Is airsoft getting too expensive ?

[Reb3l]

I have been out of airsoft for a while no purely because I cannot afford it now admittedly I am young and still in college but after doing research for a college project I found that after groceries and other necessities an average family of 4 in the U.K. Has around £50 per working member per week to spend on themselves no this is not including credit cards ect but it raised the point my experience of airsoft being expensive is not the only case as it is a walk on in my area is £35 so that leaves the family £15 in emergencies (again excluding credit cards and loans)

 

obviously the kit is quite expensive if you take it very seriously but to younger or beginner airsofters it might put them off investing in the game I found it incredibly fun and wish I could play more however I can't afford 

 

so I ask the question do you think the sport is to expensive and should something be done to lower the price range or do you think it is reasonably priced 

[Fumps]

I think it keeps the riff-raff out. which is good 

[Reb3l]

27 minutes ago, Fumps said:

I think it keeps the riff-raff out. which is good 

What do you mean by riff-raff ?

[Dentonboy]

One thing that I've noticed is that UK retailers rarely have a sale worthy of the name. Gunfire and TaiwanGun actually do a decent sale or discount event fairly often, but UK sellers...not so much.

 

There is value to be found in the classifieds of most of the forums, but there are so many dodgy sellers out there; you need to buy from someone with an established history on each forum IMHO.

[Samurai]

1 hour ago, Reb3l said:

 family of 4 in the U.K. Has around £50 per working member per week to spend on themselves

I wish.

 

But you don't play airsoft every week.

Also, you can use it as motivation. I started a side job to finance my hobbies.

[Kash]

I tend to play once maby twice a month if im lucky.

 

Not due to financial restraints, but due to the fact I have other adult responsibilities.  The outlay for the gear isnt cheap, but actually getting bbs and turning up is probably the cheapest day out you can get thesedays.

[Nicky blue eyes]

If you think airsoft is pricey, Try paintball. Last i checked aprx 30 to 40 quid for 2000 paintballs. the guns  start at around £70 for a cheap starter gun. However the cheap ones are solid but very easily outclassed by nearly every one elses very easily. Often your limited to buying the paint at your field. And goggles oh the goggles for a good pair  expect to pay upwards of £40 and then atleast once a year change the len. Plus paying to go to your site of choice so all things compared to our cousin sport air soft is not so bad

 

[sniperslucky]

Just noticed whilst looking for a site in florida USA most site other there are a lot cheaper to walk on. So why does it cost so much over here ( although it is relatively a cheap day out ) but still sites in UK are over twice the price of of walk on in USA.

 

Prob the amount of taxes?

[PopRocket123]

I'd have assumed it was about insurance. They're very tetchy about airsoft as a whole and sites generally have to fight for every tiny thing. Pyros especially give them a sh*t fit from what I've been told by the owner of my local site.

[badshotbob]

You can get cheaper walk on here, Humber airsoft is £15 if you pre-book with out membership, shop about for sites

[Samurai]

In the UK it's always the insurance companies.

[lemon191]

You also have to consider land is cheaper in usa compared to here so the rent / buying land would bring the walk on costs down. You also have to remember there's a lot of costs to a business. Rent , staff , insurance , utilities (water , electricity etc) maintenance  (maintaining rental equipment  and general site maintenance) and the people who run/own the site still need to make a living at the end as well. And not to forget they don't run every day of the week either so they need to consider that into the cost to cover when they aren't operating 

[Tommikka]

With the initial statement that in an average family of 4 that the 'working members' have £50 of disposable income, they are most likely not going to put 70% of their disposable income into a hobby leaving them with £15 for anything else, particularly if there are parental responsibilities.

What they will do is prioritise, and if airsoft is their thing, or the kids are into it then they will decide on how often it is played or accept that they don't have the money for some other activities and look forward to the games they can play 

 

In some ways with the recession different people prioritise to their personal preferences.  There are those who can't afford their hobby activities, so stopped or changed, but there are also those who cut back on other things - take the branded foods off the shopping list, replace it with tesco stripey label, and blow the savings on playing airsoft once a week or once a month 

 

For the younger player, (e.g. young teen) even in a 'poor' family they have a high proportion of disposable income.  They don't have the responsibility of bringing up their children.  A little bit of pocket money, a paper round or job at the tills can soon mount up.  Bring in the cool uncle or aunt, and grandparents and there are a few sources of spare spending money to buy some equipment 

 

If they can't afford to play then they won't play.  For the sites there will be other players - and if the numbers are coming and able to pay the costs then sites keep running.  

In the big scheme of things £35 for a days airsoft, or £50 for a days paintball is not that much compared to other hobbies.  For tournament paintball a competitive team playing a national event could be paying £100 per head for event day Sunday plus more for practice the day before.

 

Many of these activities go in cycles - start playing young, life takes other priorities so you stop or only play occasionally, time moves on and priorities move and you return

 

 

[Fumps]

Yeh I agree with the above, home priorities always come first, for instance I'm going on holiday to Japan soon so I have not been to a skirmish this year yet but will be back as soon as we get back and the next wage comes in.

I take my son as a father son day out. I drive from Leeds to Matlock to the site we like the most, 2x walk ons is £50 petrol is £20 BB's for us both £20 (ish) we usually take food & drink which can be another £15 so for a day out your talking over £100 but I work full time & have a fair amount of commitments so its worth it to get out and have a laugh. My other half encourages me to get out of the house and have fun so she can do her gardening 

 

Yeh it can be considered expensive but I think its worth it. 

[shane213]

I find it is expensive as you make it, for me I tend to go twice a month on the weekends and then try to do most Wednesday evenings at the jail, talking around £110 a month potentially just in game entry fees, however I have quit other hobbies and cut down on take-aways which allows me to fund this awsum hobby. You pay for what you can afford, if my suitation changed or I needed more disposable income in the future I will make changes to the amount I play. For example I havent been to a evening game at the jail for the last 4 weeks and 1 weekend in the last month, as I needed the cash to fund somthing else for the moment.

 

Gear can be expensive, my brother is getting into the hobby and trying to convince him to spend money on just the requirments (glasses, face protection and a gun) and then slowly invest into the camo, seems to be a bit hard, he is adamant on buying all the the camo now, however it will leave him unable to pay for games.

 

Main point is, expensive is in the eyes of the person, I find paying my monthly fee to play not so expensive, it gets me out and away from work life, allows me to discounnect for a evening or day from the pains of normal life, pay for what you can afford, play as often as you want / can budget for and most importantly have fun. I see people running around in normal cloths all the time who I know are regullars. Anyone who picks somone out for not spending a tone of cash, playing regullary or using "lower quality" gear, should just remove themself from the hobby, as there isnt room for them.

[Aunty Pasty]

Indeed. It does depend upon the person and what they can afford. Airsoft retailers and sites are businesses so need to make money to cover their costs. There's no obligation to make hobbies / sports affordable to low income people. As it is, airsoft is relatively cheap for a day out after the initial expense of getting kit.

[skarra333]

I think that is is getting more expensive.

 

I switched from Paintball to Airsoft some 10+ years ago, in no small part due to cost. At the time, I was paying £5 game fee (£20 annual membership fee), + £60 for a case of paint = £65. I had 1 marker, a Tippman A-5 which would never ever ever play up/break. Gas refils were free. Maybe new lenses for googles every year or so.

 

When I started airsofting, i thought after initial costs, I'd be paying £17 for a skirmish, and £6 for 6000 rounds of Blaster = £23 which appealed and hooked me.

 

Now, I pay £30 a skirmish, and £8-£12.99(!) for the same 6000 rounds of ammo = maybe £43 a day. But I also have to buy a new gun every few years at least, a backup for when it breaks - repairs and parts when it does so, a side arm, magazines for them all, new batteries every now and then etc etc.

 

Airsoft presents itself as cheaper than Paintball but in actuality, I think it's a far more complex picture.

 

* Yes yes - buy ammo in bulk, don't buy crap guns. But shhh, I'm making a point.

 

[Readman97]

You can buy genuine firearm accessories cheaper than accessories for airsoft guns, the only trouble starts if you purchase something labeled as a firearm accessory and get a a knock from Mr plod after customs open your package (had it happen and its no fun) - but, if you can find someone willing to post them to the UK, american suppliers will always be cheapest (excluding shipping) - most airsoft accessories are more expensive than magpul! I myself have my eyes on a tasty little magpul foregrip for my nuprol delta PD.

[ImTriggerHappy]

47 minutes ago, Readman97 said:

I myself have my eyes on a tasty little magpul foregrip for my nuprol delta PD.

Thats one way to double it's value.

[CES_williamson]

Quick note on the retail side of things, a lot of prices at normal retailers are high at the moment due to exchange rates, the vast majority of stuff comes from Asia where a lot of the currency is based on the USD and obviously this affects us badly with the current exchange rate.

For example, ICS, krytac, G&G and more have had a small price increase due to this, most retailers have tried to swallow the price increase without putting prices up but some have.

 

Hope this helps explain the situation! 

 

[sniperslucky]

just looking again at the American sites:

 

Evike Vector AEG $449:00

 

UK site : Vector AEG Estimated £450:00

 

Q: surely apart from the demand if there is as sites quoting 10in stock delivery by 1st April why are we getting ripped off again. Now i know that there would be import taxes from USA but this gun was meant to retail around £350:00 WHY SUCH A HIKE, Do they not want to sell these???

[Lozart]

It's not cheap, never has been. The fact remains that you don't HAVE to spend £450 on an AEG, there's plenty of perfectly good ones for around the £120-£150 mark. 

 

As for price increases...EVERYTHING has gone up in price. A tippmann A5 now is more like £150 for the most basic version and they go all the way up to the £500 mark so it's not a fair comparison to trot out the "back in my day" comparisons. I certainly don't think anyone HAS to buy a new gun every few years "at least" unless they're just buying crap guns - 

Quote

* Yes yes - buy ammo in bulk, don't buy crap guns. But shhh, I'm making a point.

Indeed but it's not a valid one.

 

I don't know that airsoft has EVER tried to be cheaper than paintball. My personal experience is that it never has been, the appeal lies elsewhere. If you want to do it on a budget you most certainly can. If you want to play paintball in full tactical gear and spend £1,400 on a marker you can do that too.

[Tommikka]

2 hours ago, sniperslucky said:

just looking again at the American sites:

 

Evike Vector AEG $449:00

 

UK site : Vector AEG Estimated £450:00

 

Q: surely apart from the demand if there is as sites quoting 10in stock delivery by 1st April why are we getting ripped off again. Now i know that there would be import taxes from USA but this gun was meant to retail around £350:00 WHY SUCH A HIKE, Do they not want to sell these???

Remember that prices in the US typically exclude taxes, when they go in a shop and something is labeled $50 they don't end up paying $50

Here we display prices including VAT

 

Cross borders and you get import duty (for ease this is typically set at the rate of VAT)

 

The US market is a different size, we are tiny by their standards.  In many commodities there has always been a $ to £ match on prices irrespective of how the exchange rate fits.   Back in the day £1 was about $2 meaning a $100 dollar item in the US was £100 in the UK instead of £50 - so we were paying twice as much

 

Different country's are also just different because they are, one thing maybe cheaper and another vastly more expensive

 

An importer can bring things in more efficiently than an individual, but has the challenge of a smaller customer base

[RussAFO]

On 27 March 2017 at 10:00 PM, sniperslucky said:

Just noticed whilst looking for a site in florida USA most site other there are a lot cheaper to walk on. So why does it cost so much over here ( although it is relatively a cheap day out ) but still sites in UK are over twice the price of of walk on in USA.

 

Prob the amount of taxes?

The problem in the UK is that land is at a premium. Brown field sites, agricultural and or derelict sites are often ripe for investment with regard to housing, rents are getting higher and higher if you can actually identify a site. The US effectively just has more land to spare. 

[Lozart]

27 minutes ago, RussAFO said:

The problem in the UK is that land is at a premium. Brown field sites, agricultural and or derelict sites are often ripe for investment with regard to housing, rents are getting higher and higher if you can actually identify a site. The US effectively just has more land to spare. 

Plus insurance costs, staff wages and likely numbers that will attend all play a part.