Tommikka

…. Cue me checking my Vinted listings …. Turns out that I have only put assault vests etc on eBay, but I do have uniform hats/peaked caps listed on Vinted - and a check of the rules does say they aren’t allowed It’s possible to get away with rule breaches, but you may or may not get listings pulled. On listing it depends on any key words or AI recognition of images, and then subsequently can be reported by other users (especially other sellers) I listed some disposable coats, but these weren’t the typical festival smock type but a hoodless button up lab coat - and immediately rejected due to the laboratory / medical words I did use Vinted as my default for selling clothing and some of the few other categories that they allow as the different way they do postage meant I may make more of the sale rather than full eBay fees. But then fortnightly fee discounts, and currently zero fees made ebay the better option I don’t tend to bother with Vinted now, just leaving existing items there if I can’t be bothered to relist on eBay - and there’s a couple of things that I have a few of so I keep a listing on both eBay and Vinted Vinted does annoy me with their ‘will you sell it for £x’ process which doesn’t result in sales when I accept someone’s ‘offer’ - and people want to heavily under cut the asking price Premium stuff from UTG I sold my old UTG urban MOLLE for about £15

Wittering is a ‘well found centre of specialism’ as a ‘support enabler’ to the RAF and Defence objectives, that’s why it still exists and presumably will continue to do so ……. Either that, or due to potential military ground contamination, land value (or lack of land value), potential/lack of potential for housing/commerical development and the very important thing that ruins plans to dispose is as you have pointed out the terms under which sites went to government. Under BDES, which I have thumbed through in hard copy and electronic copy many times ….. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5f6344b18fa8f5106b23aa86/Better_Defence_Estate_Dec16_Amends_Web.pdf ….. Defence have two key targets to dispose of 30% of the estate and in doing so to facilitate the enabling of land release for housing development of 55,000 new homes. They go hand in hand, except that sites no longer required for modern defence needs aren’t necessarily where people will want to live - especially if the site that would be closed is the main employer in the area. That’s before someone confirms whether or not government can sell the land, so the valuable land turns out to be required to be given back to the previous landowner rather than being used to facilitate the replacement site development Or the environmental cleanup Or the local MP complains about losses of employment Or the planning of expanding site B to rationalise what was in site A to close down won’t pass planning because that means putting buildings onto the open green land next door to site B Next let’s wait for someone to have the idea again of selling off the lovely Wiltshire land at Porton Down

They valued it that much? Gone are the days of Chinese packages worth 1p

With Brexit it’s now quite clear that everything crossing the border is an import so there’s much less chance of something just slipping through, and certainly a decent sized box as a RIF There is now the potential that an overseas retailer can register with the destination tax office to pre-process VAT (Highly unlikely for the nature of our hobbies as it is not worth the registration costs and administrative work for the small amount of business) If they did then you would see UK VAT being charged on checkout, they declare on the package declaration documentation with their registration details and it flies through the customs element. (A VCRA RIF defence would still be required) But in practice you will get assessed for VAT on arrival. Starting with the customs declared value & invoice, including the postage cost - in the overseas currency They may reassess the value based on a UK market equivalent so don’t count on it and allow for a higher charge (They might not include the postage cost in the valuation, but are permitted to do so - and by including that in your calculations you are preparing for worst case scenarios) Take the total amount you paid including postage, convert that to £s (at the current rate which may differ from the rate at the time of payment. Work out VAT at 20% Then add on a carrier handling charge, which varies between carriers - it may be fixed at £8, £20 etc or it may be a percentage of the total On $294.70 I was charged £45.73 VAT (20% of £228.65) sent by USPS from the US and handled by Parcel Force here, for which they took a £12 handling fee Ask your local / preferred retailer and even for items not stocked they may import on your behalf. You would pay a UK retail price, but would have a better idea on the final cost rather than waiting for an extra bill

The typical minimum age for both airsoft and paintball is 12 This is mostly in relation to insurance against the wider risks of controlling younger children - previously the limit dictated by paintball insurers was 13, but as much of rental paintball is for organised groups, and for children that was birthday parties sites were being asked to let in 12 year olds for their classmates 13th birthday and site insurance dropped a year to cater for those. The introduction of .50” paintballs (or more precisely reintroduction of .50”) was due to industry marketing to sites as low impact paintball. The smaller size and lower mass had some marketing to permit higher velocities still within legislations energy levels, but it was the low impact that won sites over (and to a degree the smaller boxes which caused quite a few sites to fully convert their rental equipment to .50” This low impact version of paintball brings me to the relevant point - insurers will allow cover for sites to reduce age limits to 8+ For general impact, airsoft BBs are smaller and have less energy in them, which means they have less impact when hit. But they aren’t designed to break on impact, which with paintball absorbs some of the energy Rental paintballs tend to be a lower quality than those used in tournaments and larger events. This is a deliberate design choice for rental sites as it prolongs the life in storage and simplifies storage requirements but makes a rental / recreational paintball hit harder than a fragile tournament grade paintball Keep skin covered to absorb the initial point of impact whether it’s a BB or a paintball For venues general woodland is better for young and new players with the openness rather than the up close environment of CQB & urban Ground is rough and uneven, but if you are lacking awareness of woodland surfaces then indoors is less forgiving - not only likely to be concrete floor or at least hard floor but the random things around the old buildings used for urban / CQB Then add slippery paintball gel or lots of BBs luring around on a hard floor (I played the infamous paintball game in the Reading Mall which left slippery residue for weeks/months - when ‘cleared’ the walls and ceilngs bled out some more BBs and paintball shells can be swept away, but the gelatine will remain - it’s going to need washing down, ideally by pressure washer I recommend a 10 year old waits, but low impact .50” will satisfy the itch for a year or two - and ensure that they are addicted if they continue to upgrade at 12

…. You weren’t meant to mention it

((Thanks for the informative background message))

Then I would say that we are talking in cross purposes on the term ‘guarding’ and ‘sensitive sites’ I would guess that you were not under a Defence contract, and I’m unaware of what I would consider sensitive sites that don’t use the other guarding arrangements (Genuinely interested if you’d be willing to PM what sort of place this was / type of contract)

Carillion were a construction and facilities management company, not security / guarding When they collapsed they were part of consortium a providing a number of government contracts, including infrastructure facilities management on the defence estates (less the training estate) Their success in securing all contract regions plus national housing was their failure, they bit off too much by underbidding every contract to the tiniest margin and then not being able to sustain all of them - when they failed it wasn’t the civil service suddenly getting things done quickly, but it was the consortium partner Amey (and other partners in PFI contracts) that stood up underwriting the Carillion gap Guarding isn’t / wasn’t part of the FM contracts - parts of the admin such as a clerk handing out car passes is part of the FM in some sites. ….. and as a direct result of the Carillion situation, both as a consideration of the risk when the CarillionAmey consortium were successful in all tenders and on the subsequent impact of their collapse, the next round of regional infrastructure tenders included provision that a national award of so many regions could not take place

I had one delivery (not a RIF) that took two weeks to clear the charges process - it took one week to assess a charge, then a second week to reassess the charge and release for payment Potentially add on time for a VCRA RIF declaration…… and if things don’t appear to be moving keep checking emails and spam, possibly call to check that they have your email address For fee charges add up the full purchase costs including postage. Then calculate import VAT at 20% of the total (allow for currency conversation rate changes as the assessment will be initially based on the declared total in the sellers currency - but be ready for a revaluation as it could get valued on an assessed equivalent UK price) Then add on the handling fee which can vary between the different carriers - a fixed price or a percentage of the total

Triggers broom trigger

It took me about a decade to realise the opposite - I’m there to get shot My preferred world is scenario paintball, but I had already worked out that I was getting as much or more fun running events (both paintball & airsoft) and watching people work out ways to play my missions, but it took until I was photographing tournaments that I didn’t actually care what flavour it was or what I was doing on field but that it was the being there in the middle of a game and the chances of being shot. Being an official event photographer was pretty much the best - I didn’t need to take my hits and could choose where I go to hunt the shots.

It was only the import VAT & fees, no declarations …. but not your normal belt & mag pouches, overpriced paintball pod belt style mag sleeves/pouches

As it arrived yesterday, don’t worry about the worst case circumstances that you see on here There could be some more delay due to the season with lots coming in and things being slow The first thing is that it will stop and sit for someone to look ‘looking’ will mostly involve getting to that entry on the system and checking declarations When checking the first question is whether it’s legal to import (ignore that under the VCRA it’s illegal to import RIFs, but defences exist allowing import - so for theses purposes we’ll just say RIFs are legal to import They may consider joule limits - that it is a UK legal airsoft RIF Next - are there controls on its import - yes there are. Your UKARA details will pass that - either on the face of it or with checking your details match Declarations may suffice from the retailer, but you are the importer so you will probably get a declaration form to complete (Respond with yes it’s a RIF, yes I have a defence - here it is, and if applicable yes it is within joules etc) Once happy with the item being suitable for import it is considered for charges The retailers customs declaration may be used for values or they may reassess value (my recalculated charges reflected the declared value so I don’t know the reasoning for the change - perhaps error correction, perhaps currency conversion) You get sent a bill (perhaps the same time as the RIF declaration) These may be by post, email or you may be able to identify them in the tracking and phone (the declaration has to be filled in so try phoning to check if they have details to email it) Payment may be doable on the phone - I was not able to pay mine on the phone, they wanted me to pay via a card sent to me, but in fact I went in person to the regional depot before the card got to me Once any declarations and payments are cleared it is fully released - either for delivery or you can collect if at a convenient depot (don’t pay online or by phone if you intend to collect as they will dispatch it)

Clearance takes as long as it takes I had a belt & mag pouches take two weeks to clear customs - one week to assess charges the first time, but not release it and another week to reassess customs charges (if I recall correctly the final amount was slightly less than the first price I had been quoted on the phone)

Not quite the same, but I did something similar, asking for roughly the new price I had paid, but I had paid a much reduced sponsor / supported price It was genuinely hardly used due to the size of my armoury, and a specific limited edition colour/design and bagged in the original case that only came with a short original run. Not that any value is added, but it had only been serviced by the manufacturer tech guy, and maintained by our certified team tech guy There may have only been two in the country, and it’s the only one I had seen in the country (I say two because my team mate had put his name down for that colour version before we were offered a team deal, but couldn’t wait and took a standard - his may have sat on the shelf or I might have actually ended up with the one earmarked for him) I decided to sell due to the value and lack of use - I had used it once and loaned it out 2 or 3 times. However I wasn’t going to let it go cheaply as I didn’t need the money, otherwise I may as well hang on That meant I was in the situation of asking for X but getting low ball offers, I was open to offer but not willing to drop heavily I’d get low offers telling me that just because it’s a limited colour doesn’t mean it’s worth more (OK then - buy one of the many standard ones available), or that the colour was a little more widely available in the US (OK, go and import one then), also that there was a small rub on the barrel (OK, don’t buy it) and finally that a UK retailer was listing one from new (OK, try buying that one at full retail price - a few hundred £ more than me - until you get to the cart to be told it’s out of stock) It did take me something like a year to sell, during which time I got a couple of ‘one last time’ games with it ….. and sold it on eBay (breaching rules) at an acceptable offer and during a promotional fees discount selling a £1400 - £1500 retail gun, (I had paid nowhere near that - probably trade price) for about £50 to £100 less than I had paid and obtained some use from it, and it sold to somebody who appreciated the mainly visual limited edition elements A private sale can happily be made between two people for an agreed price, that one is willing to part for and the other is willing to pay As long as one isn’t purely ripping off newbies with exaggeration then it should be fine

Limited edition custom

This is a hobby that needs multiple people to match their leisure time, and sites open accordingly - primarily as a weekend hobby This does mean that the typical site isn’t used to its optimum at 2/7ths of time, but the customer isn’t around 7 days a week Some things can be run more if there is a customer base - but you could then be looking at the ‘experience’ area of the market and venues that can be diverse in their activities The alternative to finding an existing weekday site is to do what someone probably did in the first place at those that do have a weekday opening - gather the regulars and establish that it’s viable to open during the week This doesn’t help the lone player looking for a game that suits their free time, but it doesn’t hurt to ask local sites if they have already had some interest, or to play when you do get a weekend off and ask the regulars Sometimes it’s initiated by Marshalls to get a midweek evening as they work the site at the weekend

Ferrero Rocher works with the Foreign & Commonwealth office (Ambassador, you are spoiling us) For Border Force it’s Toblerone - there’s a clue in the duty free shop

A claim involves relevant documentation - in the case of a sale the transaction qualifies as a receipt. I have not claimed for a RIF but I have claimed for eBay and Vinted sales, Vinted wouldn’t be too applicable here as that usually includes Vinteds contracted carriers (and is passes over to Vinted to resolve in the ‘lost’ timeframe) but when Royal Mail is selected the seller deals with Royal Mail I have managed to successfully claim value based on a screenshot of the transaction payment - of course up to the insured limit. A private transaction should of course be paid via a suitable method (PayPal etc) and not tagged as friends & family money owed etc

IP banning is very difficult, and very easily blocks valid users. Ive not gone into many VPNs recently, but in my experience the most basic VPNs allocate a random IP - and unless you keep the VPN enabled will get a fresh one next time I occasionally use the free version of a VPN and when switching on I get a random VPN in a random country, if I want a specific country I have to select, but still get a random fresh IP every time IPs are very rarely fixed, and those are left for specific services. Users IPs are leased from the IP server - you get a maximum period of usage, and at any time a fresh log in can get reallocated When I was moderating a forum we had a few options in our processes, and could handle it differently depending on the incoming spam. If they were continuing to send then the big button was hit, IP blocked, user suspended (or deleted), and in addition we had a user report come up with IP country/region, IP range, network provider, user profile, list of posts etc - then decide on the action Speciific IP blocking was pretty pointless, they just reset and were back Region blocking could kill off access from a whole country - and it was a UK based forum, but we had some world users plus some members of the community plus some moderators worked internationally (including a couple in the private aircraft industry) Hard hammer use would block their access - especially against spammers that used public WiFi / Internet cafe providers IP blocking is a tool that can be used, but with care and effort to be sure of what you’re blocking

Question 1 is up to the moderators & admins. (I wouldn’t have read it as retrospective on the listing, but you’re right that the rule applies as of tommorow for all sales/swaps - which can be read to mean any live advert) Question 2 - the fuller rule refers to sales/swaps. Therefore no verification picture needed for the wanted listing - but responses offering to fulfil the want would need a verification picture

Go through the points one by one. It’s probably the VCRA skirmisher defence, so check through all the points that they have referenced, reply covering them complete with your UKARA details (check they match the address in case of any changes and/or typos) and be prepared to have it decided in court VCRA Section 36.7 It is a RIF You have a defence with UKARA membership https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/38/section/36 VCRA Section 39.7 Refers to VCRA 39.6 and customs and excise act section 1 39.6 is with regard to the specifications of an IF (Eg If you didn’t have a VCRA RIF defence then you could have import an IF at >50% defined bright colours etc. (perhaps it has been checked to be overpowered for the UK, but the section references IFs) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/38/section/39 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1979/2/section/1 The other points refer to the various pieces of legislation. You should look them up but the key points will be: 1)VCRA RIF defence - your UKARA membership, plus be prepared to document your intention to continue to play airsoft skirmishing at insured sites 2)IF non compliance - should be covered by your RUF defence 3)Sender may not have correctly declared contents Be prepared to say to the court “Oh dear, that was very silly of them. I’m a responsible player and had intended to conduct a fully legal and open import, giving my UKARA details to the retailer 4)They have sent a non compliant RIF overpowered for the UK (only a guess on potential reasons) If so you’re either screwed or can go for the “It should have been supplied with UK compliant settings which can be arranged via x tech support in the UK

I know I was commenting on your claim that the VCRA would not apply to airsoft guns if section 57a was removed Airsoft guns were low powered air weapons, which were within the Firearms legislations scope

In which case the VCRA didn’t apply to airsoft for the decade of 2007 to 2017 before section 57a was produced, and there was no need for the statutory instrument to add the airsoft skirmisher defence I would have tended to agree as an airgun is a firearm and an airgun that looks like a ‘proper firearm’ couldn’t be both a firearm and an imitation firearm ….. but a case went to court and @Rogerborgwon the argument that we would be on opposing sides of with a gentleman’s agreement to agree to disagree But case law now says otherwise - a firearm can be an imitation firearm Licenced firearms are controlled via the licence and certificate processes Categories of firearms are available by other controls, such as low powered air weapons sold face to face / via RFDs, and other categories aren’t controlled other than self policing good practice by parts of the industry - such as paintball retailers that follow UKPSF recommended guidelines ….. and courtesy of the section 57a exemption a category of what would be low powered air weapons are not subject to controls but the industry has a potential liability under which retailers protect themselves as a collective under the UKARA and other similar schemes (or don’t protect themselves and take risks against personal high fines and loss of good faith in the industry with fake defences