Retail Sites

[Detriix]

hi all

very new to airsoft. I've been going around the forums to see what I need to get started and such. I have come across ehobbyasia and wondering if they are 100% able to ship to Ontario?

[MultipleParadox]

No
Read the fan
Read the stickied threads

[Slodin]

I wouldn't say 100%...there are somethings you just CANT import..you can get lucky..but I won't suggest it..

Read some stickies, they already explained stuff

[Hectic]

Lotta walk in retail stores right in the gta.
by the time u ship, pay duties, taxes, brokerage, exchange rate, yoh may as well support your local retailers.

[fretwire]

Hate to say it but there's lots of old information in the stickies!! There's one that's accurate in terms of importing but I remember seeing a few that said "No you can't import Airsoft guns" and that's simply wrong.

You MAY run into problems at the border with guns but if it's documented to shoot more than 366fps it's completely legal in Canada and while you might run into hassles at the border you have the legal backing to win any arguments, it just might take some time. 100% no, but 90% yes. There's also the <500fps requirement that's not technically accurate anymore but helps avoid any hassles.

There's also a few retailers in the US that will tell you in the guns description if it's Canada Legal and whether they'll ship it to Canada.

Parts will easily make it over the border with a few exceptions (like I think receivers).

That said, you can usually find guns cheaper (after shipping/duty/taxes) right here at home but do your shopping because some retailers are still charging insane prices. I saw one particular gun I was shopping for range from about $380 to $550 and I ended up paying $380 for it after some shopping around.

I've bought most of my guns from Canada and I completely agree with supporting Canadian retailers but only those retailers that support Canadians by charging reasonable prices.

[Hectic]

Yeah, that same group of retailes who dont gouge us are mostly willing to match (sometimes beat) in stock prices of other Canadian retailers.
Yes there are some who a way over priced on some items so yes shopping around is always best.
Id say for the Toronto area there are 3 "big" gun retailers with walk in stores and one thats not quite so big(a surplus store) but is also reasonably priced.
There are many others as well, mostly paintball or surplus stores that just carry a few items but have little to no clue what they have and what a reasonable price is, mainly because they got stuff right at the begining when prices were still high. Look for shops that were started by airsofters for airsofters and yer prety sure to be treated well.

[danhay]

Save yourself a lot of hassle and buy local. A colleague had an AK held by the CBSA for over one year. It really is true that after you pay shipping, duties and GST the imported airsoft gun will wind up being the same price as that charged by the better shops.

[Detriix]

I've done some shopping around and have come across torontoairsoft and airsoftdepot Canada. I'm completly on board with supporting Canadian retails and I do want to avoid the hassle of dealing with cbsa. does anyone in the GTA know of any local stores that aren't selling for insane prices?

[BrendanL]

Both the GTA retailers you named don't sell their toys for insane prices, they're pretty standard for the Canadian market.

[Cliffradical]

Keep in mind that Canadian prices also reflect changes in the exchange rate.
*leans back in rocking chair*
Why, back in my day, an A&K M60E4 would cost you not a penny shy of Eight Hundred Smitheroons. An M4 would cost you Four to Five hundred for a decent brand, what you could get, and heaven help the man couldn't afford but one for Three Hundred.
I used to go to games with a big, floppy, drop leg rig on each leg, which was the style at the time. You couldn't get and camo leg rigs though, what with the war on, so I had one of those flat green ones, the kind that's not quite OD but good enough.
Boy those were a relief to take off before seeing the missus I tell you.

[Hectic]

my first plastic jg m4 was 600 bucks. Can be had for 250 easily now lol

[Cliffradical]

Seriously. Back in my bellyaching days, the old guard was tellingme how easy I had it. LMGs broke a grand easy. Fancy stuff like G&Ps was well beyond that, and pretty much reserved for guys with adult children and oil workers that didn't have a coke habit.

The prices up here in the Hinterlands are where they are for a whole lot of good reasons. Profit margins are really tight on these things, and orders are still very risky even when everything is 101% above board.
Many of the solid retailers have been around since before the beginning, and can be directly thanked for us being able to own and play with these things in Canada at all.

If you really sit down and crunch all of the numbers, then levy that against the convenience, advice, and service factors you get with a local purchase, then add the fact that your Canadian money stays in the Canadian economy, you'll find that prices are very good these days, with few exceptions.

Lol betide he who seeks warranty service or replacement overseas.

[Danke]

Maybe the prices seem insanely low?

[Deejay2401]

I'll add my +1 to keeping the money in the Canadian market. I've bought from Toronto Airsoft as well as Hero Army Surplus, and they've both done top notch by me.

Benefit to buying in Canada - specifically in store - is that you can actually pick stuff up and hold it and see how you like it before you blow a bunch of dough on a gun you find you really don't like and can do nothing about besides sell for a loss. Many of us here have had those circumstances, and with guns a lot more expensive.

[pestobanana]

Shit is more expensive in Canada, that's just how it is. Back when a JG G36 went for $500, I could understand people wanting to import. Now prices have gone down significantly, so much so that sometimes Americans are buying from Canadian retailers.

I ordered $250 of gear from the US, and I was nailed by a $50 customs tariff. I can only imagine how much an expensive AEG would cost. You also need to factor in exchange rate.

Main reason why I would never try to import a gun is because my friend bought a gun from Asia, paid the retailer to change the spring to be Canadian legal, and CBSA still determined it was not shooting within legal parameters and my friend lost a lot f money.