Why are rubbers so expensive?

Originally Posted by Der_Echte

Korean American dude outright bought Joola not so long ago. Buy an existing TT brand, I guess that is one way to enter the business.

Gambler is ZeroPong's (Tom) brand. Cole sells them too. Tom does not have much of a huge market share at all, but it didn't stop him from making the brand and making it work enough to stay in business with it for over a decade. USATT big tourney vendor booth policy change put a big hurt on him though. I used Gambler rubbers the first couple years I started playing TT.

Paddle Palace, the largest USA online TT store, has its own house brand - Hunter for over a decade, but like Tom, they are not exactly dominating the market, but they do enough to keep that brand operating.

I am glad you brought this up Thomas. Those 2 USA outfits got some free publicity, a good and noble thing.

Gambler products are super dope. Great quality blades, and very good rubbers. The only con is that rubbers are very short-lived.

Originally Posted by Lazer

I find it for 30 Euros, not that cheap really, but still interesting. The package says "half sticky" whatever that means...
I'll put it on my list.

Have you used it?

Thanks
L-zr

Hi Lazer....Currently using it on FH on Stiga Azalea Off and Nittaku Septear Lead blades. Stunningly good rubber in 39 deg - was inspired to try it after yogi's excellent review here and havn't regretted it for one minute. Very grippy but not sticky - high spin, amazing control quite fast, but not super fast. Seems really durable too......Check out the review.....Cheers.

Originally Posted by olzetezkarzo

at 30 eur you will find donic bluestorm and butterfly rozena waiting at the door and they won't let you in.
the top price for chinese rubber today is around 25 eur.

Well, the sticky stuff is not for me, the rubber zentt suggested is only half sticky that could be worth trying...

Originally Posted by UpSideDownCarl

If anyone out there thinks it is actually R&D would have to answer why a rubber that has been on the market since 2008 (Tenergy) has only increased in price from about $50.00 to its current $80.00 which also can't be explained by inflation since that is a 60% increase.

T05 was relatively expensive when it first came out. T05 has had a long run. The R&D costs have not be amortized over 11 years or so. The difference in prices is simply due to asking what the market is willing to pay or price gouging.
Most rubbers don't stay as popular for as long.

Originally Posted by Lazer

Well, the sticky stuff is not for me, the rubber zentt suggested is only half sticky that could be worth trying...

what I'm saying is.... no chinese rubber is going to be superior to bluestorm or rozena....so at 30 eur a chinese rubber is no no.

Originally Posted by olzetezkarzo

what I'm saying is.... no chinese rubber is going to be superior to bluestorm or rozena....so at 30 eur a chinese rubber is no no.

I'd say most rubbers are superior to Rozena... 👿
And if it is a cheapo it will not be on the market for long. So just because it is Chinese doesn't necessarily mean it's any worse. If it's imported and sold by a known western company it is most likely OK. I would never buy anything from a Chinese web site though., then You run a big chance of getting fakes. The western stores I already know, but I don't have the energy to investigate if the oriental ones are OK or not.

Originally Posted by Lazer

I'd say most rubbers are superior to Rozena... 👿
And if it is a cheapo it will not be on the market for long. So just because it is Chinese doesn't necessarily mean it's any worse. If it's imported and sold by a known western company it is most likely OK. I would never buy anything from a Chinese web site though., then You run a big chance of getting fakes. The western stores I already know, but I don't have the energy to investigate if the oriental ones are OK or not.

chinese are not stupid.
if they ever make a "tenergy" they will charge it 70.
if they charge it 30 you know the quality of the rubber already before even trying it.

as for rozena..... it's awesome.
I prefer rozena to any non-butterfly rubber.

Hi,

I'll admit I haven't read-through all 7-6 pages worth of posts in this thread...

But, during a cursory glance through the posts, I often came across posts, about how cheap & inferior Chinese rubbers are.. Some posts even inferred that they're cheap cause they're inferior..

But guys, what about those Chinese branded Tensor rubbers (Namely DHS Goldarc, Palio Macro Era) that're made by ESN (Which is a German Co.) - How are these still a lot cheaper than most of the Euro-Jap rubbers ? Goldarc & Macro Era may not share all of the the same playing characteristics as the Tenergys, but they're, by no means, of inferior quality ..

They have same price picture as other German rubbers.

Everyone always seems to quote Butterfly as having the most expensive rubbers, but actually DHS do!! Their H3 National rubbers cost more than D05 etc.
Generally BTY rubbers are slightly more expensive, but ESN are also pretty costly. With the likes of R48 and Dynaryz matching T05.
At the other end of prices, yep it’s generally Chinese brands that are cheaper.

In another thread, discussing some new Victas rubbers, I quoted ‘Made in China, priced in Japan’ !! Recently there’s been talk that Victas want their top sheets and sponges made in China. Will these rubbers be cheaper?? No frickin way !!!

If a manufacturer was able to produce a new ‘game changing’ rubber, but only cost £1/€1/$1/¥1 to manufacture, would they sell it for £2/€2/$2/¥2, making a 100% profit?? Nah!! They would price it just above the current ‘so called best rubber’ because if the new rubber is ‘seen’ to be better then surely it should cost more ?? Or maybe slightly cheaper!!

At the end of the day, we buy the stuff at the price the manufacturers set, we have a choice, if no one bought D05 or H3 Nat then it would either be discontinued or the price cut.
Manufacturers push the envelope, we lick it and stick it !! And send them are hard earned bucks!!