Why do gun dealers like to jack up the prices?

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TO PUT FOOD ON THEIR FAMILY'S TABLE! No other. You call it profit the LGS owner calls it paycheck.
 
I would feel a little awkward asking about transfer fees and having stuff shipped to them (unless I am buying used or a collectible). Your basically saying, I don't want to buy this off you but can I have it shipped here. And what are you going to do about actually handling it. I have looked at guns online and read great reviews of them. Picked one up and as soon as I got it home realized that I had made a mistake because it didn't feel right. I would rather deal with a LGS where I can actually get customer service and can inspect the gun before I pay for it.
Hanzo581, thats a pretty crappy thing to do to a LGS. Part of the extra cost is picking the gun up and looking at it. I think that you should either buy the gun without handling it or buy it from the LGS.
 
When the shops are gone, then were does one get a box or two of ammo? Parts, cleaning gear and all the other items. going to buy everything through the internet? Shipping costs are going up too.

Saving some money through the online stores is great. what happens when there's an issue? The savings are eaten up in return shipping costs. At the very least the days of walking into a shop and holding the item you have an interest in will be over. Everything will be ordered from a catalog and shipping in after the sale is made.

I saw this with the scuba industry. For years internet sales were not the norm. Then that changed and shops closed. No one thought to think about were the participants in the sport were going to get tanks filled or equipment repairs.

There has to be a happy medium between the two areas of sales sources. A vastly different price and the brick and motor outlet will fail. As the OP stated, get close and they will get customer's business.
 
You do know if you are not satisfied with what you are sent you are not required to accept it, right? If you deal with a reputable online dealer they will make it right.

The package is opened, it's accepted. Let's see... you order from Buds and Sports South ships the gun to your transferring dealer. Buds only ordered the gun from Sports South and Sports South is a distributor. Hence your place to express your dissatisfaction is the manufacturer. Dealer had nothing to do with the sale. Buds had little to do with the sale. Sports South just sent it out. You think they actually look at it other than to confirm it is the correct model and caliber perhaps?
 
Strangely enough, gun dealers are in business to make money. Failure to do so will result in their going out of business. That is Capitalism. I don't object to a dealer making a fair profit. If I don't think it is fair, I will go elsewhere.

Regards,
Jerry
 
Most don't "jack up" prices. There is always that supply/demand influence on prices but, as somebody else pointed out, places like J&G buy in volume directly from the manufacturers. Most gunshops don't do enough volume to get the lower prices.

A friend of mine owns a gun shop and I have helped him in his store when he needed it. I can tell you from experience that his cost on many products is more than what places like WalMart sells them for at retail. His cost for Federal American Eagle 9mm 124gr FMJ was $10.87 per box of 50. The local WalMart was selling them at retail for $9.99! That's the difference between his buying about 10 cases a year when WalMart is buying it by the train load every month.

It works the same with guns. If you buy 5 Glocks a year you get them for a certain price. If you buy 5 a week you get them for a much better price.

I don't like it either but that's the way it is.
 
It is sad to see what is happeing to the local shops, but the market is constantly changing. The internet is going to put severe price pressure on any retailers selling items that are avaialble from many sources in identical form at a lower cost. It will force them to diversify services; CCW classes, advanced SD classes, competitions, indoor ranges, gunsmithing, custom builds, accessories, etc..

It may also force them to get online and sell direct. Many sellers on GB have storefront shops; GB affordes them the ability to pre-sell guns that do not even get ordered from the wholesale source until you place your order. They can avoid inventory costs that way.

Technology is changing how we buy everything. Mom & pop will have to adjust accordingly. That is just the way the cookie crumbles.
 
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The internet has accomplished some amazing things really. My experience started with listings in Shotgun News and GunList which I subscribed to. Things have changed again.

There are benefits on both ends of the sale. Used guns through the online auction sites (classified ads in forums, and GunsAmerica type listings) all of a sudden allow a regular gun owner access to a national market rather than being limited to the few people they know when they need/want to sell a firearm. The end result is a nationwide leveling of prices in non-communist states. It is great for the seller because he can frequently sell at a higher price. It is great for the buyer because he has access to many more firearms and stuff he might only dream about from a collector standpoint. The entity that suffers is the local gun store because he is now competing with internet sales on both the new and used side of the equation. I fully expect transfer fees to increase.

I don't know where all this is headed, but the price you pay for the LGS service may actually be going up, if the LGS is going to stay in business. Folks that live in a rural area (aka no zoning) can operate a business out of their garage on the side and make a fair amount of money just doing transfers. As long as their paperwork is in order and they have their FFL of course, things work. But the LGS who actually depends on customer service to make things work is in trouble.

It is like the hardware store business.... Lowes and Home Depot move into town and the local stores get pushed out of buisness. In their case, not so much because of price, but inventory. Few gunshops can carry the inventory because their local market can not support it, so they become a "Buds" type business. The whole USA is turning into a big Walmart where you have to beg for service! Sometimes you can't even get it if you are willing to pay for it. Looking at a picture in a catalog to buy a firearm is not so far fetched. It's back to the days of Sears and Mongomery Wards catalogs as their main source of goods that are frequently not carried locally.
 
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And here's another reason to shop at your local favorite place.

Same P229, same Crimson Trace grips: More experienced man on duty took a closer look and suggested strongly that adding the Crimson Trace would be a BAD idea based in the special LEO grips it came with, and then in a calm, honest tone explained why. We both agreed that diminishing this fine firearm's value was not the point. They do not like to return special orders, but put it in the case with the other stock. My wife ended up with her first pistol, a Ruger LC9, for a little more $ than the CT.
 
I know my LGS's have a x% markup, no big deal on items under $1000. After $1k I'm gonna haggle with you. Most of my local shops can hang with Buds. My Taurus PT-111 was $333 on Bud's my OTD cost at one LGS $380 and they opened on New Years Eve for me to get it. My RIA 4" 1911 I found online for $414 and I'm paying another LGS $489 OTD (Overnighting it was $50). Only reason I didn't go back to the first dealer was because his distributor was out of stock.
 
If that's the case lets just make it $50/hour! Reality doesn't work that way. Your time is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. If an employer is only willing to pay you $12.50 an hour for your time then you can LIKE getting paid $25/hour all day long and it isn't going to change the market value of your time.

On the other hand, if I think that the next employer is going to pay me 50 I am free to hold out for that, and it's none of your business what he does or does not pay me. If I don't meet the market price for my labor eventually I starve. The value of anything gun, labor, or widgets is what the 2 people making the transaction decide it is at that moment in time. No one else matters.

Sadly for many their knowledge of economics came from the public education system.....far better had they gotten a degree from the school of hard knocks and owning a business.

Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!

It could be the actual cost they need to get to stay in business and/or it could be a simple matter of GREED.

Greed can drive some people to do things they wouldn't ordinarily do!!

You say that like greed is a bad thing in a capitalist system. It's not, it's what drives all innovation, the greed for more comfort, more freedom, more time, more whatever is the desire that spurs the ideas that become the new products that revolutionize a society.

It's actually a beautiful thing in America. We are all FREE, not only to carry and own arms, but to choose from whom and under what terms we buy AND sell them. Those that get bent out of shape when they think a price is to high are showing an immaturity that is silly.

I was working a gun show a couple of weeks ago for a buddy. A very rude customer was trying to beat him down on a price. This guy was insulting the gun, and my friend who'd built the gun, and his selection, just everything, and then throwing low ball offers out that were less than the costs of the gun to my buddy. The rude customer finally straight out asked, "Why do you think you can get so much?"

He replied, "Because I've been getting that much." Which was true, he was right dead on the average price for that particular gun in that show. Not his tagged price, but his taking price.

The rude customer left in a huff, but without saying anything. I watched him leave the show empty handed. When asked about it later my buddy just said, "If I took every @$$&@(% seriously who didn't want to meet my price I'd never be able to sell anything at these shows because I'd be in jail for assault. So I just let it go."

No matter what you think something is worth, that someone else thinks it's worth more OR less is not an insult, it's just a difference of opinion so don't get your panties in a bunch. Either pay, haggle, or say no, and MOVE ON!

THAT'S FREEDOM!
 
A pick any of the following:

Suppliers/Importers raised their prices

Anticipation of importers raising prices (they have to sell them for more than they will have to pay to replace, not for how much they paid for it. People complain about gas prices the same way, it has nothing to do with whats in the tanks, but how much the supplier is charging for the next load)

And of course, there is profit opportunity, that some call greed. But then, that would be sort of like calling the fact that I'm asking for a promotion next month greed. How dare I? Now if you wanna talk about greed, I've got a CEO of GE I'd like to introduce you to, GE paid no taxes in 2010 despite making 14.2 billion in profits, his pay doubled, and they're cutting pay and benefits for 15,000 workers.
 
You say that like greed is a bad thing in a capitalist system. It's not, it's what drives all innovation, the greed for more comfort, more freedom, more time, more whatever is the desire that spurs the ideas that become the new products that revolutionize a society.

Sometimes the innovation it creates is just raising his own pay, and cutting the pay of workers. At the highest levels, I don't believe that greed produces innovation. Now, for the mid-level engineer that will get a raise for great ideas, or the small business owner who will be able to pay for his kid's college with the revenue from this new product (even a gun store owner!), then yes. But we've seen in the last couple of years, huge yacht-sailing bonuses and pay raises for the highest echelons of major companies, balanced on the backs of layoffs and paycuts for the people that get stuff done.
 
On the other hand, if I think that the next employer is going to pay me 50 I am free to hold out for that, and it's none of your business what he does or does not pay me. If I don't meet the market price for my labor eventually I starve. The value of anything gun, labor, or widgets is what the 2 people making the transaction decide it is at that moment in time. No one else matters.

Indeed you are correct. However, as is indicated by a growing number of local gun shops going under, it seems that they're holding out for that "next employer" that never comes along. While waiting for that $50/hour opportunity that will never get there, they were passing up that $12.50 an hour job that they could have had.

As always, the market sets the price. You're free to sell or not sell at whatever price you choose, but if you set your asking prices above what the market will pay then it's very unlikely that you're going to move your inventory. Then the less intelligent amongst the business community start thinking "Man, I'm not selling much. I need to raise my prices so that I can make more money on the few guns I DO sell . . .". Their sales drop even lower and they wonder why.

As has been said by everyone in the thread who understands a market economy - a shop can charge whatever they like - it's their inventory. On the flip side, the customer can choose to shop elsewhere if they think the prices are too high. Whatever reason they can come up with - can't buy at the same discounts as the big guys, don't do enough volume, rent/power is too high, etc, is generally not the concern of the customer. The customer wants what the customer wants and it's up to the business owner to gain enough sales or go under.

If my local gunshop doesn't do the volume of Buds, then I REALLY JUST DON'T CARE. Buds once didn't do the volume they did either. They managed their business well enough to get to that point and if the LGS would step up their game they could get to that point too.
 
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