Bat RENTAL!

I always thought if I could rent various bats in different sizes to try I would blow a lot of money on it. ***EDITED TO ADD***. THIS ISN'T EXACTLY WHAT I HAD IN MIND WHEN I SAID I WOULD BLOW MONEY ON BAT RENTAL! DO NOT DO THIS! I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS INTERESTING THAT SOMEONE IS TRYING IT!***** Both of my dd's have tended to swing odd sizes especially when they were young. It's always been a challenge to find a length/weight/model to try. I think that Demarini's "demo house" plan is spot on and I'm a little surprised every company doesn't do it. Must be risky. Can't tell you how much I wish my kids would have been willing to swing Demarini's for the demo house reason alone.

I also thought many times that if someone rented bats even short term there would be a small but enthusiastic market. Looks like someone is taking a chance on this.

Gear purchasing, payment plans, and month-to-month rentals. – Baseball Forest

I'm no businessman but it feels to me like they are sticking their necks out a bit.

High risk...but damn...prices are ridiculous and they will make huge dollars on a bat in its rental span.

CF8 monthly rental is 96.00 bucks and you have a 2 month minimum rental...hahahaha. You almost paid for the bat after 2 months anyway. You paid more after the 3rd month than if you bought the bat.

I really don't know where the savings for the renter is. 200 bucks atleast
to rent a CF8, then if you wanna try another bat...wow. I would rather
buy the bat for a little more, if I don't like it, sell it on the boards
and only lose a couple dollars.

Great for the company, minimum 2 month rental almost pays for the bat and the rest is gravy
or they probably get full retail if you want to do the 4 month to pay.

I do agree, chasing people down that may keep the bat would get tiresome.

There is a reason this isn't popular to do

CoreSoftball20 said:

High risk...but damn...prices are ridiculous and they will make huge dollars on a bat in its rental span.

CF8 monthly rental is 96.00 bucks and you have a 2 month minimum rental...hahahaha.
You almost paid for the bat after 2 months anyway. You paid more after the 3rd month than if you
bought the bat.

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Not even factoring in that if you bought the bat, used it for 2 months, then sold it on eBay or something you'd probably get back enough to make the 2 month rental too expensive.

aec4444 said:

Not even factoring in that if you bought the bat, used it for 2 months, then sold it on eBay or something you'd probably get back enough to make the 2 month rental too expensive.

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for sure this...you can buy a bat brand new in wrapper for $350 use it for 2 months sell it for $250 and you come out ahead.

You can basically rent a bat for the year for $150 without even trying, buy brand new $350 sell for $200 in your sleep.

and if you buy from Core you could basically try a bat for a month and if you really did not like it re-sell used and probably only be out $75 or less.

djcarter1966 said:

and if you buy from Core you could basically try a bat for a month and if you really did not like it re-sell used and probably only be out $75 or less.

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Probably only be out like 25 bucks

Here's the kicker....
"If You return a Product that is damaged beyond normal wear and tear, then You agree that We shall charge You, and You shall pay, for the price of replacing the Product, as determined in Our discretion, up to the Retail Value for the Product."

So, if the bat breaks, you have to pay what they deem a "replacement cost", plus lose your deposit. And what you paid in rentals doesn't go toward this. I'm pretty sure they're not buying from core either, so they are going to charge you full retail, not even their distributor cost.

We have a store locally that will let you rent a "demo" bat for $20 a weekend. When you return it you get a $20 store credit. At the end of the year they sell the demo bats at a discount. I have used it several times and both DD's and DS have played with bats that were well outside my price comfort zone. Then when the winter comes along I have bought the same style bat new when they are on sale/closeout. Was a win win for us.

djcarter1966 said:

for sure this...you can buy a bat brand new in wrapper for $350 use it for 2 months sell it for $250 and you come out ahead.

You can basically rent a bat for the year for $150 without even trying, buy brand new $350 sell for $200 in your sleep.

and if you buy from Core you could basically try a bat for a month and if you really did not like it re-sell used and probably only be out $75 or less.

Click to expand...

This is pretty much exactly what I do.

The only variation is I use a local baseball/softball fb swap site. I rarely wait more than a day before it is sold, Selling bats there works so well that since I live out in the country I wait until I have plans to go to the metro area we live near for practice etc. the next day so I don't have to make a special trip. People fall all over themselves to buy these bats.

I think I could make a few bucks if I was patient but I figure if I can pay $20-40 to rent a bat for a year or break even on a bat that dd's put 20 swings on and didn't like it's all good.

I cannot believe anyone pays full retail for a bat more than once. But they do. Over and over again. Therefore, I see why this bat rental thing might work despit exorbitant prices.

CoreSoftball20 said:

High risk...but damn...prices are ridiculous and they will make huge dollars on a bat in its rental span.

CF8 monthly rental is 96.00 bucks and you have a 2 month minimum rental...hahahaha. You almost paid for the bat after 2 months anyway. You paid more after the 3rd month than if you bought the bat.

I really don't know where the savings for the renter is. 200 bucks atleast
to rent a CF8, then if you wanna try another bat...wow. I would rather
buy the bat for a little more, if I don't like it, sell it on the boards
and only lose a couple dollars.

Great for the company, minimum 2 month rental almost pays for the bat and the rest is gravy
or they probably get full retail if you want to do the 4 month to pay.

I do agree, chasing people down that may keep the bat would get tiresome.

There is a reason this isn't popular to do

Click to expand...

Picture this: Core Softball racks in all the Rent-A-Centers across the nation! And Core Softball Redbox Bat Machines at every complex. Yes?


Disclaimer: I might have mentioned above I'm not a businessman. Ideas like this are why.

I couldn't sleep at night if I did this to people...haha