Why is everything always out of stock

[beedenboy]

Does anyone else find when they want to purchase an airsoft item, Rifle, Pistol, certain gear.  You always come up against searching every single UK supplier and they are always out of stock? How can such a growing sport such as airsoft constantly have these problems?

 

[Druid799]

Would think it’s due to there only being a couple of wholesale companies involved in Airsoft in the uk and it must be insanely expensive to buy and ship from abroad with the pound being so crap that if the retailer does import the gear them selves then they probably wait until it’s basically a container full to make it financially viable ? 

 

[DrAlexanderTobacco]

Would think it’s due to there only being a couple of wholesale companies involved in Airsoft in the uk and it must be insanely expensive to buy and ship from abroad with the pound being so crap that if the retailer does import the gear them selves then they probably wait until it’s basically a container full to make it financially viable ? 

Yeah, fwiw I've found most retailers are happy to order stuff in for me if I request it, or at the very least let me know when their next shipment from $Manufacturer is due in so they can add my item to the list

 

[Druid799]

About the best (of the worst) I find is bullseye country sports there always going out of stock with kit (must have a very small inventory of stored kit) but there ‘notify when back in stock’ is excellent , I’ve had a fair bit off them through this service . Just wish they’d keep there fecking catalogue of stock up to date instead !?‍

 

[Musica]

It's something I have noticed and I started buying some things when they come back in to stock so when I get my ukara I just need to get my RIF. 

It's a real problem. 

 

[Steveocee]

Age old problem of niche retailers handling as little stock as they can. If they have stock on site then it is potentially dead money sat in the warehouse. Dropshipping from suppliers or manufacturers is the "easy" way of doing it. I will caveat there are a couple of better stores who do tend to carry a bit of stock but you find them going out because people buy it because they have it.

 

[Druid799]

Even zero the biggest retailer in the country , you look at there site and half the stuff listed is out of stock  and firesupport ain’t much better either ! ?

 

[BigStew]

you also have to take in to account the fact that all the Airsoft manufactures are small and models will be built in cycled production runs.

 

[Swampysteve]

Chinese New year so factories and distribution shut down for 2/3 weeks hence a lot of stuff out of stock

 

[Druid799]

Chinese New year so factories and distribution shut down for 2/3 weeks hence a lot of stuff out of stock

As it’s currently Chinese New Year then i wouldn’t have thought it’ll have any any effect now but in a couple of wks time as the stuff in the shops now would have been shipped wks ago to the uk . 

 

[Swampysteve]

As it’s currently Chinese New Year then i wouldn’t have thought it’ll have any any effect now but in a couple of wks time as the stuff in the shops now would have been shipped wks ago to the uk . 

Fair point, I can only assume as most retailers are small they'd only stock one or perhaps a couple of each Rif so once gone....could be a month before more come in?!? I'm no expert just thought the info may shed some light on why ?

Plus if all retailers are purchasing from the same UK/European importer then it's a supply and demand issue?!?! I can't see the smaller guys ordering all their gear direct from the brands. Could be wrong....the Mrs says I usually am ?

 

[Druid799]

Don’t know if it’s the same anymore but years ago was talking to a friend at spectre in Hereford who was starting to sell Airsoft kit , he was buying his stuff from a ‘middle man’ in HK and basically what happened was he’d fax his order (yes fax , shows how long ago it was !) and when the guy in HK had enough orders he’d fill a shipping container to send to an agent in the UK . 

 

[Immortal]

Drop shoppings become even bigger now. Seem's to be the way everyone's doing it to keep prices unusually low. Loads of eBay sellers use them, even the chinese sellers have an agent here to distribute their stuff. It's how it turns up real quick even though they're based in the Far East.

As for stuff being out of stock, everyones said it already. Shops don't buy much stock as its dead weight in a market that's fickle. There's a few brands like TM that are generally in abundance but misc rifs and parts may have a tiny market that only a handful of players may buy and buy only once. 


I've been after a little WE Colt25 and the only place I found them was Wolf Armouries who have been sold out since December.

I should check as I gave up looking :lol: EDIT: Damn they have one but only in black and no mags....

 

[1st commando]

The biggest issue is actually that most factories produce in "runs" and then don't revisit that product line for months or even longer . TM production schedule is very sporadic for example and very small proportion of those runs actually make it out of Asia as Europe is a tiny market compared to Asia .

The other issue is that most of the decent factories do a lot of OEM work these days and so the production schedules are even more spread out .

Then you have economic issues such as material supply . China has increased it's material costs massively and this will filter down to most people (even TM buys some of it's internal components from PRC)

Add to that the increased fuel surcharges , licensing restrictions and the fact that to keep up with the market you need to fly new releases and popular products in rather than shipping in bulk .

This last one is often a shock to people but RIFs actually have very very poor mark up and have a high cost to import so most retailers would rather supply a broader range of accessories with a better mark up than the high value , high risk products like RIFs