Are players in Europe (US as well) interested in lesser-known Chinese rubbers?

[suds79]

I'd be interested. That's the stuff I play with.

But having said that, I never mind the wait times from ali. I place an order and always get it a couple weeks or so later. I'm in no rush.

But if the price is remotely close, that's the part I question, sure I'm interested.

 

[AchyGeorge]

These are really cheap on Ali, but the saviga and dawei pips might be interesting for combination bat players? I tend to buy these 4 or 5 at a time and reorder when I get down to 1 in stock

 

[John_]

This is so true, unfortunately. Lots of punters have kept on asking for an explanation why the reduced stickiness by so many manufacturers but none of them has ever come forward with a straight answer.

It could be because the ball is less spinny now that they think that having less tackiness and increasing speed is what we like in Chinese rubbers. But it's the opposite for me, I liked Chinese rubbers because they gripped the ball like nothing else, when they changed that, all these rubbers lost that special thing they had.

 

[mihalichtheone]

It could be because the ball is less spinny now that they think that having less tackiness and increasing speed is what we like in Chinese rubbers. But it's the opposite for me, I liked Chinese rubbers because they gripped the ball like nothing else, when they changed that, all these rubbers lost that special thing they had.

non-tacky h3 straight up just doesn't work on w968...my old tacky h3 provincial orange 37 has such and amazing feeling on the backhand. Waiting for Battle II to arrive to completely replace h3 on my w968. It definitely has less end-power than boosted h3, however w968 is very flexible and I can add power myself.

And I couldn't find provincial/national versions of H3 NON-neo on AliExpress in 2.1 thickness, unfortunately. That would be go-to rubber right now, since it's still tacky. There's commercial 2.15, but commercial versions are just inconsistent.

When B2 arrives, I think I'll make a short video demonstrating that one can play with these cheap rubbers decently well.

 

[John_]

non-tacky h3 straight up just doesn't work on w968...my old tacky h3 provincial orange 37 has such and amazing feeling on the backhand. Waiting for Battle II to arrive to completely replace h3 on my w968. It definitely has less end-power than boosted h3, however w968 is very flexible and I can add power myself.

And I couldn't find provincial/national versions of H3 NON-neo on AliExpress in 2.1 thickness, unfortunately. That would be go-to rubber right now, since it's still tacky. There's commercial 2.15, but commercial versions are just inconsistent.

When B2 arrives, I think I'll make a short video demonstrating that one can play with these cheap rubbers decently well.

There's a lot of stores on aliexpress selling the old blue sponge provincial hurricane 3, 2.15 and 2.2 I think, honestly, the difference between 2.1 and 2.15 or even 2.2 is non existent, try it out for sure if you like it. It's around 35€ as well, super good price.

 

[mihalichtheone]

There's a lot of stores on aliexpress selling the old blue sponge provincial hurricane 3, 2.15 and 2.2 I think, honestly, the difference between 2.1 and 2.15 or even 2.2 is non existent, try it out for sure if you like it. It's around 35€ as well, super good price.

I need orange sponge 2.1, I don't like (and can't really) hit through blue sponge on w968 without 3-4 layers of booster, which I don't want to do.

On ZJK ALC BS works with 1-2 layers sure, but I simply don't like the feeling and I am a fan of ML, not ZJK

OS works with 1-2 layers perfectly well and power is enough. I guess after B2 I wiill try Prov. 2.2 OS, the price is quite acceptable..

 

[John_]

I need orange sponge 2.1, I don't like (and can't really) hit through blue sponge on w968 without 3-4 layers of booster, which I don't want to do.

On ZJK ALC BS works with 1-2 layers sure, but I simply don't like the feeling and I am a fan of ML, not ZJK

OS works with 1-2 layers perfectly well and power is enough. I guess after B2 I wiill try Prov. 2.2 OS, the price is quite acceptable..

There's also orange sponge provincial. Table tennis world store, forward sport store, global sport store, and a bunch others have it for about 25~30€.

 

[Marvinn8686]

I see, so it's mostly because of price, or are there other reasons too? Or do shipping times and reliability also play a role here? Can't speak for everyone, but from personal experience, AliExpress has been always a gamble — last order ended up taking over 42 days to finally arrive to my doorstep, communication was also incredibly poor

Im from Poland and often buy on aliexpress and have bought several rubbers from 729, Yinhe and recently Double Fish. I only buy from sellers with reasonably good opinions and usually package takes 7 days from order to being at my door. Including going through customs office (1-2 days spent there). Last time I got longer delivery time it was like year ago, but it was anyway the time as estimated on product page.

 

[You're Tacky & I Hate You]

I would definitely like to see a wider variety of Chinese rubber options in Europe/UK.

I'm In UK and my go to favourite FH rubber so far is Battle 2 pro H40. Yinhe Jupiter 3 Asia H41 A very close 2nd

A handful of stores stock B2 pro but the 2 problems I observe with UK stockists of Chinese rubber is;

1. Almost always at least double the price of Ali express. Example B2 pro: Ali £16-18. UK shops £40+ (55-60 USD at a guess depending on exchange rates)

2. They have no interest in stocking the different hardness options. You try buy B2 or big dipper or H3, the hardness is rarely listed and if you email to ask the answer is almost always H38. Which in my experience is fine if you have a strong BH but is not a good FH rubber.

So for now I stick with Ali express and wait 2 weeks for shipping. I've had no reason to complain. No fake products ever received and delivery always within estimated times.

I have recently received yinhe J3 tour H41 and B2 national H41 which I'm very excited to try.

Exceptions in Europe for getting these products are TT maximum which have a really good range of products, prices are decent. But being based in Ukraine shipping is unpredictable at the moment.

And @mocker88 does a fantastic job over at CHTT.SE impressively stocking some things I can't find on AliExpress!

 

[StreamOfWater]

There are a couple of shops in Europe that sell some of these rubbers:
🇸🇪https://chtt.se/en/products/rubber/backside (very many of the listed rubbers)
🇩🇪https://ttdd.eu/belage/noppen-innen/friendship.html
🇩🇪https://www.spinfactory.de/tischtennis-belaege.html
🇭🇺https://dhssport.com/en/729-Friendship (seems to be the only source in Europe for the 729 Battle 3 Tiger 4/Discovery 4)
🇺🇦https://www.tt-maximum.com/en/shop/rubbers (many brands)

True, some of these shops are doing a solid job already — I’ve seen CHTT and SpinFactory have good ranges.
That said, a lot of the deeper/rarer variants like Special National, Arthur China, Target Provincial, or even less known/unknown rubbers are often not available or not clearly labeled.

I'm wondering if there’s still room for a more focused store that bridges the hardcore EJ world with quick access + better selection — without the AliExpress waiting times, possible quality issues etc.

Appreciate you sharing the links though — this helps me understand what already exists 👊

 

[StreamOfWater]

🇨🇿https://www.dhs-729.eu/gb/ (no experience with it)

Right, although I am pretty sure it's mainly DHS, 729 based. Inventory is super scarce... Not to mention the prices 😅

 

[StreamOfWater]

From my experience, aliexpress has been very reliable in the past couple of years. No issues with shipping time, or the quality of the products, although I didnt use any of those rubbers for an extended period of time, so its hard to say how much they vary sheet to sheet.

Fair enough, AliExpress has definitely improved. Still, I wonder if people would be interested in something closer to home — no customs, faster shipping, more clarity with sponge versions (e.g. true provincial/national batches).

Especially with the lesser-known stuff, or even borderline unknown. Ever tried anything a bit more obscure?

 

[StreamOfWater]

Im from Poland and often buy on aliexpress and have bought several rubbers from 729, Yinhe and recently Double Fish. I only buy from sellers with reasonably good opinions and usually package takes 7 days from order to being at my door. Including going through customs office (1-2 days spent there). Last time I got longer delivery time it was like year ago, but it was anyway the time as estimated on product page.

That’s great to hear — 7 days is quite impressive. I guess it all comes down to picking good sellers and a bit of luck with customs. Out of curiosity, have you ever looked for stuff that isn’t on Ali at all, lesser known Chinese brands? What about the pricing?

 

[mocker88]

I would definitely like to see a wider variety of Chinese rubber options in Europe/UK.

I'm In UK and my go to favourite FH rubber so far is Battle 2 pro H40. Yinhe Jupiter 3 Asia H41 A very close 2nd

A handful of stores stock B2 pro but the 2 problems I observe with UK stockists of Chinese rubber is;

1. Almost always at least double the price of Ali express. Example B2 pro: Ali £16-18. UK shops £40+ (55-60 USD at a guess depending on exchange rates)

2. They have no interest in stocking the different hardness options. You try buy B2 or big dipper or H3, the hardness is rarely listed and if you email to ask the answer is almost always H38. Which in my experience is fine if you have a strong BH but is not a good FH rubber.

So for now I stick with Ali express and wait 2 weeks for shipping. I've had no reason to complain. No fake products ever received and delivery always within estimated times.

I have recently received yinhe J3 tour H41 and B2 national H41 which I'm very excited to try.

Exceptions in Europe for getting these products are TT maximum which have a really good range of products, prices are decent. But being based in Ukraine shipping is unpredictable at the moment.

And @mocker88 does a fantastic job over at CHTT.SE impressively stocking some things I can't find on AliExpress!

Thank you I'm doing my best to keep good stuff in stock...

 

[Marvinn8686]

That’s great to hear — 7 days is quite impressive. I guess it all comes down to picking good sellers and a bit of luck with customs. Out of curiosity, have you ever looked for stuff that isn’t on Ali at all, lesser known Chinese brands? What about the pricing?

Regarding chinese sites now Temu is in Poland more popular than aliexpress, but their table tennis offer is inferor. Not all rubbers I normally buy at ali are there and if they are, the price is higher. While reading about and checking even more chinese rubbers is kind of guilty pleasure for me, I do not venture into less popular, other-than-Ali shops. The man-in-the-middle shops in EU have always prices with like 30-50% overhead. Mostly from Ali sellers it is free shipping when you buy for more than 40 PLN ($12) and you can gather the sum over whole cart collected from different sellers. Not all sellers are in this programme, but best TT are.
If you know any chinese websites worth recommending I am all ears - the topic of little obscure chinese rubbers not even available on Ali got my attention