Online "discount" gun dealers

[TenRingGuns.com]

I don't mean for this to cause an uproar but I'd really like your thoughts on this matter.

What do you like or not like about them? Do you buy from them? Why or why not?

I'm frustrated to say the least. Customers call me all the time and say they found the gun online for almost nothing and want me to sell them a gun for that price; impossible.

Anyhow, just wanted some insight from you all.

Happy shooting,
Tom

 

[Voltia]

Most gun stores overcharge. Most of them don't have anything other than the most mainstream of selections. Just like all trade goods, firearms are going digital; if you can't offer the same gun for the price of their online quote, shipping, and a transfer fee, you'll be left in the dust.

While I don't mind spending a few extra dollars to support local business, it needs to be just a few, not a lot, and the business should deserve it, which means nice people, good selection, and no BS from the gun store I choose to patronize. If your price is 100 dollars above what I can get online, or you don't have what I want, or you are anything but polite and supportive of what I want to get/do/buy, then online I go.

 

[Shadow 7D]

discount??
add shipping
add transfer

Want a discount
Get your Class 3 FFL
a Collector of Curio's and Relics and buy from the distributors.
there's a discount.

 

[lobo9er]

But your tom and offer the lowset price around?

LOWEST PRICE: Although price isn’t everything, we beat our competitor’s prices. You’ll have the peace of mind knowing you’re getting one of the lowest prices around.

 

[hipoint]

I agree, I'll support a local business over a large scale retailer any day of the week, but when the cost differential gets to be too great, then it isn't worth it anymore. Growing up my mother ran a retail establishment, she quit the business to pursue other things, but she kept her profit margin very small on each item, that kept her store the most busy and profitable in the entire town whereas all the other businesses squeezed every cent they can out of anyone unfortunate enough to wander in their doors...

not saying anything about the O.P. as obviously I don't know them but if you can't compete with their prices then something is wrong, perhaps you need to be buying the stock from them? If you have good enough deals people will come to you and the difference will be made up in volume. Anyone would rather purchase a gun they can hold and look at first over a gun they've never touched.

Every gun store in my town charges MSRP for their guns, even the USED ONES! I'm sure you aren't that bad, but when I can purchase a gun for hundreds of dollars less online, then I'll do it.

Retail is hard, I wish you luck in keeping your store open, too many of the smaller businesses are going under now.

 

[DAP90]

The fact of the matter is online sales are here to stay. Even if they start collecting taxes online dealers will still have a price advantage due to volume sales.

I’d say if you can’t beat them, join them. For every customer that calls where you can’t match the price offer to do the transfer for X; where X is something you can make a profit on and the customer can live with. That’ll get them in the store where maybe you can add some boxes of ammo, scope mount fees or something.

 

[TenRingGuns.com]

Confused Lobo? I offer the best price for my customers where I'm at. But my customers come back because of the service I provide them.

 

[TennJed]

Confused Lobo? I offer the best price for my customers where I'm at. But my customers come back because of the service I provide them.

Honest question for you as a gun shop owner. Do you shop at chain pharmacies (walgreens, CVS) or chain supermarkets (walmart, kroger, target) or eat at chain resturants (chilis, outback ect)

Those places drive the mom and pop resturant and local store owner crazy.

Best thing you can do is be innovative. The industy is changing and you will have to change also. Find a ninch, what that is I do not know or I would do it myself. Maybe offer reloading classes, or package deals with holsters and ammo to go with purchased guns. See if you can find a local leathersmith or holster maker and have high end custom holsters to go with the guns. I know I would pay a litter more to buy local if it came with a nice holster and some ammo (gonna have to buy them anyway)

It is far easier to change oneself than change someone else

 

[smalls]

My LGS has an indoor range, and if you buy a gun there, you get a 6 month membership. With the membership, you pay half price to use the range. That's a pretty nice bonus, and is worth paying a little more for a gun than buying online. They've got pretty good prices, too, though.

 

[happygeek]

What do you like or not like about them? Do you buy from them? Why or why not?

For the most part, love them. The last three guns I've bought were from three different online distributors, two of whom strike me as being mom & pop operations. The last three were also all C&Rs so I just had them shipped to me.

In an ideal world there'd be an FFL type similar to the 03 that'd allow me to buy any firearm. Unfortunately the 68 GCA doesn't have such a provision so if I buy online I have to have it shipped to someone else, then drive over there and pay $25 or more extra. Because if a gun is 49 years old NICS has to check me out, but if the gun is 50 years old a check by the ATF suffices. Makes perfect sense.

In all fairness it says on your website you're charging $25 for transfers, which is about the cheapest I've seen around here.

 

[JohnBT]

"Do you buy from them? Why or why not?"

No. I want to see the exact gun I am buying because every one is slightly different and I don't want to trust to random luck in order to get one of the good ones. And I really don't want to have to post questions here such as, "Is the front sight crooked on my new gun and how do I send it back to the factory? Will they fix the scratches on the barrel too?"

You know all of those posts about FedEx and UPS shipping problems? I've never had to ship a gun - the dealers do it for me.

John

 

[Malachi Leviticus Blue]

I'm not an FFL, but am in Sales & Engineering. My customers could go On-Line an purchase similar products, sometime the same products for maybe half the price. I don't worry about loosing customers that want to go that route. The customers I do business with are willing to pay extra for my service, support, troubleshooting, extensive inventory and application expertise. They trust, and count on me to know the right product for their application, proper technique, relevant codes, and standards and they know I will stand behind my products. There will always be those prospective customers that are only looking at the price tag period. I wouldn't worry about loosing them. Offer your customers just a product in a box and you are going to have a tough time as a small local business. Give them a complete package and you could do very well.

 

[BBDartCA]

Freight, FFL transfer costs, and in some states where FFLs must collect local sales tax for out of state purchases, makes it very hard to justify online "discount" gun purchases purely on economics. So local retailers are somewhat protected by these facts. Rare guns, niche items, etc. are a different story.

 

[mgmorden]

Any amount of shipping, tax, and FFL transfer for me never break $50 in total. Compared to online, I almost never see new guns locally for any less than $100 more than what I can get online.

As such, I don't buy new guns locally - ever. Its a capitalist society - I look out for me, my, and mine. Whatever keeps more dollars in my pocket is what I do, and that means buying online these days.

 

[Gator 23]

Great posts. This is like a focus group for Ten Rings Guns! Price matters for me. I purchase online from reputable dealers who deal in high volume and can save me money that I need for other life expenses. We all know budgeting is very important to many Americans now given this recession - no corporation, company, or local business is going to change that - they have to adapt to it to survive. In terms of damage and having an opportunity to inspect the firearm, my online dealers allows returns if I see an issue with the item before completion of the ATF paperwork at my local FFL's store. As a firearms purchaser, if I am getting value for that extra $50 or $100 for a LGS purchase (like others stated - e.g. holsters, range access, shooting classes, gunsmithing services (scope mount, sites installation, discounted trigger work, box of ammunition, cleaning kit...) Survey your customers and see what THEY would like as extras to their purchase. Thinking about my recent firearms purchases over the last few years...here are things that may have drawn me to a LGS vs online dealers. For example, all .22 youth rifles come with a free two hour youth shooting class offered once a month; select auto pistols include discounted night sights (10-20%) and FREE installation; hunting rifles include discounted scope bases/rings and FREE installation/bore sighting. These are just a few ideas for me that would have made my LGS more appealing. Find out what "extras" your customers value within each firearm line/category and set up appealing packages that add more value to your stores products and services.

 

[zkc1677095]

Modern firearms are a commodity, pure and simple, and like all commodities, I shop by total out-the-door price. As such, about 90% of my purchases are made on-line from one dealer: Bud's, who typically offer free shipping, no sales tax shipped to my state, and pretty darn good service to boot. Additionally, my FFL does $10 transfers, so the transfer fee is always less than sales tax would be in my area.

The remaining 10% of my purchases are usually near-impulse, on-sale purchases from one of the big box sporting goods establishments in my area.

 

[Doxiedad]

I usually purchase my guns from my LGS. For my Glocks they were like $30 more than what I could get them for online so I bought them locally.

When I went to purchase my AR15 the wanted $1270 for a S&W M&P 15A and I got one for $895 including shipping and transfer.

When it comes to several HUNDRED dollars I'll just go online, for $30-$40 I'll buy local.

Just my .02

 

[lonehunter]

Tom, I have always bought from LGS or used from someone face to face.

My ? is about your transfer fee. There is always a lot of discussion about transfer fees as far as the cost verses the amount of work you have to do for one.

Do you feel that your making money on it at $25.00?

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[Bloggerguy]

I get the same thing. Sitting back selling guns on the internet seems to be fairly easy. I try to keep the prices low enough that you just end up buying a gun at my store.

 

[firesky101]

I know nothing about what distributors charge, so take this with a grain of salt. Maybe you need a different distributor. My favorite FFL usually beats the online big boys, and he is not exactly a volume dealer. He orders 1-2 guns at a time as the customer wants them, his FFL is a side business to his welding shop.

edit: checked out your website, great example KLCR-357 only $4 more at your shop then buds. I would buy at your place.

 

[Byrd666]

Though I've never purchased a firearm through an online"discount" dealer yet, there will be a time in the very near future when I do. There are a few items that just can't be had anywhere else for the same price. Even with transfer fees and all added to it.

But for the purposes of comparison, they are a great place to start. The selection and variety of the online dealers is almost hard to beat. If you, as a dealer, had the same variety of arms and accessories and only charged 10% over cost for arms and 10-15% over for ammunition and all, then I would almost have no choice but to shop at a brick and mortar dealer.

And for what it's worth, my two pistol purchases have been made at just such dealers. And they even showed me the original p.o. from the distributor when my order was placed so there was no question about it. I really do prefer to deal with a human than a machine to begin with.

 

[Safetychain]

I have never bought a firearm from the internet though, I have been really tempted. The type of problem I recently ran into was when I really wanted a particular new gun and went to the GS closest to me. His procedure was to have the guns in a case with a tag, usually turned down where you have to handle them to see the price, with 'his cost' and 'sales price' on the tag. I had checked the night before at a few online sites to get the typical lowest average to stop from being jerked around and have a start for negotiations. His 'his cost' price was more than $100 over what the online average was. I was being jerked around. Actually I found and bought the same gun in a shop across town for exactly $100 less than the first shop's 'his cost'. I can't imagine the distributors of new, fairly recently produced guns could vary, obviously, over $100 as the second shop wouldn't be selling a popular gun for no profit. I don't believe I will ever buy anything from that first shop. That type of bullpoop is what drives people to the internet. For you to make a living, be honest with your customers and don't expect them to finance your nest Lamborghini.

Hey that statement was supposed to be "bought the same gun in a shop across town for exactly what the first shop's 'his cost' was." Sorry mixed up the numbers in my head.

 

[Safetychain]

I have never bought a firearm from the internet though, I have been really tempted. The type of problem I recently ran into was when I really wanted a particular new gun and went to the GS closest to me. His procedure was to have the guns in a case with a tag, usually turned down where you have to handle them to see the price, with 'his cost' and 'sales price' on the tag. I had checked the night before at a few online sites to get the typical lowest average to stop from being jerked around and have a start for negotiations. His 'his cost' price was more than $100 over what the online average was. I was being jerked around. Actually I found and bought the same gun in a shop across town for exactly $100 less than the first shop's 'his cost'. I can't imagine the distributors of new, fairly recently produced guns could vary, obviously, over $100 as the second shop wouldn't be selling a popular gun for no profit. I don't believe I will ever buy anything from that first shop. That type of bullpoop is what drives people to the internet. For you to make a living, be honest with your customers and don't expect them to finance your nest Lamborghini.

 

[mgmorden]

Want a discount
Get your Class 3 FFL
a Collector of Curio's and Relics and buy from the distributors.
there's a discount.

As a C&R holder, there is one problem there (at least as a handgun person): my local regular FFL charges $15 for a transfer. Thing is, guns going to HIM can go USPS for less than $10. Guns coming to me have to come via UPS or Fedex at around $25 each.

Since I'm not home during the day, I usually have to end up driving to the shipping hub (which is farther than his shop) to pick the gun up anyways.

As such, for handguns its usually a wash on cost whether I order it myself or have it tranferred through him. Pretty much the only reason I still maintain my C&R these days is for discounts at MidwayUSA and Brownells . If only we could get the law changed to allow C&R holders to receive via USPS that would be different, but I doubt that'll happen anytime soon.

 

[Well Now]

I have bought 5 guns from local shops, once paying more than a reasonable cost because the gun was not one that was readily available. I have also bought 4 guns online because of the greater savings offered over buying locally.