I've bought 4 Shield 9's in the past month or so. First was when I wandered into a local gunsmith for a first look. He had a new one without safety marked at what might have been a normal price 6 months ago. I asked how he could possibly sell it given the crazy-low prices available. He asked what prices I was seeing and I told him the lowest I'd found was $309 delivered. He asked if I had cash and agreed to that price (not bad at all considering the sales tax he ate). He told me his cost was $340 something...I guess he needed lunch money that day.
Last weekend, I bought one with safety at a gun show and paid $319 ($299 plus tax and no need to pay for FFT).
Last night, I ordered two more with safety from out of state, paying $295 delivered. I have a local FFT that does the transfer free if you put some money in the cookie jar to support his favorite charity.
So, at least as of last night, there are plenty of amazing deals still around. Why am I filling my garage with Shields? I'm betting that, once the dust settles and the rebates end (and S&W decides to return to profitability), prices will normalize again. I assume S&W will introduce a Shield 2.0 and sellers will be able to get $400 plus for them. At that point, I'll have a couple NIB 1.0's that I will be happy to sell for $300 or more (having cost me around $220 net).