(Update - July 2012) Magpul Products' Availability in the Philippines

Three months after I posted my first blog about the availability of genuine Magpul Products in the Philippines, I was finally able to buy some of these products. Below is a picture of some of them:

From left to right: Magpul MIAD Grip, Magpul MOE Trigger Guard and Magpul BAD Lever


The parts seem genuine, the packaging is complete and top notch, and the parts themselves seem to be made of genuine high quality Polymer that Magpul is known for, instead of the lesser quality Polymer or even ABS Plastic materials that the copies are made of.

'ebay.ph'
I bought the above items from ebay.ph, from a seller in the US. The prices were great, just a couple of dollars above the typical retail listed prices for these items, way better than the ridiculous prices the local gun stores sell them for. The only problem with these parts is that the availability tends to be inconsistent at best, and this is mainly because the sellers are mostly individuals, not stores, and therefore could only have a few items at a time on their stocks.

My guess is that they buy these on sales, and turn around and sell them online. The available parts on sale is probably only limited, and their budget is also limited, and thus could only stock a few items at a time. So if you see one being sold, I suggest you grab one immediately as they may not be around for long.


Just some of my tips when buying Magpul products from ebay:
- Ignore sellers from China and Hong Kong, these are almost always knock offs;
- Buy only from US locations as much as possible, as the likelihood that the parts are genuine are better;
- Ask the seller if the products are genuine before buying them;
- Ignore Magpul PTS products, these are for Airsoft use only
- Ignore Airsoft store sellers, their products are likely to be knock offs or PTS products, even if they might not say so;
- For items consolidated in one shipment, or single purchase items, keep the value under USD 100. That seems to be the trigger that Customs will start taxing your orders.
- If you don't find what you are looking for first, then keep searching ebay every couple of days. Chances are that these will eventually be available.
- The most important tip of all: Buy only one item at a time, for your personal use only. If you buy more, the likelihood of these being intercepted at Philippine Customs is very high, as they tend to be jealous of people reselling stuff locally.

The only disadvantage of buying from ebay.ph is that it takes about two weeks for the products to arrive. But if you are willing to wait to get the cheapest prices possible, then they are the best source.

I also advise to use Paypal as it is safer than inputting your credit card details into the site. They do charge some premium, but international sellers have long since learned to factor in that cost into their products. In fact, most, if not all of them prefer this mode of payment only.

'Other Online Sources'
Another source for genuine Magpul products are local firearms forums like "Pinoy Pistol Forum (PPF)" at the Pinoy 1911 website, or the "Pinoy Guns" forum (see "Sources" below for the links). There are regular sellers from these forums who have proven track records for their reliability, and whose products have long been proven to be genuine.

I won't say exactly who, though, you'll just have to visit those forums and find out for yourselves. But they are relatively easy to find, they are on the Classified Ads section of each site. Their products generally are more expensive than buying from ebay (even if you factor in the shipping costs), but theirs is generally cheaper than the local gun store prices.

Their main advantage is that they can provide the products quickly, within days as opposed to the weeks it takes for parts brought from ebay. So if you are in a hurry to have the parts over for some reason, they are the best way to go.

'Parting Shot'
I am pretty satisfied the Magpul products I bought online, in fact I have a few more items coming over. I bought these items in preparation for my M4-Based SBR Build project, of which part of the philosophy is to build one for under P80k.

Remember to buy only for yourself when buying from ebay to keep from getting trouble with Customs. I think we are a bit lucky already that they allow individuals to buy stuff for personal use without being subject to taxes.

Sources:

- Ebay Philippines website, ebay.ph

- Sulit Philippines website, www.sulit.com.ph

- Pinoy Pistol Forum (PPF), http://www.pinoy1911.net/forum

- Pinoy Guns Forum, http://pinoyguns.com/modules.php?name=Forums

- Official Magpul website, www.magpul.com