
Originally Posted by
joe.a
I ran into this last year with the LGS/range I am a member at. I understand that it's hard to compete with larger wholesalers. However, that doesn't excuse my place from selling guns $50-$100 more than MSRP. They shouldn't be shocked when people go elsewhere for sales and transfers.
Well here is the first problem. MSRP is actually $719 and there probably isn't a gun store in the nation that is actually getting MSRP, let alone $50-100 above MSRP. Dealer price however is $530 so PSA is actually selling below what I can buy them for as a FFL. I think THAT is the problem most gun shops have with PSA, the fact that they literally CAN'T compete with the price, even if they sold them at cost.
The other problem is perception from people who don't know the difference between actual dealer price and MSRP and believe that a shop selling the same gun for $625 is actually selling for $100 above MSRP when in fact they are almost $100 below MSRP.
Finally there is this consideration, several people here expect FFLs to transfer the gun from PSA for $20 or so. That means you pay $519 + $10 shipping + $20 transfer for a total of about $550. It costs about $1000 a year for me to be a FFL so I would have to do 50 transfers just to cover my operating costs for the year.
That means those 50 people have actually bought the same gun cheaper than I can buy it for myself.
Now if I had millions of dollars and could stock 20 of each model and move a ton of product I could probably get by on $20 markups, but I don't know a single gun store that does that much volume.
Now I don't blame anyone who wants to only pay $20 above dealer and will go to whoever is the cheapest price, it's your money after all. But you shouldn't blame gun store owners who don't want to undermine their own business. Somebody said $20 for 10 minutes work, problem is you might only sell 5 guns that day so you've only made $100. If it was like bread in the grocery store where you sold one every 10 minutes all day long then trust me, prices would be a LOT lower, just like at the grocery store.
It's hard to be a ACLU hating, philosophically Libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative, scientifically grounded, agnostic, porn admiring gun owner who believes in self determination.
Chuck, we miss ya man.
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