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Cheaper than Dirt
- Thread starter Rothdel
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Aguila Blanca
Staff
Cheaper than Dirt did me dirt a number of years ago. It was long enough ago that I don't even remember the specifics of the transaction, but I will not buy anything from them. I'm still on their e-mail list and I just delete their messages without reading. The word "unscrupulous" comes to mind ...
dogtown tom
New member
Good grief....another Cheaper Than Dirt thread.
CTD didn't "gouge" anyone.
CTD didn't scam anyone.
CTD didn't cause market inflation of firearm or ammo prices.
CTD and ANY seller has the God given right to charge what they want for their own property. Disagree? Then sell me all your guns for what I think they are worth.
No one forces you to buy from any seller. How many of you go on Gunbroker or this forums WTS subforum and harangue sellers for how they price their guns? Good grief there must be dozens of firearms in TFL's Want To Sell section that are laughably overpriced......yet you let them slide?
Anyone that paid $60 for a CTD PMag deserves to pay $60 for a PMag. Not being prepared SHOULD be expensive. And for those that say they would NEVER pay that much for an AR magazine? How many do you think CTD actually sold? I'll bet it was less than a hundred. Kinda hard to gouge or profiteer when you aren't actually selling anything.
Those that say CTD shouldn't have raised their prices? You SUCK AT BUSINESS.
If you have 1000 mags in stock ($8each) and sell them at $2 over cost.....do you profit? If you say yes you fail at business.
Why? Because your next order to resupply those mags may have a wholesale cost of $12 per mag........you should have priced your initial inventory of mags at $15. Your profit is determined by what it will cost to restock.
CTD could have priced all their PMags at $15 and been sold out within a day. And then what do they do........mags weren't available from distributors for months. Same with AR lowers, same with ammo, same with any high demand firearm item.
Is it any wonder why so many gun stores went out of business during the Obama gun panics? Sure, they could sell their current inventory, but getting restocked as a mom & pop? Not when Wal Mart, Cabelas and the big accounts were allocated inventory first.
But you know what? If you REALLY, REALLY NEEDED ammo in Dallas......CTD always had it. It was triple the normal price.....but they had it when WalMart, Academy and every other gun store had bare shelves.
Oh, full disclosure..........I don't buy from Cheaper Than Dirt for reasons unrelated to their pricing during the gun panics. I just dislike this nonsence about their supposed price gouging.
CTD didn't "gouge" anyone.
CTD didn't scam anyone.
CTD didn't cause market inflation of firearm or ammo prices.
CTD and ANY seller has the God given right to charge what they want for their own property. Disagree? Then sell me all your guns for what I think they are worth.
No one forces you to buy from any seller. How many of you go on Gunbroker or this forums WTS subforum and harangue sellers for how they price their guns? Good grief there must be dozens of firearms in TFL's Want To Sell section that are laughably overpriced......yet you let them slide?
Anyone that paid $60 for a CTD PMag deserves to pay $60 for a PMag. Not being prepared SHOULD be expensive. And for those that say they would NEVER pay that much for an AR magazine? How many do you think CTD actually sold? I'll bet it was less than a hundred. Kinda hard to gouge or profiteer when you aren't actually selling anything.
Those that say CTD shouldn't have raised their prices? You SUCK AT BUSINESS.
If you have 1000 mags in stock ($8each) and sell them at $2 over cost.....do you profit? If you say yes you fail at business.
Why? Because your next order to resupply those mags may have a wholesale cost of $12 per mag........you should have priced your initial inventory of mags at $15. Your profit is determined by what it will cost to restock.
CTD could have priced all their PMags at $15 and been sold out within a day. And then what do they do........mags weren't available from distributors for months. Same with AR lowers, same with ammo, same with any high demand firearm item.
Is it any wonder why so many gun stores went out of business during the Obama gun panics? Sure, they could sell their current inventory, but getting restocked as a mom & pop? Not when Wal Mart, Cabelas and the big accounts were allocated inventory first.
But you know what? If you REALLY, REALLY NEEDED ammo in Dallas......CTD always had it. It was triple the normal price.....but they had it when WalMart, Academy and every other gun store had bare shelves.
Oh, full disclosure..........I don't buy from Cheaper Than Dirt for reasons unrelated to their pricing during the gun panics. I just dislike this nonsence about their supposed price gouging.
CTD and ANY seller has the God given right to charge what they want for their own property.
Generally, yes, within reason. Insider trading laws would put some limits to that very broad and general statement. If you have the ability to make the news, or learn of the news before anyone else, and manipulate the "free" market, then you have an unfair advantage. In addition, technically a gas station can sell their gas for whatever price they want... until they triple the price during an emergency and are criminally charged for price gouging.
I just dislike this nonsence about their supposed price gouging.
And I dislike what I believe to be their actual price gouging. Hence why I don't buy there. I believe in the free market... I vote with my dollars. Almost everyone that has replied to this thread says to stay far away from CTD. I remember, at one point, when they were probably one of the primary retailer sites suggested by many. Not just here, but among my circle of friends as well. Those days are gone, so something in their business model rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way. Their pricing schemes has been cited by many as a reason.
ranchito457
New member
They will never see any money from me!!!!
DO NOT DISAGREECTD and ANY seller has the God given right to charge what they want for their own property. Disagree?
...and CTD continues to reap what they sow, much like you put it in your subject line. "Good grief, another CTD thread?"
Wow, how long has it been since CTD played the hand the way they saw fit? And yet, here we are? ONE GUY opens a discussion and says, "hey CTD, whaddya think?" and just look at the spitstorm.
Not one person in this thread even hinted at any idea of them being forced out of business or "legally punished," rather everyone thinks they are slime and their very name wrankles everyone who has chosen to reply. And this is years later.
Everything has happened exactly as it should. CTD did as they chose, the buying class continues to react to it. Yep, they *are* still in business (so is Gander Mountain and plenty of other retailers that savvy shoppers laugh at...), all is well in free market America.
CTD and ANY seller has the God given right to charge what they want for their own property. Disagree?
And we customers have the God given right to not buy their property and many of us have done so. They went from a business that people were happy to deal with and used frequently to a business is used as a last resort.
ShootistPRS
New member
I hold grudges against businesses for doing things that are not in the best interests of their customers. What CTD did was a good short term business decision but it was a rotten thing to do to their customers.
When S&W petitioned SAAMI to lower the operating pressures of the 357 Magnum because their lighter guns would not handle continued use at the original pressures it was a business decision to keep from having to redesign their guns for the caliber they help create. A good business decision but not good for the shooters. They had that pressure lowered again just two years later. Then the government wanted to place restrictions on the way certainguns operated. While Ruger and others took it to court to fight it S&W just quietly complied. That may have been a good business solution but it wasn't good for the industry or the customers. Now you get a lock that disables your gun when you buy a S&W gun - and you pay for it whether you want it or not.
As I said, I hold grudges. I won't do business with CTD or S&W. There are many more places that actually work for their field and customers at the same time. They deserve my business because they have earned my respect.
Sometimes a short term business decision is good for the bottom line for a while but it hurts the industry and the consumers over the longer span. That makes it a poor decision long term even though you spend less money than those who fight the battle for their customers and their industry. I would rather support those businesses that support me that give money to those who don't. That is also part of free enterprise.
When S&W petitioned SAAMI to lower the operating pressures of the 357 Magnum because their lighter guns would not handle continued use at the original pressures it was a business decision to keep from having to redesign their guns for the caliber they help create. A good business decision but not good for the shooters. They had that pressure lowered again just two years later. Then the government wanted to place restrictions on the way certainguns operated. While Ruger and others took it to court to fight it S&W just quietly complied. That may have been a good business solution but it wasn't good for the industry or the customers. Now you get a lock that disables your gun when you buy a S&W gun - and you pay for it whether you want it or not.
As I said, I hold grudges. I won't do business with CTD or S&W. There are many more places that actually work for their field and customers at the same time. They deserve my business because they have earned my respect.
Sometimes a short term business decision is good for the bottom line for a while but it hurts the industry and the consumers over the longer span. That makes it a poor decision long term even though you spend less money than those who fight the battle for their customers and their industry. I would rather support those businesses that support me that give money to those who don't. That is also part of free enterprise.
Evan Thomas
New member
I think we've pretty much established that nobody likes CTD, and now the discussion is starting to go in circles, so... closed.
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