Ridiculous table at Gun Show

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Worst part was that he added 3.0% if you paid the 5 bucks with a credit card...
 
I'm betting he didn't sell much that day.
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I gotta agree. If he's that proud of his stock he charges $5 to look at 'em, he's probably has a proud price tag on 'em also.
 
Yep, he probably makes more on the $5 look see, if it is a rare piece:uhoh:

You know it is a given, that many will just handle and play with it and not buy, no big loss if they pass um up imho...

Regards
 
I just paid 11 bucks to get into a show and 8 bucks to park = $19 and the show sucked.
 
TX expat - Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure petting zoo, that's what you were talking about ;)
 
I guess the proof is in the pudding. If this begins to be common at shows, then you know someone is doing something right.
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AMEN brother.

As to the parachute chord - DOH! Why didn't I think of that before I went to Home Depot and paid 25 for a few feet of cable?!:cuss::cuss::cuss:

Don't tell me that cable systems are to expensive. I leave enough slack in mine so people can turn it over and look at both sides. Then if they need to get a 'serious' look at the action or whatever I simply clip the zip tie holding to the cable and get my serious 'dickering face' in place. We make a deal or not, and we both part friends. Then if no sale was made I re zip tie the gun, clean the fingerprints off, and re tie it to the cable. That's the game. If I didn't want to do that I'd have a different hobby.
 
And if you owned a 1911 purportedly worth more than $70,000, would you let just anyone handle it? I know I wouldn't.
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I can clearly understand that. But this guy had a couple $1500 ARs, a couple of $500- Smith & Wessons and a few .22s that were less than $200. I could have bought his whole table for around $5000. Now theres also a guy there who sells & displays lugers. At book value, his table is worth nearly $30,000 and he doesn't charge a dime to look at any of his Artillery, Portuguese or perfect condition Lugers. Some are in a glass case, but the Luger guy has double the guns of the dealer who wanted to charge $5 to handle.
Seems kind of redundant and foolish on the dealers part, in my opinion.
I've set up at a couple shows myself to sell reloading supplies, guns and ammo. I would NEVER charge anyone to look/handle anything, I've actually given people $ off on things if they bought alot of stuff, or told they're friends about me. I encourage people to take a look at guns I have for sale, its just a good way of saying "I would be happy if you bought this."
 
Did it really say "To Look" ?
I'm thinkin' that's kinda tough to enforce. :confused:
He,He, Yeah, nothing like starting off on the right foot with new/potential customers. :scrutiny:

Old school etiquette, You're there to look at the goods, This tricky maneuver, for most of us, can be accomplished with our hands away from the table, using only our eyes. if/when the prop. is done with his current customer, you get his attention, speak of your interest and let him pick it up and hand it to you. Then, you do your checkout of the goods, explain your interest/ questions. If not interested, thank him and move on. :)

For myself, I'm not really interested in groping every piece of merchandise, no matter what venue I'm shopping in. I would just as soon not touch something that was, unknown to me, recently fondled lovingly by some unseen inbred dirty fingered half washed festering booger picker. :eek:

Yeah, I mean you Otis! Put that down! :fire:
 
If one is a collector, such as I am then one needs to handle and carefully examine the wares to look for particular codes, cartouches,etc. Saying you can just eyeball the gun from afar is insufficient. The gun may appear to be a humdrum, plain Jane, but upon close inspection may be the piece you have long sought. With the attitude of the seller I'd likely just smirk and keep on walking. His inpection fee and CC upcharge is ridiculous. I bet he lugged all his fine specimines home at the end of the day.
 
As far as courtesy as a shopper, I try to buy something (even if it's only a box of ammo), to recompense the owner/operator for his time. At the gunshops I frequent, that helps keep me off the "ignore" list when I walk in*. And yes, I try not to waste their time with babble and BS.
*Who knows, it might help me get a better deal, someday.
 
Maybe his wife told him to "sell some of his gun collection" and this was his way of "selling" it. Sorry babe, no one bought any, and they were fairly priced too!

Seriously though, I'd move right on to the next table. Five bucks is almost a gallon of gas, the way gas prices are going!
 
Nope, this was Wheaton/DuPage County Fairgrounds, normally a better show. But it still has the $200 Mosins and $400 SKS's, don't you worry my friend!
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Just curious? Is $200 cheap for a Mosin? I see them at my local gun shop from time to time for $100.
 
Gun show I went to sucked. No one would budge on 22s or any gun for that matter. Horrible pricing local gun shops were less. Only thing I bought was a knife and beef sticks. :mad:
 
Sure as *insert word for refuse* wouldn't buy a car without test driving it.

I won't buy a gun without handling it, either.

I would have laughed at his sign. Seriously.
 
Implicit message from the dealer: "It's not about you".

It's not all about me? I think it is.

Unless you Really Think that I want your stuff (on your terms) more than you want my cash.

And, believe me, I always have the cash and I wouldn't presume to waste your so-called valuable time if I didn't. And, who is wasting their whole day here, anyway?

It's all about attitude.

Do not offend me. It might be bad for business.
 
It would take a pretty remarkable gun for sale with a remarkable asking price attached to it before I would pay $5 or $0.05 to handle their firearms. Since I don't live in a state that has the FOID card requirement, the whole concept is kind of foreign to me.
 
I was in the Retail and wholesale firearms and shooting business for 35 years. I set up at gun shows all over the country. As well as operating a fairly large retail store. Some years over 40 shows a year. I often had 8-10 tables or more. I set up the wholesale business with new products from the gun makers, optics, accessories etc. for the dealers, who were my primary customers, to show them what was new. The wholesale merchandise was not for sale to the public, only FFL's. The public was free to look , handle, ask questions. If they wanted to buy I referred them to my dealers at the show who either stocked the item or could be transferred to them. The end user/purchaser was just as much my customer as the dealers. A firearm by it's nature is meant to be held. I wouldn't buy one with out a hands-on and I would not expect anyone else to either. The other tables were used retail firearms. The prices ran the course from easy and affordable to very high end doubles, custom rifles and collectible antiques. These were my interests. This made the hard work and long days worth the effort. If I had something on the table that was for one reason or another better off not handled I would put a sign on it to please ask permission to handle. If someone showed particular interest in a pricey item I encouraged them to pick it up and take a close look. You never know if that person on the other side of the table was the guy/girl that had to have that Perazzi SCO clays gun and had the $20K in their pocket for it.
I have watched hundreds of FFL dealers come and go this $5 dealer will join them. Don't worry about him just move on to the next table. He will weary of dragging his dust collecting collection from show venue to show venue.
A couple of years ago I was at a show in Stratford CT and next to my table was Holland & Holland. There was slightly over $1 million dollars of new and previously owned shotguns and rifles on their tables. I saw no sign not to touch and their sales people encouraged interested lookers to pick up that 125K O/U bird gun.
Remember, you the consumer are why we set up at these shows. You were my job security. I am retired now and still set up at 3-4 shows a year mostly because I enjoy the people who are interested in the shooting sports regardless of the type of interest. I made a lot of friends, and enjoy running into them and shootin' the breeze.
Forget about the jerks they won't be there long.
 
TX expat said:
And it's funny that you would mention a car lot, since it really does nothing to prove your point. Actually yes, they do leave plenty of cars and trucks open, just walk inside the big building with all the salesmen in it and you'll find plenty of cars with the doors open and the keys will probably be there too... And even if you are just looking and tell them you have absolutely no intention of buying anything that day, they'll still happily jump all over the chance to let you take one for a free test drive. No $5 'test drive fee' or anything like that. It's called the cost of doing business.
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They even give you the gas for free!
 
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