Done buying from my

[Farmer17]

Oklahoma City is a fairly big town but there's not a single gun shop around here I give a hoot about. We used to have a couple of REALLY good ones and I bought a lot of guns and other things there but they shut down and the big local gun shops are much higher priced than Academy Sports. Cabelas and Bass Pro will match other prices but their listed price is high and that leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I usually buy online with free shipping and they don't charge sales tax and my FFL only charges ten bucks for a transfer. The only time I ever had a problem was once I ordered a Rock Island 1911 GI model .45acp and the gun came in and it was Commander instead of the full length 5" barrel. I got it really cheap, I think it was about $345 shipped and I liked how the Commander handled so I kept it and I was still pretty happy.

 

[rubiranch]

I have only ever bought one gun from a business.

I never price shopped but a friend gave me an idea of what I should pay for what I wanted to buy.

I live in a rural area and there are 3 stores in town in which you can purchase firearms. I also know two people who I can buy new guns through.

I picked the store to buy from because a couple of my friends told me what great people he and his wife is.

When I told him what I wanted he looked it up and showed me on the screen what his cost was for the gun and told me he was going to add 10% to his cost.

He told me he makes 10% on all his gun sales up to a certain point and then its just a flat fee.

Really nice folks. I would definitely buy from them again.

I dislike companies that will "match others prices". Why don't they just give you a good deal up front.

 

[Hoov]

The Question was Raised (Approximately)

Why buy Locally when I can Save money from the Internet?

OK

Where will FFL Transfers be done if all the Local Guys Pack up Shop?

This. When Buds, Grabagun, et cetera pay some poor chump $8 an hour to answer emails and then use my distributor against my business... This issue will come to a head in a few years. At least, I hope it does, or we will be doing 4473s at the local police station.

 

[Funflyer]

This. When Buds, Grabagun, et cetera pay some poor chump $8 an hour to answer emails and then use my distributor against my business... This issue will come to a head in a few years. At least, I hope it does, or we will be doing 4473s at the local police station.

Maybe it's time to diversify instead of waiting for things to "come to a head". It's a fundamental practice that has kept many businesses successful for eons.

 

[Abbynormal]

Have a face to face discussion with him and remind him how much of his annual income is due to you. If he's an uncompromising ***, create a scene, spread the word by mouth locally that he's a shyster and gouger and then do the same thing on the web and 6 months later, buy what you want at his shop when they hold a bankruptcy auction at 40% of retail.

 

[Skeet 028]

Maybe it's time to diversify instead of waiting for things to "come to a head". It's a fundamental practice that has kept many businesses successful for eons.

Very hard to diversify in the firearms business. What will you get into? Hunting clothing? archery trapping decoys?? . It is hard to get financing and there has to be a good base for people buying the items you want to spread out in. And as has been said.. small gun shops can't get the buying powder of the large places. Heck may years ago Remington and Browning both backed the stocking dealer with very little discounts to be had...then they changed their business model to support the Big Box Stores...and the rest is history. Even Savage has gone that route now.. Best thing to be said is do the homework first and try to get close at the local level. Even the BBSs change...look at the buy out of Cabela's by Bass Pro...Cabela's has changed tremendously here too with approx 1/3 less space delegated to the shooting sports....with no bass fishing.. Been discussed on these pages already.

 

[rwsmith]

Yeah, I used one....

Don't you know there are plenty of FFL that operate out of their homes. Many do not sell anything. Their fees are usually less and their hours are very flexible. I have one 2 houses down from me and just walk there. Have 6 more of them in a 2 mile radius that operate out of their homes. Look around for some like that in your area. Not hard to find.

He had a pool house turned into an office and had his business there. Same results as anywhere.

 

[Funflyer]

Very hard to diversify in the firearms business. What will you get into? Hunting clothing? archery trapping decoys?? . It is hard to get financing and there has to be a good base for people buying the items you want to spread out in. And as has been said.. small gun shops can't get the buying powder of the large places. Heck may years ago Remington and Browning both backed the stocking dealer with very little discounts to be had...then they changed their business model to support the Big Box Stores...and the rest is history. Even Savage has gone that route now.. Best thing to be said is do the homework first and try to get close at the local level. Even the BBSs change...look at the buy out of Cabela's by Bass Pro...Cabela's has changed tremendously here too with approx 1/3 less space delegated to the shooting sports....with no bass fishing.. Been discussed on these pages already.

Nothing says one has to expand their gun related business into more of the same.

A friend of mine who owned a hobby shop, RC planes, cars, models, toys, etc, was once in the same boat as many other small business owners. The internet volume sellers made it tough for him to stay afloat. So he decided to buy a used laser plotter/engraver to make some of his own parts and pieces. He managed to turn a small profit initially, but then his wife got into making plaques for some of the local school's sporting teams, engraving champagne glasses for weddings, making ID tags for pets, and all kinds of other things. His hobby shop soon became just a hobby, cut back to a fraction of what it once was, and the engraving side of things became his bread and butter.

 

[JJEH]

K, so here it goes... what you need to consider;

Online buy: Selling price + shipping + transfer cost of your LGS.

LGS buy: Selling price + sales tax.

It's easy to do the math before purchase. I conduct business from home and sometimes I'm less expensive than online, sometimes not. People need to check the price before purchase, it's that simple.

I have seen dealer prices going up by $50 for a handgun, so it's important to get a quote and secure it for that price. Also check for "hidden" fees, not sure what that can be but just ask. I don't have any, I think it's shady business practice.

My bottom line is the OP knew the price before so why cry afterwards?!

 

[Rastoff]

the only gunshop here is owned by a thief.
...he charged me full msrp for my 22/45.

Since when is charging MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price) theft? No, he's not a thief, he's just made a business decision and will have to live with it. If he's still in business, he's obviously doing something right.

He told me he makes 10% on all his gun sales up to a certain point and then its just a flat fee.

I've learned that people in general are cheap and why not? We all want the most product for as little as we can get away with. What you've listed here is why most people see local gun stores as priced too high or, as some say, crooks. The problem with the whole "I'm ok with 10% or 15% over cost" concept is that any gun store will go out of business in a month that way. If this store really is only making 10% over cost on guns, he either sells a lot of ammo and accessories or he has a second job.

Let's do some math:
A dealer sells only guns and charges 10% over cost. Just for sake of argument, let's say a dealer can get an M&P Shield from S&W for $250. At 10% the retail price would be $275 or the dealer makes $25 on the sale.

If this is an average size gun store, it's likely they won't sell more than 2 or three guns a day. But for this discussion, let's say they sell 10 a day and they're open 6 days a week. That's $1,500 per week or $6k/month they make on gun sales.

Now $6K/month might sound great, but that's gross income. Absolutely no one works 10hours/day 6 days a week so, you'll need an employee or two and they probably want to be paid. At $8/hr, that's $480/week or $1,920/month for just one employee. You're down to $4,080/month.

You have to include rent/mortgage and utilities. Around here you can't touch a retail space for less than $1,500/month rent. Utilities will also run around $1K/month. This brings down the income from guns to $1,580/month and we haven't included insurance, worker's comp and sundry other fees necessary to run any kind of business. Did you notice that you're now making less than your lowest paid employee?

Now remember, to bring in this whopping $1,500/month salary, you have to sell 10 guns every day which you won't do.

So, yeah, we expect gun stores to sell guns for just a tiny bit of mark up. All of them would go out of business the first month if it weren't for selling ammo and accessories. And yeah, they mark up those accessories 100% or more.

 

[JJEH]

... If this store really is only making 10% over cost on guns, he either sells a lot of ammo and accessories or he has a second job.

Let's do some math:
A dealer sells only guns and charges 10% over cost. Just for sake of argument, let's say a dealer can get an M&P Shield from S&W for $250. At 10% the retail price would be $275 or the dealer makes $25 on the sale.

First off, show me a distributor that sells the Shield for $250, I want to sign up there!

In the end, a LGS can only survive on volume purchase. That's where the savings kick in. Or they need to offer some kind of gunsmithing services. I know people that have a full time job and a gun store.

I have a full time job and run my business from home. I can't compete with a LGS because I don't buy volume, so no savings for me. But I do special orders, plus when you buy an item no one has played with it because it's not sitting on display waiting for people to play with it and put it back just so they can buy a brand new one online.

All of them would go out of business the first month if it weren't for selling ammo and accessories. And yeah, they mark up those accessories 100% or more.

Ahem, no. Not sure where you get this from... California maybe. But no. Impossible. I can't mark up accessories 100%.