Cheaper Than Dirt

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lizziedog1

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The other day someone left a Cheaper Than Dirt catalog on one of the tables at our bakery. Not one of those flyers we all get in the mail, but a full sized one.

This catalog had guns, lots of guns listed. I think just about evry gun currently available as new must be in there. Not only are there guns in the catalog, the prices are reasonable.

I than went to their website. Again, they do sell firearms at fair prices.

Has anyone here purchased a gun through them?

How was your experience?
 
This may be silly of me but when I buy something from anyone I expect to be treated fairly is all, you have a price I pay and I get what was advertised.

Several years back they had WWII M-4 Bayonets with M8A Scabbards. I ordered one and in return got a M8A1 instead, it did matter to me so I called and was told Oh well we don't know how there matched when sent out. No offer to make it right or send it back and we'll send you what was advertised or anything just Oh Well. So that was that.
 
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Personally, I love cheaper than dirt. All of there prices aremore than fair and there customer service has always been top notch for me, I have now ordered 5 firearms from cheaper than dirt and had exactly 0 problems. please let me know if i can help.
 
I have had no issues with them. However, the savings offered by their low prices seem to be negated by their high shipping costs, even if shipping from only one warehouse.
 
A former CTD employee told me CTD is actually two different stores owned by two different people. The catalog sales and the store in Ft Worth (local to me) have different owners.

There is a catalog sales counter in the store that stocks (in the back) most everything in the catalog except guns.

Mostly we buy at the catalog counter, which is usually less expensive than the store price. For instance, a couple weeks ago I bought some ammo at the catalog counter, that was $2 lower than the store price.
The catalog also has a lot of stuff not in the store. You pay for what you want, out of the catalog, and they salesman goes in the back and gets it. They must have a big storage area out back.


Years ago CTD use to be the go to place for ammo. Even the gun shows had higher prices.
Now, if it wasn't for the catalog sales counter I'd probably never go to CTD.

I have bought a couple guns at the store but mostly their prices are as much as a hundred dollars higher than the gun shows.
 
When they have the best price on what I want I buy from them, when they don't I buy from whoever does.

Never any complaints on their service. You do have to watch their shipping charges as they ship from multiple locations and the rates can be excessive on some orders -- when shopping you have to remember to include S&H in the price equation.



The whole "price gouging" thing is a Libertarian bone of contention. If you didn't have a generator after Ike, be thankful that higher prices made it economically feasible for truckloads to be brought in immediately. OTOH you could just sit in the dark and sweat in the heat and wait for demand to plummet after the power was restored and then buy one "on-sale".
 
I refuse to do anything with them after their practices of gouging during the ammo shortage. I will give someone else my money.
I'd raise prices too if my stock of ammunition was about to be bought out; if only to support my business through the lean times until the aforementioned shortage ended.

On a side note, Buds does this all the time with their firearms. I've seen rifles jump over $150 in the space of weeks after an initial resupply for items that should have no price fluctuation other than supply and demand. The solution is simple: You don't have to swear a life long vendetta against them. Find another vendor until prices go down.
 
I usually compare CTD prices with others and occasionally buy from them, but I'm careful to note which warehouse will ship each item. It's easy to rack up charges when a single order ships from as many as three different locations.
 
I've bought a ton of stuff from them and always get it the very next day... which is impressive... their prices are competitive but I shop around a lot... their shipping prices are high... their customer service is decent.. I live in TX and have to pay their sales tax so, I usually would buy a gun out of state and pay shipping instead of tax... they are a good reputable company...
 
its probably been 6-7 years since i ordered something from them. they used to have a flat rate shipping plan that was like 5 bucks but once gas prices really started shooting up they ditched it. i ordered alot of military type crap from them when i was like 16 but nothing since
 
ive never found any of their prices to be dirt cheap. doesnt help i get nailed with sales tax and shipping being in tx.

with midway there is almost always a coupon code for 10 bucks off 100 buck order or so it covers most of shipping
 
Agree with Harleyfixer.
Yep.

As for this......
The whole "price gouging" thing is a Libertarian bone of contention.If you didn't have a generator after Ike, be thankful that higher prices made it economically feasible for truckloads to be brought in immediately. OTOH you could just sit in the dark and sweat in the heat and wait for demand to plummet after the power was restored and then buy one "on-sale".

While I don't generally object to the Libertarian label, I do take exception to your assumptions about all the transactions involved. I didn't want ammo after the shortage had hit, what I expected of them was to honor the price on a 3 pack of AR mags that I had ordered online and had my CC charged for.

After I realized that I had never gotten a confirmation email, I called them only to be told that in spite of the price listed in the last couple of print catalogs and the same price being listed on their website and accepted for purchase by their system, they weren't going to sell me the ONE PACKAGE of mags at the listed price because "You can't get them anywhere else for that price either."

I decided then and there that they would never see another red cent from me, no matter what they were selling or at what price.
 
This may be silly of me but when I buy something from anyone I expect to be treated fairly is all, you have a price I pay and I get what was advertised.

Several years back they had WWII M-4 Bayonets with M8A Scabbards. I ordered one and in return got a M8A1 instead, it did matter to me so I called and was told Oh well we don't know how there matched when sent out. No offer to make it right or send it back and we'll send you what was advertised or anything just Oh Well. So that was that.

Did you push for them to make it right? There's no way they can make you keep it if it's incorrect. I would have just kept calling, getting "nos," hanging up, and calling back as if it were my first call until someone agreed to exchange it for the right thing.

I agree though, that sucks, and I wouldn't purchase from them after that.


Years ago, my band had a gig and we wanted to upgrade our personal PA when it became clear that the venue wasn't providing. We found one blemished from a company, and paid a high dollar to have it shipped basically overnight, so that it'd definitely be there the week later when we needed it. It never showed, we kept getting told to wait another day, and then the day before we played, I called to demand an explanation. They said, "oh, seems we sold out (meaning the ONE blemished one they had sold), sorry." So, no explanation until the day before, no warning despite it obviously being urgent, and no offer to make it right. We were, of course, refunded, but the money wasn't the issue. We were permitted to order something they didn't have in stock as urgent and then weren't told that we'd need to find another option until the day before.

I haven't ordered anything from them since, except for ridiculous deals (like when they mispriced 10-packs of strings for $3.99 rather than $39.99).
 
I've never bought a gun from them, but the fun stuff I've ordered as always come as advertised. And how would I know if I paid too much for a Lithuanian Army Entrenching tool or a Mongolian Gas Mask Bag?

The whole "price gouging" thing is a Libertarian bone of contention.

Yep, if they are offering something at a given price, either pay it or don't. However, switching prices after the order but before delivery is wrong... and probably illegal.
 
Understand the either pay it or don't mentality and fully subscribe to it...except when there is an obvious shortage and a vendor who happens to have a good stock of a commodity artificially jacks up the price, which is what happened. In a situation like that other vendors who had good stocks rationed or only allowed so many sales per day, etc., like only 200 primers a week, back in the 90s during the "great primer shortage." But the prices remained the same. Rationing allowed the available stocks to be shared. Gouging just feeds the greedy.
 
Understand the either pay it or don't mentality and fully subscribe to it...except when there is an obvious shortage and a vendor who happens to have a good stock of a commodity artificially jacks up the price, which is what happened. In a situation like that other vendors who had good stocks rationed or only allowed so many sales per day, etc., like only 200 primers a week, back in the 90s during the "great primer shortage." But the prices remained the same. Rationing allowed the available stocks to be shared. Gouging just feeds the greedy.

Capitalism is built in greed (and that's not really a bad thing). It's simple economics. In a capitalist society price is a function of supply over demand. A "shortage" by definition is a decreased supply, so if demand remains the same (or worse, increases), price will go up in turn. It's the way a market works.

"Rationing" and sharing to make sure everyone gets their fair share is actually more of a communist idea.

I do agree though on the issue of changing the price after the order. Once a price has been agreed on and an order placed then you need to honor the agreed upon price. Raise your prices if need be, but on the next purchase.
 
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