How To Buy A Cheap Skateboard Online
Story time. Last Christmas, Board Blazers got a TON of emails all throughout the holiday season--some more heartbreaking than others.
The least-sad ones were one sentence long. The saddest ones were entire stories that went something along the lines of:
"My grandson has been wanting a skateboard for ages, and I ordered a Board Blazers skateboard for him a month ago. The package arrived, but it was just some lights--is the skateboard coming separately?"
This was a bummer for two reasons:
- Clearly something was up with our Amazon page--even though we said a few times in the description that ***THE SKATEBOARD IS NOT INCLUDED***, somehow people were missing it.
- Kids everywhere that wanted skateboards weren't getting them, and we couldn't do anything to help.
But now, months in advance, we've transformed our Amazon page to a state of clarity it has never before seen, so well-intentioned shoppers don't fall into that pit.
Plus, we're putting together this handy guide for any parents or grandparents who want to keep an eye out for a good quality, affordable skateboard.
One Quick Caveat
This whole article is about buying skateboards online, because it's cheap and convenient. But there are some problems with buying online that I've gotta mention.
Problem 1: You can't physically inspect the board.
If the deck is warped, or some parts are made out of plastic, or it's smaller or bigger than you expected, you won't really know till it arrives.
Problem 2: It hurts your local skate stores.
If you've got a skate store nearby, it's definitely worth it to stop in, tell them what you're looking for, and see if they can help you. They might have some sales going on, they might be willing to negotiate, and you'll definitely be able to try out the board in person.
That being said, if there aren't any skate stores near you, OR if you go and everything's out of your price range, online is obviously your best option.
(Also, worth noting here: we're not sponsored by any of the places we're mentioning in this article. This is free advertising, folks, out of the goodness of our hearts.)
Without further ado, cheap skateboards!
Cheap Skateboards From Online Retailers
CCS (Lowest price: $68.51)
CCS has a ton of filters that let you shop for exactly what you need--like an 8" complete at the lowest available price. It's a reputable online retailer with no sales tax, free shipping, and free returns on anything--so not a half-bad choice by any means!
SoCal Skate Shop (Lowest Price: $64.95)
It's harder to sort by size on SoCal Skate Shop, but if you have a size in mind and you Ctrl+F "8x" or "7.75x", you should be golden. Otherwise, you can sort through pre-built completes and a ton of other accessories, with an extremely reasonable flat shipping rate of $5.
Skate America (Lowest Price: $44.95)
With SkateAmerica, you can sort by price, brand, deck width, color, AND skateboard type, so you can get exactly what you're looking for. No free shipping on items under $100, but you're still getting good-quality complete boards for a pretty decent price.
SkateAmerica also takes their job super seriously--they start off their skateboard page with a few paragraphs of copy explaining what kind of skateboard you might want, and tells you to get in touch if you have any questions. Take them up on it!
Cheap Second Hand Skateboards
You've probably seen LetGo in a billion ads on Facebook. (Well, depending on their algorithm.) But LetGo is a less-sleazy, more-visually-appealing Craigslist with an easy-to-navigate app. People take pictures of the stuff they're selling, add a price, and you can easily search by item ("skateboard," in this case) and your location (left blank in the screenshot above).
Unfortunately, you can't see the prices without clicking on specific ads, but you're bound to find something workable for roughly $40.
OfferUp is another second-hand goods app, where you can find people selling anything near you. On OfferUp, you can't sort by size, but you can see the prices as you scroll through--and from the looks of this screencap, the prices are pretty screaming low. (Or at least they can be, depending on where you are.)
5 miles lets you sort your searches by distance, price range, and a few more options--closest, newest, cheapest--to let you find a secondhand skateboard that'll fit your needs. Like OfferUp, this also lets you see the prices as you scroll--you don't need to click on individual offerings to find the price.
If you've exhausted all your other options and you're throwing one last thing up against the wall, Mercari's a good bet. A search for "skateboard" also yields skateboard accessories (like grip tape), so you've got to do a fair amount of scrolling to find what you're actually looking for. But who knows--you might get lucky and find a diamond in the rough.
Cheap Skateboards From The Obvious Places
Now that I've covered all the backwoods, local, unexpected secondhand skateboard spots, I'd be remiss not to include the heavy hitters--I'm talking Facebook, Amazon, and eBay.
Facebook: The Skateboard Marketplace
Ostensibly the largest skateboard marketplace on Facebook, the appropriately-named Skateboard Marketplace is a little difficult to search as far as exact product and price go. You're also bound to find plenty of extremely expensive skateboards--but hidden among them are very reasonable offers, and also people you can bargain with.
Amazon: Used Skateboards from $25-$50
On Amazon, you can get extremely specific--the link above takes you to used skateboards with a rating of 4+ stars that cost between $25-$50. Read reviews, leave reviews, and get your skateboard shipped securely at low prices and high speeds.
A word of caution--make sure you read the whole description before buying something to make sure you're getting a skateboard, and not wheels, lights, or grip tape. This goes for eBay, too!
With eBay, you can also get super-refined--search by brand, price, free shipping, etc. Try your hand at a low auction price, or find a deal you like and buy it instantly. Either way, you've got plenty of options for a cheap, good-quality skateboard.
If you're reading this and you have other tips, comment below! Help out your fellow skateboard-buyers with your success stories.