Looking for Xiom Athena Platinum Jpen

I'm looking for Xiom Athena Platinum Jpen. Anybody know cheap place to get in US? I found a few places but they are all overpriced. Jpen player doesn't have a lot of choices outside of Asia, thanks!

dhsu wrote: ... I found a few places but they are all overpriced.

yes i have ordered about 10 times takes about 2 weeks for delivery

varghesep wrote: � The distributors�would like to lower the price to get the products to their customers. Take this case a store selling a JPen blade�for $250. By looking at this price, the other dealer sells lower than $250 which will be followed by the next dealer and this will lead to price war between the dealers. The manufactures want their products to be sold in different countries (1) for the price the Manufactures�have set and (2)�also they are supposed to sell the products only in their allowed terroritory. � Unfortunately some distributors skip all these basic principles and sell for cheaper price and ship to terroritories where they are not allowed to sell. So it is not really overpriced by some stores, but devaluation of�product's value by other stores. � �

I understand the distributors want to make money, but from the customer's point-of-view, everyone want to get cheaper paddle.
So if they can find cheaper paddle outside of US, they will rather pay the shipping.

I don't understand about the territories. You mean the store outside of US NOT ALLOWED to sell or ship to US? I think that would be outrageous! Most of the store I found online are cheaper than the US store, and I don't think they're devaluating the value of the paddle. I know this is a good paddle, but for the same price they charge in US, I rather get BTY Cypress Max or Kim Taek Soo.

most companies have msrp pricing it is a suggested price.but you can sell them for less at your own loss.if you can sell large quantities though you can make up for this loss.This is why many companies that sell on the internet have come up with m.a.p. pricing so everyone must sell at their suggested price or lose their license .The reason why u.s. prices are closer to msrp is due to the shipping cost to get the product here from korea.

They are also violating their distributon agreement most likely. Xiom lists varghesep and his website as their sole US distributor.

every industry has an msrp price .look on the end of you box that your blade or rubber comes in. M.A.P. pricing has not yet reached the tt community well i take that back kilpatrick has map pricing in north america that is why all bfly products are the same or near same pricing

The sales people told you that because:

1 - your question had no real answer to begin with
2 - under the distribution agreement Xiom may have the right to set prices for the US market instead of the distributor. Thus, for 2008 the price of this blade may have increased

If I was tabletennisstore I would consider complaining to Xiom depending on the terms of the distributorship for either a decrease in cost or for enforcement against presports Xiom sales to the US.

Sometimes, obtaining items on the gray-market is exciting for us if products are unavailable in our own country or if a must-have item is very new. Openly discussing how to circumvent the sole legitimate distributor in the country on a flagship item is just bad taste, imo - especially if the guy is part of this forum community and offers order discounts on larger totals.

GenomicsKnight wrote: ...higher quality in terms of aesthetic attributes and uniform dryness....

Grain tightness/straightness is very important, so does oil in the paddle. How much oil and water in the paddle will affect the feel you hit the ball.
Depend how they treat the wood, it has different feel to it. Every company has their own technic.

I usually like the paddle about 95-100g.

I'm not sure whether a manufacturer will provide the details like the content of the oil or water in a Hinoki blade. How do we measure that?