What's The Most Over-Priced Paintball "Necessity"?

[hAppy]

Paint is a rip off. I might think $20 is a better deal, but not the best deal.

And than everything in paintball is a rip off, how do you charge $50 for a foot of "barrel"? Don't give me crap about "quality" and material.

[SpecialBlend2786]

i agree, barrels are priced ridiculously high. 150+ for a barrel kit?! no way.

I think goggle systems and tanks are priced about right. You are paying for all the safty tests and regulations and everything.

Markers are a bit overpriced, yes. But its not that bad in my opinion.

When a field charges players for compressed air though....that just pisses me off

[Vex]

One of (more like the only one...) the local fields here actually has really decent prices: $5 field fee w/own equipment, $5 all day HPA/CO2; it's the damn price of paint that's the killer: $80 for a case of Kickin' paintballs! I've never heard of this brand until I played at the field. I tried to find Kickin' online for sale, but I've had 0% success! It's a real bummer when you've got to price gouge players when they've no choice but use field paint. I'd rather pay $10 field/air fees and be able to bring my own paint.

It's not that the paint itself is over-priced; it's the "Field Only" paint that's a rip off!

[gc82000]

Paint is stil overpriced. Even in 93 when it was $100+ to get a case. Now it is still 80 for hellfire and 75 for blaze. Thank god I pay team prices.

[Lohman446]

One of (more like the only one...) the local fields here actually has really decent prices: $5 field fee w/own equipment, $5 all day HPA/CO2; it's the damn price of paint that's the killer: $80 for a case of Kickin' paintballs! I've never heard of this brand until I played at the field. I tried to find Kickin' online for sale, but I've had 0% success! It's a real bummer when you've got to price gouge players when they've no choice but use field paint. I'd rather pay $10 field/air fees and be able to bring my own paint.

It's not that the paint itself is over-priced; it's the "Field Only" paint that's a rip off!

I like Kick'n, great paint and the people who make it are very responsive to the needs of the people who buy it. However, retail where I play is $47 - and I pay much closer to wholesale cost which is even a better deal, though I'm not going to get into exactly what that number is. However, thats there high grade Metallix and I expect you are shooting there low grade, which is even cheaper. With teh low grade you get some good batches, some bad... its a cheap paint. There Metallix is my paint of choice over everything else I have tried - what I took to Chicago with me last time. Very brittle paint I have very few bounces with it.

[hAppy]

The guns are way overpriced for sure. Don't tell me it's the intricate milling that boosts the value. Bob Long Dragon Timmies are pressed, that means they are just a chunk of melted aluminum. And no, the very nice anno doesn't cost that much, nothing near $200 for anno.

[UTDragun]

eclipse autocockers
like 1900 for a gun that costs at max 550 to make

http://www.planeteclipse.com/site/prodView.asp?prodID=1496

price might be in pounds

[shatter_storm]

The guns are way overpriced for sure. Don't tell me it's the intricate milling that boosts the value. Bob Long Dragon Timmies are pressed, that means they are just a chunk of melted aluminum. And no, the very nice anno doesn't cost that much, nothing near $200 for anno.

Bob long and Dye have the sweetest scams going - you're paying for their name, not for their craftmanship or quality of product. An intimidator is about $500 of parts and $1000 of brand name markup. The dye gear - C4, C5, DM4/5 - is much the same. The product is made for x and then sold for three times that.

[Automaggin2]

Bob long and Dye have the sweetest scams going - you're paying for their name, not for their craftmanship or quality of product. An intimidator is about $500 of parts and $1000 of brand name markup. The dye gear - C4, C5, DM4/5 - is much the same. The product is made for x and then sold for three times that.

I would doubt if its even $500 dollers to produce a Timmy. I am sorry, but I don't think the craftsmanship on those guns are all that great. Maybe $500 dollars to produce including labor, but there is no way those guns have $500 dollars worth of aluminum. People say "What about R&D?", there couldn't have been much R&D on a timmy becasue its based off a often-copied design.

[Vex]

At this point, I'm sure that not a whole lot of $$$ goes into R&D seeing as how most guns operate the same way. Most of the dough is just spent on "How ugly can we make this gun and how can we market it so that everyone will think it's the best?"

[Commissar_Loki]

From in the know...

Stores need to make money. Depending on the thing, markup can be from 5% to 80% all depending on things. One of the biggest rips I would have to say is CO2. My store, usually charges 10 cents an ounce, fairly cheap, but we lower the price about once a year to 2 cents an ounce, and we're still making a little money, not much, but still a bit. Barrels aren't bad, not great though. Markers... are really high, sadly, your local shop probably isn't making much to say the least. O rings, thats a bit of a given. on/offs and drops are fairly costly for most kinds, clothing and such.... the manufacturers must be crazy for what they charge stores. Basically when you buy something, your buying a brand, end of story. The store usually makes less on brands in order to compete. Thats all I have to say... I'm sleepy.


-Butch

[minimagjim]

I think that paint can be overpriced at fields when you know you can get the same paint else where for alot cheaper. $90-95 a case at a field when someone could buy the exact same paint for less than $50 is a big rip. I dont minde the fields making money but sometimes its just amazing how much they make. I really dont like it when a field charges an arm and a leg for paint and do nothing to provide better facilities, its incredible when a place is making a killing on paint and has horrible fields or bad reffs(underpaid and underqualified) or worse bad restrooms and break areas.

The other biggy has got to be gear. Sure guns are expensive but how about Pods?? I cant believe the prices for a plastic tube with a hinged cap. Other accesories like 40-50 dollar gloves are insane too in my opinion. Anything with a label and a companies name on it is overpriced. Pants, gloves, shoes, and even some jerseys are killer. Packs are another expensive item. They arent too bad but combined with tubes/pods its a pain. Nipple covers are also very costly, and i can never find plastic or rubber covers that are usually shipped with the tanks new. You gotta buy those metal covers that cost nearly 10 bucks.

BUT the biggest rip and most over priced piece are Gear Bags. I have seen some bags cost more than barrel kits and hpa tanks combined. Its incredible they take a back pack put some loops inside for barrels or securing a marker and slap their label on it and charge $175. Or they take a gym bag and call it a paintball bag and add $50 to it. I would love to find a functional bag that costs cheap but I doubt I will find something with a paintball company logo on it. I stick with army surplus bags and guncases.

[Kevmaster]

when you can get 200 for an aluminum rod, you know you're doing pretty well in life.

paint, all things considered, isnt that bad, especially when you realize that paint is what keeps 95% of fields afloat

[hAppy]

You know Orings aren't nearly as expensive as you guys think. It's the paintball companies who has you by your nuts, me and my friends bought a sack full of Orings for $10, something like 1000 orings on ebay. Paintball companies just keep on finding new ways to rip us off.

[FSU_Paintball]

EVERYTHING is horribly overpriced. Some markers are really bad. I'll bet a Halo B costs about $10 to manufacture. I'll bet pods cost about 15 cents. I'll bet clamping feed necks cost $3 to make. I'll bet that $15 rail cost them about 50 cents to make.

If you want to talk about what the MOST overpriced necessity is, I'd say it's whatever has the lowest manufacturer's cost but the highest perceived value. And that's individual to each player.