Are Paintball sales is dyeing..

[infamoussmiley]

Its dead here mostly, and things have turned into "poverty paintball". And we are actually tig welding old rentals just to have working paintball gear.

Best,

Smiley

[Trbo323]

Around me I feel like it's a mix of people cleaning out their old gear that they haven't used in 10 years and then other people finding that same gear in the closet and wanting to play paintball again but rather than fix that gear they go buy more

Because of that I have a lot of gear for sale on local markets. I've managed a few trades where I get markers +money in exchange for a marker or two that I have gone through and rebuilt

If what you a saying is true and shops are hurting there's one shop around me that I really hope goes under. The guy who runs it has no business being in paintball

Sent from my motorola edge 5G UW (2021) using Tapatalk

[Chuck E Ducky]

My local shop has been selling new stuff faster then it can get. (Supply chain issues)

Field was packed to the last few times I played there. In fact there were so many games we had to wait to catch a field last weekend a few times. Not long but they were all running at the same time with party’s and private groups and walkons + our Stock Class event.

Few weeks before Woodsball World Cup had a big turn out. Vendors were selling stuff like hot cakes. I don’t see much slow down just yet. Other then having issues getting products and lack of staffing or just people not willing to work in general. Most everything in my area are running under staffed with help wanted signs in every window.

[glaman5266]

Kind of hard to watch my local paintball scene die when it hasn’t been alive since 2008.

But… when I make the longer-distance drive to the two bigger fields I play at I don’t see much (if any) decline.

[Magmoormaster]

Not just paintball sales, I’m afraid. Buckle up. I’m convinced we’re looking at something worse than ‘08

Absolutely not. IF a recession happens, which is by no means guaranteed, it will be not anywhere near as bad as the 08 recession. It will likely be pretty minor.

The economy is actually doing really well right now. Unemployment is at record lows, and most corporations are reporting record profits. That latter part is responsible for a majority of the current inflation, BTW.

As far as paintball is concerned, especially from a big picture perspective, it doesn't seem to be hurting much at all. Eclipse just put out 3 new guns, and has consistently been backordered on emeks. Meaning they STILL cannot make them fast enough to meet demand. My local store is doing better than it ever has.

Some local markets might be crumbling, but as a whole the industry is doing just fine. No need for the doom and gloom.

[woouulf]

Doom and Gloom... Woe and dread....

[zinger565]

Local markets have fluctuated forever though, and it's inevitable for them to be even more fragile given the proliferation of online shopping.

Paintball as a whole seems to be in a good spot. Sure, there's been a contraction from the peak, but there's still a solid demand for new product. Hell, by all accounts PE can barely keep up with LV2 pre-orders, the used market is doing well, and customs/private labels are selling for higher than I've ever seen.

Is the sport at the same market cap as it's peak? Hell no. Is it growing? Seems like it. Even if it's folks like me returning to the sport after a recession-induced hiatus. I think the apparent interes and popularity of mech play and things like the ICPL are bringing us closer to our roots and making the sport more well rounded.

[gabe]

For sure the pace of paintball guns/items selling is slowing down. Probably will slow down even further. Is it in a bad place? No I don't think so. I think we just got spoiled in 2020/21 by how you could throw a gun up for a sky high price and it would get snatched up off of FB or ebay in a heartbeat. What goes up must come down and now sellers are going to have to drop prices back down to reasonable levels and maybe even take a loss on guns purchased at insane prices.

Just like the housing market. It's not that it's crashing it's that people that bought at the height of insanity are now facing reality. There's a baseline for value and we're coming back to it slowly.

[maninblack2k]

Our local field is consistently booked with private groups during the week and weekends. The pump and magfed events have a hard time even drawing more then a handful. The player flow is reasonable but I don't see much new gear out there with players. The big games players have been down. The entry and paint prices have been holding but people have less disposable income by a significant amount compared to the last few years. Seems like used gear sells for gold like prices. Might as well buy new if it's available in the supply chain.

[Cyberpyr8]

I was talking to a buddy of mine and we were saying how busy the field stayed this summer, even with the record heat. We've had huge turnouts every weekend and I see at least one person buy a new mini and some masks and stuff. Normally here the bigger crowds come in the fall and winter but this year they have been steady. A bunch of parties still happening and rentals coming in droves.

But I have seen a bunch of stuff for sale and I've had trouble selling my stuff that I would normally have sold off in a few days. Though, G6R's are going for good money and even mini's and axes are selling pretty good. I hope that we don't have another 08 but I would think as prices keep rising, people will have to sacrifice somewhere. That usually means people sell stuff off cheaper and prices drop. Plus we're getting closer to Cup time. Everything gets cheaper this time of year.