Top 5 Skiing Online Stores

In terms of reliability, Evo, Backcountry.com, REI Co-op, Skis.com, and The House are currently the best online ski stores. The following factors are considered when ranking these ski shops: return policy, brand selection, price matching, and the site's ability to accommodate customers who need many pairs of everything, as well as when purchasing skis, boots, bindings, or apparel without seeing them in person.

There are two sets of readers for this guide: parents and individual skiers looking to compare stores, and ski club managers, coaches, or team captains who need to outfit more than just one person. For the second set of readers, the rankings of individual stores are less important than the parts towards the article's conclusion that discuss team purchases and the role of a club's online store.

Key Takeaways

• When purchasing ski boots or bindings online without first trying them on, the 366-day return windows offered by Evo and Backcountry.com are more important than most consumers realise.
  
  
• To qualify for Backcountry.com's price match, you must submit your request within 48 hours after purchase and provide proof of pricing from a verified competitor.
  
  
• There is a difference in REI's return policy depending on membership: non-members have 90 days and Co-op members have one year.
  
  
• When it comes to technical gear like boots and bindings, which needs to be custom-fit for each skier, buying for a ski team presents a unique set of challenges due to the necessity for centralised sizing and ordering compared to individual wear.
  
  
• When it comes to gear, a speciality merchant is your best bet. You need specialised club management software to handle the roster, payments, and communication issues that come with running a ski programme. It doesn't do that.

Quick Comparison: Online Ski Stores at a Glance

The rest of this article explains why each store earned its place on this list, and then walks through what changes when you're buying for a team instead of yourself.

Evo (evo.com)

Customers that value variety yet prefer the comfort of a brick-and-mortar store will find Evo to be the ideal option.

Evo.com, centred around a Seattle-based operation, offers a good variety of ski touring and downhill hard goods, has an easy-to-navigate buying system, and has quickly become one of the most popular online destinations for new ski and snowboard gear. Seattle, Portland, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Snoqualmie Pass, Washington are just a few of the locales where Evo has retail outlets, according to a recent gear-industry assessment. Customers may place online orders and pick them up in-store, or take advantage of services like boot fitting and tuning. Before you arrange for an in-person pickup, make sure you check the current list of store locations, since they can vary during the year.

Regarding policies, Evo provides a 366-day return policy for almost all of its products, and it also has a Lowest Price Guaranty that allows customers to seek a price match if they find the same item cheaper anywhere else. Given that a complete season of use is frequently the sole true indicator of fit, that combination is particularly important for bindings and boots.

If you're a parent looking to buy skis for your child but don't have access to an in-store fitting, you'll appreciate that Evo's size and buying guide content is more thorough than that of its competitors. If your club is concerned about the impact of its vendor spending, you should know that 2% of the proceeds from the sale of Evo-branded merchandise go to youth community organizations.

Backcountry.com

Skiers looking for high-performance, technical gear, especially for alpine touring and backcountry adventures, have Backcountry.com as their go-to source.

The Utah-based online retailer Backcountry.com is known for its frequent sales on ski and snowboard gear, with a particular focus on high-end items like alpine touring skis. It has one of the largest collections of ski, snowboard, and mountain bike gear, and its brand selection and shipping are unrivalled by other outdoor merchants.

Purchasing for a team requires attention to two policy specifics. To start, with any purchase over $50, you'll get free standard shipping from Backcountry. Plus, you have 366 days to return any new, unused items. Second, regarding price matching, if you find a lower price elsewhere and can verify it online, Backcountry will either alter the price before you place your order or reimburse the difference if you contact their customer care staff, Gearheads, within 48 hours of your purchase. Approval is subject to Backcountry's judgement and cannot be combined with any other deals or promotions.

The 48-hour price-match window is a great time to shop around for the best deal if your club or racing program is planning to purchase numerous pairs of boots or bindings at once. Just make sure you check competitor pricing before the window expires.

REI Co-op

Those who prioritise skilled fitting and membership advantages above the most extensive technical catalogue may find REI to be the best option.

Despite its reputation as a camping and hiking gear haven, REI has emerged as a formidable competitor in the winter sports market, stocking an increasing assortment of alpine touring products and premium equipment from labels such as Arc'teryx, Patagonia, and The North Face. Brands such as Dynafit, Black Crows, and Marker are available at REI, and the company also provides professional boot fits, member dividends, and a generous return policy.

Regarding returns, members of REI can send back any item (as long as it's in functioning condition) for a refund or exchange within a year of purchase, with a 90-day window for electronics. The window is typically closer to 90 days for non-members. It's advisable phoning ahead to establish current policy before ordering in volume from REI if attaining the lowest feasible price is important to your program, as their price-matching options are less publicised than Evo's or Backcountry's.

Skis.com

For teams that have members of varying ages on the slopes, Skis.com's focus on outfitting families rather than individuals makes it an ideal partner.

With a wide variety of snow skis, boots, bindings, and clothing, Skis.com markets itself as a one-stop shop for families. Nils, Oakley, Spyder, Obermeyer, Patagonia, The North Face, and Burton are among the brands carried. At different times throughout the season, the website advertizes sales of up to 70% off of equipment and clothing.

For products like boots that are difficult to fit remotely, it is especially important to check the product site for the specific terms before placing a bulk order for a programme, as Skis.com's return policy differs per item category instead of following a single window.

The House (TheHouse.com)

If you're a club or family looking to get the most out of your clothing budget, The House is the place to go.You may get great deals on clothing and other soft goods at The House. Plus, they offer free two-day shipping most of the time and let you return new, unopened products for 30 days. As far as price goes, The House will match the price of an identical product sold by another online store (not including third-party marketplace sellers like Amazon) if the item is in stock.

Tell your parents or club members about the 30-day return window if you're ordering clothing sizes without trying them on first; it's shorter than Evo's or Backcountry's 366-day return policy. Include a size check prior to the end of that time frame.

How Should Ski Clubs and Teams Buy Gear Differently Than Individual Skiers?

Appropriate fit is an issue when purchasing for a single skier. Both include coordination issues, and buying for a team calls for unique strategies.

Each skier and snowboarder needs their own pair of custom-sized technical skis, boots, and bindings. In this regard, the aforementioned stores excel: robust return policies shield families from uncomfortable boot fits, and price matching facilitates bulk purchases of identical items. Just because a customer shops with a group doesn't mean that anything changes.

Warmup jackets, spirit wear, program branded clothes, and fundraiser merchandise are all examples of team-branded things, which are in their own distinct category. You won't need to spend time comparing prices at six different stores for these things. Without the club treasurer having to manually reconcile forty Venmo payments against a spreadsheet of jacket sizes, they need a centralised system to gather sizes, monitor who has paid, and process orders in bulk.

Most problems with buying clubs begin with confusing these two types. When a program tries to use a generic consumer shop to process its jacket orders, it often winds up with a makeshift sign-up form, a different way to collect payments, and a size chart that someone keeps in their inbox rather than a system designed to manage it.

A Checklist for Choosing an Online Ski Store for a Team or Program

Use this list before placing a bulk order, whether it's for personal equipment or team apparel:

1. Return window length. Confirm whether it covers the full trial period your athletes need, especially for boots and bindings.
   
   
2. Price match terms and deadline. Note whether you need to request the match before or after purchase, and how many days you have.
   
   
3. Size range across ages. Verify the retailer stocks junior, youth, and adult sizing if your roster spans age groups.
   
   
4. Shipping timeline versus your season. Order early enough that a shipping delay doesn't push arrival past your first practice or race.
   
   
5. Fit support. Check whether boot fitting or detailed sizing guides are available if in-person fitting isn't an option.
   
   
6. Whether the item is personal gear or team apparel. Route personal equipment through a specialty retailer; route team-branded merchandise through your club's own store or ordering system instead.

Common Mistakes Ski Clubs Make When Buying Gear Online

Waiting until the season starts to order team apparel. Custom or team-branded items often take longer to produce and ship than off-the-shelf gear. Ordering in the off-season, when several of these retailers also run their deepest discounts, avoids the scramble.

Assuming one retailer should handle both jobs. Trying to buy technical, individually-fitted gear and team-branded apparel through the same channel usually means compromising on one or the other. Split the two.

Not centralizing roster sizing. A single spreadsheet of sizes collected once, rather than emailed back and forth, prevents the most common source of reorders.

Losing track of who paid for what. When apparel orders and equipment purchases get mixed into the same collection process, reconciling payments at the end of the season becomes a manual, error-prone task.

Ignoring the return window on bulk orders. A 30-day window disappears fast if apparel sits in a closet before it's distributed to families. Distribute and check sizing immediately.

Where SportsPlus Fits: Managing the Club Side of the Equation

Finding a place to purchase skis, boots, bindings, and family wear is half the battle won by the five stores mentioned above. They fall short when it comes to the practical side of things, which includes administering a team store where members can purchase club-branded items, taking payments, and organising practices and events.

Designed with clubs, teams, coaches, and players in mind, SportsPlus is an all-in-one platform for skiing management that handles registrations, payments, scheduling, teams, and staff. Apart from the specialised stores that offer individual ski gear, that platform allows clubs to set up their own online store and sell things directly to members. This is a great place for team-branded apparel, spirit wear, and fundraising products.

This platform takes care of team and player registration with customisable forms and waiver collection, online payment processing with recurring payments and refunds, and scheduling of games or events with reminders and calendar publishing. It's useful for a ski program that has to coordinate practice times, race schedules, and family communication throughout the season.In addition, it has a central hub where all family members can access pertinent information and capabilities for sending personalised notifications to the correct people.

There is no substitute for the merchants mentioned earlier. Sitting side by side, the store deals with gear and SportsPlus with the club.

Final Takeaway

When it comes to technical gear, Evo and Backcountry.com have the best return policy and price protection. If you value in-person fittings and membership benefits more than a comprehensive catalogue, REI is the way to go. If you're shopping for family sizes or have a tight budget, Skis.com or The House are good options.

You should divide and conquer the task of purchasing items for a team or club. So that no information gets lost in translation between a group conversation and a spreadsheet, have athletes acquire custom-fitted gear from a speciality store and manage team gear, fundraising goods, and program merchandise through your own centralised store.

Ski programs may spend more time on the snow and less time chasing sizes and payments with SportsPlus's administrative tools, which include registration, payments, scheduling, and a club-branded online shop. Learn more about the integration of SportsPlus's team store, payment processing, and registration features for ski clubs and teams by exploring the site.