Kitbag has good selection, but I have had some problems recently. I ordered on two seperate occasions and after paying the shipping from Kitbag and all, they came back to me three days later telling me part of my order was not in stock. However, when i ordered it, the website said they were in stock. Now, that is fine, because they refunded me the money, but they did not refund me anything for the shipping. Thus, I ordered a total of three things for $33 and I paid $35 for shipping from Kitbag. They did not have the most expensive item in stock. It happened twice. They did make a SNAFU on one of my orders which I will not mention, but I guess you can say things kind of evened themselves out.
Occassionally SNAFUs are made I imagine. The shipping prices are ridiculosly high for kitbag. Agree they have quite extensive selection but I just can't convince myself to buy when I know the shipping is so high.
That's a good start, but what about the vinyl name, numbering, and patches? That just screams "fake Thailand jersey" to me. Thanks for dealing with the customs problem, Huss. Your assistance is appreciated.
Yeah, I don't understand the point of ordering from someplace in the UK if you live here in the States- shipping is just too outrageous, and you can find a lot of available jerseys through retailers in the States if you know where to look.
Not to laugh at the situation or anything but this whole thread is for people who've had a bad experience with $hitbag. I love their selection , the website is good, but their customer service is horrendous and they out and out deceived me (and several others on this thread) about shipping costs. Sorry for your frustration - there's certainly a massive opportunity for someone state-side to make some real cash satisfying our jersey requests.; Oh UnyunBag, why has BigSoccer forsaken thee?
I have been following this thread with a lot of interest, as I have been buying from many international soccer sites for years. Kitbag is definitely a well-known name in Europe, but I was unaware of the tremendous problems they are having servicing the American market. With all due respect, I think it is kind of crazy that Big Soccer would choose a non-US site as a front for their online shop, especially if such site does such a bad job (I base this assertion on the complains heard in this thread). A few years ago there were no good quality US-based soccer sites, but the situation has definitely changed nowadays. There are several US-based sites that are not bad at all, and hey customers wouldn't have to pay customs and high shipping costs, plus subject themselves to the volatility of the dollar exchange rate, not to mention issues such as reimbursements, telephone customer service, etc. I think that very briefly there will be a good selection of US-based sites that will be as good if not better as the best-known overseas sites. Why buy foreign when you can buy domestic? In my humble opinion, Big Soccer should reconsider whom they partner with as online shop.
Yes, if you are based in the UK and bought from Kitbag you are certainly buying domestic, and that is precisely the point of my previous message: Kitbag is a foreign company for US-based customers. While of course anybody is free to buy from wherever they want, there are already decent soccer sites based domestically in the US that can provide a good service without the hussles associated with customs duties, high shipping costs, inefficient customer service, etc. I especifically mentioned WorldSoccerShop because I think they are truly impressive but of course there are three or four other sites that are not bad at all.
Wow. I leave for BigSoccer for a while, come back a few months later and find that they've changed the layout (not so bad), the Onion Bag is no longer partners with BS (uh oh) and that Kitbag has replaced them (the horror)! Then I read this thread. What happened?!?! I must agree, why a partnership with a foreign based company when at the very least, the Onion Bag was very serviceable? I've ordered other items from the UK/Europe and I know about expensive shipping and added customs costs. Sure Kitbag might have a terrific selection but if a shirt winds up costing upwards of $120, everything included, then I'm not too sure how many of us will continue to bite at this. I'm just giving my personal opinion but I prefer a domestic vendor. Just my wothless 1 cent.
Actually, funnily enough I believe that there might be an opportunity for an US-based site to dominate the worldwide soccer e-tailing market. Why do I say that? Well, for one customs duties are much lower for soccer replica in Europe and Asia that in the US. Also, US business people are in general much more professional and trustworthy than their overseas counterparts, especially in the online world. I used to be affiliated with an important European-based soccer e-tailer that tried to aggresively target the US market but failed because it couldn't find a way around customs duties and customer service was dismal (people just didn't speak English). The truth is that with the exception of a couple of guys in England and maybe one operation in Japan I don't think there are any large serious soccer e-tailing enterprises out there in the whole wide world. Thus, the market is somehow up for grabs. Could a US-based site conquer it? Who in your opinion would be best placed to achieve that goal? What do you guys think of Eurosport's online operations? Onion Bag? WorldSoccerShop? Obviously the exchange rate of the dollar would be a key aspect to consider.
Sorry, customs duties for imports into Europe from the US are just as high - and often higher where internal duties apply in addition to DHL and FedEx charges - as imports into the US from Europe.
I was under the impression that duties for soccer jerseys (polyester) were under 20% in the European Union. They are clearly above 30% in the US (if the import is done legally of course). Duties in Japan are 12% and below 10% in Singapore, for example. Japanese soccer businesses are heavy importers of soccer gear from all over the world and they never mind paying customs duties. I know of a site in Europe that used to sell in excess of $1 million a year in the land of the rising sun. In any case, what I am really interested to hear are your opinions on US-based soccer sites. People are complaining heavily about Kitbag. Well, what alternative would you propose? My choice, again, would be WorldSoccerShop in Alabama.
WorldSoccerShop potentially has the same issues as any other store regarding fulfilment. It operates in the US but uses affiliates, where appropriate. If one orders a Premiership shirt, for example, the likelihood is that this order will be shipped from their UK affiliate, and so will be liable to all the duty and customs charges associated with this transaction since it will arrive from the UK directly to the consumer. However, I do agree that this store has a better selection and one more appropriate to the fan base of BS, and that it would probably be more logical to have such a store as a BigSoccer affiliate. However, the choice of store affiliation is not one we can effect [edit: at this time]. Meanwhile, one can always choose to purchase elsewhere.
Guys, As far as I know, WorldSoccerShop is based in Alabama and everything ships from there. As regards to prices, well that is obviously an important factor, but in my humble opinion good customer service and reliability are the most important things when buying online (provided of course that the price differential is not really huge). Selection and being current is also key. For example, WSS carries the new Korea H and Portugal AW jerseys. I haven´t seen any other US-based site yet carrying those items. WSS also has clubs Champions League jerseys, which are a rare find in the US. In my view, Onion Bag has a very nice display and the site is easy to navigate but in terms of selection I think that they do not reach the level of WSS. Do not like Eurosport´s site too much, a bit messy I think. Plus selection is limited.
You are pushing WSS to the level of spam. Even their site makes it clear that one can expect to receive merchandise from other countries
Yeah, I might be pushing these guys too far, but I just like them much better than any other US sites. Anyway, the original issue was Kitbag´s suitability as Big Soccer´s partner and whether a US-based site would make more sense. I would be interested in hearing people´s opinions as to who would make the best partner. I guess I have already made my choice clear.
Hello. I'm a tad bewildered by all this talk of duties and custom charges. In assembling my collection of soccer jerseys (over 160 of them), I have ordered and received jerseys from, among other sources: England (Subside, Kitbag, Soccer Box, Footballnotmuggybonehead) Brazil (sofutebolbrasil, another shop who's name slips my mind which has since folded) The Netherlands (Accent Sports) Spain (Deportes Aguila) Denmark (MM Sport) Japan (Shimizu S-Pulse's team shop) Switzerland (Grasshopper's club shop) Malta (Floriana F.C.) Northern Ireland (Glentoran's club shop) And, with the exception of Kitbag, I have never been charged duty or customs, as far as I can determine. Shipping and handling charges have seemed to be in line with postal rates and packaging and handling costs. Can anyone give me a specific example of having to pay duty or customs for a soccer shirt received through the mail? Citing specific costs would be a plus. Understand, I'm not saying you folks haven't had to pay duty, etc. I just personally find it far more rare than this thread implies. Considering setting up a soccer jersey smuggling ring, I remain That little old jersey collector Me
I think it's precisely because of the fact that you've never worried about customs charges from all those other companies that makes this thread relevant-- if Kitbag are to be the most heavily promoted, and most well-known on-line kit retailer, and yet they're the only ones who can't properly manage customs fees with their primary shipping partners, that's a pretty sorry commentary on the state of their international business organization. As Huss indicated, at least they're aware of the problem, and the customs charges should be sent back to Kitbag to be properly handled. However, in my opinion, the damage has been done. Why take the chance on a company that can't get something right that even the tiniest and most unknown e-tailers have never messed up? If they can't manage that properly, then what sort of SNAFU will they commit the next time you try to order something from them?
The reason customs duties are such a big issue is that duties are so high in the US for polyester items (i.e soccer replicas). As mentioned in a previous posting, duties in, for example, Asia are much much lower and that is why they are heavy importers of soccer gear from abroad. Bottom line: selling in the US is very very hard for overseas sites. Many foreigners have tried to conquer this tasty market (some actually boasting that they were going to "destroy Eurosport in one year"), but in the end duties became an unassailable hurdle (even for those willing to use "imaginative" ways around customs regulations). Customs duties is the main reason why I find it very hard for a non US site to dominate the market (and there are of course other key issues, such as shipping costs and customer care). What the US soccer online market needs is the emergence and consolidation of a couple of really top-notch sites, which I believe would also go forward to become the world's top soccer businesses (actually Eurosport is probably already the highest-grossing soccer business in the world, as a Japanese company that used to sell in excess of $100 million a year went bankrupt a few months ago).
You might be right. By the way, I have heard lots of complaints from other soccer retailers in the UK regarding JJB's very aggressive pricing policy, sometimes selling only slightly above cost. Also, Eurosport does sell abroad. I know for a fact that they send massive amounts of catalogues to Japan. Does JJB have an online presence?
yes, a poor one though. I guess with that many stores in the UK most people just go to the store. How do you know so much about eurosport - did you used to work for them ?