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Clearly if the question is about exerise,

Questions about Fitness Equipment

it is on-topic. My question:

Why are kettlebells so expensive?

was considered off-topic (and that's OK!) because I wasn't asking about fitness directly, but a meta fitness question. That is, I wanted to know information about a fitness device, not it's proper use.

If the question is off-topic, where can I direct such a question? Is there a SE site where it would fit?

Side note: Personally I don't think the question is speculative as mentioned evidenced by the fact that @BillN gave some seasoned (non-speculative) trade information.

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As promised I expand on what I planned to write as a comment.

The fact that they might be more expensive (at least in certain areas) wasn't the speculative part. I just don't see that there is a way to answer this question as this really is more a philosophy or economy question. And then again I don't see where it fits into the FAQ.
Although equipment questions basically are on topic here, we only cover usage and safety questions, not why companies do their pricing how they do.

The next problem is, that possible answers might not last very long. There are regional differences and depending on trends the validity of answers will likely change.
I hate to say that a question is not useful, in fact I think every question can be asked. But before asking you should think about the right place. I think the fitness site is the wrong place to ask for, you can always join chat for questions you consider too borderline or localized for the main site.

We happily accept discussion topics there and even off topic stuff. It might take some time until someone answers, but you are likely to get an answer.

For the localized part:
I just checked Amazon and a 16kg kettlebell costs 34€ where I would pay 25€ for 2x5kg barbell plates (rubberized cast iron). So for me the difference doesn't seem to be an issue.

Then again our site is thought to help you improve your fitness in some way. Even if there was a perfect answer, it wouldn't help you with that, but give you a complete overview of the manufacturing, the shipping process, taxes and so on.

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  • Thanks for the comment, the localized issue is a good point. As for the price difference, I too spent some time looking around, and found percentage differences from the low end like you posted, up to 70% (Sports Authority at 30lb). To me, a 30%+ increase in price is interesting and may effect my fitness decisions.
    – Hooked
    Commented Jan 4, 2013 at 18:25
  • Well actually 15kg barbell plates would cost me 37.5€, but the rubberized iron ones are pretty expensive. Additionally if you really get them from overseas and they are thought to be sold in Germany, too: We Germans have fudging high standards when it comes to safety and that makes a lot of stuff pricey.
    – Baarn
    Commented Jan 4, 2013 at 18:27
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I think the economics of "why" something is so expensive is off-topic. At that point it's more about shopping and not about the gear or gadget itself. "Shopping recommendations" are off-topic. Economics are obviously off-topic, as it's not listed in the acceptable categories.

I definitely agree that there's surely a concrete answer to the question. However, I don't think there's a StackExchange site where this would be on topic. There used to be an economics site, but it was shut down for not having enough activity.

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