Bringing Airsoft to Canada En Masse

[Brian McIlmoyle]

If American Distributors are interested in the testing, certifying.. and confirmations necessary to get models onto the FRT so they can be imported under the required regulations?

Would they open every box... test the item.. and make the required changes to get them in ?

[DanoftheDead]

I think competition is good in any line of business, I don't like looking at US prices vs. Canadian prices, honestly I feel like I'm being robbed especially since our dollar is relatively equal. I understand that there going to be some businesses losing money if the US could get their hand in here, but as a player who spends his hard earned dollars, buying local is less important than getting a fair price.

[Double Tapper]

Originally Posted by Brian McIlmoyle

If American Distributors are interested in the testing, certifying.. and confirmations necessary to get models onto the FRT so they can be imported under the required regulations?

Would they open every box... test the item.. and make the required changes to get them in ?

I'm game with Brian here,I'd also like to see GBBR's in the mix as well.
At least Inokatsu's for myself.:wink:

[naminator]

Originally Posted by reducetomax

Hello,

We are a major distributor of Airsoft products in USA looking to expand to Canada. My understanding is that Airsoft was somewhat illegal and bringing Airsoft into Canada en masse was very difficult if not impossible.

However, there are a lot of Canadian retailers now, unlike 2 or 3 years ago. We want to supply these retailers and hopefully bring the prices down on Airsoft guns to reasonable levels (comparable to US prices).

I have read through the FAQ section, but threads are all dated a few years back. Has Canadian law and regulation regarding Airsoft changed for the better in recent years? There are also retailers selling full black versions which I thought would be a strict no-no.

If someone is kind enough to shed some light on current state of Airsoft in Canada or point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated!

Thank you in advance.

The bolded part is what interests me. I think this retailer wants to provide Canadian Retailers... Much like the overseas retailers provide current in Canada ones... with guns at a cheaper rate.

Correct me if I am wrong, but if the current retailers (eg adrenalineguy) could import guns at the same price from the states as over seas, it is a win win. The current retailers have a closer option to access guns and can deal with an english contact instead of somebody in a completely different time zone.

edit: Also lower prices are good too XD.

[Styrak]

Originally Posted by The Saint

No offence, but I'd say Canadians are better served by Canadian distributors. It's something of a matter of national pride, and keeping our dollars at home.

Because you, the newest (and only) distributor of "legal" full metal/black airsoft in Canada isn't biased AT ALL.


......right.

[Conker]

Originally Posted by The Saint

I say if you are unsatisfied with the performance of Canadian distributors, let competition from other Canadian distributors present and future be the force for change. There are bad Canadian businesses, but there are also GOOD Canadian businesses keeping them in check. Why be in a hurry to welcome in the Americans, when they will just bring in the same mix?

Of course, equal-to-equal I'll choose canadian.

AFAIK there's 4 distributors:
- Mach1 (ICS, VFC, Systema, Classic Army)
- Velocity Arms (WE cansoft, VA "Custom" (JG) cansofts)
- CAS (G&G cansoft, KWA cansoft, KJW cansoft)
- 007 (SRC cansoft)

And they unfortunately all carry partial product lines,

[The Saint]

Originally Posted by Styrak

Because you, the newest (and only) distributor of "legal" full metal/black airsoft in Canada isn't biased AT ALL.


......right.

I don't know where you're getting this "and only" thing from. I would not be surprised if all 5 existing Canadian distributors are doing legal opaque airsoft guns by this time next year.

Of course I'm biased towards foreign competition. I do recall saying so in this thread already.

Originally Posted by Conker

And they unfortunately all carry partial product lines,

Give them time. The selection and prices today is a lot better than 6 months ago, or since the major crackdown around 2006. The Canadian industry is growing, and that's good.

[Brian McIlmoyle]

Originally Posted by Styrak

Because you, the newest (and only) distributor of "legal" full metal/black airsoft in Canada isn't biased AT ALL.


......right.

Of course he is biased... he as much says so..

no one can blame someone for wanting to protect his livelihood.

You would do the same.

[Conker]

CAS has already started on the black guns, there's some on the buyairsoft website.

Still their shitty CAS plastic variants though.

[Hades]

To be completely honest, I don't really care where my money goes as long as I am getting a quality product that I want and in a timely fashion. And this is not for airsoft only. I buy quite a bit of pieces of equipment for my other hobbies from international distributors because I can get it cheaper and faster than buying local. I try and cut out the middleman wherever possible which means saving cash for me.

[Brayden]

http://www.oneworldairsoft.com/ ?

[Brian McIlmoyle]

Personally .. Ill pay 20% more to buy local than to go out of country.. Ill do whatever I can to support local commerce and to help put food on the tables of people I know.

I know from experience that this comes back to you in the future.

The I want it Cheap and Now approach does not have sustainability

[DanoftheDead]

Originally Posted by Brayden

http://www.oneworldairsoft.com/ ?

Agreed, I bought my 56 from Adrenaline and they went through One World, I'd recommend them (and have) to everyone. Price is still same Canada markup though.

[The Saint]

Originally Posted by Conker

CAS has already started on the black guns, there's some on the buyairsoft website.

Still their shitty CAS plastic variants though.

That's what they found their best market to be, though. In a lot of ways, it's like CAS is selling clones. Only in this case, CAS is taking a non-clone brand (G&G) and watering it down to be about as affordable as clones.

It's possible that they may do the higher end G&G stuff if they find the demand to exist.

[TechSeller]

Originally Posted by Brian McIlmoyle

Personally .. Ill pay 20% more to buy local than to go out of country.. Ill do whatever I can to support local commerce and to help put food on the tables of people I know.

I know from experience that this comes back to you in the future.

The I want it Cheap and Now approach does not have sustainability

Clone this man! Immediately!