God!! They're only SKSs.
Who CARES if one SKS is a little more accurate than the next one? A more accurate SKS is still an SKS.
Hey, I love them too and I have one or two but they're just SKSs.
If you are a collector who needs an unfired one...or a speculator looking for an investment...you aren't ever going to fire it and you're gonna HOPE prices climb. Investing in a piece that is one of hundreds of millions of units probably isn't really a sound investment?
$300 for a decent semi auto in 7.62x39? I guess that isn't all that bad. Again though...you can still get spring pinned '49 Russians (refurbs of course but again...they're SKSs not some rare commie gun) for 200 clams.
If you want to compare to what Americans pay for their SKSs...well you will be doing a lot of :-O USUALLY though because everything is so much MORE $ up here.
NO publicity is BAD publicity. They probably should have been asking $600 for them. Marstar would become an overnight household name in Canada. The CBC would probably report it lol.
If you bought gold 10 years ago you might be CRYING when you see what an oz gets today :-(
Other than the sub $200 Russians, what is a better s/a rifle deal than $300?
BUT...to say the Chinese SKSs are rare and this is the LAST of them is probably like saying Chinese PEOPLE are rare or that CHOPSTICKS are rare in China. They have an army of what?... 80BILLION troops? (lol) and each one of them has an SKS in Chinese cosmo (yes...it's much worse than the Russian cosmoline lol) just waiting for the round-eye invasion.
IF China EVER runs-out of unissued SKSs and if they see that there is a market for their Chinese SKSs....ummmm...supply and demand...even CHINESE economics probably dictates...MAKE SOME MORE!!!
Now..the day that we STOP importing goods from China...THAT is the day you wanna invest in some Chinese SKSs. Well ivest on the day BEFORE that happens if you can but...aint gonna happen in our lifetimes...until oil gets to $200/barrel and shipping isn't worth it anymore.
In the end though, $300 plus shipping and tax means that these will be listed privately tomorrow (while Marstar is still selling them for 300 clams) in the EE for $1200.
Hey, if you want to complain about inflated pricing the EE is where you belong. AND that isn't the seller's own forum so slamming them wouldn't be quite as bad as dragging Marstar's name through the mud (but again...rule #1 in advertising..LOCATION LOCATION LOCA...oopsies....sorry..NO PUBLICITY IS BAD PUBLICITY!!) in their own forum and then advertising dissimilar items from other dealers' offerings. THAT is pretty not cool.
I sureashell aint buying one of these and I'm not gonna buy any of the "USED for more than NEW" priced EE items. Now THERE is where you wanna complain about prices.
But in the end...no need to complain about asking prices. That kind of stuff sorts itself out. It's kinda like how we don't need all these drug laws to teach us what's bad for us. BIOLOGY will let us know what we should or shouldn't be "taking".
I have all the SKSs I nee...I mean WANT (actually didn't even NEED one) so even at $200 I'd be passing. I don't think I could say no to even a refurbed Russian '49 for $300 though.
SEASON'S GREETINGS everyone and if you don't want to buy one of these $300 Chinese SKSs just go back to the EVERYTHING made in China is GARBAGE discussion boards but DON'T be posting from your CHINESE Apple. Mac, or iDevice ;-)
Hey Marstar...$299 probably would have ruffled fewer feathers but either way...I'm sure there will be plenty of Chinese SKS buyers out there who will appreciate this price.
Maybe this is a case (pun intended) of No good deed goes unpunished!
TIP: ANYtime you want to sell an item for way more than it's worth (not saying that is the case with these), just list it in the EE and no one will mutter a peep.
EDIT: Have to add...I'm a guitar guy like many of you are. Vintage amps and guitars are rare and collectible. A '59 Gibson Les Paul that listed for what? a couple hundred bucks in '59? will SELL right now for over a quarter of a million dollars. Why? Well it isn't because China cant re-create them. It's mostly because there are woods, components and trim that are unobtainable these days. It's like vintage amplifiers. ANYONE can make a clone/copy of a '67 plexi but to find NOS Mullard tubes or Mustard capacitors from the '60s...$$$ and, they just CAN'T make them like they used to again due to the raw materials. Not only are they hard to get and expensive, disposing of the waste is EXPENSIVE and hard to do.
There is a market for these vintage guitars and components though so you can bet your A$$ that AliBaba is FULL of counterfeits and copies of '50s burst les pauls. Total garbage but they look just like the old ones.
NOW...IF China EVER sees that their SKS supply is running low but the demand is still high...THEY WILL MAKE MORE! An SKS with steel made in 1956 isn't better than one made today with 2014 steel. Their flame maple wood furniture doesn't shoot (or sound) better with age. There is NOTHING preventing China from making NEW SKSs for the Western market EXCEPT that there are still TENS of MILLIONS of them sitting packed in crates that haven't seen the light of day since they came off the production line.
In the end though...if you want an original, unfired, '50s SKS...from China, Russia, the Former Yugoslavia, WHEREVER...I THINK you're gonna be paying all of $300 aren't you?
Good luck with these Marstar. I hope they all sell quickly and that you have a Happy Holiday Season.