To get ready for those great ski holidays you want to take, plan ahead and begin looking around for the best prices you can find on ski equipment. There's no reason to spend more than you have to when it comes to quality ski equipment. Bargains abound if you are willing to spend just a little time and effort in looking for them.

Prices begin dipping right after the end of the ski season when the majority of ski holidays take place. Some shops start marking down ski equipment right after Christmas, especially if they are a multi-sport retail store. The reason why multi-sport stores begin their sales early in the year is to make room for other seasonal sports equipment that they will be bringing in - backpacks, tents, spring sports equipment, etc.

Specialty ski shops will usually hold out until after President's Day in February to begin putting their equipment on sale. But ski shops in resort towns will usually hold huge ski equipment sales the weekend of President's Day to capture the tourists and skiers who flood their towns on ski holidays during that long weekend.

You might also try calling resort shops that rent large amounts of ski equipment. After the season ends, they may have used equipment that they will offer at sale prices.

Sometimes there are opportunities to go into small ski shops who may have unsold ski equipment left after the ski season ends and negotiate a special deal. Your success will likely depend on where the ski shop is located and whether it is owned by an independent entrepreneur who would be glad to see last year's models walk out the door.

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Don't forget to search online for new or used ski equipment dealers. There are also online auctions like Ebay who may have low-priced items, but the transportation charges may kill the deal for you. If you live near a ski area and you go onto the Ebay website, you can not only search for new or used ski equipment, you can also sort the on-screen list to show the sellers who live the closest to you. You may just get lucky and find someone who lives near you trying to sell off their used ski equipment. Using the same strategy, you could go to craigslist.org and search for ski equipment for sale or post an ad seeking someone who has ski equipment they'd be willing to sell. Seeing your posting just might jog someone into wanting to make some money off their skis that have been in their garage for a couple of years.

Pre-season Ski Swaps are also good places to pick up great deals. There is a lot of used stuff at these seasonal swaps, but there is usually new stuff too. Sometimes there are unused items that are a season or two old, but some companies only change their graphics from year to year and the equipment is perfectly fit to serve you well on your ski holidays.

Bruce D Hunter

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