Buds Gun Shop

[RNB65]

I realized i can get a Glock 19 cheaper at one of local shops than i could with buds

Always check your local gun shops even if it's nothing more than making a phone call or two to check on a price and if they have it in stock. On-line prices can look attractive, but after you add in shipping fee, credit card fee, and FFL transfer fee, the price diff between buying on-line and buying local often isn't enough to go to the trouble of on-line buying. I've purchased 2 of my last 3 handguns locally because the OTD price was within $25 of the price to buy from Bud's.

 

[Bruce333]

Just got this email

Dear Budsgunshop.com Customer,

We are extending indefinitely the Free Shipping terms on all firearms purchased
on Budsgunshop.com.

In response to continuous pressure from certain manufacturers to raise our firearm
prices, we are actively seeking ways NOT to raise our prices. The "cancer"
in the firearms industry today is MAP (Minimum Advertised Pricing). Some manufacturers,
and more every day, are establishing a Minimum Advertised Price policy for their
products. If we, the retailers, are caught advertising for less than these prices
we are in jeopardy of being cut off by the manufacturers and/or distributors. The
MAP prices are normally considerably higher than our normal advertised price. The
MAP prices reflect high profit margins required by the "big chain" stores
who operate with millions of dollars of overhead. The "big chain" stores
put pressure on the manufacturers and distributors to create and enforce a MAP policy
which will support there excessive overhead. They can apply this pressure as they
amount to huge multi-million dollar accounts with each manufacturer or distributor.

In order to get our Budsgunshop.com advertised prices in compliance with certain
MAP policies, you may notice us offering different "promotions" for special
financing terms, free shipping, free goods(knives, etc.) or ?? Many of the manufacturers
MAP policies also restrict what "extras" we are allowed to offer, so promotional
offers will not always apply equally to all firearms. We are in the process of
compiling and reviewing the numerous MAP policies in an attempt to come up with
a solution that will address all current and future MAP restrictions.
You can be sure that we are doing everything we can to keep our hard earned reputation
as being the best firearms value on the internet. With your help, we will attempt
to grow our business into a large volume account which will allow us a louder voice
among the manufacturers and distributors.

Your business is greatly appreciated,


Budsgunshop.com
Paris, KY
859-987-9929

 

[Highland Ranger]

Interesting - so not a scam, guy is trying to keep his prices low and comply with the MAP policy.

Sounds good to me.

 

[Flintlock Tom]

I have always been irritated with retailers who toss around the word "free" as if it means "free". If you have to buy something to get the "free" item, it's not "free", it's simply included in the price.
I like the way Graf & Sons does it: shipping is included in the price you see.

 

[glockman19]

I like Budsgunshop.com. They ship right away and have great prices. I also buy with the GEMoney Sport card and don't pay the extra 3% and get 90+ days with NO interest & NO payments. Can't beat that.

I'll continue to buy from them. As a matter of fact my next purchase will probably be that Beretta 92FS INOX for $524

 

[10 Ring Tao]

I've only bought one gun from them. Shipping was slow and cost $35.

That gun is now exactly $100 more expensive, with the free shipping.

To be fair, the price of that gun is about the same everywhere else now, too. It could just be MAP at work.

 

[Zen21Tao]

We studied price fixing by distributors in my finance, marketing and business economics classes. About the only thing a company can do to offset the higher price they are forced to set is to find a way to add value in other areas. The most common way to add value is to bundle in other products/services to maintain the same margins.

However, offsetting costs by value adding is always hard on companies, especially low margin high volume companies. These companies are bound to lose many consumers that only care about the lowest price they can find for the single item they want to buy. But, these companies aren't able to make up for these lost customers by higher profits because their value adding strategy is working to lower their margins as close to their previous levels. in effect, these business are losing volume sales but not increasing their profits. They are hoping they are able to get their volumes to bounce back up.

For some companies, the sheer number of customers they loss make the previous margins they are trying to maintain too low to cover operating costs. They end up having to redefine their business model to market towards a different segments of the market, usually those willing to pay higher prices. Such a move usually translates into raising prices to decrease volume while cutting overhead costs by selling off warehouse space, stocking fewer items, outsourcing services, etc.

Luckily, Bud's cares enough for its current low price seeking market segment to try to continue marking towards them rather than just abandoning them to focus on their higher price paying segments.

 

[battlecry]

They don't ship to Maryland, so to me their low prices were just eye candy.

 

[MinnMooney]

I've purchased several guns from Bud's and have always found them to be much cheaper than any gunshop around here.... including the 'chains'.
A gun that I bought from Bud's 18 months ago was $968 + 25 S&H = $993 and now it's $1019 'out the door' so it is up by 2.6% and that's less than inflation so he's still giving great deals.
To be fair, though, the locals have to charge sales tax (6.5%) but no FFL fee whereas Bud's used to chg for S&H and then I paid $10 to the local FFL guy here. Bud's always beat the locals by 10-15%.
His prices have been slightly closing the gap for a while now and this "promotion" may have confused some customers.
I just bought two rifles at Cabela's(!) [talk about your high-priced place] which were on sale and during a 'Gift Card' promotion and Cabela's beat Bud's price by about $50 on one and over $70 on the other. I'm thinking that the "Gift Card" had to do with a work-around of the "Min. Advertised Price". Maybe I might even start shopping at Cabela's again..... someday..... maybe.... nah.

 

[Shipwreck]

Well, I got a Five Seven from them recently - $200 cheaper than my local shop, and $300 cheaper than Cabellas. Even with the transfer fee and shipping fee, I didn't have to pay sales tax.

 

[bruss01]

I like Buds and have purchased several guns thru them.

We had a mistake once (shipped the wrong - more expensive - gun) and went thru a good bit straightening that out. I do like their pricing so I was surprised to see this thread and noticed that yes, things seem to be more expensive there now. Reading the MAP notice cast that in a new light. It's yet another way of the big corporations running the little guy into the dirt by ruining his competitive advantage.

I recently purchased a new gun (as a gift) and Buds was the first place I looked. Unfortunately they did not have the exact item I was looking for, so I bought elsewhere. I wonder if they have tried dealing with the MAP issue by using a form of "rebates" or "store credit" (remember the S&H green stamps?). Hey, isn't that was car dealerships do? Advertise and sell for a "minimuim advertised price" but you get a rebate (partial refund) of your money after the purchase? I would definitely go for something like that.

 

[40SW]

I sometimes browse their site, but I can usually get the same price or maybe at most $35 more elsewhere, but by the time you pay the FFL transfer fees and the extra % for paying with a bankcard, then its not even worth it. Its nice to browse, but they don't have anything that my local gunshops that I have a good and steady relationship with can't order. Anything Buds has, my local dealers have access to through their distributors. I guess its a great place for someone who has to drive 100 miles to the closest gunshop and wants to save the gas and the agrivation, but otherwise, not for me. and even those folks still have to drive to the nearest FFL to pick it up, so whats the point?, My gunshops are all within 20 miles at most. , some are within 10 miles drive.

 

[bruss01]

Point being, you can work with a smaller FFL who charges minimum transfer fees, not pay state tax, not pay for a huge amount of overhead for a big brick & mortar shop that has to carry inventory and pay employees even when there are no customers in the shop. State & local tax here runs 8.5%, that's not "nothing" on a $500 - $700 purchase. I typically save almost $100 every gun I have bought thru Buds when you count the total out-the-door price.

 

[WuzYoungOnceToo]

and even those folks still have to drive to the nearest FFL to pick it up, so whats the point?

Let's look at an example....

Taurus 24/7 .40 SS w 15/rd mag:

Best local price is @ Academy = $388 + 8.25% sales tax = $420.01
Cost of ordering from Bud's = $365.43 + 3% CC charge + FFL xfer = $386.31

A savings of over 8%. That's like a sales tax-free holiday in my neck of the woods. Let's try another one...

Springfield XD 9 Service Pkg (part # XD9101HCSP06):

Best local price (again @ Academy) = $499.99 + 8.25% sales tax = $541.24
Cost of ordering from Bud's = $465.89 + 3% CC charge + FFL xfer = $489.87

Over $51 (or ~9.5%) saved. That would appear to be the point.

And mind you, I'm comparing Bud's prices with those from a high-volume national chain. Try the comparison with Joe's Gun Shop down the street and the difference will be even more dramatic.

Of course, if buying from your local dealer is worth that difference to you then I can understand that as well.