Taking a little break from fight knockouts, I wanted to write about my experience buying Muay Thai equpiment such as gloves, pads, etc. from Thailand online. Some background story to this: I trained in martial arts for 17 years but stopped for over 4 years when my martial arts instructor passed away in 2017. The pandemic gave me time to do something else so I slowly began training again – starting with shadow boxing and then contacting my past training partners. Fast forward to May of 2021 and I dusted off my old equipment, but had a small problem. Some of it was still in good condition like my Twins gloves which I had for more than 10 years, but some had badly deteriorated over that time, specifically my kick pads, belly pad and punch mitts which were all over 15 years old.
1. The foam padding in my Twins kick pads went flying everywhere after kicking them since the padding itself had dried out.
2. The synthetic leather coating on the Twins belly pad peeled off like snake skin.
3. The Twins punch mitts were like holding paper. I could feel the punch impact go right through the pads.
All this damage happened from leaving the equipment in the closet for several years. Needless to say I needed new equipment.
A long Google search led me to several online shops in Thailand. The last time I bought equipment was through Amazon, Combat Sports, Ringside and Title Boxing.
The shops I purchased from were:
superexportshop.com
tkofightstore.com
muaythaigoods.com
muaythaimadgear.com
My experiences were as follows:
Super Export Shop
Website: https://www.superexportshop.org
Rank: Tied for #1
Website Design/Navigation: 8 of 10
Pros:
- The best customer service experience overall.
- Large selection of equipment mostly in stock.
- Very responsive to emails.
- Updates on order, shipping and tracking.
- Worldwide Shipping to USA about 2-5 days.
Cons:
- Some items are more expensive than buying local (USA).
- Since shipping is fast, it can be costly for some heavier items.
Comments: SXS has been my favorite Muay Thai equipment shop so far. Shipping is fast, sometimes I expect items to arrive later but they arrive sooner. They always send a photo of the equipment before shipping and provide a tracking number. When item is out of stock, they will contact you immediately. Very pleased with their customer service!
TKO Fight Store
Website: https://www.tkofightstore.com
Rank: Tied for #1
Website Design/Navigation: 8 of 10
Pros:
- Great prices on high quality Arwut, TKO and Fairtex gear.
- Reasonable shipping costs.
- Very responsive to emails.
- Excellent customer service.
- Worldwide Shipping to USA about 2-5 days (after they ship).
Cons:
- An item was out of stock after ordering, but backorder arrived and shipped quickly.
- Since shipping is fast (after they ship), it can be costly for some heavier items.
Comments: TKO Fight Store is another excellent online shop for Muay Thai equipment. They don’t carry a lot of brands but their equipment is high-quality. I had placed an order for Fairtex gear but it was not in stock. Customer service quickly sent an email about the backorder – I was ok with waiting. Very responsive to my emails as well. When the backorder arrived and order was shipped, I received all updates about shipping and tracking number.
Muay Thai Goods
Website: https://www.muaythaigoods.com
Rank: #99
Website Design/Navigation: 6 of 10
Pros:
- Great deals on Decha and Fairtex gear.
- Low prices.
- Worldwide Shipping to USA about 2-5 days (after they ship).
Cons:
- Unresponsive to emails.
- No order updates or anything.
- Customer service is non-existent.
- Since shipping is fast (after they ship), it can be costly for some heavier items.
- Website design needs help. No items appear on the home page at all.
Comments: MuayThaiGoods.com is my first experience with “real” Thailand customer service. I am also Asian so I get why they do business this way, but it is like a night and day experience from Super Export Shop. First, the site is in English so I assume that someone there knows a little English, but I can’t confirm. After ordering, you will receive an order confirmation email, but that’s it. No order update, no shipping update, nothing at all. When you send an email about your order, they do not respond. After about 3 to 4 days, I began to worry so I submitted a PayPal dispute since they did not respond to any emails while I thought they took my money. On the same day I found someone on LINE chat that looked like they were associated with this shop. I sent him a message if he was, then he sent one back saying my order was shipped yesterday already and a tracking number was provided in the PayPal dispute… so I guess he was associated? My order arrived 2-3 days after that. A few months later, I placed another order and had the same experience – no order update – only this time my order just showed up at the door one day… no tracking email… nothing. In conclusion, I assume that maybe they will ship your order, but don’t expect any response because they work on their time, not yours.
UPDATE July 2022: After some research I found out that www.dechafightgear.com (official website) and www.muaythaigoods.com are the same owner. Their website has gotten better and if you message the owner directly on LINE, he responds with stock updates. As of July 2022 they virtually have no stock available. I tried to place another order on muaythaigoods.com but the order was cancelled within 10 minutes without any explanation. Sadly, I don’t think I will shop here again. It’s a shame because they do make quality Muay Thai training gear, but perhaps manufacturing is not keeping up with demand and also their customer service is absolutely the worst.
Muay Thai Mad Gear [PERMANENTLY CLOSED]
Website: CLOSED
Rank: #3
Website Design/Navigation: 4 of 10
Pros:
- Great deals on Decha and Fairtex gear.
- Low prices.
- Worldwide Shipping to USA about 2-5 days (after they ship).
Cons:
- Sometimes responds to emails.
- Some order updates.
- No tracking updates.
- Customer service is minimal.
- Since shipping is fast (after they ship), it can be costly for some heavier items.
- Website design needs a lot of help. Settings in the search filters cause some items not to show up.
Comments: MuayThaiMadGear.com was a very similar experience to MuayThaiGoods.com – the only difference was that they actually responded to some emails, but not all. I placed the order, waited 2-3 days, then sent an email about the order. Amazingly they said due to COVID-19 that there would be a delay in shipping. No problem but I did not receive any updates – no stock update, no shipping update, no tracking number – same as the other shop. About 2 weeks later, a DHL delivery person arrived at my home, but I was not there and they needed a signature. I tried to contact MTMG by email for the tracking number, but never received a response. The next day, DHL made the delivery. I came to the same conclusion with MTMG as with MuayThaiGoods.com – they work on their own time and customer service is not a priority… but at least they responded to (some) emails!
RIP MuayThai Mad Gear
Conclusion
There were several stores which I did not buy, but had great customer service response, such as Bull Sports. My latest attempted purchase was from www.mmaglovesandshorts.com but I had the same experience as with MTG and MTMG. I had placed an order, but there was a problem with PayPal. I sent an email explaining that the PayPal was not working but they didn’t respond. A few days later they cancelled the order without sending any update. I would imagine that these shops would need the income during these pandemic times, but perhaps it’s not that important to them to make the sale. Honestly I think all three of these shops (MTG, MTMG, MMAGLOVESANDSHORTS) are the SAME shop, but I can’t verify this claim. If you check out their Facebook/Instagram accounts, their pictures look very similar… unless all the Muay Thai equipment shops use the same shelving and labels?
