Is paintball dead

[Big SY]

Well is it ? It seems to be strong in the central north island and in the Deepest south .
Auckland is quiet .. there are players at OGDs and Scenarios etc but teams are next to none.
For me , I only wish play for enjoyment .. since I made the step to running events ok only 2 events.
My personal experince is that there is a very small minority that moan alot and they are very vocal at it .
True some of the complaints are valid , but alot are just wining .
No talk of unity , NZPPA etc please .
I was lucky last year that a friend of mine introduced me to some rec ballers in Auckland who played in an old freezing works (since destroyd by fire).I had one of the best days balling in my life ,o k the safety had its moments and gettin the taste of smoke bombs out of my mouth took a while .
I have since played the big game and a few OGDs , had some fun , helpd a few people and players out.
due to the different levels of players, ballers around there will always be huge skill clashes.
Hey I run tournie gear and I luv lookn at some of the set ups people run , Milsims with Silences and lasers ..mmmmm and I get guys shootin my stuff .
Hey I dont know of a fix to be honest dont think we need one , other than let people play the ball they want , as long as they do it safe . Its all good .
People will play speed ball . some will like it others wont , such as life .. such as those who like rugby over League , football over Hockey etc .
Each to there own .
We have to all be the ambassadors , so that anyone lookin in can see what we do .and how much we enjoy and lov what we do .....
Hey Ive said it many time .. start small , walk before you run ..
Sy

[Vijil]

The freezing works was great, the www.milsim.co.nz guys are a great bunch. I had a chance to play there once. In terms of skill differences, I'm personally going to be rocking a pump when I go to play with rentals or newbies. I'll get owned I bet :D

I don't think paintball in NZ is dead. It's not super healthy but it's definitely not dead. We've talked and talked about why it's getting smaller and loads of ideas have come out. The conclusions were that fields need to support teams and vice versa - some fields are doing a great job but not all - players need to be good ambassadors, and we should just keep on playing and try not to BS too much. So that's pretty much that. Oh and uh... the economy and stuff. Yeah.

I think nz paintball will grow again at some stage. I'm just not sure when. For now I'm just going to keep running the facebook group, helping Danners out with website and field stuff occasionally, and balling when I get the chance. That and helping new folks and being a good sport is all I can do for now. There are other ideas too but they're more wait and see kinda things.

[Dodgy_Matt]

I do believe that paintball has been on a slow decline for a few years...
I have never been one to push either Speed ball, Bush ball, or tourny.. each to their own, like Sy says "so long as its played safe"

When I played Easter in 2004 I met some awesome guys.... but then there were some ego driven players and cocks...
What I found was the awesome Guys like Bman, big Sy, Pete M and the like were there to have a good time and play ball and they were easy to approach and were willing to talk and listen. The sport is lucky to have them and Martin and Ants... ... But they are out numbered by the knobs... well were at the time.

Wellington lost 5 potentially good players that year who have/had allot of money to put into the sport but were so put off by the knobs that we gave it away.
Im not even getting to the politics of the sport because when your just starting out it makes very little difference to the guys at the lower levels

You guys are the face of paintball, if you aint open to being asked for advice or about tactics, don't just be a cock about it, direct them onto some who is willing help.

The forums are a good way to keep people/players informed, but they need to be moderated and guidelines set for all members. If a n00b has a question try and be helpful not make fun of them for not knowing, or just direct them to a thread about the question they have asked..

For the sport to really grow some attitudes need to change and support should be given to those that want to start playing... the new guys really need to be mentored by the old hands and kept informed.

[Vijil]

Interesting you say that - the reason I got into ball is because GStiles was awesome and helped me out with a lot of stuff. I was then introduced to the hybrid guys who were all helpful and onto it.

If anything will kill the sport it will definitely be people who don't act like that. If Stiles had had a "what a noob" attitude when I met him I would never have started.

[Dodgy_Matt]

Mr Stiles was a good guy.. too bad his partner was a cock.....

[seldog]

yeah, money is the biggest thing about paintball. do i spend $120 on one day of great fun, or shall i pay for a whole years subs. for rugby, league, b'ball etc. so if your a kid wanting your parents to pay, what do you think they would choose? so that cuts alot of the young keen player out unless there parents have money to burn.

[legionaire]

Paintball ..i have seen guys keen as mustard one year and cant be bothered the next like the magic has worn off . In Canty the wball scene is large and well attended but sball is almost dead. As a field op we have built sball and jungle/senario fields to give players diversity . Me personally i love both but do find that after two round robbins of sball i am enough and then wont play for a month or two . In the woods every game is different and I play most weekends
cost is a factor in the decline of paintball and we are buying pump guns for the club, this will mean that people can play more often at half the cost and regulars can play with noobs without bonus balling them etc


I hope that things improve and the sport gets more traction , cant really see sball growing as much as woodsball due to cost

[Vijil]

Prices having been coming down more than they've been going up, but we've still got less players than before so cost obviously isn't the problem. Unless of course the economy is having a big effect. There's nothing we can really do about that one though.

[Glaidr]

@ Vijil

I dont know. im 19 and love to play Tournieball. problem i had to sell out all my gear because i didnt have the money. im looking to get back into it but only because im not going to be a student next year and even then im not sure ill manage to pay for the big tournie entry fee's + paint.

Cost may not be the only problem but def will be part of it. its a costy sport and even more to get into. the thing that makes it worth while are the people being nice eg the guys @ ace high feild in palmerston north. All the higher ups wont shoot down any questions you have, especialy if your thinking about getting into the sport. no1 will pay for a sport full of cock's. even one as cool as PB

I think every1 (from new players like myself and Vet's alike) need to just be more open to new players and cross our fingers for paint and gear prices to drop slightly. what elce can we do?

[Vijil]

The thing about the prices is that they've always been high and people have always been dropping out due to the price. I understand that you dropped out because of cost and that's pretty normal.

The question isn't whether people are dropping out due to price. Cost has always been a factor, but our current decline can't be caused by it when it used to be bigger despite costing more. If it is cost that's causing it the only explanation is the economy. If it's not the economy, it's not cost.

[Dodgy_Matt]

I dont see cost being too much of a factor.. the sport is cheaper to get into than people think.
You dont have to buy an EGO or DM10 to play no mater what people say. that's another problem... what the cool kids (elite) are telling the n00b's, you aint cool if you don't have the latest and greatest... and you wont be able to shoot as fast, or as many balls... and its all about the cool factor in Paintball.

To put it in to perspective for price
I have $30k worth of mountain bikes in my garage, a total of 4 bikes..... Show me someone with 30k worth of markers...
One of my bikes is $15k to replace
My XC bike is $5k
A good paintball marker .. say a G3= $500 + legal air tank $400 good mask $150 Hopper$150 odds and sods $300 so $1500 as a good set up...
Paint $100 a month maybe, depending on how often you play..

A starting good quality Mountain bike $3500... then $100 - $200 every few months depending on how often you ride.

You wanna talk about doing tourny's, if I wana race my bike I have to drive with it on the back of the car... I cant fly anywhere with it, so it's a ferry crossing if I am doing the south Island champs.....

Paintball may have ongoing costs a little higher than average sports, but with a workable setup (G3, tank, mask) is not that bad a price for start up...
And the second hand market is getting better with more choice available as all the pro's want to buy and have the latest and greatest.. ....

well that's my 2c

[FireFox]

I feel the biggest barrier to Paintball and participation is timing (not time).

Many of us have other lives (family, work, study) and paintball is difficult to link into this, contrast cycling and PB.

I can get home at 8pm, jump on the bike and go for an hour or so with no barriers bar weather.
Contrast this to PB, you need at least 5 other people, space, and 'capital' gear (supair ball, safety stuff).

As someone whose work forces short term pressures on them I can more easily can a bike ride than a full game of paintball, and it is easier to make up the next day.

Conversely participation in paintball would be aided by semi regular open days...

S

[!shorty!]

Conversely participation in paintball would be aided by semi regular open days...

S

i feel this is the main thing, but we just dont have a big enough player ammount in nz to do this and i think this is the key problem

[Vijil]

Open days are a tough one, but I know there are some fields around that are trying to get that sort of thing up and running.

PS it's about 10 months since our last one of these annual fix paintball threads, a little early! :P jk

[B2]

All that has been said..well it has been..
We all know ther cost..we all know other things take our time and thats all been itemised.
It just comes down to this..You either want to a do it...or wont and moan about it.
Without sounding "oldschool" but back then and Sy will hopefully back me up we played for fun...We didnt need Supair..well it wasnt around..lol.
It was awesome and still is ..All gearing up in ya cams and playing a game where you didnt always see the enemy until too late or the carpark.
We didnt have internet but only a magazine with pics and even them some were dubious quality.
What we did have was likeminded ppl who yes wanted the war game style"Recball"...
I know I posted this in a thread somewhere on here but its true.
Auckland was huge at ball...as was Wellers and other NI places...Down South Chch was solid and was Invers when I started up down here..Dunedin was sporadic at the most..
There is no quick fix..There is no placebo....hell if there was I want a packet.
Its always abuilding process...That i know...
As I get older I worry about the future of ball in my own City.
I have some guys down here that have a Elitest attitude and that just isnt in the Tourney sector altho most are ...They wont play other codes...
You cannot force them but its in the best interest of ball that they do...
Any event can always be better..dont matter what code or where..
What matters is getting the ppl to it...
Cost is as low as it ever should be...Why should it be cheap so more can play...Those cheap asses arent the future..Thats fact...They dont play for the love of the game or passion..They play for the cost of it...
Ok so that my ramble...Im off to run games now..9hrs of noobs loving the game...No bs no cry babies...just pure hard ball and all from noobs..

[ANTSMAN68]

i agree with a lot of whats ben said,

for me this year, i had sold up last xmas, and thort id give it another go, as you do,
so i started goin to plamy to play as theres nothing much happening down welly, what i found were a great bunch of mostly new guys, keen to play, keen to learn,

i would have loved to play the big game in tga area, but couldnt,

that said i am real keen to get to nelson to hook up with marky again and play at armageddon! looks cool as, and might even buy a tippy for that sort of play,,

so for me after playing as many tournaments as i caould afford over the last 8 years, i like others are trying to diversify(in theory for me at the mo), by playing things other than than tournees,

like has been said before, play whatever you can , where ever you can when ever you can, just get out there and do it aka nike......

[Vijil]

When I can I'll definitely be keen to play at Armageddon. You know what would be cool would be to road trip around NZ and play at every last field we can think of or find.

Reckon you'd get a Phenom Ants?

[ANTSMAN68]

nah dunno much bout them, maybe an old a5 mp5d up that can take air without a remote would do me, would love a first strike gun if i played rec a bit more, but the cost!

[Vijil]

I was thinking about a milsig at one stage, but all the mag fed ones seem to have serious chopping issues and no eyes of course. Now I think I'd get an SP1 or a Phenom or just play with a pump.

First strike would be fun for sniping that's for sure, but $2 a shot... $1k gets you one bags worth lol

[Icharus 461]

Paintball in New Zealand is just one of those things that is going to take time and understanding to get better.
Bottom line the game needs more players to get better but those players are not going to show if it's not fun. The one thing we can all do is get out there and play.

As for attitudes I'm going to apply Plato's rule to this and say the majority 80% of ballers here play for fun, while the rest play for the big W. They derive FUN from Winning the game. For me there is nothing wrong with that.
The "elitist" or "fanatical" players have always been a part of this sport, what is lacking from this minority group is respect for the other players. That lack of respect leads to the hot shots the over shooting the smack talking on and off the field and this all puts people off playing the game.
No other sport I know has you the player put so much power in the hands of the opposition. Having respect for the guys at the other end can be the difference between a "tag" and getting your hands ripped open, broken fingers or being knocked out.
This Minority needs to wise up to the fact that there actions hurt the game and if they carry on the way they do there will be no paintball for them to play. Players, organisers and fields will all just give up as the numbers whittle down. While the majority needs to be understanding of the drive that these players have.

[Dodgy_Matt]

There is a difference between a drive to win and being a cock..

I have spent allot of time with some of the pro elite downhill mountain bikers over the years and they have a huge drive to win and to do better than the other guys that they are up against. There is no animosity and there is huge respect if their peers beat them. There is rivalry but there is no malaise in it and they hang out with those guys they race against.
They are easy to talk to and will give advice and support, without too much sarcasm.

This is missing from Paintball… the paintball community is too small to be a cock, because it will drive out the new players very quickly.

[Icharus 461]

That's kinda the gist of what I was saying. But at the same time Paintball lends it's self to shall we say the more "in your face" type of competition then in a lot of sports. It's a fast paced, aggressive and violent not contact sport. That aggression is going to come out of people in very different ways. It won't stop but it should be tempered, again with respect for your opposition.

[crapinator]

*weep weep* I miss the Freezing works. Such a good venue.

[Big SY]

A Great player said to me today .. What was good about Springs this year was that there wasnt much room to move , people were there and close .. so you got to socialise and chat .. something that has been missing for many years..

[Kiladelphia]

Paintball, like any other humanized group activity, is based on social clicks. This design, learned by most in high school, is typically carried throughout most of one's life in any organization; High School >> College (University) >> the Workplace >> even churches or any other social network.

'Elite' players, who have earned the right to be considered that, are broken down into two categories - those who share and those who don't.

Those who share like to win, enjoy seeing new and younger players come up, like to try many different products, love the game of paintball for simply being paintball, and try their best not to lose their roots; they are inclusive.

Those who don't share want to win at all costs, are threatened by players better than them, measure a player only by his/her equipment, value the sport as a vehicle to lord over others, 'bonus balls', sore winners/losers, and forget where they came from; they are exclusive.

Every other player strives to be one of these two, whether consciously or unconsciously.

I've seen it all, down every avenue of life, and almost nothing changes. We are human and we measure people by what they have and do, not who they are. And everyone is hoping to be somebody; recognized for something; of worth and of value to their peers.

The only thing that will change the game for the better is a cultural change. There can be awesome, elite players who behave in a manner of inclusion. The culture doesn't have to lose its competitive edge while doing this.

[Kiladelphia]

But at the same time Paintball lends it's self to shall we say the more "in your face" type of competition then in a lot of sports. It's a fast paced, aggressive and violent not contact sport. That aggression is going to come out of people in very different ways. It won't stop but it should be tempered, again with respect for your opposition.

This is a good point. To quote the movie 'Crash' (2004)...

'It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.'

In paintball, nobody touches you. We're always behind this marker and mask.

[Asethet]

I've noticed that after being involved in the organisation of several games that a lot of game hosts get disheartened when they go to a lot of effort to organise an event and then people don't turn up or bad mouth the idea's etc.

They're trying to cater to several different styles of player without excluding any particular group and its a hard balance to achieve to make everyone happy, so you get people moaning about the parts of the games that don't suit them and I know a few organisers who are beginning to think "why bother" when only 20% of the players turn up and someone craps all over the work they put in on some forum.

To keep paintball alive we need to keep the decent events to play at, and like everyone's saying its an extension of the attitude and money thing.

[Spike]

The thing is its actually cheaper to play paintball in NZ than it is in most parts of the world, most people here are happy do do things for very little (if any) profit here. There are allot of people that play paintball that don't have the means and will constantly bitch about the price.

It IS an expensive sport. If you cant afford it GTFO.

I would actually like to see the Simons/Ants/Noddy's etc of NZ actually make decent money on running tournaments. This will create some consistency in events and they will keep running them.

It is still the same old chestnut with the player numbers though, when paintball was growing we had punters from the Actions Paintball/TAG/Etc of NZ being directly fed into the sport. That has been disconnected now and until it returns we will experience little growth.

As for Aggro players, we actually have very little of that here. This is an extreme sport, there do seem to be a few pansies around that struggle with that. You cant play a game where you get shot at and then cry when you get shot. Having said that there seems to be a crowd of what are infact Noob's trying to tell themselves they arn't by running round with ramping guns on Noobs.

If you disagree with this try going to Aussie or Malaysia.

[nzteza]

well said spike

[Vijil]

It IS an expensive sport. If you cant afford it GTFO.

That's what airsoft is for :)

[Dodgy_Matt]

snip
As for Aggro players, we actually have very little of that here. This is an extreme sport, there do seem to be a few pansies around that struggle with that. /snip

I haven't seen anything said about aggro players, just the elitist wanna be god's of the sport.

[ANTSMAN68]

Kiladelphia, in your post under Big Sys, every word you wrote i agree with, you are absolutlely on the frickin money,

ive never seen any of that written before, but when i think about it it all makes perfect sense to me, and those are the traits i see everytime i play,
the things i dislike most about paintball are the people in the second group, the non sharers, win aT ALL costs, dont go out of their way to help noobs, to me they personify much in NZ that is wrong in our sport...sure i dont like to lose,and i play agressively, but i do like to be honest when i do it,

good on you bringing some light in NZ :)


Spike , good post too bro,

end of the day, grass roots is where its at, less hating on people and more helping,

[B2]

Agree on all most ya say Spike cept some organisers have made $$ and tell the world they havent..Just do the sums..
The biggest issue again and you hit it on the head is cost...
Some of the same ppl will buy a new car , moto bike etc just as something to do but then bitch about the cost of Pball..
I run my 3s and have for years at a low entry cost etc..Personally even with 12 teams entering I would be better running noobs all day at Field prices...Less hassle , less BS and yes more $$..
Now running 5mans Open thats diff...
I have no issue anyone making $$ from an event...as they should...I just wish some would actually except if you pay the $$ to play I expect the goods and not a half share so to speak..oh and accept critique not as a put down but as a encouragement to do better next time..After all all Ballers want bang for bucks...Its simple ..we pay lots irrespective what they pay overseas..We are in NZ..

[Icharus 461]

It IS an expensive sport. If you cant afford it GTFO.


That I don't agree with. Paintball should not be limited to just the rich and well off. It should be played by the driven. Everyone deserves to have a crack at playing and if they have the heart/desire to play after that, they need to make the time and cash to do so. If there situation is one that stops them from doing so but that desire is still there those players could benefit from a little bit of help for the community to play until that situation changes. I'm not saying you hand over wads of cash but there are other ways of helping people play. This attitude of only if you have the cash will I give you the light of day is not helping the sport. You wouldn't have some of the pro players to day if that was the case.



As for Aggro players, we actually have very little of that here. This is an extreme sport, there do seem to be a few pansies around that struggle with that.

While New Zealand might not have all that many aggro players, we have fewer players in general. That makes our community more sensitive to any negativity. Everyone needs to watch how they treat other ballers. Is it with respect and understanding or are you just being a douche :)
I think what we have here is a group of guys made up of both Aggro and what I like to call "Charged" players. A Charged player is the kind of player that can't help but get emotionally involved in the game. They feel that the electricity gives them a competitive edge to push there team to the win. It's a state of mind they feel confident and comfortable with on the field. These players have a strong central locus and are only angry with themselves if they get shot out. So amongst the mumbles and half inch pushed to the hopper it's all "I can't believe I played that sloppy" or "to slow on that head check" etc... Is there anything really wrong with that.
It's different from the out and out Aggro players that just want to hate and hurt players because they think there $hit don't stink. The only way you are going to tell one from the other is buy talking to them and respecting them in the mean time till you can figure out what it is you are dealing with. If it's a charged player you are just going to have to accept that this is how the person is and how they play. It's nothing personal. If it's an Aggro player they need to be made aware that all they are doing is a lot of harm to an already small player pop.

Thought I might elaborate on what I'm trying to say. Hence the edit.

[Vijil]

Speaking of fewer players, how many speedball (including folks who just play 3 mans or locals) players do we have in total? 150? More? The Facebook group has 114 members but I'm not sure how many are active.

[Icharus 461]

I'd put it roughly around 200.

[Mr Vengeance]

Who want's to play stock class?

[Spike]

Jared I don't know what sport your playing its not the same one I play haha

1. If a player is driven as you call it, they find the money to play. Increasing paint by $5 a box will not stop them. I'm not talking about people that have short term money issues. I'm talking about the kid that works at the warehouse for $5 an hour and expects to be able to playing every weekend and making it other peoples responsibility to support their habit. That is not how it works. There were some players that were around NZ for awhile being supported as such and they disappeared when that support dried up. How does that help the sport? Its better for us to have a base of people that can pay their way. If you cant afford it, get a better job. You guys give me shit for having a 100K + job but half the reason I do is to support paintball.

2. NZ has no players that are as bad as you are making out, if you truly believe that your going to get the shock of your life if you go to Malaysia when you see the scumbags out in the real paintball world

BTW stock class would be cool :)

And oh yeah B2 I know they make some money ;)

And just in case your interested:

Paint 3 boxes at $80-100 per box + Entry $2-300 and that's Australian. So your looking at close to $800 NZ without any travel costs. My mate from Dubai pays upto $300 NZ per box of paint!

You guys have no idea how cheap paintball is here.

[Kiladelphia]

Paint 3 boxes at $80-100 per box + Entry $2-300 and that's Australian. So your looking at close to $800 NZ without any travel costs. My mate from Dubai pays upto $300 NZ per box of paint!

You guys have no idea how cheap paintball is here.

You'd pay less than that for almost ANY tournament in the USA. Paintball is not cheaper here, it fits the demand.

[Spike]

You'd pay less than that for almost ANY tournament in the USA. Paintball is not cheaper here, it fits the demand.

haha yeah exchange rate skews things for the Aussie dollar at the moment.

So you would pay less than $60 US a box at major events? I spose thats where freight comes in but from what I understand entry to a PSP/NPPL is allot more?

[Kiladelphia]

Well, some fields would jack up the price. I remember paying $110 USD for a case of 2,500 count ProBall in 1999. But that was 10 years ago and things have changed alot. I also remember getting 2,000 count 32-Degrees Team Colors for $50.

The issue of Kiwi paintball being expensive is multi-fold.

I would rank the demand per capita in the USA to be higher. Maybe 1 or 2 out of every 1,500 Kiwis play the game each year. Based on 2008 census results, that would be between 3,000 & 5,000 players per year, counted per person, not per playing time. I'd also guess that maybe 1 out of every 30 Americans play per year, which would look like 10,000,000 players per year.

And, shipping. Most companies are based in the USA, the UK, or somewhere in Europe. Getting their products to NZ is expensive.

I've just started to look at MacDev. I've really never looked into them before, but being that they're a seemingly quality marker brand that is also local... well, it begs for a second and third look from me, the skeptic.

And here's a fun little comparison:
(1 U.S. dollar = 1.37343771 New Zealand dollars)

Dye DM9... In the USA ($1,050 USD)... In NZ ($1,450 USD)
Smart Parts Shocker NXT... In the USA ($500 USD)... In NZ ($850 USD)
Ecclipse Ego10... In the USA ($1,250 USD)... In NZ ($1,450 USD)
Invert Mini... In the USA ($325 USD)... In NZ ($620 USD)
Tippmann A5... In the USA ($180 USD)... In NZ ($260 USD)

[comparison care of www.paintball-online.com (USA) & www.kiwipaintball.co.nz (NZ)]

So, aside from tournament entries and such, just the acquiring of gear is harder and more expensive in NZ than it is in the USA. In terms of tournament entry fees, a regional tournament like the GPL (northeast USA) is $250 USD per 5-man team (D2/D3 Mixed) and $150 USD per 3-man team (D2/D3 Mixed). National tournaments, like PSP and USPL, are most likely around $1,000 per team per event, but I haven't a clue about the specifics.

[Spike]

Oh I talking about at major tournies, yeah you can get paint here for even cheaper than that on trademe etc.

Most of the paint here is from Asia BTW

And yeah the MacDev stuff is win, they just picked up Russian Legion haha

[Icharus 461]

Guess we can just agree to disagree on that one Spike :) MacDev also picked up Palm Beach Vipers from Proto/Dye. That could be huge for your friends in Oz.

[Kiladelphia]

I also remember getting 2,000 count 32-Degrees Team Colors for $50.


Oh I talking about at major tournies, yeah you can get paint here for even cheaper than that on trademe etc.

Yeah? The $50 cases of Team Colors was field-issued paint. Most small and regional tournaments will not allow you to bring your own paint. Only the big national events will.

[ANTSMAN68]

whoa thats wicked for Mac, Russians and PBV !!!!pbv been with proto for a while too,,,

[Icharus 461]

Syndicate plays with MacDev too. Probably MacDev's best performing team over the last few years. Russians to take up that banner in 2010.

[B2]

Just looking at your comparisons Killa...You must add Freight and GST/Duty on all equipment over $400 NZ..So in lots of cases its still cheaper to purchase thru a NZ supplier..$1250us for EGO...I bought ours for $1400NZ so Im picking it paid to buy local as it does if you live Stateside..You must think NZ dollars and dont do the conversion in ya head as we are paid in NZ$

[Icharus 461]

It's different if you import equipment if you only intend it for private use. Duity is only applied if it's in excess of $1,000 NZD and I'm not sure on GST. I remember brining in our shockers and there was no GST at the time. If Paintball guns are classified now as Firearms then it's the flat 12.5%

[B2]

You may find its $400nz is the limit and they do apply the duty/gst if they so choose..It seems to be a random thing with Customs..Makes no diff if they stop it..they can charge you..Its a risk you take

[ANTSMAN68]

yeah b2 is right, Customs are a law unto themselves, if they decide to go anal on your ass, they will, and no amount of trying to persuade them they are wwrong will change their minds, even if they are wrong,.....

[Icharus 461]

I'm going to have to check that out.

[Kiladelphia]

Just looking at your comparisons Killa...You must add Freight and GST/Duty on all equipment over $400 NZ..So in lots of cases its still cheaper to purchase thru a NZ supplier..$1250us for EGO...I bought ours for $1400NZ so Im picking it paid to buy local as it does if you live Stateside..You must think NZ dollars and dont do the conversion in ya head as we are paid in NZ$

I wasn't expecting people to ship from the US. My point was that its cheaper for someone in the US to play in the US than someone in NZ playing in NZ. I converted the item prices to USD so it was an 'apples to apples' comparison and nothing more than that. Apologies if that wasn't clear enough.

[wonder]

i second that ants ... no duty on paintball gear btw just gst .
also they hit private stuff harder because the commercial guys have to pay gst regardless of who gets it ( ird or customs) but the private guys only pay it if customs ask

[Icharus 461]

I'm just worried about what my bill would look like :)