Snowboard prices and snowboard purchase.

Looking at Western and American snowboard shops and the prices of boards, I always wonder how much easier it is for, say, a German customer to see clearly than a Hungarian one. Abroad v. Hungary.

Price categories are not only revenue for a retailer. Price categories everywhere in the world - for any product range - also mean quality categories. If I say Skoda Fabia and Ford Mondeo, then BMW X5 - customers (we can safely say) can differentiate without exception that the above models cannot be compared in price. One of the dimensions is a better product, it offers more in any comparison. Because they know the price categories. And because no car manufacturer can ask for more than the competitor in the given category. Why would you?

The price categories of snowboard equipment and boards sold abroad can also be easily determined.

1. There are boards for €300, €400 and €500.
2. Above these prices, only the highest quality premium boards exist in the 600 euro range.
3. Between 700-900 €, companies only exhibit models in the rarest cases - these are typically curiosities, study pieces (concept series), an event, a person (signature series), or an anniversary (annual series), made in honor of, or possibly numbered products.

The buyer can expect consistency, that the material used and the quality of production of snowboard boards in the same price categories are roughly the same.

Let's take as an example a mid-priced, very high-quality board for €400.

• The product of any authentic snowboard company will have approximately the same quality sole material, glass fiber covering with the same arrangement, sidewall reinforcement, and cover of similar thickness.
• Of course, there can and will be differences in woodwork, since wood is a living material, so the place of purchase and its quality cannot be the same and constant. Let me note: this is the beauty of making a quality snowboard!
• But returning to the thought process, it is more than likely that two different types of wood were used for the competing models, and in keeping with the "law of the price band" they did not "push in" much more expensive raw materials than, say, carbon or Kevlar.

The customers' 99% does not know the structure of the products, the production technologies, the developments of the different brands, and in the West they do not need it. The price reliably guarantees that they will not get anything worse than a given quality level. A snowboard costing 600 euros is sure to have carbon-reinforced, triaxial glass fiber in it, and at least (!) Sintered Base 4000 is the material of the sole layer.

It is good to know that the formula is not so simple in Hungary.

Dear customer, at home you cannot compare the offers of shops based on prices. The price of the board, which Western buyers can confidently rely on, can easily deceive you into buying it here. I would like to illustrate how big the differences are between foreign and domestic prices with the list below.

It is also thought-provoking that while a Libtech Mayhem is HUF 220,000, the Korua Puzzle snowboard costs HUF 139,000.

The lesson is that there can be considerable differences when searching for domestic prices. We can do very well, but it is included in the deck that we pay more than the amount paid compared to the real knowledge of the product. 

There are and can be countless special, domestic reasons for this, but what is important from the point of view of customers is that it is worth looking at the western prices of boards (and even other products) and comparing them with domestic prices.

I must add that we typically find the products of authentic, old snowboard companies easily - or at all - on foreign websites. These companies are each other's real competitors, they define the snowboard market with their developments, products and services. Mass-producing ski factories or other large profit-oriented companies are less or not at all relevant in terms of prices. I recommend that you look for old, big-name brands that specialize specifically in snowboarding.