Cabelas price gouging

If you waited till now to buy guns and ammo under the threat of a gun ban, you deserved to gouged.
 
Hmmmmm, let's see. If I am in business (which I am), and I offer to buy your used whatever for a reasonable price (which I often do), and you think it's worth more than that (which people often do), you have the option of doing business or not. Who is being unreasonable? As a businessman, I take a risk, in this case the risk that the firearm is in good operating condition and that I will be able to resell it at a profit (because remember, the business of any business is to make a profit) within a reasonable period of time. The seller sets the asking price. But the selling price is determined by mutual agreement.

If you come in to my place of business and loudly complain that the price is too high, you are just being disruptive and belligerent, and I can have you forcibly removed or arrested. If you come in and just whine about the price, you are being infantile. If you come in and make me an offer at less than asking price, you are offering to do business, and I have to make a decision: after taking into account the risk taken and the time value of money, will I make any profit on the transaction? If I sell at the offered price, then I have decided that I either need to move the goods to free up some cash, or that the offered price meets my needs of a reasonable profit. If I say no, it does not. Very simple. Right?

I am in business to earn a living, not outfit you with toys at a price you want to pay (that would be a recipe for bankruptcy). If the price is too high, or you don't want to pay that much, you go shop somewhere else or choose other goods. You being a cheapskate or being broke has no bearing on the cost of me doing business. What part of "free enterprise" is hard for Americans to grasp nowadays? Prices are going up everywhere, not just at Cabela's. If you don't like it, write your Congressman and tell them to stop lying about inflation (and everything else) and put a balanced budget in place.
 
^^^^^^^^ Plus one. My prices are set by what I need to live first, what I can for my labor second. You don't like my labor rates, GO elsewhere. You don't like the fact that that's what guides my price, MOVE elsewhere.
 
+1000 Scorch!

When they are buying and the price is high, it's "gouging" When they're selling and the price is high, they "scored" - can't have it both ways

To those who think it is gouging - DON'T BUY IT! If it more than YOU think it should sell for, walk away. If enough folks do that, then the seller has a decision to make; but if enough do not walk away, then it is priced correctly to the market conditions
 
I don't think Cabelas is price gouging. I DO THINK they have always been DRAMATICALLY OVERPRICED. This is more true with their used guns. They sell some beat up crap for new prices. I don't know who pays it though. Most of the new guns Cabelas sells are available for $100 less elsewhere. There are some exceptions though. But they are not like cheaper than dirt and demanding several times the MSRP to take advantage of the panic.
 
This is an over-simplification but no manufacturer or retailer of firearms has a monopoly in the US. Both retail and private sales of firearms occur in a competitive market in which the buyer and seller are both willing to accept the price at which the firearm is actually sold. In other words, the actual selling price paid by the buyer is a function of supply and demand, and Scorch's explanation is correct .
 
Sellers may set a price, but buyers set the market price. A seller can price something higher than people are willing to pay and leave it there for years. The item is still priced the same, but there is no sale transaction, therefore it is only an asking price, not a sale or market price.
 
used baseball gloves

A long time ago I worked at Play It Again sports, where we sold new and used sporting goods. Lots of parents came in looking for used baseball gloves, since they were already broken in. Without exception, they would take offense at the high prices we put on used gloves. Customer: "I can buy a new glove for that price!" Me: "Then buy a new one."

:D
 
Almost 100 percent increase in ammo prices

Went to Cabela's today in St. Louis just to see prices. They had pleanty of Herters 7.62x39mm ammo. Cost is now $7.50/20rd box. Last month the same ammo was on sale for about $4.50-$5.00 for the same box. Since I have enough ammo for awhile, I will wait until all this blows over and prices go back to normal. For those who complain, if we don't buy the artifically inflated items, the prices will have to go back to normal, but since so many are freaking out and panic buying, the prices will go up. Most political types say none of Obama's foolishness will pass congress, so I will just wait it out.
 
A bit of background first.
i have owned 1 AR-15 for nearly 2 years.
My AR is a Norinco with a 14.5" barrel so I cannot bring it into the USA where I am a club member in Vt.
I have been planing another AR build to meet US law and was waiting for spring to arrive.
In Canada our magazine laws are 5 rounds for semi auto rifles so most mags are standard capacity but pinned to block them at 5.
Since I had no place to use 30 round magazines in Canada I only had 1 pinned Pmag.
Ever since the talk of an AWB started and the possibility of grandfathering magazines started everyone in Canada began to panick buy simply because supply has been drying up in the USA.
Last week I went into my LGS looking for some BR-2 primers.
While I was there I saw a few Pmags hanging on the wall.
They were priced at their regular price of $23.99 (Canadian pricing and pinned to 5 rounds)
I looked and to my surprise they were 5.56 cal so I took the 3 FDE ones he had on the wall and went to the cash with them.
I asked if he had any black ones and was told that all he had left were another 2 FDE and 6 OD so I bought them all.

I then went onto my usual Canadian gun forum and placed a WTT add to swap for black ones.
I have been bombarded with offers to buy them at prices everywhere from $20-$50 each.
The going rate on the board is around $50 at the moment.
If I want to purchase black Pmags and I am willing to pay $50 for them am I gouging by selling my OD green or FDE mags at $50?

I also bought a Stag 3 Gun yesterday for $110 less than retail so I know shops up here are not gouging but they cannot guarantee pricing on future shipments so we will see the increases in the next batch of rifles.
 
My Uncle just sold his Model T automobile for a little under $15,000.00. The MSRP on that car was about $700.00.

Can you believe the price gouging he did? (The car was not a necessity to the purchaser, no one MADE the guy buy the car. In fact, it was something he wanted and could afford. I am sure he would rather have had a Dusenburg, but he could afford the Model T.)


When I owned my own auto repair shop, I had a customer who needed a tie-rod end put in. I think I was going to charge $45.00 to do it. His wife called, complaining the part only cost $15.00 and wanted to know why I was charging $45.00, she said I was gouging them and she was going to report me to the state. (Turns out I had the cheapest price to do the job in a wide area and they asked me to do it. I refused and told them they could take their vehicle to someone else.)

If you do not like the price, then go elsewhere to purchase it. When you see the price others are asking, and you like the price, buy it. Just because you find the price of something beyond what you are willing to pay for it, it does not mean the owner of the item is trying to gouge you or anyone else.
 
Now, if somebody has an area-wide monopoly, that could change things, but there are laws about monopolies and price fixing.

Last I looked, Cabela's did not have a monopoly of any kind on any (non-branded) item.
 
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