Every year online retails capitalize on the christmas season by offering rock bottom deals for Cyber Monday. Still I hardly ever get excited for this, at least not when it comes to Outdoors gear because similar sales are available year round if you know where to look.
Left Lane Sports
I recently discovered Left Lane Sports through Modern Hiker who advertised a deal of theirs. I signed up for an account and spitefully did it through the site's main page as opposed to the link provided because I didn't like the idea of a blog receiving a commission for me. Only in the process I also cost myself $10 (when you sign up on a reference both parties get $10), and also I have no idea why I wouldn't want to support Modern Hiker because it's a phenomenal southern california hiking blog.
Aside from my regrettable introduction to Left Lane Sports I'm so far very impressed with their deals, and their layout. Every few days they offer a different deal from a different company in a very similar manner to The Clymb. Both are also membership sites. I'm not crazy about their return policy (2 weeks, store credit only) but it's better than nothing.
ProMotive
ProMotive is a little more exclusive than the other gear websites listed here once you join, you'll need to apply to subgroups within the site (ex. Ski Patrollers, Bloggers, Military Members). These subgroups each have deals from different companies looking to promote items at heavy markdowns. You can join as many groups as you qualify for.
The idea is to give people with an audience a discount on gear so they can then promote it (promote-ive, eh? eh?). The deals are better than the other websites, and you don't have to worry about missing a particular promotion because most of brands will keep their gear available for awhile.
The Clymb
Several months ago I plugged The Clymb and I'll do so again now. I am constantly finding tempting deals there which had I less willpower would certainly have sent me to the poorhouse by now. On the occasions I have ordered items I've been impressed at the speed of delivered and condition they arrive in. As a good Portland, OR company should, they offset all their shipping with carbon credits.
Correction: Due to the deserved popularity of the site items do sometimes sell out VERY rapidly, like under two minutes rapidly. Logging in to check out a sale, finding that backpack you'd had your eye on for awhile and seeing a big "sold out" bar can sometimes be frustrating. By in large their stock is usually pretty full for at least a day or so and its hard to say no to 50-70% discounts.
It's also worth mentioning that because their Portland, OR based there is no sales tax, regardless of where you live.
REI-Outlet.com 
No membership required and some very excellent discounts. Often the gear is odd sizes, or in overstock because the gear wasn't well designed and rightfully didn't sell well. Still I'm pretty frequently lured in because it's not uncommon to find great nuggets like my Gregory Z22 on markdown lurking. Their "Deal of the Day" also frequently has items worth considering such as tops for training, first aid kits, even tents and sleeping bags. I'm signed up for the RSS feed for this feature. The best deals are always on out of season gear (stock up on down in the summer and light wicking shirts in the winter)
Disclaimer: Both LeftLane and The Clymb credit me $10 when you follow the links I provided and sign up. If you'd prefer to sign up with Left Lane or The Clymb follow the links down here. I won't be offended.
If you think I missed something send me an email at chris@backcountrybliss.net and let me know.
"I have noticed a tendency for items to be "sold out" as soon as the sale starts, which I find irksom and in some ways dishonest (why list it if it was never available to begin with?)."
ReplyDeleteOn very few occasions we might have a small size run on specific items (Like if we have a M, L, XL but have a smaller amount of L compared to the other sizes) but usually items get sold out so quickly because they are popular sizes or items. We had an event the a few weeks ago where dozens of one model sold out in under two minutes. (It made us feel popular.)
We don't list items we don't have as sold out.
Thanks Kevin. I'll make sure to correct that and be a little more diligent in my fact checking next time.
ReplyDeleteNo problem at all. I'm just happy you are writing about us. It's great that you put that out there and we are able to talk about it. I'd rather have an open discussion than having people think these things and not saying it.
ReplyDeleteIt is understandable to think what you thought when you get in and see stuff gone. Honestly though this is another problem onto itself so we have been working hard on securing larger quantities of product and if there are broken size runs or limited product of some models we won't list it on the site.