SportPursuit: totally legit, but yeah, you have to know what you’re getting into. Primarily: what they are doing is selling off overstock, eg, stuff manufactuer’s can’t get rid of, or have surplus of. So it’s quite often “last season’s kit”, in the case of Big Brands.
Sometimes, you need to read the small print, eg: some of the Osprey packs that would normally come with a reservoir included came without a reservoir. Still a really good deal, but not the huge saving it might look like. (See particularly for equipment – those DT wheels are all individual, and some are QR, some boost, and it requires some careful eyeballs).
Delivery often takes a while, because it’s coming straight from the other company’s warehouse, rather than anything centralised.
Returns are not free, and so for things like shoes or cycling kit where fit can sometimes be… idiosyncratic… you can end up paying a bit of “SportPursuit Tax”.
The other thing they are doing is often reselling stuff from brands more common in Europe – yes, they have “own brands” but there also seems to be stuff that would be available in, say, German stores but not over here.
And as mentioned: a discount on SP is often, but not always, matched elsewhere. But there are good deals to be had. Just ask youself “do I like the item, or do I like the saving,” and don’t get sucked in. In general, I’ve gort some decent kit (Rapha, Osprey, Pearl Izumi) for very good prices.
Finally: SP works because it’s heavily metricised and marketed. You will get a lot of emails. It pays attention to everything you buy and everything you click on. That’s how they work. If you’re prone to marketing, switch off the emails…
