Gun rental setup

[Daviday]

I'm personaly thinking of setting up Gun rentals for Airsofters in the vancouver area/for people playing with Op-For and or BCAC. Mainly newbie players.

i'm planing on buying
-3 Kraken AK 47/painted Black and OD Green
-3 Sig 552/painted Black and OD Green

roughly: $5,7 dollars an hour.

"plaese note i'm not starting any rentals yet just considering"

i need recomendations for ok/all round guns, something that wont break the bank.
aswell as making it somewhat atractive to people who don't own thier own.

[BloodSport]

and?

[Darklen]

And your point is....?

Are you looking for feedback on what you're doing or pricing or gun types offered or what?

Wouldn't this be better served on the BCAC forums as they are your direct market?

[Daviday]

Ya pretty much, i'm trying to get more opinion,

[Spawn28]

okay again a opinion on what? you havnt stated what you want a opinion on you just posted what your plannin on getting and doing.

[Daviday]

The over all look of it from your prospective.
what you think and if i can improve anything.

[m102404]

Cool, that's nice of you.

#1. Downgrade them to stock FPS...M90...300fps...the rest of the players will thank you (no Ooops sorry for the burst of 400fps full auto to the face at 5ft). The craptastic parts in those guns will thank you as well.

#2. Don't know why you'd rent / hour...around here it's flat rate $20 for the duration (i.e. evening, day, whatever).

#3. The aftermath MP5s are on par with the Krakens...but still...downgrade the FPS...

[sarcastro]

I think and may be wrong but, he is looking for an opinion on the gun choices posted above as far as their suitability /durability and overall appeal as a rental item versus their cost to purchase and maintain. As-well as the rental price of $ 5 - 7 per hour being reasonable, to high / to low ?

I have no personal experience with either gun so I can't give you any first hand performance or durability feedback. As far as the style of gun people may want to rent well, of course you will get the people who fancy themselves 1337 sniperz and you can just ignore them. Other than that most may have a specific gun in mind but will be happy with whatever they can get to go out and give it a try, the rest probably wont know or care and just want to try the sport.

I think a AK and 552 are good choices to satisfy a wide range of people, remember you will never make everyone happy.

[Drake]

Having done this I can say get ready for a regularly recurring pain in the ass.

1) make sure your guns are well maintained, you don't want a breakdown on the field
2) you'll need to supply mags, too
2b) not everyone likes hicaps
2c) mags get lost: have pricing for lost/broken items
3) might wanna supply BBs while you're at it; I suggest repackaging bags into smaller, cheaper bags (single game/day's worth)
4) rentals tend to get banged up, and accidents happens (specially when noobs are involved): figure out how you'll want to deal with that
5) you may want to consider a flat fee unless you have fields with hourly rates; $30/game was about the average rental price as I recall
6) if you're renting out locaps or multiple mags, you may also want to offer gear rentals (some low end LBV or webbing or something to carry mags in). Maybe offer goggles, too, if your target client is noobs/first timers/wanna-check-airsoft-outers.

And if you're renting to total strangers, you may want to get some kind of deposit or otherwise secure a means to improve the odds you'll see your gun again.

[Roughneck]

Noob rentals should always come with a hicap.. one less thing to worry about. Definitly keep them stock.. at least sub 350fps. Possible damage deposit that is returned when the gun comes back in the same condition it went out in. $30 a day is a fair charge, possibly throw in a pair of goggles as mentioned before. Gotta make enough to cover your cost of buying and keeping these guns running. I'd suggest the AK's and Lycon/Aftermath MP5's. Good luck, you'll be providing a great service to your community.

[Amos]

Start small, You'll most likely never turn a profit off of this.

[lupo]

Renting guns and not being able to work on them is not going to make you any money. There isnt a huge demand for rentals as it is and charging by the hour when everyone else charges for the day is not going to get you far. Gun rentals are generally between 20 and 40 for the day the rate being determined by the gun/owner (upgraded or not). Rental may be hicap only or may be regular magazines , or include goggles.
When I used to rent it was $40 with goggles , hicap and a half bag of bb's for the day.

[Daviday]

Thank you all for the input, i'm planing on buy 3 high caps and 3 low caps for every gun. each of them will have a number "1,2,3,4...etx". my falt rate for the AKs will be $8 an hour and the Sig's $6 because of the size. I will charge a servcie fee if any of the guns are dammaged in the games roughly $20 and up depending on the extent of the damage. I'm aiming to make it afordable for new players to promote airsoft in Canada.

[Daviday]

Originally Posted by lupo

Renting guns and not being able to work on them is not going to make you any money. There isnt a huge demand for rentals as it is and charging by the hour when everyone else charges for the day is not going to get you far. Gun rentals are generally between 20 and 40 for the day the rate being determined by the gun/owner (upgraded or not). Rental may be hicap only or may be regular magazines , or include goggles.
When I used to rent it was $40 with goggles , hicap and a half bag of bb's for the day.

i could charge 30 to 40 a day.
i'm not trying to make a full Business, just to promote airsoft and provide to the community.
in a way to provide people who can't afford to buy to rent,
but making it cheep so it attracts more people, Especially if you new
to the sport.

[Daviday]

Originally Posted by Drake

Having done this I can say get ready for a regularly recurring pain in the ass.

1) make sure your guns are well maintained, you don't want a breakdown on the field
2) you'll need to supply mags, too
2b) not everyone likes hicaps
2c) mags get lost: have pricing for lost/broken items
3) might wanna supply BBs while you're at it; I suggest repackaging bags into smaller, cheaper bags (single game/day's worth)
4) rentals tend to get banged up, and accidents happens (specially when noobs are involved): figure out how you'll want to deal with that
5) you may want to consider a flat fee unless you have fields with hourly rates; $30/game was about the average rental price as I recall
6) if you're renting out locaps or multiple mags, you may also want to offer gear rentals (some low end LBV or webbing or something to carry mags in). Maybe offer goggles, too, if your target client is noobs/first timers/wanna-check-airsoft-outers.

And if you're renting to total strangers, you may want to get some kind of deposit or otherwise secure a means to improve the odds you'll see your gun again.

I'm taking that all down on paper right now, thank you for letting me know.