Upgrade Prices - Is it a good thing to factor in?

[Austeyr]

Like many others, tinkering and fettling with our airsoft replicas to get better performance or accuracy (even if it's a smidgen of improvement) is a worthy endeavour. I've seen people on the appraisal thread and also in Macks mention that upgrades don't add value or even that upgrades decrease value, I've also seen people argue that the overall package cost price should be factored in. This leads me to my questions...

Should upgrades be factored into overall prices?
If yes, do you feel there's a price floor where say an £8 bucking shouldn't be included but a £50 inner barrel should?

What if for example VFC GBBR AR's with the black buckings are known to typically suck, would that warrant the price being included for a new bucking into the appraisal as it's more of a "necessity"?

The reason I ask is that I'm trying to work out a price for my FAL which when it arrived had terrible accuracy, I've since fitted a unicorn barrel (which was expensive) and a better bucking. Should the retail cost of these things be implemented into the total price?

 

[Tackle]

Its always been a very contentious subject, often mentioned in Macks.

Some believe it shouldn't be included in the price, especially if the seller has tried to justify a techs labour costs in the overall price as well.

Some will say its just the gun im after, & will reject "upgrades" as possibly unnecessary, & maybe even a point of concern, as for every well set up upgraded gun, there's usually 2 or 3 more bolloxed gats that some ham fisted eedjit has bodged together.

& then there are those who believe that in order to justify the extra cost of upgrades in a sale, they need to be fully documented proving their authenticity, value, & that they've been fitted by someone knowledgeable with a good reputation.

End of the day, as a seller, pricing is your choice, depends on how quickly you want to shift it, or how much stick you want on Macks.
Like anything, I reckon the 60-75% "rule" applies to upgrade parts too ?.

 

[Cannonfodder]

Imo it really depends on the base gun and the upgrades done. If it's a gun where it's known that when stock it has problems and they're sorted then yes. However it they were done just because the owner felt like it or don't really offer much of an increase in performance then I wouldn't say they add much value.

Also it depends on who did the work. If it was done by a known tech with a reputation for good quality work then yes it adds value, whereas if it's done by some random person you don't know how good the work is. Speak to any tech and I'm sure they'll be able to tell you some horror stories.

 

[Austeyr]

End of the day, as a seller, pricing is your choice, depends on how quickly you want to shift it, or how much stick you want on Macks.
Like anything, I reckon the 60-75% "rule" applies to upgrade parts too ?.

Click to shrink...

That's how I've typically priced things in the past, added it all up then gone for the middle ground of 65% then dropped prices until it sells. The only stuff I'll leave out is if it's a cheap part like an npas or a bucking etc

 

[Punisher3990]

I think the parts themselves should still retain some value.

For example, if a RIF has a £50 aftermarket barrel installed, the fact it isn’t a stock part doesn’t negate the fact that it’s still a £50 component. I completely understand applying depreciation say 65–70% off but the upgraded parts still contribute value regardless of who installed them or whether they’re original.

A good comparison would be selling a gaming PC. If you upgraded it with a £1,000 GPU, you wouldn’t simply ignore that component when valuing the complete system just because it was added later. The upgrade still adds tangible value to the overall package, even if it doesn’t retain full retail price.

Obviously this is less likely to matter on cheaper stuff like Buckings, nubs etc.

That's my 2 cents

 

[Impulse]

It's why I generally don't sell any of my guns. All of my guns have been tweaked and tuned and obsessively upgraded, but as has been said a lot of people view upgrades as no added value at best, and reducing the value at worst because so many people have no idea how to tune their guns.

No way would I put a £600+ VSR build for £200, but I do frequently see people listing some pretty high end VSR builds for like... £300 or so and still struggling to sell them. I could definitely do with selling a bunch of my collection, but with the way I see prices for upgraded guns going, they'd be better as wall-hangers and loan guns.

 

[Cannonfodder]

Just to add to my earlier post, if a reputable has done the work this doesn't mean a seller should add the labour cost to the price

 

[Punisher3990]

It's why I generally don't sell any of my guns. All of my guns have been tweaked and tuned and obsessively upgraded, but as has been said a lot of people view upgrades as no added value at best, and reducing the value at worst because so many people have no idea how to tune their guns.

No way would I put a £600+ VSR build for £200, but I do frequently see people listing some pretty high end VSR builds for like... £300 or so and still struggling to sell them. I could definitely do with selling a bunch of my collection, but with the way I see prices for upgraded guns going, they'd be better as wall-hangers and loan guns.

Click to shrink...

Exactly, be better off keeping the stock items and putting them back in the RIF if you ever sell, then flog the upgrades separately.

 

[ButcherBill]

I'm kinda on the fence tbh, If a buyer values the upgrades they'll pay for the upgrades, if the buyer isn't aware of the benefits of the upgrades or simply doesn't value them then they'll either not make an offer or will make an offer ignoring the upgrades completely.
As I've said it before... a seller can ask for any £££ they want for their rif, at some point a buyer will make an offer & it's up to the seller if they accept it.

 

[Aiden Chen]

Inner barrel and bucking upgrades are almost always a good to have, so they will add value. I personally use the 60-70% rule. What won't add value or even decrease value are something aggressive like enhanced spring or valve upgrades, because these change the performance from the system level. It does make your gun "feel stronger" but it also brings your gun to a configuration that are not tested by OEM and may even probably bring damage

Steel FCG is another good to have and value adding upgrade because you don't have to worry about the parts breaking anymore, but do keep in mind if you are upgrading to steel internals, upgrade them fully, otherwise it'll accelerate wears of other non-steel interacting parts.

Steel bolt is an exception here, it does bring extra realism but it's more likely to reduce rof, gas efficiency and increases spreads due to the increased recoil, which do not always fit all buyers' needs. Similar story for aluminium nozzle upgrades.

My general practice, restore every upgrades that is easy to do, that way not only you can lower your asking price of the gun so it can go faster, you also get more money in total, and more importantly, your upgrades will serve more buyers' needs so they are not wasted

 

[Lyndication]

Tbh there's upgrades and there's "upgrades." Especially when you add in the potential quality of tech work performed. It's very much in the eye of the beholder.

For example, I'm not going to pay more than the base model price for a VFC AR that has a TNT hop up, barrel and bucking with a flat, shiny red trigger and a real steel recoil spring, because that is a ruined VFC AR. It is objectively worse than the stock build.

I don't care how much you spent ruining it, no more than I'm paying extra for a basic runaround some wannabe boy racer has ruined.

That said, sensible replacements and mods on guns that need it are fair. For example someone selling a TM pistol with some Guarder furniture, definitely price that in. TTI hop unit and a PDI barrel? By all means.

 

[Colin Allen]

I tend to agree with the opinions of my learned friends. However, to return to the case in question, I think that you would be justified in adding 60-70% of the value of the barrel and the rubber as they have fixed a known problem with that gun.

Click to shrink...

 

[Puttees445]

Unfortunately I think it very much comes down to whatever the paying public feels is a fair price. I recently sold an AMD 65 with a number of upgrade parts that I had installed and in some cases fettled with myself. I am by no means a known tech, and whilst others have reported my work as being pretty good, I wouldn't dream of charging for work I've personally done to a gat.

This mentality also extended to a number of the parts as well, as whilst they were certainly good quality, we've all seen wherever best parts available can fail to achieve results when a chimp has done the work XD. This lack of confidence lead to me just barely upping the price from around 60% retail, as I felt that (particularly on here where many know their onions), upping the price any more was likely to:

A: end up with me on Macks XD
B: end up with it sitting there for god knows how long when I could use the money from it to fund my newly discovered VFC GBB addiction.

Happily, I managed to sell it to someone who offered additional money over the asking price, which bore out the advice from some on here and elsewhere that I was underselling.

Its hard to determine the value of anything secondhand really, as what might be a bit of treasure to you, could be the worst piece of rubbish to everyone else. Especially if there's already a culture of "upgrades don't add, they detract" (not saying that mentality is wrong, only that it can cause over correction).

Long story short: upgrades are really only worth what the buyer is willing to pay for atvthe end of the day.