Tippmann... You know, I dont know what they're thinking these days. They cut Kee and now Archon. These are the two largest distributors in the world...

Anyway, I cant say I know what they are thinking. But they have been doing some weird things the past two years.

Oh well, there are plenty of other paintball markers on the market. I had no intentions of getting another Tippmann unless it was an older model at any rate. A Procarbine would be okay.

JesterTLS
scenariosupply.com cdpaintball.com http://www.tacamopaintball.com/

This is really a good move on their part. At least 1 BIG wholeseller was never current on paying their bills. That will result in a cutoff of supply in any industry.

Another factor is that at least 2 of the big wholesellers would allow on-line stores to drop ship from the wholesellers warehouse. These on-line stores would not even have to stock inventory, but just post an electronic store front with automated payment processing and would "sell" paintball gear. Tippmann (and every other company) could not maintain control of how their product was represented because these little virtual stores would pop up and disappear overnight.

Tippmann has a very capable sales department and will definately prosper by dealing directly with selected (and verified) vendors. As a business decission, it is a smart move.

One more thing... The average paintball store buys the hardware at the same price as the big wholesellers. If you buy from a wholeseller, they have to mark up the product a few % to stay in business, so, why not buy direct?

PS: An industry driven by paintball players, for paintball players, is better than an industry driven by non-paintball players for dollars.

Pro Caps should handle things properly. They now have warehousing around the country. For us, they can ship from the Texas warehouse in two days. No more waiting for the Canada hob-nob...