Getting the best sports equipment possible online will depend on your particular needs since each site is effective in a different area. Here’s a comparison of some of the top sports supply sites available.

Sports Authority

Sports Authority has over 450 stores throughout 45 different states in the U.S. You can call their customer service for online orders at 1-888-901-9164.

Features

• Order Tracking-Sports Authority makes it easy to track orders with just one click from the main site once you’re signed in.
• Free Shipping on Orders Over $49-Mostany order over $49 will give you free shipping. However, you also get free shipping on items such as shoes, clothes and backpacks, though there are some exceptions.
• 1-3-5 Advantage with The League Reward Program-This program gives you 1 point for every dollar spent at the stores or online. If you earn 100 points or more in a 3 month period, you get 5% back.
• 10% Coupon for Signing Up-All you have to do is give them your email address on the site to get this coupon.
• Snow Sports Rentals-The stores let you rent skis, snowboards and snowshoes during the season so you don’t have to buy your own.
• Extra Sports Services-The stores also do quick repairs on bikes for wheels, brakes and brackets. You can get various different things installed in your bike, refill CO2, string your tennis racket, sharpen your ice skates and wind the line on your fishing pole.
• Golf Trade-in-You can bring your old clubs down to physical stores and trade them in to get credit towards a newer club.
• eGift Cards-You can get a variety of different designs with custom messages for friends and family.
• BizRate Commenting-If you want to give a little feedback on the site, the Bizrate survey lets you do this.

Champs Sports

You can contact them at 1-800-991-6813. They are available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

Features

• Automatic Location Finder-At the top of the site there’s a banner that gives you a link to one of the closest Champs stores to your locations. If you click on it, you’ll get a map as well. This makes it easier to find what you need.
• Free Shipping on Orders Over $75-The site will also give you free shipping on select types of styles as well. This promotion often comes and goes though and you’ll need the coupon code to get it.
• Live Chat-This service is available Sunday through Saturday 8 AM to 11 PM.
• Gift Cards That Never Expire-If you get a gift card for champs, you can use it as long as the stores remain open. Even if the card says that it expires, it doesn’t. The Champs main page says this explicitly.
• McAfee Secure- The site is protected by McAfee and scanned daily for threats. You can check the red text in the box at the bottom of the site to see that it was tested on the current day. If you click on this link, it will give you the full results of the scan including info about malware, Google blacklisting, phishing scams and so on.
• PayPal Activated-The site has the official PayPal seal so you know it should work smoothly with this service.
• Norton Secured-For extra protection, the site also uses Norton for scanning as well, making it one of the more secure sites in this category around.

Dick’s Sporting Goods

Dick’s Sporting Goods began in 1948 with someone named Dick Stack who started a store with just $300. They now have over 500 stores and continue to grow. You can call them at 1-877-846-9997. They also have an email form if you want to get help that way.

Features

• Free Shipping on Orders Over $49-The site calculates this automatically so you don’t have to add in a coupon or anything which makes Dick’s one of the best sites for shipping. You also get free shipping on backpacks, footwear and apparel.
• $10 Dick’s Cash on a $59 Backpack Purchases-This only applies to certain backpacks, but you can get free cash on your rewards card.
• Store Pickup-You can order online and then pick up the item in a local store. This way you can take advantage of online deals but avoid shipping costs altogether.
• 10% Off Deal on Emails-Like a lot of sites, you can get a quick coupon just by giving them your email.
• 3% Back Scorecard Rewards-You can get 3% back on purchased items when you sign up with the Scorecard rewards program, which is free. You get one point for each dollar you spend. You get $10 Reward offer when you get to 300 points, though there are lots of other member only offers available as well.
• Mastercard Deal-You can also sign up for a Dick’s Sporting Goods Master card which gets you double points on purchases you make in the store. You get triple points on your birthday month as well.

Head to Head

Price

As an example, Mylec Street Hockey Goalie Pads go for around $65 on the Sports Authority site.  An Easton Mako Youth Baseball Bat goes for $240 or so.

A Mako bat at Champs goes for $250, making it a bit more expensive than at Sports Authority.

The Easton Mako Youth bat goes for $280 at Dick’s. This means that overall, Sporting Authority often has the cheapest prices at least on sporting equipment like youth bats, though Champs isn’t too far behind.

Features

Using a phone appears to be the main way to contact people at Sports Authority. There are a goodly number of physical locations as well. Overall, their features are geared more towards being in-person.

The standard shipping fee for Champs Sports is $6 for the contiguous United States. This is $1.99 per item. Champs Sports has great customer support coverage, considerably better than most any other site.

Dick’s Sporting Goods has one of the best approaches to shipping since they offer free shipping on orders over $49 without a coupon, and because they have a lot of other free shipping deals for clothing, cleats, integrated protection and backpacks.