How to get into flipping markers

[Tarsun2]

there was a surge for spyder stuff during the pandemic.
people were home more, fixing things around the house, cleaning out the closets. people were selling spyder stuff like crazy and people were buying stuff like crazy (stimulus checks, nostalgia, and being stuck at home fueled that.)

its kind of cooled off (or cooling off).

if you have a surplus in parts, you can probably make more $ tech'ing / repairing markers.
i wouldnt bother with stuff like spyders though, they are generally easy to fix with youtube and your repair bill would be more than the marker is worth.

i collect as a hobby and have bought and sold a few but never for profit. i dont have the social accounts and connections to do so. No FB, no Gram, nothing other than things like this.

[Chuck E Ducky]

BookFace and the likes are a consistent dopamine drop it creates dependency and depression. It feeds off a series of high and lows designed to keep people’s thoughts malleable, it creates a social psychosis that drives mortality into the ground. Social Media is the cancer to civilized society. It creates an Ecco chamber of stupidity only allowing like minded thinkers to communicate. You never get the checks and balances of the opposing side. It’s really messing people up they are losing touch with reality. Most people today care more about their online perception than their actual real world perception. You feel better without it because you are better without it.

[lhamilton1807]

I left FB years ago and am happy I did. Made a new acct recently to move some JT flexes, and am glad I did. I have the habit of not checking a scrolling feed all day, so when I don’t have goods to move, I’m not in fb. Notifications are turned off and I have no “friends” there. Just customers.

[Out Of Air]

Chuck E Ducky Amen Brother

[superman]

My opinion's a bit harsh on this: if you have to ask, you don't have what it takes.

What I mean by that is you have to knowledge that you've built because you're obsessed with the game, and/or the gumption to take the plunge on some buys after doing the research on your own. You'll build up your knowledge through years of experience doing deals - and what I mean by that is not just on the markers themselves, but online BST in general.

The other headwind is that most of the gems, mechanical masterpieces from the 90's, were pulled out of the closet and sold during the 2008 recession. Also, there's a lot more people in the "flipping" game now with TV shows about about flipping and it being in style at the moment. Less supply and more people looking for the scores. Gotta act fast!

This hits the nail on the head. Either you know or you don't . I highly recommend sitting and watching the market before jumping into it. I would however focus on a very specific market instead of everything as a whole. mid to low ends (minis, axes etc) those seem to be plentiful and someone is always trying to sell them to move to the next marker. should be easy to sell to newer players without. I would avoid older stuff with potential for major repair stuff. stripped screws, stripped threads and stuff requiring major knowledge.

[lhamilton1807]

Keep a close eye on Craigslist/kijiji lots, swipe on the pictures. You can find hidden gems in otherwise crappy lots of gear. I’ve found cockers and other cool stuff among a sea of 98s and plastic garbage

I second this. You won’t make much flipping Tippmanns or Spyders (or at least not enough to make good money) but high-end guns as part of bundles/boxes can be real treasures. Old JT pro flex masks can be a real treasure trove. But it takes a lot of time. I’ve set up alerts for my search terms on Craigslist so I don’t have to constantly check on my own. I’ve found bundles of gear tend to be better dels than individual markers, but not always. I’ve purchased a box of gear that had three JT flex masks in it and a B2K4 plus tons of other goodies for $50. The masks alone netted me over $700 on the JT Proflex BST group on FB. I recently also got a huge bundle of gear from an older lady whose son had moved away and hadn’t touched his gear in over 15 years. Excellent stuff - two intimidators, an Autococker, sweet CCI phantom, and a scuba tank (plus another JT flex!) all for $250. But those deals are few and far between. CL and Kijiji are full of old Spyders and Tippmanns, and some people think because they spent $500 upgrading an A5 they should be able to get $450 out of it because it’s still in good condition. This is a fun hobby that funds itself (kinda). The extra cash I make on gear that I flip gets put into custom projects, rarer restorations, and gear I actually want to keep. .

But at the same time like the previous posts mention, it takes a lot of time to be familiar with teching paintball gear, then fixing and tuning are skills beyond that. YouTube is a help, but I started with blowbacks then moved to more complicated machines and electros. Each one I fix or restore gives me perspective on others that I haven’t opened up yet and the confidence to try something new. I wouldn’t start out looking for unicorn Autocockers to restore because you’ll get frustrated and give up. But move from blowbacks to an Ion to a Nelson pump to an unbalanced spool etc. I’ve only recently had the extra funds and time to get into the more complicated stuff, and I’m enjoying every bit of it. I’m building on years of teching lower end/simpler designs though.

[Out Of Air]

This hits the nail on the head. Either you know or you don't . I highly recommend sitting and watching the market before jumping into it. I would however focus on a very specific market instead of everything as a whole. mid to low ends (minis, axes etc) those seem to be plentiful and someone is always trying to sell them to move to the next marker. should be easy to sell to newer players without. I would avoid older stuff with potential for major repair stuff. stripped screws, stripped threads and stuff requiring major knowledge.

I second this. You won’t make much flipping Tippmanns or Spyders (or at least not enough to make good money) but high-end guns as part of bundles/boxes can be real treasures. Old JT pro flex masks can be a real treasure trove. But it takes a lot of time. I’ve set up alerts for my search terms on Craigslist so I don’t have to constantly check on my own. I’ve found bundles of gear tend to be better dels than individual markers, but not always. I’ve purchased a box of gear that had three JT flex masks in it and a B2K4 plus tons of other goodies for $50. The masks alone netted me over $700 on the JT Proflex BST group on FB. I recently also got a huge bundle of gear from an older lady whose son had moved away and hadn’t touched his gear in over 15 years. Excellent stuff - two intimidators, an Autococker, sweet CCI phantom, and a scuba tank (plus another JT flex!) all for $250. But those deals are few and far between. CL and Kijiji are full of old Spyders and Tippmanns, and some people think because they spent $500 upgrading an A5 they should be able to get $450 out of it because it’s still in good condition. This is a fun hobby that funds itself (kinda). The extra cash I make on gear that I flip gets put into custom projects, rarer restorations, and gear I actually want to keep. .

But at the same time like the previous posts mention, it takes a lot of time to be familiar with teching paintball gear, then fixing and tuning are skills beyond that. YouTube is a help, but I started with blowbacks then moved to more complicated machines and electros. Each one I fix or restore gives me perspective on others that I haven’t opened up yet and the confidence to try something new. I wouldn’t start out looking for unicorn Autocockers to restore because you’ll get frustrated and give up. But move from blowbacks to an Ion to a Nelson pump to an unbalanced spool etc. I’ve only recently had the extra funds and time to get into the more complicated stuff, and I’m enjoying every bit of it. I’m building in years of teching lower end/simpler designs though.

Thanks to both of you. I'm not naive to think I can do what a tech has over the last 20 years. Would be no different than someone trying to fix their car with little experience compared to the 20 some years I have in the field.

I just want to tinker. Restore something, fix something up, maybe touch modifications or some custom work, and then move on to the next marker. For fun. I like tinkering. I pick things up pretty quick.

[Jonnydread]

If you like tinkering you should try to acquire some brass. With patience and some hand tools you can do quite a bit of custom work.

[superman]

I would likely keep an eye out for mech stuff or stuff needing rebuilds that you dont have to worry about solenoids going out.

[Shan1Fat]

So long as you keep that mindset of just wanting to restore/fix up/tinker/enjoy the process & hopefully make out even at the end - then you're good to go. More often than not you're going to wind up at a loss, but if it's just a few bucks and you enjoyed the process who gives a rip?

[BenoitOWN]

Not worth the hassle from all the vultures in my area.
but there was a time I tried and it was just fun money that was put back for games.

[Out Of Air]

Where aboots are you up here?

[BenoitOWN]

Quebec area

[coyote]

I'm going to approach this from the buy/invest/ collect end of this.

Collectables follow a type of pattern. They start out as the latest greatest thing, become an industry standard or oddity, age into obsolete junk, then become beloved old school collectables. Their collectors tend to be the guys that couldn't afford the Shootymaster Deluxe when they were 16, do they grab one off Craigslist when they are 28. Or, they bring their teenage son to play his first game and dad's old gear makes the kid credible among the rest the kids.

In order to make a modest profit one needs to buy from the obsolete junk part of the arc. The items mentioned so far in this thread ; autocockers, jt product, sandana headgear are all now firmly in the collectable category. They have seen their biggest gains on the secondary market.

Your best values will come from products that are 10 to 12 years old. The cool kids don't want them yet, and MCB geezers like me think they are newfangled junk. That's where the investment potential lives.

That being said, the best way to make a small fortune in the used paintball market is to start with a massive fortune.

[Out Of Air]

That being said, the best way to make a small fortune in the used paintball market is to start with a massive fortune.

🤣😂

Love it

[lhamilton1807]

I just want to tinker. Restore something, fix something up, maybe touch modifications or some custom work, and then move on to the next marker. For fun. I like tinkering. I pick things up pretty quick.

You’ve come to the right place 😊

[Tarsun2]

by all means, tinker away.
for awhile i was buying spyders (all the spyders i couldnt afford when i was younger) and would do a complete teardown. every nut and bolt, every o-ring and screw would come out. if it came from the factory with a head and it had a flat, i would replace it with the proper hardware... i would take the time to color match my Franken-models to look almost factory as well.
over the years i have boxes and boxes of parts all separated out. it was allot of fun. when i had doubles, id sell one off. eventually i got some spyders that ive never seen before. never seen posted about, and although my holy grail was the aka black widow (it was too well known to be affordable) i was able to get some prototype stuff that i believe is even rarer and more elusive.
the markers i sold made some $ back but i bought allot of stuff from 2 places that went out of business that a few years before the pandemic.

[goofyman23]

Unless you can find great deals (as said before, hidden gems in lots), I've found the profit margin is slim to non-existent. For me, the shipping costs coupled with PayPal fees really eat into the bottom line. Going back a few years, sure...I could grab an Ion for cheap and turn it over for a decent profit, but the market is saturated with others trying to do the same (not just with Ions).

The other thing I'll mention, try to stick to MCB or perhaps PBN for selling. I've found a LOT less bullshit and drama using those over Facebook. YMMV

[Trbo323]

I'll disagree with everyone saying this can't be done

I started doing this with $50 about 6 years ago, now all my paintball is funded by flipping, I'm currently sitting on about $1200 with another roughly $600 in markers that need to be sold. Now granted, I don't get to play as often as I used to because of children in the house but even still, all my paintball is funded by paintball at this point.

Everything I've been reading (from legit sources) about the PayPal tax is not to worry. PayPal will send you the form of you need it, you don't even need to keep track of how much you have sold. Even if that part is wrong, go look at your PayPal history, it's all there

Trbo's tips!

Start with safe bets. Know spyders? Go after them, but first know the local market. The cheaper the marker is, the more profit you will lose by shipping it so look at local craigslist and local Facebook for selling. eBay is pretty bad for both buying and selling these days. These are rough numbers from my local market as examples

Basic mechanical spyders sell for around $60, that's SELL, not what crazy people list them for. So that's my target. If I can buy a basic spyder for $30-40 that leaves me some profit room. I get the marker in, do a rebuild and then get to list it as fully rebuilt at the same price that the non-rebuilt ones are selling for. Even if someone wants to haggle and I sell at $50, I'm still in the black. At an absolute minimum I'm aiming for at least a 25% Mark up. Once you start getting into more expensive gear 25 is about all you should expect but also since the sale price is higher you have more money coming in in one transaction

E frame spyders I aim for $80-100 sale price

Tippmann 98c $60-80, $100 if I do a paint job

Tippmann with RT +$20-40
Tippmann with e frame +$40+60

If I can add mask, HPA tank & hopper $40+ depending on what they are

Right now I have an A5 RT with flatline, rails, adjustable stocks front and back, full color shifting paint job and some custom stuff to boot. Selling with a 62ci tank and pod pack. I've had it listed for $300 for a while, just moved it to 280. But if I remember right I got this marker as part of a package deal, so paid roughly $80-100. Figure I put in about $50 in paint and parts and I'm still looking at $100 minimum profit if I have to sell at 250

Start with the cheap stuff, cater to new players and work your way up. When you can afford to, lots with 4 or 5 markers really help get your bottom line because you can get better bulk pricing typically and/or only have to pay shipping once to get them to you

As for finding gear, there's a way to set up an automated search on Craigslist so you get a notification anytime someone posts sobering with "paintball" in it. That has helped me snag some great deals (e framed A5 with 72ci tank, remote access all the accessories, $40, sold for $300)

Also, post a WTB add here. A lot of the guys here have closets of paintball stuff and are sometimes looking for a way to get rid of a chunk of it at once. Plus MCB is way more reasonable about pricing, that's often why I don't sell a lot of my stuff here. Better profit margins on my local market.



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[Cdn_Cuda]

Agree. I’ve been keeping tabs on my buy and sell for over two years. Money in and money out. I’ve bought several markers I ordinarily would not have been able to buy and have made a healthy profit on top.

Vast majority of my sales are local, fancier items make their way to MCB.

[Out Of Air]

Wow this was awesome, thank you. I'm not sure how the tax thing works up here in Canada with Paypal, maybe Cdn_Cuda can speak to that. But I really appreciate sharing your experience!

[Trbo323]

O yeah if you are Canada I don't think any of that PayPal stuff applies to you.

[padab32190]

Yes

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[freedom]

I've found the profit margin is slim to non-existent. For me, the shipping costs coupled with PayPal fees really eat into the bottom line.

pretty much this ^^
i did lots of flipping for about ten years. i considered a loss of 5% within the range of "not bad".
now that every electronic purchase will be tracked and recently states being able to collect sales tax for on online purchases: it's just not worth the effort.
as much as i loved being the guy that always had something to sell, i'm done...

here's my web page of less than half of what i've flipped:

https://non-inflammable.webs.com/