Stupid business move?

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This is one of the reasons why it sometimes pays to become a regular customer of a specific shop and to deal as exclusively with that shop as is logically possible or feasible. In my neck of the woods, there are a half-dozen or so gun stores that could attract my business. During the past year and a half or so, I picked one and have stuck with it, telling the owner that if he took good care of me, I would do my shopping with him. And it's not that I don't look elsewhere; in fact, I do. But I also let my guy know when he's a bit on the high side of things (I've even shared when he's on the low side of things), and I've found that he has appreciated that help and treated me accordingly. And yeah, I'd rather pay this guy a few more dollars from time to time on some deals, just because I know that he'll take care of me on others.

The bottom line is that there is no way $8 would have come between me and the shop's owner and I gun that I really wanted. A good relationship, built with trust over time, would ensure that.
 
john bt

i was in a jam, i didn't want to waste $10 in gas and 30 minutes of my saturday afternoon. time is the only thing in this life that we can never replace.


we're talking about less than 1.5% of the price. that's stupid business, period.
to put that into perspective for you, john. that's like me being two pennies short on a cheeseburger at Mcdonalds. do you think the guy would make me drive home and get the rest of my money?

let me tell you something about america, friend. this is a land of CHOICE. if you want to succeed in business you have to add value to what you are hocking. any joe blow can open a business. the question is, how are you going to add value to what you're selling? what make's your hamburger better than the hamburger joint i've been eating at my whole life? why is your t-shirt worth more than this other brand? the problem is that the line becomes blurred when you're selling something that is being sold at other businesses(cars, guns, electronics). so then as a business you have to ask yourself how you're going to get people to buy your toyota corolla versus the toyota corolla at the other car lot. so you either price it low, create a promo, pride yourself on customer service, throw in free add ons or anything to differentiate yourself from your competition.

basically what i'm saying in that rant is that if a business has your "toobad, so sad go eff yourself attitude" that you're exhibiting towards a customer, they will soon find that their sig 226 isn't any more special than the one being sold at the 12 other gun stores around here for the same price. if you don't get that, then i feel sorry for you.
 
ok im late in the game. but i think that really sucks. i would write a letter and send it to the manager. if its a chain wide store take it up. They may not get your money today. however we all know that the last thing we need to see is another gun store closing down. we need these guys. it could be policy but there is a better way of dealing with it than the way you were treated.
 
If you have $695 in your pocket and he refused a sale which his business would of clearly profited on, he should find a new job.

I have a local gun shop that did the same thing, twice. The first time he didn't want to sell me the Smith & Wesson I wanted and tried to pawn me off on something $150 more. I told him what I wanted, the specific model, etc.

Moral of the story is I walked out and I've spent thousands at other shops because they have far better customer service.
 
Or maybe the place had had too many counter people cut deals for friends that turned out to be kind of stupid, and now the owners have the "engraved in stone" pricing rule...
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That's what phones are for if the owner isn't in.
 
From the store owners perspective why couldn't you just pay $8 more. Anyone willing to pay $695 for a nonessential item like a gun can surely come up with $8 more.
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Maybe an honest person with a family to feed has scrimped and saved and been given a limit by his SO and hell better have high water if he goes over that limit.


Some of the folks here just assume that all Americans have cash to pull out of their butts.

Would you haggle for your dream pistol if the the final number came down to eight bucks?

I bet you would.
 
Here are some magic words the salesman could have used:

Let me see what I can do...

If the answer is still no, then so be it, but at least the attempt was there. To be short with the customer does not endear that customer to that place of business - any business.
 
I am a business owner, and I KNOW that sometimes a few bucks (or even a few cents) is a deal-breaker! That handgun probably cost them maybe $350-$400, the rest is profit. $8 won't send them into bankruptcy. And, they would have made you a very happy (and probably recurring) customer!
 
I have a fairly local reloading shop that I frequent. He carries everything I could ever need to reload and has a nice pistol counter also. I needed a carry piece and while looking at some brass and powder(what I went in for), told him I had a 300.00 budget for a carry piece. He pulled out an Astra A-100 that just melted into my hand and pointed perfectly, I had to have it, but the price on it was 369.00+ tax and paperwork. Told him that was my gun and I had to have it for 300.00 out the door. :) He dropped to 350, and I told him I'd look around a while and talked to another guy that worked there about some powder. Apperently he thought I was getting back into reloading and needed a new setup and a butt load of components that I could get from him(he was right). Talked to the counter guy again and he didn't want to budge from the 350. Finally told him I'd take it for 300.00 OTD and he needed to hand me the adoption papers, and he did. :cool: That was my first visit to that store and I have gotten almost everything else from him since.
 
My boss declined an offer of $325 OTD for a ever-so slightly used Ruger
BN-34 .357 Blackhawk ANIB, with all papers and docs~! Instead, the ole'
guy dropped $329.88 + 9% sales tax on this particular weapon. But, you
have to understand; this wasn't this customers first rodeo, as he does a
lot of "wheeling and dealing"~! :uhoh: ;)
 
often with a non essential purchase i have a strike price. if it works, fine. if not, also ok. if it is still there the next time perhaps i'll open offers again or it could well be that im on a different quest. but $8.00 is kinda like, well, ua know...hardly even the tip on a good dinner out.
 
Would I do anything to make the sale ? Nope.

You used the line, "Not a penny more". I figure I can use the line, "Not a penny less". Is one more rational than the other ? I think not.

It comes down to a willing buyer and a willing seller. If neither are willing, then so be it.

If you are not willing to spend $8 more, I see no reason to be willing to accept $8 less. Actually if it happened the way you explained it, you would have come across to me as having an 'attitude'. I am not required to sell to you.
 
we're talking about less than 1.5% of the price. that's stupid business, period.
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The really idiotic thing is that the OP was paying with cash, saving the gun shop the 1.5% to 4% fee that credit and debit card companies slap on merchants each time a customer swipes their card at their business :banghead: .

So in reality, said gunshop may have netted the same or more money by selling at $8 less to the OP, than selling at list price to someone with plastic and having to pay the fee to the credit/debit card company. DOH!!!

I can usually get a decent 1.5 - 3% discount at my favorite gunshop just by paying with cash. Sometimes I can get a bit more, but it depends. Bud's prices online are all stipulated on cash as method of payment; I believe a 3 or 5% markup is added if paying with plastic. Unless the gunshop is charging ripoff rates on their guns, that is usually not where the money is made. If the firearm prices are fair, there is probably very little markup over the price they paid. The shop I frequent appears to have a 15-20% markup. But remember, they have overhead costs, salaries and other expenses they have to cover too, so that 15-20% is not as much as it appears.

From what I understand, gunshops often make more on the accessories (and to a lesser extent ammo), which have a higher markup than the guns themselves. Kinda like a gas station: though they make a pretty good amount on the gas (just by the volume that is sold), the per gallon profit isn't much. The high margins come from the goodies inside, by charging customers $1.40 for a 20 oz soda (when you can get a 2 liter for less) and $2.99 for a crappy little bag of chips.
 
For me, the 8 bucks would have been far less significant than "the attitude". Once I've seen "the attitude", I don't go back.

Who knows? This shop could be one of the those who would be quick to whine about the internet putting them out of business. Those who have "the attitude" probably shouldn't be in business to begin with.

I do have to add, some customers are afflicted with it too, and some shop owners are better off without their business.
 
i was in a jam, i didn't want to waste $10 in gas and 30 minutes of my saturday afternoon. time is the only thing in this life that we can never replace.
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Oh I get it! The gun shop was stupid for not compensating for your laziness and lack of preparedness. :rolleyes:

Time is the only thing we can never replace, and yet you keep wasting time at the same shop? I am not sure you understand your own value system or applied the moniker correctly.
 
If you want to negotiate and win one thing you have to do is A) have the cash available to flash if you need it and B) not be emotionally wrapped up in the deal.

I bought 3 complete DPMS lowers for AR-15's with telescoping stocks at a gun show last June. The dealer wanted $250+tax for them. Not a bad price but not a screamer either. Stripped lowers plus parts kits would have run about as much plus I'd have to put them together. I offered $700 OTD for three of them ($820 OTD for full asking price). He countered at $800 OTD and argued the cost of stripped lowers plus parts kits was no better. I offered $750 saying that I could get the parts kits over time and I didn't have to get complete lowers right then, but would at the right price. He hemmed and hawwed and finally took it when he new it was a cash sale right then and there.

Another time I was looking at used F-150 Supercrews. I decided what they were worth to me, and made offers based on that to a couple dealers. The salesmen typically knew right away that I wasn't going to fall for high pressure tactics, I wasn't going to be upsold, and one even came out and said that he didn't want to waste his time if I wouldn't pay his price. So we walked. Wound up with a great deal on Ram 1500 Mega Cab instead.

When you get emotionally wrapped up in a purchase the salemen know it and will take you for a ride. Decide what you want and what you'll pay ahead of time and then shop around until you get the deal you really want. Going into a gun store and having half a dozen models you're considering means that they can up sell you on something you'd not otherwise buy, or pay more for it than you shoud.

In the end it sounds like you got a better deal in spite of yourself by walking away ticked off from the first shop and going to the other one.
 
As a former high school student who worked in a gun shop i could understand where he was comming from. The mark up on guns is not much at all. With a used gun who knows what the store bought if for. But if it was a matter of making the sale i would always go ask the boss about price adjustments. He would come down 8 dollers. but that is also taken into acount when he sets the price
 
Quote:
"i was in a jam, i didn't want to waste $10 in gas and 30 minutes of my saturday afternoon. time is the only thing in this life that we can never replace."
-againstthagrane

"Oh I get it! The gun shop was stupid for not compensating for your laziness and lack of preparedness."

Time is the only thing we can never replace, and yet you keep wasting time at the same shop? I am not sure you understand your own value system or applied the moniker correctly."

-Double Naught Spy

no they were not stupid for the reasons you listed. they were stupid because they lost a certain sale and many in the future from me and everyone of my friends that asks me where the best place is to shoot and where to avoid.
read the original post, i told the clerk that i had money burning a hole in my pocket. if you're in sales i was what you would refer to as a "lay-down" sale. salesmen love these kinds of sales. they don't have to spend an hour with someone who may or may not spend money. literally the PERFECT customer. i stated a budget and what i wanted. so instead of catering to my willingness spend, he chose the other extreme: "this guy is going to buy no matter what, so i'm not going to even try." it wasn't the discount it was the unwillingness to even try to make me happy that upset me. business is about making money and in order to do that consistently you need repeat business. so four strikes and you're out. i will no longer buy ANYTHING from them, much less big ticket items. i will rule them out of contention for the membership i plan on buying at a shooting range later this year. it was obviously not a good move on their part. i left that place for the fourth time with a horrible taste in my mouth. the time before the last i asked if they carried magpul products, and it went a little something like this:

"yeah, we do." the clerk replied
"do you have any ctr stocks in stock?" i ask
"no."
"can you order me one?"
"you can probably just order them online.":banghead:

another jerry jones in the making? i think not, lol

as far as me not living by my own creed, again, i ask you to READ THE ORIGINAL POST. this place is three times closer to me than the other gun store. if they leave me feeling happy ONE TIME i would feel good about shopping there and return there. on future trips i would save 40 minutes round trip, everytime i go shooting, shopping or browsing. :) assuming i'll shoot once a week once i get the membership, i would be saving 34 hours of my sweet precious time a year. totally worth giving the poor muggles a 4th shot at gaining a customer, but alas, it was not meant to be. i will not, however, ever get the time back i just spent trying to enlighten you.:neener:
 
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