I would like to hear what everyone pays there shop for a Virtual Gravity, drilled with grips and a slug?


Would it be a very competitive price if I sold this ball for 194$ plus tax, and then shipped the ball to the buyer of course drilled,etc.

      Thanks guys for your time. John

I believe most shops in my area would charge 200 -220 drilled
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tournament average: 219

tweener
medium revs
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specs and ball layouts in profile

currently throwing
Visionary (O.P. / O. SS. / Glad S.)
Rotogrip (rogue cell)
lanemasters (black pearl)

$200 out the door here
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Arsenal: Mega Friction, S-75, Break Point, Break x 2, Break Pearl,
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Maniac,Awakening,Link,Global Globe, 14# golden globe

R.I.P. Thong Princess

The pro shop I frequent usually has really good prices on low end gear, but higher prices on the high end stuff.  I believe it's $230 drilled with grips and a thumb slug for a Virtual or any other high end ball there, as opposed to like $180 for a Hy-Road or $160 for a Fast.  Then again, bowling ball prices in general don't seem to be the cheapest around me.

I think the shops in my area get anywhere from 190-220 drilled for them.

Well, what is the cost?  How much is your shop paying for the ball?  How much do you charge for a blank drill?  How much do you pay for the grips and slug, and how much do you sell them for?


The ball is selling online for around $145 shipped.  That would put the cost around $100-110, maybe even as high as $120-125 depending on your distributor and pricing levels.

Now maybe you're sitting in your 10x10 pro shop closet, working only a few hours a day and only paying a couple hundred bucks a month in rent.  Or maybe you're sitting in your 1200 square foot standalone shop, working 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, paying $3000+ for rent and also have 1 or 2 part time employees.

Maybe you only need to sell 5 balls a month to pay your bills and anything extra is gravy, or maybe you need to average 2 balls a day just to break even.

Maybe you're the only shop in town and can get away with charging $75 to drill a ball, or maybe you have 5 shops within 10 miles of you and have to give away your service to get a customer.

The way the pro shops always complain about online sales killing their business, you have all the other things to think about when setting your prices.  Every shop has a different set of circumstances.  Don't worry about what other people are doing.

Take the online price ($145 shipped) and add in your drilling price and price for grips and slug.  If you charge $50 for everything, then add $145 and $50.  That gives you $195 BEFORE shipping.  Don't eat any shipping costs. The buyer would have to pay those anyways, and then still have to get the ball drilled.  If the extra $15-20 is a deal breaker for them then let them get in the car, drive to the local shop and sit around and wait for the ball.

I'd call my uncle, but he closed his shop last year.  I imagine he'd say that ball would be around $210 at his shop - drilled w/ grips and slug, so $225-240 shipped would be fair.

Don't cheat yourself or sell low to gain a customer.  There is no loyalty these days and they'll expect the same "deal" next time.  If you can get by making less per sale, that is up to you to decide.

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Haywood
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I have seen the Base price $229  Grips $12  Slug $11 plus tax in our area works out to about $277 total