Gen. Taloneer's Guide to Shopping and Saving

Buy, sell, trade, or discuss prices of Super Soakers and water guns here. (For members only)
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Soakologist
Posts: 575
Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2003 1:00 pm

Post by Soakologist » Sat Nov 13, 2004 9:25 pm

Introduction
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- I’m sure a lot of the members already know how and where to get there soakers, but this is a guide for new people to the site. This guide contains information from old Threads that contained tips on where and how to buy soakers.

In the Spotlight and Comparison
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- Into the spotlight of soakers, you feel you need that blaster, because it's the best. Believe it or not, the Soakerdom Community has been in a very steep slump for about the past 3 years. Only 1 company ran the scene, Hasbro, who wasn't producing blasters adequate to the likings of the community for practical Water Warfare. While you will see those Soakertag guns or EES weaponry on the common battlefield today, you will also see other teams, the Elite of the Elite.

- Compared to the guns that are available today, you compare their guns to yours. You think yours is pure XPBackfire-esque right? Well we are here to fix that. Most Elite teams use a type of Water Blaster called the "CPS line, in where the stream, power, capacity, even sometimes size outmatches its Air Pressure brethren. While you may feel your gun is not XPBackfire-esque, you may feel that it is inferior. There are a number of places you can get the Elite weaponry, but be warned, it is a difficult trek to find them, and will cost top dollar.

What can I do?
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- Well, from here I assume you’re not a spoiled brat, who uses their parents for money, I also assume you buy your own soakers at this point. If you do, good job, that shows responsibility in a young adult. As for buying Soakers, you will need to find an income, and to what extent I can help with. Find a job, ask for an allowance increase, or just be a general help to your community or family, it eventually gets rewarded with something. For me, I started my own business from cutting lawns the past 2 summers, and I made about $500.00 USD from it.

- Obviously, the good thing to do with this much money is to NOT BLOW IT ALL, and save it. If you need a special gun that bad, get ready to take a lot out to pay for it. If you won, congrats, just hope it didn't blow too much out of your pocketbook. There is always a way to find income, even if you think it is hopeless. Like Einstein said, "I haven’t failed; I've just found 10,000 ways it won't work."

- From here it depends if you’re a collector or user. If you’re a collector of water guns, watch the spending, and only go after the big sharks occasionally. For users, only get what you really need, do you want to be stuck with a cannon to big for ya?
Also look to the community for opinions, as to if this gun is for you. Read statistics off Isoaker.com, and most importantly ask, it’s the way to get answers.

Where Can I look?
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1.) Ebay, or other Auction Sites.- If you are lucky, most of the time the high powered ones are here. Be ready to shell out tons of money, people will get on personal levels to win that "CPS 2000" that could be the last one ever in the history of Ebay. Of course another may pop up, we don't know. Generally this isn't a good idea, but go for it if it is a last resort. Also check the "This week's Ebay Guns" thread for rediculed guns on our radar.

2.) Garage Sales. - You may be lucky to find something for really cheap, but I doubt it. While I have not found anything from Garage sales, it is a good idea to check around anyways. Think, a CPS 2000 for 200 dollars off Ebay, or one moderately used, excellent condition from a yard sale for 5-10 USD?

3.) Other Users Online- Possible. I’m not saying this is bad, or our members are scammers, but generally not trading/buying/selling with other members out of auction sites makes everything a little more difficult. However there are some good people here, and most are honest, good people ^_^ .

4.) Toy Stores. - Id imagine you’re almost guaranteed to find something here. Check stores Like Toys'R'us, or Sports Authority, they may have some CPS's left from previous years sales. I scored at my Local Toys'R'Us in Kutztown, I scored 3 CPS 4100s left there at 33% off.


Keep your guns in good condition, and never throw one away unless it's completely useless. Upgrading from Air Pressure to CPS in the frotn line is an Awe-Inspiring experience, to which many don't get to experience today. Good luck, and Pm me or post a message here if you have something to add to help others find soakers, or ask questions.

edit- The Trade Forums also offer great Pinnies on where to buy, look, etc. Here Are a few::

Filtered Ebay Search For Elite Water Warfare Weaponry
Cloud's Guide to Water Blaster Prices, Value and Ebay Price
Couple other Mini-Sites to buy from
This week's Ebay Soaker List

[Thanks again to Jade for posting this.]

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Commander_Gaunt
Posts: 360
Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2004 5:01 pm

Post by Commander_Gaunt » Wed Dec 15, 2004 8:34 pm

Like Einstein said, "I haven’t failed; I've just found 10,000 ways it won't work."
Thomas Eddison not Einstein I believe.

Edit : A bit pedantic I know

Edit again: There is a spell check. That would be Edison, not Eddison. Also, always capitalize proper nouns, I in this case. ;)
<span style='color:gray'>There are only 3 sure things in life: Birth <span style='color:red'>Death <span style='color:gray'>and <span style='color :p urple'>Taxes

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Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:12 am

Post by ANNIHILATOR 2 » Sat Apr 16, 2005 8:07 am

I just want to add that buying soakers on ebay should be done off season. Why pay $150 for an MXL, when one can buy one for $30. I bought an MXL for $10 last fall. Unfortunatly the seller added $55 schipping, which was a ripoff. Which brings me to another point. Always ask for shipping before bidding.
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Classical Spirit: Constantly improve power, pressure and style over previous state of the art water gun models. The ideal of "power progress", a nowdays non existent concept in retail water guns since 1997.

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DX
Posts: 1780
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 1:00 pm

Post by DX » Sat Apr 16, 2005 1:53 pm

You can still actually grab great guns for cheap prices during the height of the season. My $30 CPS 2500 and 2 $20 CPS 3200s were bought during the summer off Ebay. Forget the "what price to bid" guides and all that. Ignore comments like "water guns on Ebay are too expensive." <----Especially that one. That kind of comment is only made by those who haven't bothered to "look past the surface." Just wait for an auction to pop up that draws no or little bids. Look for one ending later at night. Learn many different search terms. Let high price auctions slide away, even if you really want the gun. A lot of patience will pay off huge.
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