Courtesy/Guilt of buying from the local store vs. online

[CoRoMo]

Handling a gun in a store, then ordering it online at a respectable savings, has never brought me any guilt.

However, trying on shoes at the local stores, then ordering the sames ones online at half the price, certainly caused me a bit of guilt.

 

[Bubba613]

Handling a gun in a store, then ordering it online at a respectable savings, has never brought me any guilt.

Because you like stealing? Because that's basically what that behavior amounts to.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Quote:
Handling a gun in a store, then ordering it online at a respectable savings, has never brought me any guilt.

Because you like stealing? Because that's basically what that behavior amounts to.

How is that any different from any other kind of price comparison shopping?

Have you never gone shopping for a car, and test driven cars at several dealers before chosing? Have you or your wife never gone from store to store comparing quality and price before buying things like clothes or home needs?

Am I wrong if I go to Home Depot and price out a bandsaw, then go to Lowes and check their model for price and quality?

 

[CoRoMo]

Because you like stealing? Because that's basically what that behavior amounts to.

LOL!!!!!

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. You sure have a unique perspective don't you. I recall the posts you made attacking Bud'sGunShop.com and the way they've achieved success. You dodged some direct questions back then, and you still seem bitter about successful online retailers today. Telling.

 

[TX expat]

Because you like stealing? Because that's basically what that behavior amounts to.

Even though I don't do it, it is far from stealing.

You seem to forget that you're doors are open to the public (I assume) and unless you start charging a cover, you don't have any guarantee, nor should you have any expectation, that a consumer will spend their money in your shop. If you want the sale, keep your prices in line with your competition.

Personally I don't think it's 'right' to do if you have no intention of purchasing at the LGS, but I have both a Bass Pro and Cabela's that I can drive to, and Cabela's makes enough money off me on other stuff that I don't feel bad about looking at a gun or two if they aren't busy.

 

[LawScholar]

Stealing? What a flat out insulting argument. Like a previous poster claimed, are we honestly to believe you have never comparison shopped?

 

[2WheelsGood]

are we honestly to believe you have never comparison shopped?

Going in to a store for the sole purpose of handling a product to decide if you want to buy it online is NOT comparison shopping. Whatever helps you sleep.

 

[LawScholar]

I sleep just fine not having been ripped off, generally.

For the record, I have never done that. I just find comparing it to actual theft vapid.

 

[2WheelsGood]

I sleep just fine not having been ripped off.

Then try being man enough to walk in the store and tell them: "I want to buy a gun from Bud's. Can I try it out here first even though I have no intention of buying it from you?" Then try to explain to him how you're just "comparison shopping".

I would expect that kind of behavior (and thinking) from teenage kids, but not a responsible gun owner.

 

[LawScholar]

Again, have never actually done it, but the hyperbole is so thick in here you could hang your coat on it.

Regarding my 'manliness' , I always let any shop know I am just window shopping.

 

[oneounceload]

I sleep just fine not having been ripped off, generally.

How are you getting "ripped off"??

If you willingly pay a certain price, whether it is higher or lower than what someone else paid, you have not been ripped off. Econ 101 is at work.

 

[LawScholar]

Fair point. Oneounceload. I used the term loosely to mean paying above market. I am just defending comparison shopping from allegations of theft. Every time I have compared, my local stores have just happened to have the best price. I would feel zero guilt if they didn't. Also econ 101

 

[CoRoMo]

...tell them: "I want to buy a gun from Bud's. Can I try it out here first even though I have no intention of buying it from you?"

That's very silly. I never really know where I'm going to buy from until I've done a lot of foot and keyboard work.

I'll visit every LSG that I can, because I want to see how they are pricing the gun I'm in the market for. If they have the best price, they get my money. That's comparison shopping. I handle the thing because I will not buy a gun without knowing how that model feels and fits in my hand. While I'm searching for good prices amongst the LSG's, I also search for good prices amongst the online retailers.

The retailer with the best price gets my money, and they all get their chance to receive it. Sometimes it is an online retailer, sometimes it is a LSG, and sometimes I buy from one, just to find out a few days later that I could have saved a lot if I had bought from the other.

No guilt.

 

[Bubba613]

Stealing? What a flat out insulting argument. Like a previous poster claimed, are we honestly to believe you have never comparison shopped?

Puhleeze. "Comparison shop" means you might buy the gun (or whatever) at this store if you like the deal offered.
But that isn't what's happening. What's happening is the "customer" (and I use the term loosely because customers buy stuff) enters the store with absolutely no intention whatsoever of buying there. They merely use the store, its capital and resources, as a showroom. They actually intend to buy the item at the online dealer, who of course can offer it for less precisely because he does not have showroom and the attendant overhead.
It is nothing more than exploitation, stealing time and resources from the brick and mortar guy.

 

[2WheelsGood]

That's very silly. I never really know where I'm going to buy from until I've done a lot of foot and keyboard work.

Backpedalling a bit? And I quote:

Handling a gun in a store, then ordering it online at a respectable savings, has never brought me any guilt.

 

[22-rimfire]

Am I wrong if I go to Home Depot and price out a bandsaw, then go to Lowes and check their model for price and quality?

Nope. But going to Home Depot and Lowes to comparison shop on similar items only to buy online is about the same thing as with firearms.

A lot of these comments are a bit silly. But we're all a bit silly sometimes and some are a lot sillier than others.

 

[oneounceload]

Fair point. Oneounceload. I used the term loosely to mean paying above market

Paying above market is, again, very subjective. What the market price for a gallon of water in Florida versus the Sahara can be completely different. What a certain gun is worth, say in NJ or CA versus TX or FL can be just as drastic. Again, if YOU willingly pay an agreed upon price for a product or service where you live, it matters not what it is where I live. Also, if a certain type of gun is popular (like AR, AK, 380 pistols), then pricing will be higher than for guns that aren't as popular at the moment.

Point is this - buy what you want from where you want, but realize that the local folks have costs higher than those online - but that you need locals to do the transfers. As someone else said - he likes to handle guns before he buys. When the local shops are gone, how will you do that? - wait for the next gun show, if they are even still allowed to occur?

If your mentality is that you won't even give the local guys a chance, then you will reap what you sow - personally, folks who base every purchase strictly on price are usually disappointed in the long run......JMO, YMMV

 

[22-rimfire]

Someone mentioned test driving cars as a reasonable comparison..... You know, I have bought a fair number of cars and trucks and I have only test drove one that I didn't buy and the salesman sort of pushed me into that one. It was a car I simply could not afford.... but I did make him an offer which they chuckled at.

Would I shoot the guns at a retail store if they had a indoor range to "test drive" them?? It would be nice sometimes, but if I am interested enough to want to shoot something, I will probably buy it.

Locals having higher costs is a problem that few really appreciate. You own a store and you have sales of 'X' this year and make approximately 10% total profit. More people buy on line and come in for transfers and your margin which is already fragile drops.... no body cares.... You raise prices to maintain the profit margin and you loose sales. Retail is a tough business.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Then try being man enough to walk in the store and tell them: "I want to buy a gun from Bud's. Can I try it out here first even though I have no intention of buying it from you?" Then try to explain to him how you're just "comparison shopping".

I do it frequently -- there's no embarassment to saying, "I'm comparison shopping. What's your best price on this item?"

 

[2WheelsGood]

I do it frequently -- there's no embarassment to saying, "I'm comparison shopping. What's your best price on this item?"

Not the same thing as going into a store you have no intention of buying from just to handle a product you're planning to buy from a "cheap" place that doesn't give you the option of touching the merchandise. Stop trying to spin this.

 

[david58]

I would gladly by from a number of local gun stores. But one has ripped me off (I paid cash in advance for a special order, he ordered the wrong gun, I asked for my money back, he kept "his" $25), another was purchasing ammo at our local discount store and driving down the block to mark it up 100% (the local discount store stopped that by marking the boxes with their store name!), and the third wouldn't give me the time of day as I shopped with money in my pocket.

So, there are two stores I will buy from. One, has treated me right on a lemon Brank K 1911, and the other is just plain old good guys. First shop doesn't do internet at all - he'll phone S&W or Springfield or whoever to get a price on something he doesn't stock. The other guys go straight to the internet to price/order. In both cases, if they don't have the gun in stock I have no twinge of guilt at all going to the internet source to buy, and I gladly pay the $30 transfer (about $11 goes to the State, rest to them). I buy "stuff" from both guys, and have bought used and new guns from them.

BUT: even in the case of the "good guys", I DO price shop. I can only go so far to purchase from them - $20 maybe, $150 no way. And because I purchase other guns from them, and holsters, and ammo, and etc, I don't feel a terrible pang of guilt if I get a super deal online.

As to the other three nice stores that I won't spend a penny in? I comparison shop the heck out of them - I handle the guns, I look, sometimes drool, and they get exactly the amount of business that they have EARNED. And on that count - internet vendors have to EARN my money, as well! Price alone is not the only factor. But in the end, I get to make the decision where my money goes, based on the BEST VALUE.

 

[Bubba613]

Not the same thing as going into a store you have no intention of buying from just to handle a product you're planning to buy from a "cheap" place that doesn't give you the option of touching the merchandise. Stop trying to spin this.

+1
I won't get in to customers entering negotiations either with absolutely no intention of buying or having no ability to buy. That drives me nuts.

 

[CoRoMo]

Backpedalling a bit?

Now you're just being absurd. Surely the written word isn't that difficult to understand. Take a moment and explain how one of my statements doesn't fit the other.

 

[Bubba613]

Now you're just being absurd. Surely the written word isn't that difficult to understand. Take a moment and explain how one of my statements doesn't fit the other.

\He isn't being absurd in the least. You, otoh, are being dishonest here. Your first statement was clear that you try out guns at the local shop but actually buy them online. Your second statement implied that wasn't really the case. So which is it?

 

[Cal-gun Fan]

There are obviously a ton of different opinions in this thread, so I'll add my view.
I am 14, and have recently started buying my own guns (without money from my parents, just having them registered in my dad's name until I am old enough to have them transferred to me). Now, as I said, I insist on using my own money. Most of my money comes from working at a summer camp, and doing some work during the school year. I know there are others like me.
Now, cost is absolutely a determining factor in where I will buy. There is a gun store where I often go to fondle the firearms and such, but I have never bought from there. Call me terrible if you wish, but for me, even if I only save 10 bucks or so by buying online or somewhere else, thats ten bucks I can put towards a scope, or a sling, or something else. Call me a Scrooge, but thats how it is.

Here is my opinion: If a gun store decides to maintain a brick and mortar facility with all of the costs that come with it, that is their choice. If they offered services such as repair or modifications or custom work, THEN I might feel differently. But true gun smiths are a dying breed. I congratulate you if you are lucky enough to have one, but most people don't. I don't think that it is right to fault people for going for the better deal.