The short version: we got tired of waiting three weeks for a paddle from the States, paying GST at the border, and then realising we'd ordered the wrong shape anyway because there was nowhere in Australia where someone who actually played the game could tell us what was good.
So we built that.
This is Pickld. Two mates, one store, a brand list we'd stake our own kit bags on, and warehouse space in Sydney that ships next-day to most of the country. We're Ben and Chris. We started this because we wanted it to exist. Then we found out we weren't the only ones.
What we saw in the AU pickleball market
When we started looking at the market, the picture was simple and frustrating:
- The big AU sports retailers carried whatever paddle their international parent company shipped down. Almost no curation, mostly stale catalogues, and a buying experience designed for tennis.
- The dedicated pickleball stores were small, mostly one-brand, and frequently out of stock on the SKUs you actually wanted.
- The serious gear was almost all US-direct. Two to three weeks transit. GST and AusPost handling fees stacked on top. No domestic warranty if anything broke. And if you ordered the wrong handle length or shape, the return was a $60 international postage bill.
We were doing exactly what most AU intermediate players were doing — ordering RPM, JOOLA, Six Zero direct from the US — and the friction was constant. Not catastrophic. Just constant.
So we did the obvious thing. We started a store, brought the brands we wanted to play with into Sydney, and committed to two things we couldn't get elsewhere: deep curation, and a founder you could actually reach.
The brands we carry, and the ones we don't
Pickld carries about 15 brands. That's deliberate. Most legacy sports retailers carry 50+, and you can feel it in their product pages — long, copy-pasted descriptions, inconsistent specs, no editorial point of view. We didn't want that for ourselves and we didn't want that for our customers.
The brands we carry pass a player-tested filter. We — or someone we trust — have spent serious court time with the paddle line. We know how RPM's Friction Pro plays at the kitchen line differently from a JOOLA Perseus Pro V. We know the Six Zero Coral 16mm gives you Tectonic Core Suspension feedback that the Black Diamond doesn't. We know which Honolulu shapes work for two-handed backhand players and which don't.
We carry: JOOLA, RPM, Six Zero, Honolulu Pickleball, PUSUN (ball machines), Friday, Enhance, Selkirk, Franklin, INSUM, Gamma, AMA Sport, Engage — and our own house grips, lead tape, and the Pickld Paddle Cover.
What we don't carry: anything that doesn't pass the player test, anything we can't get reliably restocked, and anything where the brand relationship is too thin to support warranty claims in Australia. That last one is the underrated part. A great paddle line with no AU dealer relationship is worse than a decent paddle line with a real one — because when it breaks (and they do break), you can't fix it from here.
How we actually run the store
This is the part most retail "about" pages skip, so we'll say it plainly.
Ben + Chris answer customer support. Not a team. Not a chatbot. Not "the Pickld team" (we banned that phrase from our emails). When you DM us on Instagram, message us on the storefront chat, or hit reply on one of our emails, one of us reads it and answers it. Usually within a few hours. Sometimes from courtside.
We play with what we sell. Every paddle in our range has been hit by us or by a player we trust. That's how we write the product copy — we describe how a paddle plays. Sweet spot. Swing weight. How it feels in your hand at the kitchen line versus at the baseline. Not what the marketing brief says.
We ship from Sydney. Most orders go out same-day or next-day. Free Australian shipping over $150. Pickup is available at SUNS Pickleball Venue, Mount Colah, if you want to grab your paddle and a hit on the same day.
We honour the warranty. Domestic, AU consumer law applies, we deal with the brand directly so you don't have to. If you've ever tried to get a US-direct paddle replaced, you'll know why this matters.
What we won't do
A few things we've decided not to do, on purpose:
We don't run sales. The brand list we carry is mostly RRP-locked by dealer agreement, and even the brands that aren't — we'd rather price honestly than play the discount-race game that cheapens everyone's gear. The exception is when a brand offers a sanctioned customer code (like Six Zero's 12% match), which we'll honour because that's a real value, not invented urgency.
We don't have a pro player roster. We're not going to claim Tyson McGuffin endorses us. He doesn't. Some of our customers are very good — DUPR 4.5+, state-level tournament players — but they're our customers, not our marketing roster.
We don't try to be the everything-pickleball-store. We're not Pickleheads. We're not TheDinkPickleball. If you want the encyclopedia, go there. If you want a curated AU store with a founder you can actually reach, that's us.
Come hit with us
If you've made it this far and you're trying to pick your second or third paddle and you're stuck between two options, just message us. Instagram, the storefront chat, or hit reply on the next Pickld email you get. One of us will answer.
If you're in Sydney, we're often at SUNS Pickleball Venue on weekends. Come find us. We'll demo paddles with you if you ask.
That's the whole thing, really. Two mates, one store, a brand list we'd stake our own kit bags on, and a phone we actually answer.
— Ben + Chris
Where to next:
- Browse our paddles — the full Pickld range
- Hot Right Now — what AU players are buying this week
- JOOLA Pro V buying guide — our most-read editorial