There is an important factor that us players often overlook when choosing where to spend our money and with which traders.
Some traders trawl around the country, week in week out supporting their customers. They'll turn up at NvS, Super6, tournaments and even some smaller events where the cost of being there dwarfs any sales income they take. If you buy kit from these guys they'll support it, they'll fix it if they possibly can and often they even repair your kit if you've even bought it off a rival trader.
Why do these traders do this - because they appreciate what customer service is and they love the game. They support players and events, often at an expense to themselves. I don't mind naming some of these guys because it's the least we can do, traders like BZ Paintball, LIPS, We are Paintball and Enola Gaye, Demon, Fat Bobs, Angel, Rap4 and also manufacturers and distributors who come and support players and events and send gun techs at a raw expense, companies like Kee, Planet Eclipse, Tippmann, Manic Paintball, Celtic/Phoenix etc.
Then there are others, who never bother. Traders who you'll never see at an event supporting their customers, or traders who cherry pick one or two larger events a year because they place money higher than customer service. Manufacturers who never send techs to events because their after sales service is woeful when compared to others. I could name names, but that's not really my style.
Many of those who don't bother with the after sales part will often flog us a gat at a fiver cheaper than the rest, or give us a quid discount on a box of paint and are happy because they know that their rival traders will pick up the bill of supporting their customers at events because the the guys who support players after the sale have a moral fibre that means they'll seldom turn away a player in need, whether they have bought off them or not. The traders who never bother feed off that moral fibre like leaches.
I see this happen all the time and I find it morally offensive. It's why I moved S6 events to trader paint only. I got sick of seeing some traders travel around the country supporting players, only for other traders who never bother, to outsell them in paint sales without even turning up because they'll offer a quid discount on paint or tie teams to purchasing their paint from them with some ridiculous and worthless 'sponsorship' deal. Its easy to discount paint if you never bother to attend events. It used to make me want to puke to see some traders travel hundreds of miles and support players, only to see teams arriving at an event literally with vans full of paint purchased from a trader down the road who couldn't be bothered to attend to support their players. Lets not forget, trading at most events is free of charge.
So as players, we should all give a thought to where we spend out money. We can buy a gun from someone because they offer us a few quid discount, or we can buy a gun off a trader who'll travel around the country all year, supporting the industry, supporting the events and supporting the players, offering technical support, prizes at events, prizes for charity raffles and contributing to the rich fabric of our games.
For me, it's a moral choice as much as a purchasing choice and the couple of quid difference in price that the parasitical traders may offer me in no way compensates for the continued service and support that I'll find from an alternative trader not to mention the additional contribution that they'll make to the overall game of paintball.
