The BowTackle.com team includes, from left: Dan Ellyson, 48, owner of Wisconsin-based A-1 Archery, Perry Bowers, 53, a rabid bowhunter and entrepreneur, and Josh Smith, 45, another avid bowhunter with a background in computer software and customer data analytics.
Many archery pro shops have websites, yet relatively few use them to sell product — an area where the archery industry has almost glaringly lagged behind others in today’s digital-focused age. But hold on. Change is in the air.
An exciting new digital sales platform has a goal of changing the game for pro shops everywhere. Even better, its laser-focused mission is helping to grow and strengthen brick-and-mortar archery pro shops that have traditionally struggled with the know-how — and many costs and hassles — associated with getting into ecommerce.
BowTackle.com is the brainchild of Wisconsin-based A-1 Archery pro shop owner Dan Ellyson, 48, a longtime pro shop owner/manager who saw the power of digital marketing and ecommerce early in his career. The neat thing about BowTackle.com is it’s a virtual plug-and-play platform that can be quickly and easily integrated into your shop’s current website. It allows you to sell products online without the extreme setup and monthly costs, and other hassles of most current ecommerce platforms such as eBay, Amazon, Shopify and Facebook Marketplace.
“We started in April 2024 building this platform out, we went live in September 2024, and that was our Beta testing,” Ellyson said. “We went live after the 2025 trade shows — in February 2025. We wanted to be sure this thing was working as planned, and it’s doing great. As an archery pro shop owner, you’re juggling a lot of critical duties; you’re trying to control your inventory, you can be struggling with moving used products — and you can kind of get buried in that. BowTackle.com was designed to be a profit-building answer lots of pro shops have been looking for.”
Ellyson’s partners in BowTackle.com are two Minnesotans. They are Perry Bowers, 53, a rabid bowhunter and entrepreneur whose eclectic resume includes artist and music producer, and Josh Smith, 45, another avid bowhunter with a background in computer software and customer data analytics.
In early August 2025 (at the time of this writing), there were 18 retailers using the BowTackle.com platform, with a goal of 100 retailers involved by year’s end. Given the current state of the industry’s digital marketing, Ellyson and his team feel that many more shops stand to benefit from this new platform.
Does Your Website Create Profit?
“Let’s say there are 11,000 current archery dealers nationwide; the majority don't have e-commerce,” Bowers said. “Just think about the dead traffic on all those shop websites. That web traffic goes nowhere today. I would call that the opportunity. The overwhelming majority of the web traffic for archery dealers, from a digital standpoint, just ends at their website. You go to a typical pro shop website and you get hours, location, whether they have a range, and maybe some of the manufacturers they deal with. That’s it.”
Turning Overstocks Into Cash
So how do pro shops benefit from BowTackle.com? Far and away the biggest opportunity rests in moving outdated and overstock gear, and used equipment you might take in on trade. And if you don’t currently take trade-ins, Ellyson believes that is a big mistake. His experience has shown that trade-ins are smart ways to spur more sales — if you have a way to turn them quickly and efficiently. That’s where BowTackle.com shines.
“To me, the perfect stuff to sell on this format is used stuff and overstocked product,” Ellyson said. “Listing your closeouts and used products is an excellent way for archery retailers to use e-commerce capabilities to drive in-store foot traffic.”
Ellyson sees the magic formula for this platform as quite simple. Once you post your shop’s used or overstocked gear on your BowTackle.com page that appears as a click-in banner on your current website, your customers can shop 24-7. And even better, your shop’s gear is also visible to the entire BowTackle.com community, so you’re instantly growing, expanding your customer base. As Ellyson sees it, your shop is building instant credibility with potential customers surfing the web for archery deals. And further, there’s a better than average chance those new buyers will be willing to visit your shop to complete their gear purchase with your setup help — and your lineup of bow and other hunting accessories.
Making Trade-Ins Pay
Ellyson believes taking trade-ins at your shop, and selling that used gear online, is a huge key to making the most of BowTackle.com. He also believes that taking trades is a no-brainer for shops looking for a competitive edge.
“If you’re not going to take a trade-in, and your competitor does, they’re going to go to your competitor,” Ellyson said. “And where do you sell your trade-ins? On eBay, or a marketplace that was custom built for you?
“My rough guess is less than 50 percent of shops today consistently take trade-ins. At A-1, I really became consistent when I hired somebody to consistently sell them. We have done that for over 15 years; I would say that we are very consistent in taking trades. We will offer a trade-in price, there can be room for negotiation, but we will make 30 points on that trade-in. We use both our experience and eBay for our trade-in prices. And when you can’t make 30 points, then it comes down to negotiation. If it comes to that, it comes down to how bad do we want this sale? “How many hundreds of sales would we miss if we didn't take trades? Taking trades is a selling tool. You have to negotiate with confidence — see if that used bow is maybe missing some of its camo, does it have some chipping paint? At that point you’re a used car dealer. But in the end, taking that trade is going to increase your sale. As long as you give them something, most people will be happy. Sometimes it just comes down to doing what you have to do to get the sale.”
So what can your shop post and sell on BowTackle.com? Well, the list is long. “Used bows are always a big thing, but you can list anything outdoors-related,” Ellyson said. “In the outdoor store, you could literally list everything from optics, to dog training supplies, to knives. The only thing that limits you are specific manufacturer guidelines. Mathews, for instance, won’t let you sell a new bow online.
“The magic trick that happens with BowTackle.com is it gives dealers the opportunity to compete on price, and in a field where they can actually compete — which is the used market. You can’t compete on new stuff because you’re limited by manufacturers, and you’re limited by price.”
A huge advantage for shops working with BowTackle.com, Ellyson said, is the cost savings over the other current digital options.
“Our BowTackle Edge product is $49.99 per month, and it gets you e-commerce capability on your website,” Ellyson explained. “In the future, there will be options for marketing services and data analytics that will help you understand more about your digital customers.
“Probably the closest thing to BowTackle.com is Shopify, and lots of shops might consider it, but when they dig deeper they find Shopify has a $2,500 to $5,000 set up fee, plus transaction and monthly fees. Shopify doesn't add up for a dealer. Posting your closeouts and your used products is the only way for dealers to use e-commerce capabilities, to drive in-store foot traffic. It’s because they need to come into your shop and get it set up, and by doing that you’re building trust and your customer base.
“On platforms like eBay, Amazon and Facebook Marketplace, when you want to move excess inventory, it’s depreciating fast. So you’re selling those products at a discount, and at the same time, paying crazy fees. So you’re losing 50 to 60 percent of their value. Most shops are going to pay 15 to 20 percent of that sale on an eBay or Amazon platform. And you’re not creating a regular customer, you’re just making a sale. And once you get out of those platforms into a digital marketplace, you’re not going to pay any fees, but you’re going to have to deal with fraud.”
Avoiding Internet Fraud
Preventing fraud was a huge concern for Ellyson and team when building BowTackle.com, and they believe necessary checks are in place.
“When we first started digging into this, I just wanted to build the most secure system possible because I don't have time for fraud,” Ellyson said. “Everybody who sells on this platform is a brick-and-mortar shop, they are going to have social media, and most importantly, a reputation they need to maintain.
“So how do we vet the participating retailers? We go to their website, see what they’re doing. Give them a call. Check if they have a website, an address, a phone number. We’re not doing an FBI search on them, but it’s really an easy process to know if they are an actual dealer. From a supply standpoint, you couldn’t have a more secure platform.
“Users have to connect to a Stripe account; it’s the ultimate credibility check. You have to apply, we’re a lot like Paypal. Stripe started in B2B, they work with Uber, so it’s good at taking a payment and splitting it. Stripe cuts it up into BowTackle fees, credit card fees. The money goes right into the dealer’s account through Stripe. Participating dealers need to enter a Bank account, an EIN, Social Security number, and driver’s license.
For everything sold on the BowTackle platform, the buyer pays credit card fees (2.9 percent) and shipping, and they can choose shipping options between FedEx and USPS.
Create a Simple Photo Studio
So how do retailers actually get their gear displayed online for sale? BowTackle.com offers several informative videos of best business practices designed to help pro shops get online quickly and easily. For instance, at Ellyson’s shop, A-1 Archery based in Hudson, Wisconsin, he has created a dedicated area specifically designed for photographing, uploading and shipping out A-1’s used and overstocked products. One or two employees focused on these duties is all it takes to keep things moving and money flowing.
In the end, being a member of BowTackle.com doesn’t require fancy equipment, but rather, a simple commitment to focus on what can be a highly profitable side of your business. And maybe most important, it’s designed to get you in the game, competing for exploding online sales — while also growing your dedicated customer base.
Sidebar: How Gear Manufacturers Can Get Involved
As part of helping pro shops cost-effectively compete for online sales, BowTackle.com is currently focusing on expanding its initial focus on independent retailers, by adding quick and easy ways for those dealers to interact with manufacturers — ways that previously did not exist.
In the near future, participating manufacturers will be able to go into BowTackle.com and build their own stores, with the goal of listing primarily closeouts and overruns. Those products would not be sellable, but participating BowTackle retailers could then take those listings and drop them into their own platforms, where they would become sellable. After a sale, that manufacturer would fulfill that order.
Exciting stuff? Ellyson and his team think so.
“The way I see it, this marketplace is special because there are three roles: the dealer, the manufacturer, and buyer,” Smith said. “And today, there is not a digital form of that. The relationship between the dealer and manufacturer is completely analog. For those three roles, we have a value proposition.
“The idea that a dealer such as A-1 Archery could sell some closeout products without having to stock them, does not exist anywhere — not between dealers and manufacturers. We don't want manufacturers on the platform selling to buyers, only to dealers, the money has to flow through the dealer.
“I think dealers should be excited, because everybody wins in this scenario. The manufacturer is selling a product to the dealer, and the dealer is selling the product to the customer. The flow is perfect, it just happens in a digital way. What we’ve done is we’re taking existing analog business relationships and transforming them into digital ones.”
