OK to buy from non-authorized dealer?

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jamesallen

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There are two things I'm wondering about:
First, what happened to all the Smith & Wesson dealers? It used to be that when I go to the "dealer locator" on the S&W website, every gun store in my area was listed. Now there are just two in a 50 mile radius. What happened there? Did this change happen everywhere?

Secondly, what if I buy a brand new S&W gun from a dealer that is not listed under the website's dealer locator? Does it make a difference for me as the buyer? I'm talking about a brand new gun. Does buying it from such a dealer affect my warranty or my status as original buyer or anything? If not, what is the difference between an authorized dealer and just a gun store that sells S&W guns?

I didn't really know where else to put this question. There did not seem to be an appropriate category on the forum.
Thanks
 
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No difference whatsoever in how it relates to your warrantee, etc.
An "authorized" dealer may get dibs on hard to get guns, limited runs, etc and they may also be required to buy "x" number of guns per month regardless of whether or not said gun is a good seller or not. From your perspective, doesn't matter. If there was a need to send it back, SW doesn't care what dealer you bought it from.
 
Dealers in my area seem to be dropping out of being an “authorized” dealer due to things like being forced to take certain items, little price advantage over buying from a distributor and lack of customer interest.
 
mod34 said:
No difference whatsoever in how it relates to your warrantee, etc.
An "authorized" dealer may get dibs on hard to get guns, limited runs, etc and they may also be required to buy "x" number of guns per month regardless of whether or not said gun is a good seller or not. From your perspective, doesn't matter. If there was a need to send it back, SW doesn't care what dealer you bought it from.
Click to expand...

Thanks that is useful information to know.
 
ken158 said:
Dealers in my area seem to be dropping out of being an “authorized” dealer due to things like being forced to take certain items, little price advantage over buying from a distributor and lack of customer interest.
Click to expand...

Concur, although the situation may not be much different if you want to get products from a distributor. . . .at least if you want to get what you need when you need it. A friend is not a "stocking dealer" but gets pressured by the distributors to take items he doesn't really want in order to get to the front of the line for items he does want. Doing that means he's had ammo throughout the shortage and all the guns he wanted. . . but some hard to sell stuff too that he had to go to cost or below on to move.

Jeff
SWCA #1457
 
22hipower said:
Concur, although the situation may not be much different if you want to get products from a distributor. . . .at least if you want to get what you need when you need it. A friend is not a "stocking dealer" but gets pressured by the distributors to take items he doesn't really want in order to get to the front of the line for items he does want. Doing that means he's had ammo throughout the shortage and all the guns he wanted. . . but some hard to sell stuff too that he had to go to cost or below on to move.

Jeff
SWCA #1457
Click to expand...

That is interesting. Do you have any idea what specific items the distributors are trying to cram down your friend's throat that he doesn't really want to stock?
 
jamesallen said:
That is interesting. Do you have any idea what specific items the distributors are trying to cram down your friend's throat that he doesn't really want to stock?
Click to expand...

Well, yes I do since he usually offers them to me. Last one I actually bought was a Steyr CLII in 308. Nice rifle but his shop doesn't sell a lot of $2k-$3k+ sporting rifles which is why I eventually got this one for $1800. Some high end ARs but those usually sell fairly quickly and some high end auto pistols; 1911s in the $3k range. Just takes longer to sell them than the Glocks, Sigs, etc. that folks are gobbling up. He still has a Steyr Zephyr II .22 rifle that looks a lot like a scaled down CLII; hard for him to sell .22 bolt action rifles for $1k+. I'll probably end up with that one too.

Jeff
SWCA #1457
 
Some time in I believe the late 80's S&w did away with all the "dealers" and went to area distributors. This caused the dealers to order from the distributor, and if they didn't have it in stock the distributor had to get it from the factory and then send to the dealer. Many dealers weren't happy , and some dropped selling S&W's. Gradually more dealers were allowed, but usually had to buy a certain number of guns and agree to accept automatic shipment from the factory on new products (if they wanted them or not). I'm not sure how it today.
 
Back in the 70s when I first opened my gun shop, you could be a Distributor / Dealer or you could just buy from a distributor. The Direct purchasers had minimums including taking things like S&W .38 Specail 158 lead round nose ammo and model 10s, 12s and 15s. In order to get a hard to find Smiths, like 41s, 29s etc.

At the distributor I bought the most from, they would say, how many model 10s are you taking today and then if I took a few I would get to go into the gun room and pick one hard to get Smith. I sold a lot of model 10s to local police departments at cost less 11% for the excise tax to get some hard to find models.

But even not being a direct dealer, I was able to make my once a month trip to Springfield where they would upgrade my New Smiths with things like Target Hammers, Stocks etc. at no charge.

Bob
 
rkittine said:
Back in the 70s when I first opened my gun shop, you could be a Distributor / Dealer or you could just buy from a distributor. The Direct purchasers had minimums including taking things like S&W .38 Specail 158 lead round nose ammo and model 10s, 12s and 15s. In order to get a hard to find Smiths, like 41s, 29s etc.

At the distributor I bought the most from, they would say, how many model 10s are you taking today and then if I took a few I would get to go into the gun room and pick one hard to get Smith. I sold a lot of model 10s to local police departments at cost less 11% for the excise tax to get some hard to find models.

But even not being a direct dealer, I was able to make my once a month trip to Springfield where they would upgrade my New Smiths with things like Target Hammers, Stocks etc. at no charge.

Bob
Click to expand...

WHAT HE SAID.....
p.s. I don't recall ever buying from an xyz dealer... just would pop into an LGS and if I saw something I liked, I'd buy it. I haven't been out to an LGS in about 2+ years so I may not be 'up' on the latest trends :-)

J.
 
ken158 said:
Dealers in my area seem to be dropping out of being an “authorized” dealer due to things like being forced to take certain items, little price advantage over buying from a distributor and lack of customer interest.
Click to expand...

Mostly this. My FFL brother-in-law says the prices he was paying got to be higher than he could get elsewhere, plus they required that he take a certain number of guns that were mostly models that no one was buying. They expected him to take a financial hit for the "prestige" of being officially "authorized". He may be my brother-in-law, but he ain't that dumb...
 
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