FFL
- Thread starter damiano
- Start date
I would only consider opening another gun
shop (if I had it to do over again) only
if it were at least 25 miles from the
nearest competition and there were a good supply of target shooters or trap & skeet shooters available as customers.
Hunters, IMO , do not make very good customers, because they only buy 1 or 2 guns
for life and them maybe 2 or 3 boxes of ammo a year. you can not opperate a suscessfull
business on this meager income. Prehaps, if you stocked up a huge store with all the
multitude of paraphinallia that they use, you might be able to make a go of it if K mart
or walmart were not there to under price you. I make it a policy to never sell anything that can be bought at either of those 2 stores as it is a loosing proposition.
Regarding the amount of money required
to stock a store for hunters, if you have that much money, you dont need to have a gun shop for a living; just put that money in a certificate of deposit and retire, and spend your time at the range shooting.
If you think that you are going to sell guns without having them in stock for the customers to drop and scratch without buying them, you are saddly mistaken. If I had $1.oo
for every time I have heard, " I wont buy anything without holding it in my hand first!" A REAL FOOL WILL THEN ORDER THE GUN
SO THAT THIS MAN CAN HOLD IT IN HIS HAND BEFORE BUYING IT. That way you get to hear
"I CHANGED MY MIND,I DONT LIKE IT AND IM NOT
BUYING IT." Now you go call the distributer
and are told that if you pay for return shipping $35.00 UPS Overnight air on pistols, and accept a 25% restocking fee on the $1000.oo shot gun ,then they will refund you $750.oo. SEE , IT ONLY COST YOU 280.OO
to let this fool hold a shot gun.
Your alternative to this is to keep the gun , probably in stock for 3 to 5 years,
until some one comes alone who thinks that gun is neat and it willing to pay 1100.oo
for it, since it cost you 1030 in the door,
you get to make 70.oo while tieing up your money for 5 years. You would get 61.8o in interest at 6% in only one year in the bank
on a 1030.oo deposit. in the 5 years you had to sit on that gun to finally sell it , the
bank would have given you 309.oo in simple interest, not counting coumpounding.
All of the above does not take into account
the cost of opperating a store front.You can no longer get an ffl without a commercial location.So ,you need to buy a store front
or find a landlord willing to permit the opperation of gun shop , in writing, on his premises. This requires gun shop libility insurance for you, figure 2,000.oo yearly,
and now some
law suit insurance, in case the city or state you are in decides to sue you for selling guns that somehow land in the hands of felons--even if none of yours ever do . Also,
you need to get permission and permits from the city and the state to opperate a gun shop.And have the building inspected to insure it meets any special state codes for gun shops,ei electronic security system to prevent gun thieft or required gun vaults.
Figure 100.oo for city permit & 100.oo for state permit and 200.oo for ffl and you may be required to also have a state ccw permit.
The landloard may also need to carry special libility for a gun shop , depending on how liberal (anti -gun) his insurance company is.
He may even be dropped by his current insurer and forced to find another ins company at a higher price. This ,of course , will cause you a rent increase.
You also need a building with adiquate
out front parking and a good volume of trafic
flow past your gun shop sign. This must be 3,000 feet minimum from the Gun Free School Zone. So make sure you check of any schools nearby that may disqualify your location.
Next, in order to just pay for all this insurance and rent, commercial rates on heat and lights = 3x domestic rate and commercial phone = 10 x domestic phone rates, you need to charge 100.oo per gun over cost to cover opperating expenses. BUT WAIT, YOU CANT DO THAT, BECAUSE THE GUN SHOP DOWN THE STREET
BOUGHT THAT SAME GUN YOU ARE SELLING FOR :
lets see, cost you 300.oo + 35.00 ship = in the door at 335.00 + 100.oo=445.oo x 6% state sales tax of 26.7o =471.70 out the door.
But the guy down the street bought 10 of the same guns on close out sale from a different distributer at 220.oo each and shipped all 10 of them for only 50.00 , costing him only 5.00 shipping per gun. So , he owns them,
(in the door price) for 225.00 + 100.oo =
325.00 x 6% tax = out the door @344.50
You need to get 471.7o and he is selling at
344.5o, or $127.20 under your price. your in door cost was 335 x 6%tax =20.01 tax=355.10
You can not even match his price unelse you are willing to not only not make a profit but accept a 10.oo per gun loss.How are you going to pay the rent,heat ,lights,phone etc.
How do you get out of this one? you stick the guns in the back room and wait 5 years, until your compeditor cant get them any more; meanwhile loosing all that nice interest you could have been getting in a bank CD.
Only one problem with this, while you are waiting to sell your in stock guns, the government might come into your gun shop and just confiscate all your stock firearms, without reinbursting you.
Now , Thanks to Al Gore , you are financially ruined through no fault of your
own.
Welcome to the gun business!!!
shop (if I had it to do over again) only
if it were at least 25 miles from the
nearest competition and there were a good supply of target shooters or trap & skeet shooters available as customers.
Hunters, IMO , do not make very good customers, because they only buy 1 or 2 guns
for life and them maybe 2 or 3 boxes of ammo a year. you can not opperate a suscessfull
business on this meager income. Prehaps, if you stocked up a huge store with all the
multitude of paraphinallia that they use, you might be able to make a go of it if K mart
or walmart were not there to under price you. I make it a policy to never sell anything that can be bought at either of those 2 stores as it is a loosing proposition.
Regarding the amount of money required
to stock a store for hunters, if you have that much money, you dont need to have a gun shop for a living; just put that money in a certificate of deposit and retire, and spend your time at the range shooting.
If you think that you are going to sell guns without having them in stock for the customers to drop and scratch without buying them, you are saddly mistaken. If I had $1.oo
for every time I have heard, " I wont buy anything without holding it in my hand first!" A REAL FOOL WILL THEN ORDER THE GUN
SO THAT THIS MAN CAN HOLD IT IN HIS HAND BEFORE BUYING IT. That way you get to hear
"I CHANGED MY MIND,I DONT LIKE IT AND IM NOT
BUYING IT." Now you go call the distributer
and are told that if you pay for return shipping $35.00 UPS Overnight air on pistols, and accept a 25% restocking fee on the $1000.oo shot gun ,then they will refund you $750.oo. SEE , IT ONLY COST YOU 280.OO
to let this fool hold a shot gun.
Your alternative to this is to keep the gun , probably in stock for 3 to 5 years,
until some one comes alone who thinks that gun is neat and it willing to pay 1100.oo
for it, since it cost you 1030 in the door,
you get to make 70.oo while tieing up your money for 5 years. You would get 61.8o in interest at 6% in only one year in the bank
on a 1030.oo deposit. in the 5 years you had to sit on that gun to finally sell it , the
bank would have given you 309.oo in simple interest, not counting coumpounding.
All of the above does not take into account
the cost of opperating a store front.You can no longer get an ffl without a commercial location.So ,you need to buy a store front
or find a landlord willing to permit the opperation of gun shop , in writing, on his premises. This requires gun shop libility insurance for you, figure 2,000.oo yearly,
and now some
law suit insurance, in case the city or state you are in decides to sue you for selling guns that somehow land in the hands of felons--even if none of yours ever do . Also,
you need to get permission and permits from the city and the state to opperate a gun shop.And have the building inspected to insure it meets any special state codes for gun shops,ei electronic security system to prevent gun thieft or required gun vaults.
Figure 100.oo for city permit & 100.oo for state permit and 200.oo for ffl and you may be required to also have a state ccw permit.
The landloard may also need to carry special libility for a gun shop , depending on how liberal (anti -gun) his insurance company is.
He may even be dropped by his current insurer and forced to find another ins company at a higher price. This ,of course , will cause you a rent increase.
You also need a building with adiquate
out front parking and a good volume of trafic
flow past your gun shop sign. This must be 3,000 feet minimum from the Gun Free School Zone. So make sure you check of any schools nearby that may disqualify your location.
Next, in order to just pay for all this insurance and rent, commercial rates on heat and lights = 3x domestic rate and commercial phone = 10 x domestic phone rates, you need to charge 100.oo per gun over cost to cover opperating expenses. BUT WAIT, YOU CANT DO THAT, BECAUSE THE GUN SHOP DOWN THE STREET
BOUGHT THAT SAME GUN YOU ARE SELLING FOR :
lets see, cost you 300.oo + 35.00 ship = in the door at 335.00 + 100.oo=445.oo x 6% state sales tax of 26.7o =471.70 out the door.
But the guy down the street bought 10 of the same guns on close out sale from a different distributer at 220.oo each and shipped all 10 of them for only 50.00 , costing him only 5.00 shipping per gun. So , he owns them,
(in the door price) for 225.00 + 100.oo =
325.00 x 6% tax = out the door @344.50
You need to get 471.7o and he is selling at
344.5o, or $127.20 under your price. your in door cost was 335 x 6%tax =20.01 tax=355.10
You can not even match his price unelse you are willing to not only not make a profit but accept a 10.oo per gun loss.How are you going to pay the rent,heat ,lights,phone etc.
How do you get out of this one? you stick the guns in the back room and wait 5 years, until your compeditor cant get them any more; meanwhile loosing all that nice interest you could have been getting in a bank CD.
Only one problem with this, while you are waiting to sell your in stock guns, the government might come into your gun shop and just confiscate all your stock firearms, without reinbursting you.
Now , Thanks to Al Gore , you are financially ruined through no fault of your
own.
Welcome to the gun business!!!
ernest2,
WOW! Great post.
------------------
CCW for Ohio action site.
http://www.ofcc.net
Do what you C.A.N.
http://thematrix.acmecity.com/digital/237/cansite/can.html
WOW! Great post.
------------------
CCW for Ohio action site.
http://www.ofcc.net
Do what you C.A.N.
http://thematrix.acmecity.com/digital/237/cansite/can.html
That pretty well nails it down, Ernest. I'm just glad I got out when I did. Shooting is actually becoming fun for me again after only 5 years away from behind the counter 
How do you get one of the big money making gun shops? The same way you make a million dollars in the gun business.....SPEND $2 MILLION.
How do you get one of the big money making gun shops? The same way you make a million dollars in the gun business.....SPEND $2 MILLION.