AEA Prices US vs Europe, holy moly

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Harold999

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Aug 18, 2019
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Did some price comparisons between US shops and a big shop in Europe (Wolfiek Spain).
The difference is ridiculous. Up to double more expensive in Europe.

I don't see such huge differences with other brands, altough US made guns are ofcourse cheaper in the US, but AEA is a Chinese brand. It's not made in America.

What's going on here?

Ofcourse you Americans who read this don't care, but Europeans do. 🙂
 
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Spinach said:
A few of the Netherland suppliers still do decent prices.
Click to expand...

Not with AEA.

US:
IMG_20231208_221409.jpg



Netherlands:
IMG_20231208_221313.jpg
 
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I bet European airgun market isn't as big and busy as in USA. Gun shops cant really make profit on quantity, thus higher prices. 20%-25% VAT depending on country. Effing Estonian government rises VAT from 2024, from 20% to 22%.

Here, in Europe, are some world known quality airgun manufacturers: Walther, AGT, KalibrGun, FX, Zbroia, Diana, Weihrauch and many more.
 
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Loff said:
I bet European airgun market isn't as big and busy as in USA.
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It is not as busy as you may think. In most states you can go ahead and buy an actual firearm. It is in general cheaper than airgun (from $200-300 for pistol or even a shotgun or rifle), more reliable and lot more accurate. In some red states you need "a license", which deters the laziest people, who may revert to buying an airgun. Also felons are legally banned from owning a firearm, so felons shoot airguns.

I.e., I'm in a "red" state and I know more firearm owners than airgun owners. In fact, I'm the only one.

Also my first encounter with this era airguns was not positive, I've got one of the most powerful, and it is subpar in many ways. Too heavy, required extensive work to bring it to stage 0, power is only on par with pistols. I see it having more appeal to EU folks, where you can get a detuned version and illegally convert it to full power for home defense. Multiple shots magazine at 500+ FPE is still a lot of fire power. It's better to be judged by 12 than to be carried by 6.
 
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Loff said:
I bet European airgun market isn't as big and busy as in USA. Gun shops cant really make profit on quantity, thus higher prices. 20%-25% VAT depending on country. Effing Estonian government rises VAT from 2024, from 20% to 22%.

Here, in Europe, are some world known quality airgun manufacturers: Walther, AGT, KalibrGun, FX, Zbroia, Diana, Weihrauch and many more.
Click to expand...

Chinese airguns like Huben, Spa, Artemis etc. cost more or less the same in the US vs Europe.

It's purely AEA where i see these huge price differences. The reason i started this topic.
 
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Keep in mind that if ordering from Europe you don’t pay the VAT. The VAT does jack up the price but since you don’t live in Europe you don’t pay the VAT. Another issue is how strong the US dollar is compared to the Euro. When the dollar is strong the prices get cheaper. When the dollar is really strong it’s quite a bit cheaper. For example I bought a Walther LP500 Expert from Krale a few years ago for $1708. The US dollar was fairly strong at the time. 8-9 months later the US dollar was really strong and that same pistol was almost $300 cheaper than what I bought it for at Krale. Of course the reverse is true. When the US dollar is weak prices shoot up. It changes daily.
 
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I think it depends on the VAT and the fact that there is simply much more demand in the US. There are not very many countries in the EU where there are no restrictions regarding air weapons. Either power or caliper specific. Netherlands suddenly comes to mind, and few other... Greece,Serbia, Belgium and Spain. Belgium seems to have a restriction on air pistols..

As far as I remember, there are no restrictions in these countries or a notification to the authorities is enough.
In other countries, you need permits and other bureaucracy. I think this partly affects how much certain manufacturers are willing to operate in the EU, and if the quantities are small, the price usually goes up. And hunting with air guns is prohibited almost every country in EU
 
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The world is now the market place! One needs to "shop" all over to find the best deals! Pellets are a lot cheaper from the EU sellers - you just need to buy enough to offset the horrendous shipping cost! I have bought guns, scopes, parts, ammo from all over to stretch my money as far as it can go! The only caveat is if you can't "fix" something to a certain level, then buy locally so you can have access to someone that can "fix" your gun as needed. As stated in other posts here, all EU prices include VAT where here in the US no one includes tax in any posted price, so one must "adjust" the price from both sources when shopping!
 
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Pfddi said:
The world is now the market place! One needs to "shop" all over to find the best deals! Pellets are a lot cheaper from the EU sellers - you just need to buy enough to offset the horrendous shipping cost! I have bought guns, scopes, parts, ammo from all over to stretch my money as far as it can go! The only caveat is if you can't "fix" something to a certain level, then buy locally so you can have access to someone that can "fix" your gun as needed. As stated in other posts here, all EU prices include VAT where here in the US no one includes tax in any posted price, so one must "adjust" the price from both sources when shopping!
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The problem for Europeans who try to import an airrifle from the US is customs.
Altough it's completely legal to import any airrifle from the US to the Netherlands, there has to be just one custom employé who thinks "what tf is this" and it will be on hold for months, and you will have to explain that it is legal etcetera. It's very risky.

And ofcourse the import taxes overhere. It just makes no sense to try.
 
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Harold999 said:
The problem for Europeans who try to import an airrifle from the US is customs.
Altough it's completely legal to import any airrifle from the US to the Netherlands, there has to be just one custom employé who thinks "what tf is this" and it will be on hold for months, and you will have to explain that it is legal etcetera. It's very risky.

And ofcourse the import taxes overhere. It just makes no sense to try.
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Adding all costs (fom US to EU), it is less stressful in EU to buy from EU. That little or a bit more than little extra You have to pay in the end isn't that much. And You get the gun faster. For example, from Krale (Netherlands) to Estonia, it takes 1 week with UPS. But from USA to Estonia 30-45 days + customs.
 
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As this is my first post, first of all a hello to everyone.

Having only ever read here and benefited from the experts here, I can offer a possible explanation for this phenomenon.

As darlym has already written, this is due to the demand, or more precisely the demand for the HP MAX in Germany.

To cut a long story short, Jörg Sprave (YT Slingshot Channel) launched an F version (i.e. below 5.5 ftlb muzzle energy) of the HP MAX cal .35 1.5 years ago, which anyone over the age of 18 can easily purchase. He also includes all the parts you need to bring the rifle to full power, because you can legally own them, just not install them yourself.

And the result?

If you believe his statements on YT, he has sold around 25,000 units in 1.5 years at a price of €1,099.

His target group is not the average shooter but the prepper scene who are preparing for the end of the world. Since firearms are not easy to buy and own legally in Germany and only with considerable effort, and there are no other large-caliber air rifles that you can simply buy (and also bring to full power for self-defense without much effort), the HP MAX is still "the next big thing" in Germany, and people are simply paying the price.

Even if Jörg Sprave sometimes comes across as slightly crazy in his videos (some of which are also available in English, by the way), he is a damn good businessman and understands marketing. Firstly, he was the first one who throttled large-caliber air rifles to such an extent that he can legally sell them to anyone over the age of 18 in Germany (which, by the way, must be checked and certified by the German authorities, which is not exactly cheap) and secondly, he addresses his target group precisely in his videos by repeatedly talking about the collapse of the state and the legal system or the zombie apocalypse.

And if the Germans can sell thousands of 5.5ftlb HP MAX for €1,099, why shouldn't the Spaniards (who have a 24 joule limit) be able to charge €900 for them?

Hope that explains it.
 
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