Selling rifs

[emilianoksa]

A couple of months ago I put up a tm hicapa for sale. It was in perfect working order but the frame was showing wear from handling. It had never been skirmished and only occasionally shot, so the wear was down to me repeatedly handling it in order to swap parts, change the configuration etc. which is what a lot of hi capa owners do. There is no pitting of scratching on the frame. I currently have three hi capas and they alll show some wear since the paint Marui uses comes off easily. I am more of a collector than a shooter or skirmisher. I had it for sale at £110 including postage. Half a dozen people have wanted to buy it or made an offer. None of them has had a current UKARA.

No matter. I am not desperate for a hundred quid. However the general lack of interest has surprised me because the pistol is not stock. It has an Airsoft Masterpiece aluminium slide, steel recoil rod, aluminium outer barrel, upgraded AIP springs and nozzle, a hammer protection pad, magwell etc When you consider that a new hi capa with plastic slide and outer barrel is priced at about £140 and an Airsoft Masterpiece slide alone generallly costs about £90, not to mention the other parts, I considered £110 posted to be a bargain price.

Please note that this is not an advert by stealth. I have come to terms with the situation and I am going to break it down, and sell the parts separately, so that I do not need to worry about buyers having UKARA. I'll probably put the slide on ebay.

I am not upset that it has failed to sell but I am curious. I am wondering why a gun that I would have been able to sell quickly only a couple of years ago, has languished on the Classified section for a couple of months.

Maybe hi capas are no longer as popular as they used to be. Perhaps far fewer people are keeping their UKARAs up to date. The economy is bad and it is going to get a lot worse. People probably don't have the money to spend on an expensive hobby any more. And the recent changes to the site have resulted in the loss of data about the ratings of sellers. And on the old site when the categories for sale included a section just for handguns entries spent longer in the first couple of pages. Now with all gas operated guns lumped together entries slide down the list much faster. It could be that not many people have seen the advert.

I would be interested in your thoughts.

 

[Isawatree]

Couple of things really:

No one has any money. I do lots of buying/selling and have noticed a massive decline in interest in many of my sales posts.

Hi capas are not as popular as they used to be.

You are relying on finding someone who likes your build.

 

[Austeyr]

As above, I have noticed over the years that the vast majority of people are a lot less likely to buy something that's been upgraded - Especially pistols, even more so Hi-Capas. I think most people buying Hi-Capa's have their own ideas for what they'll do to it so a plain, stock base is typically the best option for them.

That and again, as above, we're all poor nowadays

 

[emilianoksa]

Very true. Good points.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[emilianoksa]

Yes, I agree with both of you.

My only question is this:

What exactly can you get for a hundred quid these days?

I have been buying quite a lot of art materials recently and would have used the money to buy more watercolour and pastel paper, etc. rather than using my credit card yet again. Good art materials are expensive especially when you are retired and on a fixed income.

Thanks again.

 

[Baser]

Tried to buy a couple of used RIF's this month but neither seller replied to my messages, a bit strange. Bought quite a few used RIF's before and never had this challenge.

 

[khryzs]

Tried to buy a couple of used RIF's this month but neither seller replied to my messages, a bit strange. Bought quite a few used RIF's before and never had this challenge.

Click to shrink...

I've had that. One thing can be there's no system to remove listing's from banned members. I tried to buy something and later found a thread that had turned nasty enough that the seller got banned but the listing stays up.

 

[Tackle]

My take:
Firstly, just looked at yours, very nice, & yeah, absolute bargain, should have gone very quickly, but i respect your decision to only accept buyers with ukara. (I currently dont have it lol).
Why's it not selling though ?, that's a hard one, imho a stock marui hi-capa is probably the best off the shelf pistol available FOR SKIRMISHING.
But I think the 4.3 platform is more popular, I own 2 stock marui 4.3's.
I also have an all metal AA hi-capa, can't remember which one, but definitely looks & feels nicer, but doesnt perform as well as the stock marui.
If you can, I think returning the gun to its stock set up might make it sell quicker, plus you'll make more cash selling off the upgrade parts separately, airsofters are a quirky bunch, for many its all about doing the build themselves, the flip side to that is there's a lot of horror stories out there of guns with all the alleged best upgrades, but the owners can't get them to work well together, as well as the numerous "macks" posts where sellers have tried to claw back some, or all of the fortune they've spent on theirs, having plummeted down the upgraded hi-capa rabbit hole.
While yours is a very fair price, these are some of the possible reasons why it didn't get snatched up.
Alternatively, some other brands & models are going through a popular phase, influenced by tv/film, or real life loadout comparisons, such as what the UK military is currently using, latest gen G17's are very popular, but before that the P226 used to hold its money really well.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do with yours.

 

[HodgePig]

Sincere question: is it only UKARA you'll accept? And as a non-skirmisher, do you have UKARA yourself?

Genuinely curious.

I don't have UKARA, I don't need it as I have Sportsman association which is accepted by enough retailers to make Airsoft kit accessible to me. Private sales I always have my membership card as well as my separate shooting insurance available. Only been asked once over a number of sales, as many private sellers, appear pragmatic and acknowledge that there is no way to validate any claims to defences as a private individual and the rules couke be interpreted as enforceable only in a retail environment.

As to your pistol, and has had been said, modding is down to personal taste. From recently joing the hi capa scene, I'd say either stock or aesthetically modded seem to be more in demand than 'non evident' modding, if you get me.

All very subjective, and no doubt subject to trends, but for example I'd personally not mod a pistol to look the way yours does, so actually it's 'worth' less to me than the value it holds for you, as I'd need to put a new slide one and jazz it up etc, and then I'm already £200 in to a build that could have been something closer to my personal tastes to start with, and I'd guess there's not a massive market for the current slide hence lack of sale etc.

If it's sat doing nothing, you could use the funds elsewhere and there are no bites.... I'd be considering dropping it to something like £90 and hope for a "sod it, can't argue at that price" fire sale. And maybe broaden your net if it is the case that you currently don't consider other defences acceptable

Anyway, all said with best intentions, I just struggle to get words across in writing sometimes, so no offence intended in any way and GLWS

 

[Tackle]

Tried to buy a couple of used RIF's this month but neither seller replied to my messages, a bit strange. Bought quite a few used RIF's before and never had this challenge.

Click to shrink...

Think that's a "them" issue, people that dont visit the site very much, just use it as a free place to drop in & sell.
Admittedly there's been an issue with email notifications of pm's, but ive never had an issue with a regular visitor not responding to a pm regarding an item for sale.

 

[Jefferson2000]

If interested please let me have your name, postal code and UKARA number.

If you don't have an UKARA number that is currently valid please don't waste your time contacting me

That's where you lost me, nice looking build, good price, something I may have been interested in, but that wording put me off, along with the rigidity of using ukara.

I've skirmished/collected for 20 years+, rarely play at the same site more than a handful of times. Never had UKARA, never will.

 

[Grant1989]

If interested please let me have your name, postal code and UKARA number.

If you don't have an UKARA number that is currently valid please don't waste your time contacting me

That's where you lost me, nice looking build, good price, something I may have been interested in, but that wording put me off, along with the rigidity of using ukara.

I've skirmished/collected for 20 years+, rarely play at the same site more than a handful of times. Never had UKARA, never will.

Click to shrink...

Couldn't agree more - mine has expired, I don't play at the same site and jump between multiple so my "play time" doesnt meet the requirements, if a random person trying to sell second hand stuff insists on UKARA I just wont buy and go elsewhere.

 

[WoodLau18]

Always gets me when people say you must have ukara, how do the general public check them? I don’t have ukara anymore as I don’t goto one site anymore and it’s not worth me having a site membership to use the discount associated with membership. I generally just buy used now. What’s stopping me from giving you my ukara number from years ago as far as I’m aware members of the general public can’t check it to see if it’s still active

 

[Galvatron]

Always gets me when people say you must have ukara, how do the general public check them?

Click to shrink...

Connections and degrees of separation. I have friends at a couple of retailers who can check on my behalf to confirm if the details match. I'd imagine it's very similar if not the same for a lot of private sellers.

 

[Krisz]

Connections and degrees of separation. I have friends at a couple of retailers who can check on my behalf to confirm if the details match. I'd imagine it's very similar if not the same for a lot of private sellers.

Click to shrink...

How this doesn't violate privacy policies? You're a third party. This sounds really bad even if you have good intentions.

 

[Austeyr]

What exactly can you get for a hundred quid these days?

Click to shrink...

A happy meal with maybe £2 left over

 

[Krisz]

A couple of months ago I put up a tm hicapa for sale. It was in perfect working order but the frame was showing wear from handling. It had never been skirmished and only occasionally shot, so the wear was down to me repeatedly handling it in order to swap parts, change the configuration etc. which is what a lot of hi capa owners do. There is no pitting of scratching on the frame. I currently have three hi capas and they alll show some wear since the paint Marui uses comes off easily. I am more of a collector than a shooter or skirmisher. I had it for sale at £110 including postage. Half a dozen people have wanted to buy it or made an offer. None of them has had a current UKARA.

No matter. I am not desperate for a hundred quid. However the general lack of interest has surprised me because the pistol is not stock. It has an Airsoft Masterpiece aluminium slide, steel recoil rod, aluminium outer barrel, upgraded AIP springs and nozzle, a hammer protection pad, magwell etc When you consider that a new hi capa with plastic slide and outer barrel is priced at about £140 and an Airsoft Masterpiece slide alone generallly costs about £90, not to mention the other parts, I considered £110 posted to be a bargain price.

Please note that this is not an advert by stealth. I have come to terms with the situation and I am going to break it down, and sell the parts separately, so that I do not need to worry about buyers having UKARA. I'll probably put the slide on ebay.

I am not upset that it has failed to sell but I am curious. I am wondering why a gun that I would have been able to sell quickly only a couple of years ago, has languished on the Classified section for a couple of months.

Maybe hi capas are no longer as popular as they used to be. Perhaps far fewer people are keeping their UKARAs up to date. The economy is bad and it is going to get a lot worse. People probably don't have the money to spend on an expensive hobby any more. And the recent changes to the site have resulted in the loss of data about the ratings of sellers. And on the old site when the categories for sale included a section just for handguns entries spent longer in the first couple of pages. Now with all gas operated guns lumped together entries slide down the list much faster. It could be that not many people have seen the advert.

I would be interested in your thoughts.

Click to shrink...

This is very simple actually. People don't have money for luxuries like airsoft and/or multiple other expensive hobbies at the same time.

Cost of living effects every business not just leasure like this hobby. People tend to cut out the expensive hobbies first. This is the sad reality and doubt this gonna change in near future.

 

[Tackle]

How this doesn't violate privacy policies? You're a third party. This sounds really bad even if you have good intentions.

Click to shrink...

You dont ask the retailer for the information, you ask the buyer for ukara number, name, & postcode, the friendly ukara retailer will confirm they match what's on the database, nothing more, & no gdpr rules broken if the buyer has given the info freely.
The only other thing to be aware is you ship ONLY to the postcode that matches ukara, that prevents any misuse of the ukara by third parties.

 

[ButcherBill]

Every requirement will reduce your customer base & as silly as it sounds on an airsoft site asking for a ukara would put many potential buyers off, kudos for you requiring a ukara tho.
As a frequent flyer buyer from the classifieds I think I've only had 1 seller ask for a ukara and as a seller I've never asked for a ukara, you'll probably get a better indication of a buyers intentions by checking their interactions in the forums & possibly their feedback, this was an issue at first when the forums moved to a new provider but that should be ameliorated now, the price you're asking is probably on the low side for what you're selling but as others above have stated... money is tight for many people.

 

[Punisher3990]

I'd imagine the rigidity around UKARA is part of the issue. A lot of players rotate between different sites to keep things fresh, which can mean their UKARA registration expires even though they're still actively involved in airsoft.

As for the general lack of interest, I think the cost of living is a big factor at the moment. Petrol prices alone are putting people off attending games because of the travel costs, before you even factor in site fees, BBs, gas and other consumables. Even when something is an absolute bargain, people are being more careful about what they spend their money on.

There are also some popular pistols taking the limelight from Hi-Capas at the moment, such as the G17 Gen 5 and the new Ballerina Pistola, so I think there's a bit more competition for buyers' attention, too.

One other thing I'd mention is that the wording around UKARA in your listing is a little off-putting. I have UKARA myself, and even I found it a bit discouraging. Imagine someone reading through all the details, getting excited about the pistol and thinking, "That's a great price; that would be a nice addition to my collection," only to reach the end and see something along the lines of "No UKARA? Don't waste your time."

I understand why you need to make the legal requirements clear, but I think there's a friendlier way to word it that doesn't immediately put potential buyers off. For example, you could explain that buyers need to have an appropriate defence to purchase a RIF, with UKARA being one common way of demonstrating that, rather than making it sound as though anyone without UKARA shouldn't even enquire. I have bought over 15 RIFs used, and have never once been asked for UKARA, most are happy with a picture of me in a game or a timestamped picture of my wall of RIFS lol

Ultimately, I think it's a combination of the current economic climate, changing player preferences, the UKARA situation and perhaps the wording of the listing itself. The price might be a bargain, but unfortunately, a bargain doesn't always translate into a quick sale in the current market.