Does anyone ever pay MSRP for a gun?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Here is how my convo goes... "Hey Mr.dealer guy, Hogdogs here, great and your family... okay the reason I called is I am curious as to the price you have on &%$#@@ pistol.... Oh I see, The online price is $XXX.oo plus your ffl fee. So how close can you come to their price... Oh I understand you can't meet their price and I don't expect it just your best offer... sure I will hold a moment... well only 2 dollars more than their price + your ffl fee... SOLD wrap it up I will be in there in a minute to pay you... Please kiss your hot wife for me...HA HA HA..."
Brent
 
LOL @ Brent! :D

I was wondering if it worked that way with (some) dealers. Seems a lot easier than all the hassle of shipping.
 
Not Unless You Want To Get Ripped

A couple years ago, I wanted my S&W 1911 and I called a local store/range in Deerfield, WI. They quoted me about 25 bucks less than MSRP. That really ticked me off, and told them so.
Went 5 miles away and bought it from a small shop at 250 bucks less.
They must have thought I just fell "off the boat".:rolleyes:
SN
 
Hotdogs... ya did it again :) I get all the handling and research out of the way and then I buy from whoever has the cheapest price. If a sales person or business has been good to me I'll pay a little more at their store because good business is hard to come by these days.
 
I rarely even buy new.

Probably 80% of my firearms are purchaseg used in FTF transfers. It's been around 10 years since I purchased a "new" handgun (Glock 27) from a dealer.
 
I am the type guy who can barely handle the 3 day wait. I also do not want any shipping snafu's to further delay the purchase. On my last purchase I was dealing with a shop I had never called and they didn't even have the pistol I was after in stock. They gave me a good price over the phone and I kicked it around for a day when out of the blue they called the next day or so and told me if I wanted to handle said gun they now had one for me to look at. SOLD!!! Nothing like a sales oriented enterprise "SELLING"! They worked their business to make me a customer and I sure am!
Brent
 
I find that most of the guns that sell used are usually just a hundred or two below the value of a new gun. For me it's hard to tell how many round have gone through a used gun and if I bought used I'd probably have to send it to a gunsmith and have him go through the whole thing so I knew that it was reliable and safe. Then in the end it would probably cost me as much as a new gun and it would be all scratched up. I do know that if the barrel is yellow/gold that there has been alot of rounds put through it all at once and it got really hot. My brother in law buys all his guns used and beat up, they all look like they have been dragged behind the truck. I'm sure he got a good deal but that's not what I want my guns to look like. I'll only buy used if the gun has never been fired or I know for sure it's only been fired just a few times and is in pristine condition. Actually out of all the guns I have only one was used and I bought it 'unfired'.
 
Two weeks ago I purchased a Glock 23 for $300. It doesn't have a mark anywhere on it. Looks NIB. :D I love used guns.
 
I do my homework before I go shopping at the gun store or a gun show. To date I have never paid MSRP on any weapon I own, but I don't buy many from gun stores. I have bought most of my NIB guns at the gun shows below MSRP. At the shows I check out all dealers pricing first, then I decide what price I can afford and start making offers at each dealer, if none accept my offer I walk away and return the next day and go thru the same ritual. I have bought at least one gun at my price, always less than MSRP, 8 out of 10 shows. My last buy was a S&W M&P 9MM compact for 425 and the MSRP was 502.50. The dealer still recovered all his cost plus he made money off me
 
MSRP and Gunstores

When a I go into a gunstore and ask them if they can order a firearm for me, and they tell me they can and it will cost me the MSRP, I know they are trying to rip me off and I immediately think all their prices are too high.

Now, with the panic-buying....it is hard to tell if a gunstore is ripping you off, or if his supplier is ripping him off!

Been wanting a Ruger LCP, but I will wait until there are ALOT of them available, and the price goes down. Should be around 2015 I calculate. :)
 
And the reliability goes up also. I had one when they first hit the street and was at a good price $265, but the one I got was a POS. I learned all the failure acronyms with the gun i.e. FTF, FTE and recall. I dumped it for less than what I paid for it and I still think I screwed he buyer. Buy yourself and EMP, it is well worth the extra $$$$
 
Chuckusaret, that's one of my main reasons I'll almost never buy a used gun. Every time I hear about a lemon the guy immediately sells it, looks like new in the box and a great deal but IMHO many of the used guns on the market are being sold for a reason.
 
I'll almost never buy a used gun. Every time I hear about a lemon the guy immediately sells it, looks like new in the box and a great deal but IMHO many of the used guns on the market are being sold for a reason.
Click to expand...
I hear you, and there's probably a lot of truth to that. When I buy used, its from someone I know or at least someone on a forum (like this one) that has been participating long enough that I have a sense of their integrity. On the other hand, I've bought two "lemons" brand new, and in both cases the manufacturers were no help at all. So you can get stuck either way. (Both guns, btw, I sold with explicit histories of my issues, to people who loved the brand so much they assumed my problems with the guns were "operator error").
 
I'll admit I paid MSRP for a Ruger LCP.
Click to expand...

I paid MORE than MSRP for mine. And I didn't blink, either. They were the only game in town who had one and after tearing it apart next to the P-3AT, I was happy to pay extra.
I sold my P32 to fund the purchase, so it's not like I wasn't familiar with Kel-Tec or unhappy with them, just that the Ruger workmanship was so clearly superior.

I also didn't blink because this particular dealer has been good to me in the past and has prices that are usually $80-$100 below the other ripoff artists in town.
 
I've bought a lot of used and new guns ( more than I should probably ) in the last 4 or 5 years - and I've paid list for some of them.

I buy most of my guns thru a local dealer - and he treats me well ( usually 10 - 15% over his wholesale cost ) which is very fair in my view. Standard markup among dealers in my area is 25 - 40% over their wholesale price.

If I want something special - like a Wilson Combat 1911 - I understand I'm basically paying list price - but I'm also ordering the gun exactly as I want it.

I don't fool with any internet sellers. I don't frankly think its worth it - but I also don't buy too many common production guns. I did buy a new Sig 239 a few months ago / and I think it was marked $900 - buy my local dealer gave me my normal deal over his markup and I paid about $ 750 I think. The real trick is to develop a relationship with a good local dealer, make sure he is making a living - and everything should be a win - win situation. Its at the point now, with my dealer, that when he gets someone offering him a gun as a trade-in or something, and he knows I may want it, he's calling me and holding it for me to look it over. So I even get some of the first looks at his new inventory / and I try and stop by once a week just to see what is new and different.
 
all of my guns have been used but i think i have gotten some awsome deals...i got my FEG 9mmHP 2 mags and a box of ammo for a trade of a old mossberg 500...my dealer also has a Bushmaster m-4 with 2 mags for $850 that i am going to but on lay-away
 
I'm not an impulsive shopper. When I'm purchasing a gun, I've done my research, know exactly what I'm looking for and I know what they are selling for used, new, on gunbroker, in stores and at gunshows. Lately, most of the guns I've purchased are either from gun shows or over the internet. I've never been burned on any of my acquisitions - got exactly what I thought I was getting.

If I am looking for a particular gun at a gunshow, I basically put the blinders on and look at/for nothing else. Am I passing up "good deals"? Possibly, but it's not really a "good deal" if it's not somehting I've decided that I really want - so let the next guy find his "good deal". If I find the gun, I ASK to look at it. My next quesiton will be about the price. If the price is better than what I expected from doing my research, I will ask to dissasemble the gun and look at it closer, indicating that I will purchase it if everything looks "right".

If the price is out of the ball park too high, I gently put the gun down and thank the gentleman for letting me look at it. Sometimes the seller really wants to sell it anyway and will ask for an offer. I'll tell the seller that I like the gun, that I know what these guns sell for and tell him my price, which will be what I feel is a fair price, not a ridiculous low-ball. Sometimes the seller genuinely has too much money into a particular gun, other times we strike a deal. Just depends.

If the price is close to what I think should be a fair price, I will throw out what I'd be willing to pay for it - usually the price that I see them selling for on Gunbroker and other forum boards. If I save shipping and the transfer hassle, it's worth it for me to just pay cash and buy it right there.

That's just how I buy guns - it's not rocket science, most people know what the "fair" selling price is for their guns, and as long as you are just trying to pay a fair price for it, you'll probably get the deal you want.
 
Yes, but it was a "First Edition" limited to 1,000 pieces allegedly. Controlled distribution to a national chain didn't help either.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top