Will online gun sales eventually replace local gun stores?

[jpruitt]

Online merchants have taken a good-sized chunk out of just about every retail market out there.

Take books: Borders is gone thanks to Amazon (and its own mismanagement), Books a Millions are closing, Barnes and Noble is in trouble, in no small part due to Amazon (and electronic books).

Or electronics: Circuit City is gone, and Best Buy is struggling. H H Gregg seems to be holding its own for the time being, but their business model is a bit different (we'll see how long that continues).

Music, video, and video game stores are pretty much a dying breed, all thanks to the internet.

Amazon is even experimenting with the idea of an online grocery service (if anyone can pull that off it's them).

Are brick and mortar gun stores going to face this kind of trouble? Already, I can go to Buds, Davidsons, or half a dozen other online sellers and get better prices than at my local stores. True, I can't physically handle the gun online, and local stores can offer things like a gun range and supplies that may not be worth ordering electronically. Plus there may be times when someone needs a gun quickly, and may not have time to wait for one to be shipped.

Still, online retailers have had some of these same problems in other areas, yet have still managed to gain ground.

Are online sellers a significant threat to local gun stores? If not now, do you see a time when they will be?

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

there's one LGS around here where they charge one price for a transfer and then a higher price for a transfer on a gun that shipped from budsgunshop.com. i'd say Bud's is definitely hurting them enough that they've tried to artificially raise the price of guns from Bud's. all they've really done is make folks find another FFL. big volume dealers get better wholesale prices. those savings are passed on to the customer.

 

[oneounceload]

I hope not, because the Feds could try to shut them down a lot easier than brick and mortar stores

 

[wally]

It'll change things, that is for sure, but we have great gun shows here, about once a month on average, where the 6-10 largest dealers in the state compete head to head.

I rarely buy guns on-line simply because I can generally meet or beat the on-line prices at gun shows. Inspecting what you take home before its transfered counts for something too.

Even before the Internet I rarely shopped local gun stores after I discovered our gun shows, so the local stores here have figured out how to do well enough.

In areas where guns shows are not good the local stores are going to have to adapt to the Internet the way our stores adapted to our good gun shows years ago.

There is a local hardware store that does a very nice side business doing nothing but FFL transfers. I'd expect this aspect to grow.

 

[MErl]

The regulatory overhead (no mail order guns) is limiting it. There will always be a need for a local FFL. I'm not sure if someone could reliably make enough profit being a non-stocking transfer only FFL to support a family/live a life. As a side business sure but not sure about the primary income.

There is a place around here that specializes in reloading, hazmat stuff and rents time on their dillon. They sell guns but all used trade & transfers. Shops like that may become more common with less stocking of new production. In that case, are they really gun stores or are they specialty stores that also sell guns?

There is another one (pawn shop so used again) that has a higher fee from Buds. What I would understand a shop doing is "This is the fee for a used gun, this is the higher fee for a new gun we could order for you." Singling out a specific retailer like that can backfire and drive more people to them while the other is saying "let us order it for you."

 

[berettaprofessor]

No. I've bought online guns, but primarily I look there for collectibles. I browse at local gun stores for surprises and for basic home defense, target, and hunting firearms. Those I want to handle and see.

 

[Speedo66]

If you put the LGS out of business, where you going to ship it to from the online store?

 

[donato]

"If you put the LGS out of business, where you going to ship it to from the online store?"

If that happens, the law/rules will have to change.

 

[hso]

You can't have firearms shipped to your door anymore so how can brick and mortar stores be put out of business? You still have to have an FFL local receive them and you have to have the background check. Many people still want to handle the firearm and you can't do that through the internet.

Change the laws where you could have them shipped to you and perhaps that would happen.

 

[BSA1]

Many people still want to handle the firearm and you can't do that through the internet.

Yep. It will create a heck of a used gun market when the Internet buyer finds out he doesn't like the gun after he receives it and can't return it.

 

[hardluk1]

Not for me. Only thing I have bought cheaper on line is a aero precision lower and that was on sale . Local general store can meet or atleast be very close in price to the best on-line dealers after ffl fee is added and I get to handle the firearm before buying.

 

[clutch]

I've purchased both ways. My online sales were through small FFL's that didn't have an inventory. In those cases I'd read a review, shot someones gun, or was sure I wanted it based on research.

Most of my purchases have been at brick and mortar stores where I examined the firearm, sometimes on a lark, and told them I'll take it now. Immediate gratification has a lot going for it.

I don't think online is going to kill retail gun stores. Besides, where are we going to get powder and primers from? Brick and mortar have that going for them.

 

[herrwalther]

I don't believe so. You will always have customers who, at the very least, want to feel a firearm that they are buying. You can't exactly do that when your interaction to it is some pictures before hitting "Add to Cart."

 

[larryh1108]

Well, kitchen table FFLs are all over. With no overhead to speak of, they can do the transfers for $25 and it's basically pure profit. I can't count how many transfers of mine have gone thru a home-based FFL. If I lived in an area that allowed it, I would offer that service and when I move out of CT and retire in a few years, that's just what I plan to do. To survive in business, you have to go with the flow.

 

[George Dickel]

If internet sales start hurting the LGS too much they will just start charging more money to handle the transfer and there goes the price advantage for the internet sellers. If I owned a gun store and you came in to ask for me to handle the transfer for an internet sale on a new gun, I'd tell you to pack sand or charge $500 for the service.

I held an FFL a number of years ago and one day while browsing the Walmart gun selection I looked at a .22lr I was considering ordering from a wholesaler. The sale price on it was less than what I would have paid to the wholesaler I dealt with, and the regular sales price was what I had to pay wholesale for the rifle. The big box stores can under sell any LGS because the LGS will usually only purchase a hand full of a certain model to stock in the shop where as Walmart, Dick's, etc., purchase a few thousand and hold them in their warehouse until sold. When you purchase a few hundred or a couple thousand of anything you will definitely get it for a much better price than the LGS that can only purchase a few.

Keep buying from the big box stores and on line and run the LGS out of business. After the LGS is gone do you really think Walmart or Dick's will handle the transfer from an internet sale for you?

 

[mgkdrgn]

"If you put the LGS out of business, where you going to ship it to from the online store?"

If that happens, the law/rules will have to change.

Why? Do you really think the laws would change so it would be =easier= to get guns?

 

[George Dickel]

Well, kitchen table FFLs are all over. With no overhead to speak of, they can do the transfers for $25 and it's basically pure profit. I can't count how many transfers of mine have gone thru a home-based FFL. If I lived in an area that allowed it, I would offer that service and when I move out of CT and retire in a few years, that's just what I plan to do. To survive in business, you have to go with the flow.

Think back to the Clinton administration, they instructed the BATF to start closing down kitchen table FFL's and were pretty successfull. Let the majority of LGS close and another rabidly anti-gun administration gets into office. All they will have to do is prohibit kitchen table FFL's and then the only place you will be able to buy a gun is the big box stores. No kitchen table FFL's, no internet sales.

 

[HOOfan_1]

If I owned a gun store and you came in to ask for me to handle the transfer for an internet sale on a new gun, I'd tell you to pack sand or charge $500 for the service.

That attitude would probably run you out of business faster than charging something more reasonable like $75 or you know doing something like convincing the customer to buy something you have in inventory.

 

[George Dickel]

I have been browsing many of the internet sales sites and by the time you pay the shipping/insurance and transfer fee, in many cases you don't save anything or very little.

 

[larryh1108]

Correct, George, but the internet and internet sales is a lot more of a force now than when Clinton was around. How did we get so many kitchen table FFLs if Clinton tried to push them out? I suppose the Feds could make all kinds of laws to stop the kitchen table FFL but why would they? They get the fees from them. I can see a "transfer tax" in the future to line the pockets of those who wish to shut us down. However, that would apply to all FFLs, not just the home-based ones, right?

 

[larryh1108]

I have been browsing many of the internet sales sites and by the time you pay the shipping/insurance and transfer fee, in many cases you don't save anything or very little.

Very true but think of the selection you get online versus a small LGS. Even the mega box stores can't touch the selection of used guns you find on the net. I am one who likes to purchase used as much as possible. Go to a LGS and see maybe 10 guns? Most on consignment where the owners want near new retail and then add the LGS markup? You can find almost any used gun you may want online but you are severly limited at most local gun shops, even the big boys. The internet is here to stay and it will hurt the smaller stores. However, that's where being a good businessman comes in and you bend over backwards to earn the dollars from the consumers. The days of the crabby, rude, old, LGS owner should end in the next 10 years. Those guys don't want to change and if you don't change, you will perish.

 

[HOOfan_1]

I have been browsing many of the internet sales sites and by the time you pay the shipping/insurance and transfer fee, in many cases you don't save anything or very little.

You forget availability though. Maybe they are buying something you don't have in stock...and possibly can't get.

How much money are you making on a sale of your own stock anyway?

Do the transfer for a reasonable amount and then up sell ammo, magazines, cleaning equipment, lube, optics, other accessories.

From what I have heard, gun stores are not making their best profits off of guns anyway.

 

[Agsalaska]

It will not completely because of gun transfer rules. But those LGS that do not embrace it will ultimately fail do to their own mismanagement.

I generally use gun shops to handle the gun. Then I buy it online and have it shipped to an FFL that is smart enough to accept the transfers. That is for new guns of course as you cannot do it on used guns.

 

[CajunBass]

Nor for me they won't. I don't buy new guns, and I want to hold a used one in my hand before I buy it.

I've never seen anything on gunbroker that made me want to bid on it. The idea of an auction (for anything) strikes me as silly. I'm the one willing to pay the most for something. (ummmm) Some "win."

I doubt brick and mortor stores will be gone in my time left on this earth.

 

[George Dickel]

That attitude would probably run you out of business faster than charging something more reasonable like $75 or you know doing something like convincing the customer to buy something you have in inventory.

People who buy on line and expect a LGS to handle the transfer would run the shop out of business faster than any attitude I would have towards your request. If someone buys guns from the internet, I'll bet the majority buy their scopes, accessories and other items from the internet also, and never think to buy it from the LGS that handled their transfer. Maybe if you were a frequent customer of the LGS you might get some consideration for a better sales price on a gun you want. I try to support my LGS as much as possible. When ever I go there I try to buy something to help keep them in business. The LGS where I shop employs a number of sales staff and range safety personnel, how many people does the internet seller employ where you live??? They treat customers very well, give discounts and provide other small services for free to regular customers.