It’s nice to finally meet you.
I’ve been participating in this “gun/tactical” hobby for almost 2 decades now. One thing that makes it unique compared to all the other subcultures I involve myself with is just how awful it is to buy/sell/trade gear online.
In the last decade, every other hobby I enjoy has spawned a mature peer-2-peer marketplace that understands their audience and supports people buying, selling, and trading. Whether it’s reverb.com when it comes to musician gear, chrono24.com when it comes to wristwatches, or grailed.com when it comes to streetwear, all of these marketplaces support a healthy community of exchange, specifically targeted at their particular niche, and are a joy to use. And each of these happened in an environment where they were competing with the likes of eBay, Facebook marketplace, social media, Craigslist, and others.
But when it comes to this hobby we all partake in, each of those “other places” are extremely hostile towards us. Despite the 99.9% of us being law-abiding citizens, jumping through an insane amount of hoops to do legal transactions and follow the letter of the law, these big corporations have made it loud and clear they don’t want our business. Facebook deletes trade groups on a daily basis, Instagram deletes accounts, eBay comes up with extreme restrictions on what we can and can’t list, even if it’s legal. And it doesn’t stop there. Even the payment companies and banks have turned hostile towards our hobby.
All this has really highlighted time and time again for me that we need a place to conduct transactions that’s not hostile. In fact, we need a place to conduct transactions that isn’t just “less hostile”, we need a place that understands us. A place that supports our hobby. A place that understands the difference between a transaction that requires an FFL transfer and one that doesn’t. A place that understands the difference between an AR-15 and an Assault Rifle. A place that isn’t built by gun-shy techbros or fudds. That place is what Infinite Armory aims to become.
The AR-15 is often described as “legos for adults” and I’m so excited to have the lego swap up and running. No more hiding in the back alley of discussion forums, no more coded emojis on Facebook Groups with vague, secret names, no more fudd sites that are broken, obsolete, and overly expensive.
It’s early. Things are a little rough around the edges. We’re taking “MVP” to a whole new minimum. But, we’re committed to improving it consistently over time, week by week, until IA rivals the best of the niche marketplace apps out there. I can’t wait for you to try it out and let us know what you think. It’s going to be a tough mountain to climb to get enough user adoption where listings start organically selling, but I believe we can make it happen together.