Finish Line Review

My Finish Line Review

Finish Line has its roots in another well-known retailer, The Athlete’s Foot (TAF). Three friends who were avid runners wanted to bring quality footwear to Indianapolis and the Louisville, Kentucky area and invested in some TAF franchises. Seeking to grow further, they discovered that there were no more TAF franchise rights available to be purchased. Their franchise agreement lacked a “no compete” clause, so they developed their own brand of store, Finish Line, and converted their existing TAF stores to Finish Line stores when their franchise rights with TAF ran out.

Finish Line now operates over 650 brick and mortar stores in addition to its online store at finishline.com. Its inventory is not limited to footwear. Products you can purchase on its website include the following:

Men’s, Women’s, and Kids’ name brand footwear
Men’s, Women’s, and Kids’ name brand apparel
Officially Licensed Professional Team Apparel
Bags
Sunglasses
Heart rate monitors

You can also find apparel emblazoned with the logo of a number of U.S. high school teams. Unfortunately, my high school team in small-town Ohio did not make the cut.

FinishLine also offers the best in premium accessories and apparel which includes Nike LIVESTRONG, The North Face Apparel, Oakley Sunglasses, and of course Adidas.

Is Finish Line Worth It? – Key Features and Benefits

Here are a few reasons I think Finish Line is worth it, according to my research:

FinishLine.com has an extensive collection of footwear. It’s easy to find the brand of shoe in the size and color that you want.
It’s easy to navigate Finish Line’s website. Main tabs are provided for Men’s Footwear, Women’s Footwear, Kids’ Footwear, Apparel, Team Gear, Accessories, Brands, Sale, and New Arrivals. You can narrow your search by brand, size, price, color, or category using the sidebar tabs. This allows you to find what you want more quickly.
In addition to being able to view a larger image of a product, the website has a “zoom” feature that allows you to examine the product details more closely.
There is a “Wish List” feature on the site, allowing me and my friends and family to choose specific products–including the style, color and size–that we’d like to own and share our lists with the others. This makes gift-buying a no-brainer.

My favorite feature, though, is the ability to view the average customer rating of a product that I’m viewing and read all the reviews right there on the product description page. I don’t have to click to another location on the website to find this. It’s all right there.

Finish Line Cons – Disadvantages

The website’s return policy is very restrictive. The customer must first call the company, explain the reason for the return, and (hopefully) get an authorization number for the return. No returns are accepted after 45 days for any reason, including manufacturer defects.
Finish Line has restrictions on in-store exchanges of merchandise purchased on line, soif the shoe doesn’t fit, you may not be able to find one that does at a Finish Line store and simply make the exchange.
Customer service is available only from 8 A.M. to 11 P.M. EST Monday through Friday, from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. EST on Saturday, and from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. on Sunday.

What Stores Might Be Better Than Finish Line?

Key competitors of Finish Line are:

How Does Finish Line Compare To Similar Merchants?

I looked at a couple of other websites that are in direct competition with Finish Line. The first was the Sports Authority online store.

Compare Sports Authority to Finish Line

In addition to carrying a comparable selection of footwear, Sports Authority has a larger selection in most other categories of merchandise that both websites offer. For example, while Finish Line has no Pittsburgh Pirates jerseys for sale on its website, Sports Authority has numerous from which to choose.

Sportsauthority.com does not carry high school team apparel as does Finish Line, however. Sportsauthority.com offers more categories of merchandise than finishline.com, such as winter sports equipment and tailgating items.

Items on the two websites are priced similarly. A pair of Nike women’s Free TR Fit Training Shoes cost $69.98 on both sites. The Sports Authority website provides a guide on how to determine the proper shoe size and a cross training buyers guide on the product description site whereas Finish Line offers no such guidance.

The return policies of the two sites differ somewhat. Sports Authority does not require a prior authorization for returns, but it has a 30-day return policy compared to Finish Line’s 45-day policy. Items purchased online at the Sports Authority website cannot be returned to one of its brick and mortar stores, but Sports Authority does offer free return shipping on footwear.

Compare Finish Line to FansEdge

The second website I researched was fansedge.com. While fansedge.com has significantly more officially licensed merchandise available and offers products related to more types of sports than does finishline.com, it carries no footwear products. The prices on fansedge.com seem to be slightly lower. For example, the price of a Pittsburgh Penguin’s NHL men’s long-sleeved t-shirt was $22 on Finish Line and only $19.99 on fansedge.com. The return policy offered by FansEdge is much more customer-friendly. FansEdge offers a 60-day, no-hassle, return policy, whereas Finish Line has only a 45-day return policy and requires prior authorization on returns, as noted earlier.

What Is the Cost?

The cost of the products varies greatly by product category and brand. Sample prices are provided below:

Women’s Reebok Aggro Full Zip Hoodie = $32.50 (currently marked down from $65.00)
Nike Free Run+2 Men’s Running Shoe = $89.99
Polar FT7 Men’s Heart Rate Monitor Watch = $109.95
Oakley Ducati Holbrook Sunglasses = $130
Nike LiveStrong Medium Duffel Bag = $45
Birki Tahiti Women’s Sandles = $79.99

If these prices are too high for your pocketbook, you may want to sign up for Finish Line’s Winner’s Circle Reward Program. Membership is free, and members receive a $20 reward certificate for every $200 spent within a 12-month period. They also receive special offers and qualify for free shipping at special times during the year.

Standard shipping charges are $7.99 on the first item and $1.99 for each additional item ordered. Returns must receive preauthorization. The shipping cost will be refunded only if the merchandise was defective or the wrong item was shipped. Finish Line accepts payment via PayPal, American Express, Discover, Mastercard, or Visa and also offers a “Bill Me Later” option.

What Are Others Saying? Testimonials – Feedback – Comments

Reviews of Finish Line are largely negative, with many reviewers awarding the company only one or two stars out of five. There were numerous complaints about slow—or no—delivery. According to the reviews, customer service added to, rather than alleviated, the reviewers’ frustration. One reviewer complained about being spammed with emails from Finish Line following his online purchase. Curiously, a couple of others complained about receiving no email confirmations of their purchase.

Any Promotional Coupons for Finish Line? How to Buy at a Discount

As affiliates of Finish Line, we regularly check for coupon codes and promotional deals that work so that you will get the best prices. If there are any Finish Line coupon codes or discounts available today you will find them at the top of this page.