The Battle for Good Prices on Guns

[spacemanspiff]

One does not simply walk into a GunStore and get 'Wow-ed' by good deals, do they?

its high time that honest pricing become the norm. take a look around at retail prices, locally and online. what price is fair?

is it fair to you to pay 200%+ over the cost of a gun? of course not!
is it fair to the dealer to charge just enough over cost so the dealer can buy a happy meal? of course not!

so here is the goal. pricing that will put a smile on your face for getting a good deal, as well as ensure the dealer that enough profit is made to pay the overhead.

yes good folks of TFL, Price War has been declared!

 

[model 25]

Back when Clinton was up to his gun bans the gun world was really hot with business. Man dealers would sell for $50 bucks over cost and sold guns faster than ever. If you look at the statistics the worst bans sold the most guns.

However the real crime Clinton commited was the new regulations on dealers. No longer could you sell guns out of the garage like a small business, you had to go through a bunch of hoops to get the Lic. This has driven prices up accordingly.

If you want a real change then get people together and ask for change in the dealer laws from the government. It can happen but it takes people that care about freedom to make it happen.

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[spacemanspiff]

fewer dealers on the market do have an impact upon pricing, however, what is so different about the guns themselves? does the higher costs of getting licensed really necessitate exorbitant pricing by dealers?

obviously not every dealer can expect to lower prices and make profits. but they must also realize that their business is going to suffer when others sell the same product for less. now i'm not talking about doing what major chain retailers do, selling guns below the cost other dealers pay for them, because the chains can buy in quantities of thousands and distribute them across the states to their stores.

case in point, not a gunshop but it demonstrates how the market works. a coffee stand in my office building was taken over by a new business, someone with little to no experience. the previous stand was staffed from 7am to 11am, had decent prices, not just on coffee/drinks but also on salads and sandwiches. a good lunch could be bought for 5 or 6 bucks.
the new stand has the same sandwiches/salads/drinks/etc, but a sandwich is $5.75, a cup of soup is $4.25, soda is $1.25. now a lunch from that stand will cost over $10 (if you eat like i do, anyways, i'm a fat fatty). now am i going to be lazy and pony up $10 a day for my lunch? or will i get out of the office in -15 degree weather and get a $5 double quarter pounder with cheese meal?
why is the new stand charging this much? because they have to have some way to pay for keeping the stand open from 7am till 4pm.

apply that logic to gunstores. if a gunstore has high overhead, and its bread and butter is truly from guns, there is no way they can be competitive. but a gunstore thats overhead is lower, such as they own the building instead of rent, makes more money from custom gunsmithing than from gun sales, and in fact, sells more guns on internet auction sites than in the store, they can definitely work some good deals for customers. and everyone is happy at the end of the day.

 

[model 25]

In my state there are alot of gun shops and most of them will set up at the bigger gun shows because the market is there.(Us ) You look at their prices for the same product and sometimes the diferences are in the hundreds. The guy who sells the most guns and he has lines of people buying from him is the guy who sells the new guns cheapest.

He always does alot of business and over the years he has gone for 3 tables of guns to 30 tables of guns. Owners right next to him will charge $100 more for a Taurus Gaucho and bitch because they can't sell as cheap. The big guy now buys so many guns from the whole seller that he can afford to sell at a great price and still make a good profit.

Smart man.

 

[Rembrandt]

Focusing on just price is like staring at a womans breasts....people get so fixated they forget about the other features.

Call me odd, but it doesn't bother me what someone charges for their guns. Steel prices have doubled in recent years, litigation, overhead and insurance have also added to the cost....that's to be expected. I figure a dealer knows his own overhead costs better than I do....so why should it be second guessed. I'm more interested in the quality and craftsmanship than price. Free market has a way of making sure the price for that quality stays competitive...

 

[model 25]

Focusing on just price is like staring at a womans breasts....people get so fixated they forget about the other features.

Say what? I could get this closed real quick talking about the other features of a woman but I won't

When all things are equal in a gun it becomes the price of what you buy that is important. People work for their money (even dealers) and the bottom line is just that.

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[spacemanspiff]

price doesnt bother you? how about this online dealer?

http://www.impactguns.com/store/colt_rifles.html

theres plenty of guns on there they dont even have in stock and they are charging arms, legs, firstborns, firstborns firstborn, and for what? to cover overhead?

i took a look at some other online classified ads, and lets keep in vein here with colt rifles. the asking price for 6920's averages $1350 to $1500.
and these are typically from private individuals who are looking to recoup some of the cost they paid for it originally. the dealers they bought from gouged the prices. heck, even on an auction site the price is far too high, $1900, with the offer of 'buy it now and get a soft carry case, four 30-rd mags, and a 3-9 scope'.

6721's tend to be more competitive, as do 6450's, hovering around the $1,100 - 1,300 price range. thats not quite as bad.

 

[Rembrandt]

Anyone here haggle or argue with a grocery store over the price of bread?... or the utility company when they don't like the price?.....hardly, but it's OK to think you deserve a better deal from a gun dealer. Please explain.....

 

[model 25]

I bought my AR 15 before the ban for $637 and kept it. It is a Colt H-bar and shoots as good as I can hold. That was not top dollar when I bought it but a fair price for the times. What can you look forward to in gun prices if they keep going up? Better think about that

Everything is going up due to fuel prices and inflation. If it goes too high then the market fails and your money will be worth alot as your neighbors lose their jobs and sell their guns. It happens all the time. I have a neighbor that had a huge Colt collection and lost his job at HP. He went on hard times and sold some great guns.

So it will be with the economy soon as the jobs lost at Ford and many other companies going over seas is going to drive people out of work. Like the high prices for prebans going down your gun values will go down too as the economy faultures. Buy as good as you can for what you want to do with the guns and enjoy life with them.

I have lived through this kind of crap and I tell you it is cyclitic and will happen again. The start will be the stock market falling and house prices falling.

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[model 25]

Anyone here haggle or argue with a grocery store over the price of bread?... or the utility company when they don't like the price?.....hardly, but it's OK to think you deserve a better deal from a gun dealer. Please explain.....

My natural gas bill went up over 20% this year, so did I pay it? Well I used alot less gas and started burning wood as it is cheaper. Are they making more off me? Not a chance. Screw em, I will burn wood from now on and if it goes up again I will switch to a electric hot water heater.

If bread goes up I will buy at another store or I will bake my own. I make the best biscuits in the whole North West I work hard for my money and I won't let people take it without them working hard to get it. They need to give me the best deal.

Like Colt ARs, I can buy a better reciever and build my own gun than Colt is will to sell me. Why buy a Colt, they are not working to get my money anymore they don't care about the common man.

I spent some winters digging new services for the Gas company. At the time I asked why they were hooking up to so many new houses as the supply for gas seems to be limited. The reply was they will just raise the prices till the gas runs out. So then people will do something different.

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[Jart]

Competition among FFL's in North Texas is brutal. I've seldom had issue with the "sticker" pricing on most items. They generally hover below the median of internet pricing. Not the absolute bottom, but some things I just like taking the "pick of the litter" and don't mind the sales tax associated with a local purchase - Beretta Silver Pigeon III's come to mind: the wood varies and the thing has to fit. Fitting a shotgun "off the rack" and "over the internet" would seem challanging.

I've been real happy with internet pricing as well - of course, Spiffy packed most of those.