Ukara renewal

[joshcowin]

Hi their going to my first airsoft game since 2012 and need to get my Ukara sorted again.what I wanted to know was after a year of having it how do I renew it, I have heard that you have to buy a rif at least every 12 months to keep it going and others have said you contact your local site,but in the future I won't be staying at one site I will be playing at loads of different. How do I go by renewing it? Thanks

 

[Chock]

It's valid for 12 months, as far as I'm aware that is regardless of whether you buy any RIFs or not. You can check with your site which originally handled the UKARA membership registration details to see if it is still valid, or you can do a 'self check' on the UKARA website, although you have to wait for an email to find that out, and it generally takes more than a day or two to get that email. Renewals are handled by the site you originally played at, but if you are now playing somewhere else, it would probably easier just to go from scratch, although if you know your UKARA number, I daresay it would make life a bit easier to keep the same number, however, you might not be able to do that because as far as I'm aware, the UKARA number is related to the site, for example, mine was done with Trojan Airsoft, and you can tell that is the case from the beginning letters of my UKARA registration number, which are T. and R.

Here's what it said on the email when i did a self check from the UKARA site the other day:

 

[RR01]

So far as I'm aware, the only way to renew the UKARA registration is to either renew your original site membership, which usually means being a regular player there, or to find another site you like and gain membership there, but that means doing your 3 games again. I don't think there is any other valid way of renewing.

 

[Chock]

So far as I'm aware, the only way to renew the UKARA registration is to either renew your original site membership, which usually means being a regular player there, or to find another site you like and gain membership there, but that means doing your 3 games again. I don't think there is any other valid way of renewing.

Click to shrink...

Yup, that's about the size of it as far as I can tell.

 

[two_zero]

>I have heard that you have to buy a rif at least every 12 months to keep it going
Nope. you don't need to buy or own a single RIF ever.

>and others have said you contact your local site,but in the future I won't be staying at one site I will be playing at loads of different. How do I go by renewing it?
Contact the site that did it originally. The UKARA rule I think is that you need to play once every 12 months once you have it. But any site can also add their individual rules to that. Mine would automatically update your UKARA if you played at least 6 times in a year and some sites will charge to player to get on the databas/renewal. If you intend to change your regular site you should probably contact UKARA and ask, not sure if that means getting a new one or just continue renewing the old one. Also I dont think you can have UKARA membership unless you are regular at one site, remember it's not connected to any government, it's just an organisation that tries to protect the retailers from selling to people who are not allowed to buy.

 

[BrightCandle]

This is the one problem I have with the UKARA requirements, it doesn't cover someone who plays across a wide range of sites. Admittedly its not too much of a problem to play on one site in a a year 3 times but still its kind of a pain that it has to be done that way.

This system might be better administered if instead of the retailers adding you to a database with a start date they instead just sent your game date, name and postcode. Then you would be able to play across many more sites, at the loss of quite a bit of privacy if the database was hacked (which it would be!). This is UKARA's one weakness with its rules and there must be a way to solve it.

 

[Longshot]

It's not a "weakness of the system" since the system was designed to give the retailers an airtight defence against prosecution, which it should do. The system was not designed to help buyers in any way, so if buyers don't like something about it - like not being able to play at multiple sites - it's tough on them; UKARA has no incentive to change its system.

This isn't me being a dick, but rather highlighting the way it is. UKARA is there for UKARA affiliated retailers. If they allow people to claim that they have played single games at multiple sites then all they do is open themselves up to the potential for fraudulent claims, thus weakening their legal position.

With all that in mind OP, the short story is if you want to be registered with UKARA you're going to have have membership at a site and to do your three games in no less than two months there again.

 

[joshcowin]

Okay cheers guys just seems a bit of a pain in the ass as the site I will be getting registered at I most likely wont be playing their next year as I will be driving so visiting other sites

 

[straffham]

you can do a self check, or check someone else (eg when checking s buyers status) by phoning Actionhobbies, they will tell you straight away as long as the address details match up. I'm sure other retailers will aswel, no need to wait days to find out by email.

As for OP's question I was in same situation a couple of years ago, but as I'd played at my reg site while not a member they signed me up again no bother. However Airsoft World were a bit off with me when I phoned them to check my Ukara had gone through a few days later saying I should have started from scratch, 3 games etc even though I'd been playing anyway the whole time (and been a fairly good customer to AW I may add) which I thought was poo. But anyway, yeah if your ukara has lapsed and you've not played at the site you're registered at then it looks like you'll have to start from scratch.

 

[Nickgr44]

UKARA members could have a log book which the sites could date stamp along with the site name or logo then you have your proof that you visited that site for your renewal. But the terms of renewal would have to be agreed to by all sites nationwide. 
 

SIMPLES

 

[Tommikka]

UKARA members could have a log book which the sites could date stamp along with the site name or logo then you have your proof that you visited that site for your renewal. But the terms of renewal would have to be agreed to by all sites nationwide. 
 

SIMPLES

Click to shrink...

Simple possibly - but as Longshot pointed out 6 years ago, the UKARA system was designed to protect retailers from prosecution under the VCRA (The UKARA are the UKs Airsoft Retailers Association)

It was the UKARA who acted when the act was just a bill and managed to have the skirmisher defence added.

The UKARA player scheme is the system that they came up with.  In effect a player establishes skirmisher status at one UKARA site.

The UKARA and sites have not felt the need to enhance the scheme for playing at different sites.  Players are welcome to do so and can play wherever they like or join as many sites as they wish.

Sites typically maintain a player as a member and on the register if they remain a site member and continue to play into the next year etc

Its not compulsory under the VCRA to use the UKARA, but that’s the most commonly recognised scheme.

Sites could collaborate, but for faith in a system then there would be a need to verify the card and share the information. Any data collected needs to be controlled and have transparency, any sharing then has to be declared and controlled.

Without control and validation it becomes an untrusted process and a retailer selling a RIF based on untrusted documentation is then facing a considerable fine under the VCRA

It's not a "weakness of the system" since the system was designed to give the retailers an airtight defence against prosecution, which it should do. The system was not designed to help buyers in any way, so if buyers don't like something about it - like not being able to play at multiple sites - it's tough on them; UKARA has no incentive to change its system.

This isn't me being a dick, but rather highlighting the way it is. UKARA is there for UKARA affiliated retailers. If they allow people to claim that they have played single games at multiple sites then all they do is open themselves up to the potential for fraudulent claims, thus weakening their legal position.

With all that in mind OP, the short story is if you want to be registered with UKARA you're going to have have membership at a site and to do your three games in no less than two months there again.

Click to shrink...

 

[Guest]

Classic necro post @Nickgr44 five and half years, a record @proffrink ? ??