Hinky gunshop practices

Hmmm.....I'd have gone home without it.

I had a gunshop do that to me once. It was a neat old revolver, I'd been in a few days earlier and looked at it. I thought on it and called them to see if it was still there. They said yes, and I said I'd be down later to grab it. Well, I knew what the price had been, and they tried to raise it $50. I told them they could sell it to me for the price it was 4 days earlier or they could keep it and lose my business forever. They lowered the price.

Had it been a current production gun, I'd have just said some choice words about them and their business practices and left, never to return. But when it's not a gun you can buy at the shop down the street, sometimes you have to be more forgiving.

I have not gone back there, though. They did lose my business over that.

I would have left it on principle alone.

Look at the bright side. Either it's worth it or it's not. If you were willing to pay 789 to have it now, then you still did the right thing. Enjoy! No use crying over spilt milk. If you refused on principle, you wouldn't have your Sig, now would you?

Seems to me, now that he has an interested buyer, he is suddenly trying to squeeze every nickel he can possibly get out of you. I believe, legally, he has to honor the advertized price. This also goes for items where new higher-priced stickers are placed over older lower-priced stickers. If you peel off the new higher sticker and see a lower price underneath, I was always of the opinion (what I have learned) is that they must honor the lower price.

The guy has to sell you that gun for $699, or risk being reported to the Better Business Bureau and losing a customer and all other customers that that customer knows. In other words, it is ultimately in his best interest to sell it at the first lower price.

So, he had it in stock, he most likely already has an invoice for the lower price. He sees that suddenly there is a price increase and to replace that gun, he would have to pay the higher price and sell the next gun at the appropriate higher price. Prices go up on items all the time, for the store owner to raise the price the exact day that he quoted you $699 is not being a good businessman. At that rate, this guy won't be in business long, which may be one of the reasons he has had to raise the price -- he is not making enough money.

So, his rationale is that he is working it like the gas stations. When the price of gas goes up, to replace the gas he now has in his tanks, he will have to pay the higher price, so he ends up raising the price for all the gas he currently has in inventory and has already been paid for. Funny how that works, let the price drop and they are not so quick to lower the price -- that is IF they lower the price at all!

if i recall....thats illegal....you cant advertise for one price...and sell it for more at the counter...he even told you what the price was,so its not like he can claim he hadbt gotten to changing the tag....i sure hope the ATF doesntvget wind of his seedy practice.

Never seen a gun in stock get a price increase when the dealers cost raises on new products. Ammo and other expendables sure. But never firearms and accessories. I guess they are trying to factor in replacement cost but I have never seen a gunshop do this. I would have left without the gun and never gone back.

Gloob, it doesn't matter what something is worth. It is never ok to get hustled.

I guess as long as you are happy that's what counts but ......

Theres no way I'd have paid it. An agreement is just that, and someone willingb to go back on their word so quickly "because thats just the way it is" isn't someone I'd want to do business with. A man is nothig more than his word is worth in my book, and lying to me or being dishonest or shady is certainly a way to guarantee me we won't be doing business. Lots of people sell guns. Buy from someone that will stand behind their word, not some vulture out there willing to take you for every penny this visit, not giving a damn if theres ever a second one.

As far as the ATF finding out....hmmm....THAT doesn't sit right with me either. Why is it as gun owners, some of us want to cuss the ATF at every turn, yet often threarten to "tell the ATF" every time a dealer handles something in a manner the customer doesn't like. If they truly the enemy many see them as, what kind of mindeset does it take to tattle to them? ust never quite made sense to me, but then again, many things fail to make sense to me

FWIW - I'm in the let him eat the darn thing if he's going to pull that $&(! on you school of thought. There are lots of guns out there.

I believe, legally, he has to honor the advertized price. This also goes for items where new higher-priced stickers are placed over older lower-priced stickers. If you peel off the new higher sticker and see a lower price underneath, I was always of the opinion (what I have learned) is that they must honor the lower price.

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No, they don't. And there's not much recourse, other than not buying. Contract=offer, acceptance/payment, receipt of goods/services. They'd be in violation of the law if they increased the price and wouldn't let him take his property without paying more after he'd already payed. In that case, they'd have to honor the original price or give him a full refund. But any business can offer any item for sale at any price they want, and change it whenver they feel like it as long as the item isn't already under contract.

However, it's pretty unethical to raise the price on an item due to an increase in the replacement cost. The next unit should be at the higher retail price, because it was bought at the higher wholesale price.

It'd be a little different if there was a printed ad that read Sig P220-$699 and had no expiration date. But just the sticker on the tag? Nothing you can do.

Gloob, it doesn't matter what something is worth. It is never ok to get hustled.

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Then I guess you've never bought a car.
Yeah, OK. I know what you're saying. I'm just trying to help the OP get that bitter taste out of his mouth so he can enjoy his new toy! He obviously couldn't wait to take it home, and I guess it showed.

However, it's pretty unethical to raise the price on an item due to an increase in the replacement cost. The next unit should be at the higher retail price, because it was bought at the higher wholesale price.

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So what happens if the replacement price goes down? The store will have a bunch of stock they can't sell at the original price, because other people are selling it cheaper.

i sure hope the ATF doesntvget wind of his seedy practice

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ATF won't care. Advertising a product at one price and then charging a higher price is a violation of state laws, not federal, and not under ATF's jurisdiction.

Ever go to the grocery store, put an item advertised at one price in your cart, and then it rings up higher at the register? If you complain the store is supposed to let you buy the item at the lower price.

Personally I'd trash them to the point that it would cost them a lot more than the additional $42 they made off the sale.

Though I agree this joker at the store needs some attitude adjustment, I would have called when I was on the way to the store confirming the quoted price. If it was different, get the owner on the phone and explain. If the owner is jerk, remind him there are many other placed to buy what he sells.

You may have a few uncomfortable minutes of standing there while they eat crow and fill out the paperwork, but you will have made a point, gotten what they offered you, maybe they will learn a lesson. This also sets you up as a no BS kind of guy and possibly averts this situation in the future.

Ask that character "Are you familiar with 'Bait-And-Switch', and just exactly how dim a view the Federal Trade Commission takes on such practices?"

Betcha he would have come back to the $699+tax real fast.

Of course, it is easy for us to sit back, have another sip of coffee and criticize how the deal went down....

I ordered a brand new pistol once. Money was tight, so I asked several times what the EXACT price will be. Well about a week went by and I had a call that the new pistol was now in the store, I could come and buy it.

I asked what the price is and the owner threw me a price that was nearly $50 more than his worker had quoted me! I went in and told him the price agreement we had when he placed the order. His response was "you can't trust *******, he only WORKS HERE."

I absolutely REFUSED to buy at the higher price than was quoted to me. My reasoning was, had I known it was going to be an additional $50 I may not have ordered the gun, or I may have shopped around.

In the end, the guy ate crow and gave me the price his worker quoted me. I don't want to play the part of "the jerk," however, right is right and the whole reason behind my originally getting a price quotation was so I could make an educated decision on whether to go with this gun or not!

Had he not come down on the price, he would have lost a LOT MORE than that over the following years in my business alone, not to mention other gun enthusiasts I bring into his store!

There's a local gun shop here that publishes the price of their stock on their website. It's a rural area, so if you're looking on line at their stock, chances are it's a bit if a drive to go make a purchase.

I find that every time I've gone there to buy a gun, the price on the tag is always 10% higher than the price listed on the website. I figure they're thinking 'this guy just committed to a 2 hour, 120 mile round trip. He doesn't want to go home empty handed,' and expect me to eat the 10%.

I generally pull out my phone, pull up their website, and ask if they want to honor their advertised price.

They must hate the advent of smart phones.

I'm still waiting for a good explanation for how this sort of craven exploitation of information asymmetry jives with the 'free, efficient market' blather people ramble on about.

if you bought 25 guns their and they wouldn't cut you a deal and honor the posted price, then that would be the last thing I ever bought from that shop.

At this point, I generally purchase on the internet and transfer through a kitchen table FFL who lives in my town.

Aside from the pricing shenanigans, I've gotten tired of hearing 'I can $pecial order that for you.'

I'll order it myself, thanks.

If I remember my Business Law classes correctly, any advertising (print, TV ads, price tags ) is considered an "offer to do trade", no more. If a clerk mismarks an item, the store is not required to sell it at the mistaken price. It may do so, just to maintain good will, and I think this store should have because one angry customer, and all his many friends he will tell, isn't worth the extra $40 bucks. Any smart business should know that. And then make sure the price tag is corrected quickly.

A purchase constitutes a contract only after an agreement of price is made, money changes hands and a thing of value (ie the pistol) is exchanged.

What has been made illegal is bait and switch. I don't know all the nuances of that case law.

Take this for what it is worth, I am not a contract attorney, or any other type of atty for that matter, but that is what I remember.

You may have took the gun home and are happy to have it, but I am thinking down the road, that was the last visit you will ever make to that gun shop,,,

There is one way to find out what the real price is. All you have to do is say "I don't want it that bad. Bye." If they let you walk out the door, the real price was the one you left. If they say "Wait a minute" you'll know it was less.

The proper response to "The manager will tell you the same thing" is: "Ok. Go get him, and let him tell me."

(You can't make someone sell you something.)

He'd have put it back in the display case and watched me walk out the door.

What he may not fully understand is that, when a customer looks at the price tag and says that he'll take it...and he proceeds to jack up the price beyond normal sales tax, he's in violation of a legally binding contract... and if you'd had two witnesses to the verbal agreement, you could have forced him to sell the gun at the advertised price. It would have required a lawyer, which may have made it not worth the trouble...but it can be done.

That works both ways, incidentally. Be careful of making an offer...even joking. If the other party says that he'll accept your offer, and he has witnesses...he can force you to buy it.