Last night at league I was warming up next to a guy who has been bowling for decades.  He's not real interested in being an awesome bowler or anything, just there for the atmosphere.  But he of course has a relatively new ball like most people in the league.  

He asks me, "How much did that new ball set you back?" (pointing to my nugget)
I respond, "Um, it was a christmas present, but it costs about $225"
He responds, "Yeah mine set me back $209, and that's with a discount!"

He was holding a WOW.  Now what do I do?  Tell him that he overpaid by 50% on a ball?  Tons of people are really paying too much money at the local proshop for whatever reason.  I don't want to put him out of business or anything.  He's a nice guy and all.  He just charges outrageous amounts.  He will charge something like $230 for a throttle drilled, same with an inferno, and any other TOTL.  A Bruiser he will charge I think $185 drilled.  I don't know if he doesn't get a sellers discount on the balls or anything, or his volume is so low that he needs to charge that.  

My point is that I am torn on whether to say something to his patrons of years that they can save a bundle elsewhere, or let them be.  I know I wouldn't buy from him, because I get my TOTL stuff for much cheaper.  I'm sure others here have come accross this issue.  What do you do?  For now I've just decided to say nothing except to my own teammates regarding pricing, but eventually someone else will ask me the same questions, and the same thing will go through my mind.

If they are stupid enough to pay those inflated pro shop prices, then its their fault.. If you do say soemthing to anyone, you risk being the bad guy if the pro shop guy finds out you where the one telling them..

I would still tell them, thats my 2 cents.. I get tired of hearing about riduculos prices pro shop people are charging..
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If they only made a ball that would carry that d*mn 10 pin..

jkiser01

My point is I don't think the owner is "ripping people off" I think he charges what he thinks is fair.  He only runs the shop as a second job because he loves bowling.  

I do think the prices are pretty high though even considering the standard of living in the San Francisco Bay Area.  I shop around a lot and I find the mean price on a ball like the WOW to be no more than $150.  On a TOTL it would be more like $200-$210.  So we are looking at a substantial savings to the potential customer.  

I do understand the markup.  That's why I'm not saying they overcharge by $100.  But if one proshop charges a lot more than another, is that an acceptable markup?