Why dont gun shops over order guns that are back ordered?

[kd7nqb]

When looking for different guns I have discovered that certain guns are always back orded. The biggest current example for me is the Ruger LCP. The shop I regularly use has a back order list of 10-15 people, granted I know the LCP shipments get kinda messed up with this current recall but even before the recall there were lots people on the list for the LCP.

So my question is why does a shop not just put in an order with Ruger for say 25 or even 50 LCP's. The chance of them not selling them all is pretty much nill since they have had a solid back order list. Does Ruger somehow limit the number of guns that a single shop can order?

Another example is the Seacamp .380, I hear the wait on that can be 12-15MONTHS would it be good business for the shop to put in an order for 2 or 3 of those and keep them on the shelf?

 

[zammyman]

Often shops can only get what suppliers have at the time... they may simply submit a list their suppliers of what guns they want.. what they actually get is often not close to what they could really sell.

 

[misANTHrope]

The bottleneck isn't always at the end dealer. My understanding is that with the LCP, demand far outstrips Ruger's production capacity. So they're forced to ration production output, in order to distribute equitably among their top-level distributors. This rationing then trickles down the supply line to the end dealer, who I guarantee would love to get a lot more LCPs in than they can.

 

[Duke of Doubt]

Over the years I've toyed with the idea of owning a gun shop. To my mind, making a steady profit at that (and many other things) is about grabbing up whatever is undervalued or available cheap, and creating a local market for it at high profit margin -- not fronting tons of money for overpriced merchandise for which there is already an established national market and lesser margins.

 

[Just One Shot]

Most gun stores will order at least as many as they have commitments to sell. Ruger is working overtime to get the recalls done and also to put new ones on the shelf for sale.

The LCP's are arriving daily at the gun shops. I was at one the other day that had 3 on the shelf. When I went back a few days later they were down to 1.

I also recieved a call from another that had me on a waiting list for an LCP to let me know it had arrived (I declined since I had purchased a Bersa Thunder 380 and 2 mags for about the same money). It took a little over a month and I think that I was down around 8th or 10th in line.

If you are seriously interested and no other gun will do, I recomend you get on the list asap. The faster you do the quicker you will get one. Waiting until the madness subsides will only cause you frustration in the long run.

 

[rcmodel]

Gunshops don't order guns from Ruger, or any other manufacture.

They order guns from wholesaler's or "middlemen" so to speak.

When those folks get their allotment of guns from the manufacture, they can dole them out however they please.

Sometimes the biggest accounts get first crack at things, leaving the little gunshop guys at their mercy.

rcmodel

 

[jpwilly]

Sometimes the biggest accounts get first crack at things, leaving the little gun shop guys at their mercy.

Yes, but usually the big dealer takes their allotment and divides it up among st their sales persons to distribute to their accounts. Everybody usually gets something but the big chains no doubt will get preference. If somebody is buying 100K from me and another is only ordering a few things here and there I'm going to take care of the 100K customer first.

 

[amlevin]

A gun shop is a business just like any other. Its goal is to make money. When a business overstocks, and has to sit on extra inventory then it is loosing money. Look around your gun shop the next time you are there. How much is tied up in accessories, ammo, reloading supplies, and guns that haven't sold for the last two years. Most gun shop owners could make more money if they had put their money in Insured CD's, rather than stagnant inventory. To the original question, buying more of an item that is chronically backordered is often not possible. For one thing it is always on backorder because it is in short supply. Distributors then allocate supply, as they receive it, to the dealers with orders in house. Allocation is often not based on quantity ordered, just some for everyone.

 

[Bailey Guns]

Gunshops don't order guns from Ruger, or any other manufacture.

That's not entirely true. Several mfgs are dealer-direct. Kimber is the biggest one that comes to mind.

Some are dealer-direct with exclusive contracts with one or two distributors. Sig Arms falls into that category.

Other mfgs will sell directly to very large customers (box stores, for example) but sell to wholesalers for distribution to all other customers.

But you're mostly correct. Most mfgs build their guns and ship them to wholesalers for sale to independent dealers.

Most smaller dealers would love to be able to order 25 or 50 LCP pistols. The problem is...you have to be able to pay for 'em. $10k is a lot to pay for 50 pistols when you get your money back $300 at a time. That's just for those guns. Keep in mind you have to keep other guns, ammo, accessories in stock plus pay all the other bills. It takes a lot of money...even for the small guys.

There were times when I'd easily have $50k in ammo sitting on the shelf. Takes a long time to recover that much money when you're selling 1 or 2 boxes per customer with a case or two thrown in occasionally. The big selling calibers (9mm, .40, .45, .223, 762x39, etc...) would sell quickly and made for good cash flow. But you still have to keep the odd calibers around (.280, .275, WSMs, etc...) for the hunters and such. That stuff can sit around for months before it sells and the other products you sell have to pick up the slack for the slow movers.

 

[kd7nqb]

I knew guns mostly all went through distributors I guess I just forgot about that step. But this all makes sense.

 

[rfurtkamp]

The other thing I should add is that backorders on large purchases can quickly wreck a shop's cash flow as well - if the 20 pistols suddenly become available, do you honestly expect them to have been sitting on cash they couldn't use etc?

Most small shops don't sit on tens of thousands of dollars at a time for backordered inventory IME.

Couple that with maybe 1 in 5 people will actually buy what they're on a list for, etc. and the reality of the situation comes in fast and mean.

 

[knockonit]

units

My understanding on the shipments is that they are allotted to dealers, seller that deal in volume, if you don't meet a certain criteria on volume, then you go to end of line, and get what comes back or when all other large volume dealers end up with excess.
Most small dealers will only recieve twois and threeies of any given unit, especially if they are hot to trott on the sales table.
I find that certain parts of the States have more units to offer up than others, hence the reason I frequent a lot of forums gleening information about local shops and what they have.
good luck with what ever you're looking for, we all have a wish list.
rj

 

[ServiceSoon]

I saw we get the mfgers to set themselves up to sell direct so the middleman is eliminated. That way guns will be less expensive.

 

[Duke of Doubt]

Manufacturers would rather deal with a hundred wholesalers than ten thousand retailers or a million purchasers

 

[22-rimfire]

The gunshop I visit the most has an order in for 25 LCP's. They have maybe 20 of them already sold. They recieve the guns a few at a time.

 

[S&Wfan]

Excess stock will kill a business faster than just about any other thing. You end up with cash flow problems and go to your local money pusher banker and he ends up making all your net profit. There's a HUGE difference from what a person takes in, and how many pennies he gets to keep after all bills are paid.

How come they don't stock extra guns? For the same reason I don't buy two cars at once just to keep one rusting until the other one wears out!

ANOTHER REASON NOT YET MENTIONED FOR THE "BACKORDER" EXCUSE . . . "CREDIT HOLD!"

Yep, lots of businesses who can pay their bills on time get cut off and then have to pay cash, if they can get stock at all!

Gun shops don't want to take those decals off their windows advertising that they are a dealer for all the good stuff because they lost their franchise for slow or no payment of invoices! So . . . they try to switch you to the crap no one ever wants clogging their counters and inventories . . . and blame the requested products company for "backorders."

We have a local gun shop in my town right now like that . . . a store clogged with the wrong crap from from the front door to the back. Tonight was yet another wasted trip for 230 grain premium .45ACP ammo. "Will you be getting some 230 HydraShock in?" "Don't know." "How about Golden Sabre, are you stocking it?" "No."

Not a new Smith revolver (or used) in their cases . . . except a couple of 500s no body will ever buy, month on end. No black rifles, no decent knives. Just years of people picking over the good stuff and leaving the crap that the makers force you to initially buy to get a dealership.

Someone mention Rugers? NO NEW .32 autos here. No Ruger autos except a Mk III. Revolvers, take your pick of a pair of high dollar engraved John Wayne Vaqueros, a bird's head grip Ruger single action . . . and MAYBE a Blackhawk.

Natch . . . they have the little Taurus revolvers and a Charter Arms. Used? A single Astra. I hear them discouraging trade ins of all types all the time too.

It is sad to see the death of a store this way.

Oh well, they FINALLY decided to get back in the gunpower business in a small way after telling me a year ago that "people don't reload anymore so we got out of the business." The have a little powder, such as a pound of Universal Clays for $24.95, but zero primers, no bullets, and no brass!

Large store too.

BTW . . . if you are looking for a safe (I am), they've got two Brownings in stock . . . at $3,500 a pop. Take your pick. I'll bet the others are still on "backorder.":banghead:

Oh yeah . . . if you are looking for a tiny camoflage bikini bottom trimmed in pink, or a camo and pink license plate . . . THEY GOT IT!

 

[Hoppy590]

my gunshop has had a standing order for 10 AR lowers a month from atleast 2 companys, and he stocks more brands when he can. he sells out as soon as they come in.

 

[HexHead]

It appears Ruger is taking the Rolex approach. To get the hot models like LCP or the .32 Magnum revolvers, you have to take a bunch of the other slower selling models as well. My local dealer has a bunch of Rugers, just not any of the ones I'd want.

 

[jorb]

I believe it has do do with high overhead costs and low profit margins.

 

[expvideo]

I don't know how it works in the gun world, but this might be relevant:

I used to sell cell phones at a retailer. We were only able to order a particular number of any device. Let's say for example the razr. When it came out it was incredibly popular and everyone wanted one. We couldn't keep them on the shelves. The problem was that we were only able to order a certain number of phones from the cell phone company. This number was based on our annual sales. So the larger companies can order a larger amount of phones, while the smaller companies do not have so much leniency.

I have a feeling that this is the case with the gun shops. The suppliers will give the large order to the big company and then devide the scraps among the small companies. So Al's Bait and Gun can request 50 pistols all they want, but they're only going to get what the supplier is willing to send them.

That's just speculation, but I have a feeling it is somewhat accurate.

 

[rfurtkamp]

That's just speculation, but I have a feeling it is somewhat accurate.

Yeah, small shops typically can only get a small number, and when they're offered it's take it or leave it, no 'can I have them next week'.