Have You Been on eBay Recently?

Back in the day eBay was a popular place for paintball players to purchase paintball gear. Not only because it was cheap but you could find anything and everything. I and many others took advantage of eBay's popularity by buying cheap gear on paintball forums and relisting them on eBay... but just the other day I discovered something dumbfounding.

Have you been to eBay? The amount of listings in the paintball section has dropped by over half since 2005! You know I hate to say it, but it looks like buying paintball gear on eBay is a dead trend, which is sad... because everything on it right now is DIRT CHEAP. People on PbNation are actually getting more for their gear then they would if they sold it on eBay, something I NEVER expected in a million years!

What does this mean exactly? I dare say that its living proof that paintball is taking a turn for the worse, but it isn't because paintball is not as exciting as it used to be. A closer look on eBay reveals that while expensive paintball gear is going for 30-50% less than their normal prices, cheap markers under $100 are still selling strong.

Do paintball companies recognize this trend towards cheaper equipment? Not exactly... just take a look at all the paintball guns available for $400 and more... and these markers aren't exactly cheap to operate. They currently are blaming weak sales on the poor economy, which I say is weak. If they are going to call it anything they should call it bad business-their sheer inability to respond to players needs and wants of today, tomorrow, and for the long term. Right now their solution is to bring in MORE new players, players that will get addicted and buy the latest $500 paintball gun just like everyone else does. What they aren't taking into account here is that these players, while they emptied their pockets and proved profitable for a year or two, won't be back to play paintball next year.

...But I won't stop Tippmann, U.S. Army Paintball, Special Ops, and the PSTA from launching their new Try Paintball Now campaign to bring more players to the sport of Paintball, in fact I think its a good idea-a great way to boost any industry... but how long will the results last? A couple months? Years? What will they blame next?

Try Paintball NOW Campaign Video (I have to admit it is an awesome video (its interesting that their emphasis is woodsball, but hey it DOES appeal to a broader base of players and of course these are companies that emphasize woodsball (speedballers will complain...(they already are complaining about The Paintball Kid)))