OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Take a look,,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NVmoJY2UMY&NR=1

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Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
Forhand, H-3 National
Backhand, Sriver FX Max

Moving into a council house near you soon. Dr Neubauer. Lets all feel sorry for him.
Why did none of the bigger companies ever manage to copy this type of rubber so this greedy man and his equally greedy Welsh former colleague couldn't rip everyone off for so long. Better still if the Chinese had copied it then I don't think they would have been £40 for long.

Man, someone invents something thats wildy popular, and charges more than non-equal products cost. Suddenly they're greedy?! It's business.

I own a Dyson vacume cleaner. It cost more than a Hoover. Do I despise James Dyson for being "greedy"? No, I was happy to pay the extra because it was Jame's R&D that came up with a stunning bagless design that not only doesn't clog, but blows out air up to 150x cleaner than rest of the air in the room (at least for the HEPA versions).

Later this year Dr N will release an entire new range, and probably earn truck loads of cash.

Why will Dr N make so much money again? Because for the last 3 years they're been investing time and resouces to create the best possible friction designs, for spin reversal. How often do you see Chinese companies spending the money to build R&D centres, etc? If the new product line is almost no better at spin reversal than 955, Dr N will lose vast amounts of money. If it's significantly better, he'll be singing all the way to the bank.

When they each came out, Butterfly's Sriver and Bryce, were totally revolutionary products. TT is a very cheap sport- why begrudge companies the profit that comes from R&D ?

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Custom Re-Impact OFF
Hexer HD 1.9
Hexer Pips 1.9

Member of Anastasia's Fan Club

I see the marketing men did a good job on you.

I think it is highly likely that if they hadn't been so greedy (yes greedy) they would have had many more people try and like their rubbers which would have made the banning of them a much less favourable option for the ITTF. I think that they have shot themselves in the foot personally.

Hi JKC,
I agree,,after the price of Energy went to $48, I made up my mind I would not pay alot for rubber anymore. Dr N never was an option. I am finding other options for my style at 1/3 the price now.
I added up all the sheets of Energy I have on blades or in plastic in various states of glueing, EEII and other experiments and there are 11 left. This does not count all the ones I made into blades to sell when they were too worn for me. I liked to have new rubber on two identical blades one week before a tourney.
I do think it is a sellers market right now. Maybe I will end up like this old Chinese guy I played with pips and a hole worn through the rubber where his thumb goes. If he replaces the rubber, he will probably have to learn to play all over again.

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Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
Forhand, H-3 National
Backhand, Sriver FX Max

pricing is a delicate issue.. a lot of people when they overpay for something (and i'm not implying anyone around here did.. just stating in general), the brain convinces themselves they did the right thing and reinforces the value of the object.

this is called cognitive dissonance.

in a way, overpriced items sell themselves this way, they find a niche market, and it automatically sustains itself.

i have a feeling that's what dr N is going for... i don't think there's anything wrong with it.. it's a free world and he's entitled to make a living. Greed is human nature.. without greed not much would get done.

gullibility is human nature too unfortunately.

Hi Priior,
I have an art business and do paintings. I learned a long time ago, keep the prices high. They will sell to people that would 'Not" buy if the price was lower.
My art is a "nitch market" and done under magnification. Super small detail.
I think Dr Ns stuff is probably the best for his style of play so he can charge what he wants. I don't think it is wrong either but I also don't have to buy it. I am sure some of his business is "because" it is expensive and therefore "must be good".

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Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
Forhand, H-3 National
Backhand, Sriver FX Max

hookshot: live and learn do u have pics of ur art posted?

btw, it;s not just oh it;s expensive it must be good.. the effect continues after they buy it. "this truely is the best piece ive baught" and then they tell their friends how their life is so much better since they got the painting.. "it was well worth every penny"

for this process to take place, they have to pay a price their brain thinks is too high for what they're getting..

and because of this i seriously wonder how much spin reversal do the DrN rubbers do v/s how muchis exagerated due to cognitive dissonance. (because i have seen some serious spin reversals with $10 855's!)

Wow it amazes me how philosophical the arguments can get here, its great. Priior love the cognitive dissonance line. In everything, whether it be sport or groceries, there will always be the items that are aimed at the masses, the items that are aimed at the discerning and those in-between. Some try to put across crap for a high price to the discerning, but unless they are fools, the crap usually loses money as the seller underestimates what will sell for a high price. Dr. N must be a product of high quality for it to sustain a high price tag, or even stay in the market. Obviously it also generates perception of being worth the high price tag, otherwise it would be forced down by the market. If it was forced down and the cost of production was higher than the sales price the market would bear, then Dr N would disappear. Its all economics and markets. Its unfortunate in some ways that our world works this way as the rich get richer and the poor... well you know how it ends. But as JKC rightly points out, stuff wouldn't get done otherwise. We should probably consider ourselves very fortunate to be able to play this sport at all, and to sit at computers and chat across the world with each other. But then there is a price for us to pay for this too, as our world gets better in some ways from technology, and worse in other ways from it. If corporate greed, or even corporations didn't exist things wouldn't be so "efficient", but would that be a bad thing? Would it be worse if more people were needed to be employed to produce things than the way it gets less all the time now? Would it be so bad if greed didn't drive our food production to be "supply chain managed" such that corporates own everything from the farm to the supermarket? Would it be so bad if good farmers still managed things in a way that allowed soil to recover before having to produce again, rather than having it forcefully recovered by chemical processes?

Wow, sorry didn't mean to get so philospohical, I almost sound like a greenie. Just been reading some things about this stuff lately and I think a lot of stuff happens in our world that we just let go by without noticing it and this is why the rich get richer often. Because they make short-term profits at the expense of the future world for our kids. Not saying Dr. N is doing this exactly, but what we are talking about now in this thread does highlight that greed by these guys "just trying to make a living" doesn't always produce the just the benefits we see as visible, there is often some hidden drawbacks too. Like how many trees were killed to produce this TT rubber or blade (we always think in terms of paper)? Maybe synthetic rubbers or blades are better? Not suggesting for a second we stop playing with wooden blades, just saying we should pay some thought to this stuff that's all. Sorry if I bored you

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I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!! Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
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S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
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Hi Priior,
I don't have a web site although I have thought about it. My art is very good and sells by itself by word of mouth.
Dr Ns stuff is obviously good for his style of play and that is what keeps him in business.
I have no problem with manufactures charging as much as they like. Thats what I do with my art. If something is really over priced or not up to what is advertized, they will not last and the internet is one reason why.
I do think the manufactures watch the forums though without posting. They get a feel for whats hot and whats not. I think that is why Energy price went up so much. Energy was being touted by many people including me. Might have shot myself in the foot. LOL

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Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
Forhand, H-3 National
Backhand, Sriver FX Max

I know players who have had sheets of the Neubauer and Hallmark stuff who have started losing pimples very quickly though.

I don't think he should have sold them at 'Chinese' prices, just a typical 'Euro' rubber price would have been nice and not put so many people off.

reborn:
there are tons of products out there (women's facial creams etc..) that sell at exorbitant prices with no justification. AND they do very well. the relationship price/quality is not very linear in every field.

As for the impact.. i think time has proved that every other economical systems out there were not as succesful as capitalism. maybe one day capitalism will give way to a better system.. but for the time being, it's proved its worth! Crisis are great opportunities for positive advancements!

hookshot:
i didn't want to imply that ur art is not good because of pricing. In fact, i think u can't put a price on art, it has a lot to do with appreciation, which is such a subjective thing. I am, tho, very interested in seeing what u do... since i enjoy painting as well! (dropped the oils for acrylics recently.. you thought speedglue was bad for ur health.. nothing beats the smell of my not so well ventilated room after an oil paitning!)

shoot, i hope manufacturers don't read this thread!

speedplay:
i don't think u can compare inverted rubbers with LP's as far as longevity goes. what kills rubbers is that shearing force from topspinning... so if you wanna go with long term cheapest TT style, it would probably be a SP/antispin flat hitting combo player
as a side note: how well does the superblock last compared to, say, a 855 or 739 or whatever the hell the number is (that chinese dude who thought naming rubbers by numbers should hang himself.)

Senor Juan:
If i were in DrN's shoes and i had the opportunity and the drive to make millions by inventing a specialty rubber and marketting/selling it at very high prices, i doubt i would have done anything differently!

There is logic in the Friendship numbering system. Apparently the first 2 numbers represent the year and the next number represents the month in which a particular rubber was first made.

Eg. 729 was first made in September 1972 and 755 in may 1975 etc.

Hi Priior,
No offence was taken. I would post pics here but don't think this is the place for my art. LOL
My son is still trying to teach me to post pics.

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Shakehand, left handed.
Blade, Yinhe, W-1
Forhand, H-3 National
Backhand, Sriver FX Max

They probably decided it was getting a bit silly and decided to stick with the 729 name for some of the newer variants.

I am not sure where the 563 fits in but I have been told this is true.