When I buy a yoyo I expect I should be able to use it.
Reminds me of when I pay Microsoft extra money so I can play my Xbox online with my friends. Lame. Or “free to play” games that are really just trying to sucker you into being nickeled and dimed to death. What were we talking about?
Yes all yoyos should come with bearings because yoyos have bearings. ;D
I think this is a bad idea. It adds to the workload of the reseller and increases the probability of errors in order fulfilment. If any manufacturer or reseller would opt to do this I would see no problem in a separate charge for the bearing as well as an extra service fee to alleviate the extra cost in performing this service.
In any event, if you are willing to put out the money for a “professional” yoyo (whatever that means), you should be willing to buy the bearing of your choice at your own expense and effort. Yoyos are a commodity item.
If you’re buying high-end yoyos, you should have a small supply of whatever your preferred bearing is so that you can swap them in to whatever new yoyos you buy.
If you’re good enough that you have strong preferences, you should be good enough to keep a supply on hand. That is no one’s job but yours.
I don’t think any retailers would feel comfortable selling an incomplete product, if you buy a yo-yo it should arrive in working order.
With that said - If any of you decide you would prefer having your new yo-yo shipped without a bearing just make a note when you place the order, I’ll be more than happy to keep the bearings for myself. 
Although the wording is a bit ambiguous, I think the title makes it a bit more clear-- the OP is suggesting that they don’t come with bearings at all, and that yes, we then get to assume the responsibility of putting in our own.
I don’t think it would change the price point enough to make it worthwhile, though. It’s not like your yoyo is going to cost $10 so that you can use that money towards your own bearing.
In the meantime, everybody who says that the product has to be “complete” has it right, though. And if a manufacturer of a “pro” yoyo is going to put a bearing in, they’re not going to put in a placeholder in most cases (I’ve seen it done, though!). So you’re back to square one:
Yoyos should always ship with a bearing. “Pro” yoyos should always ship with a decent bearing.
I feel that yoyos should be sold as “Ready to Throw” being complete with a string and a bearing. From there we can choose to upgrade from the stock string or bearing.
This is similar to those who buy a Ready to Run RC car. They come with everything you need to get it going out of the box, and you can upgrade the components as you desire. Since RC cars are a bit more complex, there are kits that are sold where you supply the electronics, etc which dramatically affect price point. Yoyos are much simpler and don’t think it would really save anything if there was no bearing put in at all.
Overall it would likely result in a net increase in cost, not a savings to the consumer. Manufacturers buy bearings in bulk, as in hundreds at a time, which results in significant savings to them on a per-bearing cost. If they didn’t ship with bearings, we’d see yoyos maybe a couple dollars cheaper, and then have to put in our own bearings, which would cost us more than the couple bucks we would save.
It’s good to have extra bearings on hand. So get some of your favorite bearings to put in your most used throws, and keep the stock bearings as extras. Otherwise, most throws ship with very playable bearings installed anyways.
Plus, they’d have to get sign-on from all the manufacturers. I imagine at least some of them would object to a product going out the door as a “YoYoCo YoYo” when it’s no longer in the state it left their factory.
Really??? 100% chance you’ll get vibe if you unscrew a yoyo??? You my friend, are wrong. :
and how many companies don’t buy bearings to fit their yoyos? I’m just wondering. After all I’m pretty new to this. So I would just like to be enlightened on the subject. Thank you. I just gave my thought on this and how it all worked. You didn’t need to be rude about it.
It seems like you’re suggesting, that when you buy a yo-yo, there should be a drop down box of some sort (for example), so you can select your preferred bearing option to be shipped along with the yo-yo. I’m not sure if I read it as you intended it though. :-\
I don’t think it’s a bad idea for the customer, but it’s a bad idea for the manufacturer and the retailer. It’s mainly inefficient. The end price would change for each customer, depending on the bearing selected. For example, the guy who chooses a SPEC bearing will pay a lot less for the yo-yo, than the guy who chooses the Terrapin X ceramic bearing.
When you buy a new yo-yo, the trouble is, you can never be sure what bearing will play best in it, until you get it. You can tell what bearing you usually prefer, but with a yo-yo you haven’t tried yet, it can be a hit or miss. So, most times you’re not even informed enough to choose the best bearing for the yo-yo, because you haven’t tried the yo-yo. The point of having a choice, is so that you might end up more satisfied with the yo-yo. But, if you make a guess, and then don’t like the way the bearing plays in the yo-yo, it’s just another excuse to “exchange a bearing with the retailer,” or “complain to the manufacturer about their yo-yo.” At least when a manufacturer uses the bearing that they like, it means they have tested the yo-yo with that bearing, and they know how their yo-yo plays with that bearing installed.
Another problem is that a retailer would be forced to offer every single kind of bearing on the market. If they didn’t, there would be no point in selecting your own bearing. That’s a lot of bearings to keep in stock. And, while YoyoExpert has a wide selection of bearings, most other retailers do not offer that kind of selection. The larger retailers would be the only ones who could even work within a system like that, and it would be too much time and effort to keep it going, even for them. They would have a pile of damaged, dirty, used bearings that have been exchanged for a new ones. It sounds like a good way to take a loss.
I think business-wise a stock bearing is the way to go. It is more reliable, more cost-effective, more efficient for business, and most people don’t even care about the bearing anyway. I believe most people play their yo-yos stock, and those who swap out are in the minority. I play my yo-yos stock, for the most part. I keep plenty of spares around in case I get a dud. If I swapped out bearings in every yo-yo I have, the bearing would turn into a separate hobby altogether.
It’s not a bad idea from a customer perspective, and from that perspective, it’s a great idea. But, from a business perspective, it’s an extremely bad idea.
This was my thoughts exactly. Just you know. Worded and said in a much more awesome way. Thank you!
I’m almost certain that what he means is that the manufacturer would just stop shipping yo-yo’s with bearings entirely. It is totally obvious that it is a bad move for the manufacturer to do what you two are describing, which is what leads me to believe that the OP meant that yo-yo’s would just come lacking bearings.
I think doing either is so bad, that it’s not that clear which one he meant. One idea is just as bad as the other, to be honest. He just wrote “allow the consumer to choose,” but he didn’t not state how that choice would be made (a bearing from home at a separate cost, or you choose at the time of purchase). So, the reader has to interpret that for themselves and explore the possibilities. I can’t imagine a yo-yo purchased without a bearing in it, so I decided to explore the other option. The “no bearing at all” option was covered by someone else already. Either way, it looks like we have all bases covered now.
Good for customers but bad for Companies.
Nope bad idea. I don’t know about you guys, but as soon as I get a Yoyo in the mail I immediately want to play with it even if it doesn’t have the worlds best bearing. Having yoyos without bearings just adds another step. also what about beginners? I don’t know about you but, there is no way a beginner would be able to search for the best type of bearing on their own. It sounds like a nightmare.
Why stop at bearings? People have specific preferences about response too, why not leave those out? Going even further, why don’t One Drop just ship yo-yo halves with no bearings or Side Effects so people can choose their own! Why? Because it’s a bad idea that’s why.
When you buy a new car off the lot…do you get your choice of the tires you prefer to drive around on?
::)
If you want, the dealer will most likely put whatever tires on it.
Man, easy to see you’d be a major loser at playing the “shell game”
I bet you could con the salesman to give you a free key chain too!
I imagine you'd bring your own beef to be grilled when you go to the sizzler too huh? ;D