Why is paintball overpriced?

[HarrysSon]

why is paintball so expensive?!

[Vex]

Because humans like shiny new things and will pay outrageous prices for them.

[MedicDVG]

Because we consumers are stupid. We will pay through the nose to get the fastest, newest, and bestest marker. The industry knows this, and takes great advantage of the fact.

So in a sense, it is our fault.

[warbeak2099]

There are also things called production costs, r&d, and raw materials. It's not inexpensive to make a lot of the products in paintball. Some companies are overpriced, yes, but for the most part you have to factor in the costs to the company. Look at Palmers. $700+ for a mechanical gun (blazer)? Well, it's made with top quality materials.

[Lohman446]

Becauase we let it be, we have a feeling we need to have tournament style gear just to play.

Paintball is not overpriced really - not if you look at lower end gear. Its just it seems everyoen who plays needs some super-marker adn won'g just be happy with the less expensive gear.

[paullus99]

Law of supply & demand. As long as people pay the higher prices, the manufacturers will continue to charge them. The sport does not have to be nearly as expensive for the average consumer - as long as you do your research & don't plop down $1500 for a new marker every six months or so....paint prices have been fairly steady over the past few years (with only a few increases due to increased costs for petroleum products - which is what the shells are made of).

[peewee]

Its a lot cheaper than it was back in the day. decent Paints down to $45 cheap crap is $35 a case when cheap paint was $75.

[phantomhitman]

Because we consumers are stupid. We will pay through the nose to get the fastest, newest, and bestest marker. The industry knows this, and takes great advantage of the fact.

So in a sense, it is our fault.

i agree to that, as well as being an example

[fire1811]

Because we consumers are stupid. We will pay through the nose to get the fastest, newest, and bestest marker. The industry knows this, and takes great advantage of the fact.

So in a sense, it is our fault.

agreed

you also need to add greed

[Restola]

why is paintball so expensive?!

Its as expensive as you want it to be.

[yakitori]

I also believe that hype and ppl talking esp in online pb forums talk up the latest equipment. Im not saying that you HAVE to buy a gun just because someone says its better than this one or that one, but it does have some influence on ppl. Esp the type of ppl that must have the "best" of everything.

Thats why I am sticking to my gun I have now, and playing instead of buying/selling.

[Glickman]

theres only a handful of manufacturers, theres a little competition, but not alot.. if this was baseball, where theres hundreds and thousands of manufactureres, the prices would be lower

it should get both, less expensive, and more expensive as it grows.

[magman007]

Law of supply & demand. As long as people pay the higher prices, the manufacturers will continue to charge them. The sport does not have to be nearly as expensive for the average consumer - as long as you do your research & don't plop down $1500 for a new marker every six months or so....paint prices have been fairly steady over the past few years (with only a few increases due to increased costs for petroleum products - which is what the shells are made of).

for the record, the paint shells are made out of gelatin, not petroleum

[Glickman]

for the record, the paint shells are made out of gelatin, not petroleum

and yummy veggi oil as the filling...

to bad its not animal based anymore, im really in the mood for some steak, could get some free ones from peta

[txaggie08]

paintbal is expesnive because its an overtly eleitist sport that lends itself WONDERFULLY to an overtly price gouging oriented capitalist society. Im hoping the ION may start to reverse SOME of this trend