Have internet gun prices spoiled anyone else?

J

jasmith85

New member
I ventured into a Dunham's Sports recently and their gun prices were so high I could not keep from laughing. One specific item that stuck out was a Sig p224 SAS 40 for $1,149. Granted it has been a year and prices change over time, but I bought that exact gun in an auction on gunbroker brand new for $514 total with shipping and transfer. I got a great deal on mine, but even disregarding it I still regularly see them advertised for as low as $649 online. My local gun shops have better prices than Dunham's, but still seem to be at least 20% higher on most guns. I hate not supporting a local business, but I just cannot bring myself to buy local anymore. Buying local just feels like I'm donating an extra $100 to the shop just for being there. When taking into account the fact that the shop probably isn't even clearing the majority of that $100 more it just seems like throwing away money. It gets even worse when I look at the prices that people are asking for used guns on local sales sites. I see people on gun forums talking all the time about the great deals they got on used guns and I would not be surprised if at least 3 out of 5 ads I see are asking more used that I can buy new online and the sellers actually act offended if offered what I consider a decent used price.

Anyway, my apologies for the large block of text, but has internet buying killed buying locally for anyone else or am I just in an area with shops with prices higher than your average area?
 
To answer your question... No. This is mostly because I have almost zero interest in new guns and I have had success at gun shops, gun shows, local classifieds, world-wide classifieds (such as here on TFL) and also at Gunbroker.

Actually, I think maybe your perspective is a bit skewed, at least in the way you presented it here. Dunham's?! That's like a Gander Moutain. To real gun cranks like us... those places AND Dick's AND Bass Pro... they are almost irrelevant. Honestly, I don't have a clue who buys new guns from those places.

About the only equation that makes sense is a an extremely wealthy executive type who has far more money than time or care to chase down better or reasonable deals and simply SEES IT and WANTS IT. For a certain kind of very successful businessman, time and energy is what is in short supply.
 
Actually, I think maybe your perspective is a bit skewed, at least in the way you presented it here. Dunham's?! That's like a Gander Moutain. To real gun cranks like us... those places AND Dick's AND Bass Pro... they are almost irrelevant. Honestly, I don't have a clue who buys new guns from those places.
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I agree that the big box stores are not the stores to check, but the regular gun shops in my area, while better than big box stores, are still very high compared to online prices. Part of the issue is probably the fact that I only have a couple shops within an hour of my house so they can jack up the prices to whatever they want without too much worry about competition, but depending upon the rarity of the gun prices usually range from 20% higher to as high as 40% higher than it would cost online not even taking tax into account.
 
Around here, Gander is the largest and has the largest selection and they sell a lot of guns to everyday folks who most likely don't even realize they can buy over the internet.
 
The only guns I've ever bought on the internet were Com-Bloc milsurps, when I had a C&R.

I've never really bothered to look for anything else.
 
The answer is yes, especially for new guns.

I seem to buy mostly used lately, but only for the right price.

There seems to be a lot of sellers that price used guns for more than new online prices

Hey, but you know what they say...There's a sucker born every minute!
 
I've bought my last four guns online. Occasionally I do see deals locally though. I saw a tanfoglio witness elite match in .40 for $530 BNIB about a month ago. I also saw on the local online trade and sell site a near new Sp101 3 inch in 357 for $350 that got snapped up pretty quick. So local deals are out there but online is most often the best deal.
 
Yes. Bud's Gun shop, Gunbroker, etc., plus a $10 local FFL transfer fee and I do laugh, especially at gun shows, but I don't even go to those any more, it got so absurd - the funniest thing you ever saw was Bass Pro had a used rack for about a year, a few years back. They had beat up single shot break action shotguns for $350, used Marlin 336s for $475, and other such nonsense. It made me literally laugh out loud.
 
Online prices can be high as well. I was lookin at the rem 788s on gun broker today and I couldnt believe it. A lot of those guns were price higher than mint Bdls and Adls! 800 dollars for a nice 788!!!! Are they high?? Im not even paying 550 for a used 788 thats just plain nuts!
 
I can still beat internet prices on most guns in gun shops. Especially on used guns. Occasionally something comes up that is simply not available locally. But I've never found an internet deal better I could get locally.
 
Neither have i really, especially after i add another 60 bucks or so on top for shipping and fees. plus having to wait and buying a sight unseen firearm.
 
well for me it depends say the local gun shop has a gun for 325$ and I see the same gun on line for cheeper I add up the cost shipping ect... and let's say after all that the on line gun will cost 300$ I will just get it local. It's a lot less hassle

The problem I have is that the local shops don't carry or can get what I am looking for most of the time. I tell you what the 1 place I have the hardest time giving my money to are local gun shops because they almost never have what I am looking for.
 
It's been a long time since I've purchased a gun at a gun shop or big box store. I do purchase guns at gun shows and the internet.

Anyone who says they can't find really fair-to-good deals at gun shows really needs to re-evaluate their approach. I know there are good deals at gun shows - because on the rare times I sell one from my collection, I give people a decent deal. Some guns I've sold in the past (i.e. not for sale now):

1. Norinco SKS - $275
2. Ingram M 10 closed bolt - $374
3. Ruger LC9 - $290
 
First let me say I have not read the entire thread yet so if I'm repeating some of what's been said (or all) I apologize in advance.

I did read one comment that said people buy guns not realizing they could buy them online. From a certain point of view this sort of makes sense to the average consumer. I imagine their thinking would be like this, "There's no way I could buy a gun over the internet, that wouldn't be legal as they can't just ship it to my home address." Now obviously if they were only aware their LGS would handle the transfer and do the 4473 at the time of purchaser pickup. I admit that a few years ago I wasn't aware you could buy ammo online, let alone firearms.

Some consumers want that personal touch to their very personal purchase of a firearm. Whether it be because they need help in choosing the firearm, or they just don't feel comfortable ordering from a dealer hundreds of thousands of miles away. Some people are also a little touchy about putting their personal information out over the web, I know a lot of guys, and gals, that won't purchase firearms or ammo with anything other than CASH.

It's also important to note that being able to handle what you're purchasing before purchasing is a major factor. Just looking at an example isn't enough. I've read enough complaints on BudsGuns about how they received a firearm that had cosmetic damage, parts missing, or they just plain received the wrong firearm. That's a lot of dancing around to do just to save a little money.

It was also said early on in this thread that while gun shops do carry new firearms they also carry used firearms. Used firearms are where dealers stand to make the most money and therefore you stand to get the better price because they can negotiate. Money talks, b******* walks. They keep a healthy stock of new firearms because the same type of person that buys guns at Dunhams will buy at the gun shop.

Brick and mortar stores like Dunhams and Gander Mountain do not depend on firearms for revenue. Their money is made in sell accessories and a multitude of other items that may not even be related directly to firearms. Gun shops have that same luxury. Ever notice how when you have a less popular firearm how they just so happen not to carry the accessories you want for them (holsters, magazines, etc)? That's because they have low turn over, they'll have accessories only for their most popular firearms because they can order in bulk and get discounts thus increasing their profit margin. That's where the money is made.
 
upstate81 said:
Online prices can be high as well. I was lookin at the rem 788s on gun broker today and I couldnt believe it. A lot of those guns were price higher than mint Bdls and Adls! 800 dollars for a nice 788!!!! Are they high?? Im not even paying 550 for a used 788 thats just plain nuts!
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Gunbroker may be a bad example. They're like a boutique version of eBay. I've noted that people try to sell guns for more than they are worth on regular occasions. Unfortunately Gunbroker doesn't allow users to search for and review concluded listings to see what firearms have sold for. It puts the consumer at a disadvantage and the seller has all the power. If Gunbroker is a buyer's only online source of firearms and they don't have a predetermined knowledge of firearms values they're fighting a losing battle.

Wikiarms and Slickguns help consumers to find the best prices. People are nice enough to routinely upload deals they find and these sites also use algorithms that crawl several known online dealers and update their prices on a regular basis.

I've not found any better way to find good prices on new firearms other than Slickguns.
 
Slickguns.com is my favorite website. I check it several times a day.

I never used GB because they ask for too much personal info to sign up, but I agree it's not the best example for gun deals online.
 
Last time I went to a gun show it was a complete joke. Nothing that was a good deal. Literally nothing. Maybe it was just a bad show but it turned me off of them for a while.
There is one benefit to gun shows that I can see (speaking of the new market, not used). There are often some fairly rare guns that are hard to find in shops, so you can handle and heft and see if you like it. If you do, you can go home, jump online and buy it. :)
 
I'm new to guns in general but I usually find better deals locally than online. Then again I'm looking at new guns but even used ones aren't all that great.

Gunbroker kind of disappointed me as well. I don't expect people to give me something for free but I keep seeing things within an inch of full retail on there and nothing but reserves as far as the eye can see.

I'm not eligible to post in the swap meet section here yet so perhaps I haven't seen the deals.
 
Unfortunately Gunbroker doesn't allow users to search for and review concluded listings to see what firearms have sold for. It puts the consumer at a disadvantage and the seller has all the power.
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Huh??

GB does have a feature that allows you to see a complete list of auctions whether they were sold or not. Go to advanced, select "Completed Items" put whatever you are looking for in the "Search Words" box and then search. This brings up completed auctions and you can see what sold and what didn't and for how much.
 
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