I don't assume anything, by your own admission researching a seller is extra effort & you'd rather go to a retailer, a as I previously said, your money, your choice.
The point being discussed, that many don't agree with, understandably, is the defence of cosplay has little bearing on airsoft, open to abuse by non airsofters, which in turn puts everything at risk for the genuine players.
I sympathise with your situation, I too provide 24/7 care, literally day & night, to a relative, unpaid I should add, who is disabled & has dementia.
Add to that I've been receiving cancer treatment since 2021, & severe orthopaedic issues mean I currently can't climb or descend a flight of stairs unaided, so I know exactly how hard it can be to attend games, or even cope with getting around some sites.
(I'm determined to not let the health crap force me to quit)
Cosplay would have been piss easy for me to use to buy rifs, but I don't agree with it for Airsoft rifs for all the reasons previously mentioned, maybe cosplayers and reenactors should have been made to go down the route of deacts or similar, in order to not "muddy the waters" for airsofters.
& as has been mentioned, maybe people like you & I, who find themselves in difficult personal situations should have more flexible options for attaining a ukara defence.
I'll put this out there as a general question, for example has anyone ever approached a site where they've started playing, but for whatever reason have had a protracted break between games, & asked the site to honour the previous games & make an allowance for the time away ?, allowing players get ukara approval.