves online --it's not in their wheel house. And how effectively can they compete when competitors use robots to ship packages? Here's an anecdote: I signed up for Basegear's mailing list about a year ago and have yet to receive a promotional email.
But I digress. I'm looking for someone to aggregate these independent websites into an agnostic deal finder. The site needs to make money from traffic (advertising), not revenue sharing.
Here is a list of online gear retailers (comment if I've missed one):
- Acme Climbing
- Alabama Outdoors
- Alaska Mountaineering
- Al's Sports
- Altrec.com
- Amazon
- Backcountry Gear
- Backcountry.com
- Basegear
- Bent Gate
- Bouldering.com
- CampSaver
- Climb Max Mountaineering
- ClimbingGear.com
- EMS
- e-OMC
- Gear Express
- GearX
- Marmot Mountain
- Moosejaw
- Mountain Gear
- Neptune Mountaineering
- Northern Mountain Supply
- Oregon Mountain Community
- Outdoor.com
- Pro Mountain Sports
- Prolite Gear
- REI
- RockCreek
- Second Ascent
- Stone Gardens
- Summit Hut
- Teton Mountaineering
- US Outdoor Stores
- Wild Iris Moutain Sports
- Wilderness Exchange
- And many more! http://dmmclimbing.com/retailers/u-s-a/
Not to mention daily deal sites:
- LeftLaneSports.com
- TheClymb.com
- SteepAndCheap.com
- Department of Goods
- GearTrade.com
- Amazon