[tallsmallboy44]

I try to buy local, but my proshop is like 45 minutes away, is very small, and pretty much only carries tacticool stuff, and if I want something that they don't have, they arder online and takes a week to get anyway.

[G4paintballer]

I buy online because proshops are like 45 minutes away.

[HU Soldier]

I try to buy local but the owners of the one highly stocked proshop are assholes and i dont feel like driving 45 minutes to put up with the higher prices+gas cost+bullshit.

But the other 2 proshops that are witin 30 minutes dont have a great selection of anything but i try to buy from them when they have what im looking for.

[sameagol26]

The only thing I honestly go to my proshop for these days is Paint and air... Other then that, their prices are way to high, and they have next to no selection... I do a lot of my buying online on sites like Pbnation, Ansgear and paintballgear.ca the odd time.

[untaimed_deciples_2162]

lucky for me i live 15 min away from ANS so my proshop is pretty awesome XD and criticalpaintball is like 10 min away as well so between those 2 im pretty set

[dmullpaintball]

Typically I've ordered from the internet. Where I play they do have a shop but they don't carry higher end equipment. They sell few higher end pieces but not to my liking. I would love to support them by buying their gear, even if it was at a higher price. But they dont have what I need to help advance my game.

[TJO]

I buy local whenever possible. my field owner has great deals for the locals/team players

[SAHeatpb]

I prefer buying at my local pro shop so that way I could get a hand to hand fell with whatever I'm buying. But unfortunately I buy online because of awesome deals and my pro shop can be overpriced at times. So this is a hard question to answer but I would go with pro shop.

[Cossak11]

I would love to say local, but alas since there is not a local pro-shop where I am, I buy everything online.

[sonicx059]

Originally I shopped at only one pro shop and feared purchasing online.

After my first purchase on the B/S/T thread here I was sucked into purchasing used and online goods.

Although once my local field's pro shop was up and working and their deals are so much cheaper then purchasing online I decided to just stick with them and have the field order my "Special" items.

Plus being around them makes me feel like i'm part of the family.

Hell, getting new BNIB profits for under $70 bucks is worth the wait.

[NPpballer]

I don't really buy a lot of new equipment. I've purchased 2 guns new and that was through a local proshop.

[ContractKiller11]

When you get a $1250 Brand new GEO 2.1, and a 68/45 for $1100 I think you'll go to your local shop

[marceldacs]

jerseys, pants, and gloves at proshops. Everything else online.

[Corey Benson]

dmullpaintball, on 25 November 2012 - 07:35 PM, said:

Typically I've ordered from the internet. Where I play they do have a shop but they don't carry higher end equipment. They sell few higher end pieces but not to my liking. I would love to support them by buying their gear, even if it was at a higher price. But they dont have what I need to help advance my game.

Have you asked them to order things? I buy from one of the 3 local pro shops for multiple reasons:

1. MAPS: Most of the time, Manufacturers are incredibly proficient at making sure I'm paying the same price for something no matter where I buy it... Online or in my local shop.
2. Try before I buy: My preferred shop is incredibly excellent about making sure I have the opportunity to actually shoot my next marker before I buy it.
3. Lifetime warranty on any marker I buy. VERY COOL!
4. Coupon book provided with most major purchases: VERY cool! Buy a marker? Get 10% off your Hopper, 20% off soft goods, $10 of a tank, and three free entry passes for friends to come join you. There are more coupons in there, I just can't remember them! LOL
5. If I don't support my local shop, eventually, they won't exist.
6. I haven't found a single item that I want/need that they can't get.
7. They know WAY MORE than I do about what will help me hit the next level of my game. So far, they've been honest and fair with me, even to the point of telling me about a used marker available from another customer. Yes, my favorite pro shop has it's own BST thing going on. :-)

and last, but not least... they're HILARIOUS! I get more abuse from them than any other shop where I spend money... but it's the good kind of abuse. Case in point:

Me: Hey, guys! I'm thinking about buying a new pants/jersey combo. What would you suggest?
Them: Uh... why? You're already decked out.
Me: None of my camo actually matches, and I was thinking about going Blacks instead.
Them: And that'll improve your game... how?
Me: Oh, I don't know if it will... (voice trails off into uncertainty...)
Them: Still using that A5 that breaks every time you use it? Between the upgrades you want to make to it, and the pants/jersey combo you were just looking at, do you realize you could have a new Etha? Heck, you'd SAVE money doing that... and that would make you a better player than new clothes.

Bought the Etha. It's MUCH better than the A5 was, and I've become a MUCH more aggressive player now that I'm getting the hang of it. I had 7 confirmed kills in 3 hours of play last Saturday... now, for many of you, that's not that big a deal. For my style of play, that's HUGE!!!! I often come home not having personally taken anyone out, but having assisted on multiple kills, because I tend to be the guy holding 1-4 people behind a bunker while one of my teammates goes for the kill. I was more mobile, have been having more fun, etc.

All because of some really good advice at my pro shop. FYI: They make much more profit on the soft goods and accessories I was considering than they do on a marker, so technically, they lost money.

That's my 2 cents. Buy local!

Corey

[AceComets]

I shop online because I have 2 feels within a 2 hr drive of me. Neither of them have "proshops" and the "better" of the two fields is full of jackasses so I never play there, and they're only Tippmann and Valken dealers, neither of which I have a whole lot of interest in other then the soft goods Valken has.

But the smaller field can get us deals through ANSgear and other places but he's so small time he just can't afford to big orders and he doesn't like us pre-paying for things cause he's just so busy and doesn't know when he'll have time to do a big order


I love the guy and he's awesome but if I need something I'd rather not deal with yet another company/person/people in between. buying online is easiest for me.

_______________________________________________________________

And it's nothing personal to the smaller field but I don't have time to drive 30 minutes to buy stuff that he probably won't have in stock. He'd rather have the help prepping the field and doing work on the field then me spending my money so he can make $9 on something I want

[Kirko017]

Thanks for the information guys! Really helped. Obviously the big issue is Proshops not having items or if they do they charge too much and you're driving this distance to them as well. And there are exceptions, some said they get better deals through them which is good. For those of you who do shop online instead of through the proshop.

I guess I have some more questions.

Does your proshop sell anything through a website/online store? And if they don't, Would you shop at your local proshop's website if they had the items in stock over a bigger online site? And if they have an online store, is it horrible and why?
For those of you who do shop at your proshop, would them having an online site interest you?

[Panda's Revenge]

They used to have an online shop IIRC, although that was closed down due to the price to keep it up and the little revenue they were making from the site itself.
I wouldn't shop there if it was still up though, because it really isn't that far, only about 15-30 minute drive to it. I would appreciate a larger stock, although for a store in the middle of a city which mainly surfs instead of paintball, they have a high stock.