I said I would never buy from Cheaper than Dirt but...

It was the practice of cancelling orders and when attempting to reorder the next day, you find their prices increased as rates of 500% or more that repulsed me.
I know there is one particular poster who will disagree.
 
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CTD is entitled to sell an item for whatever they can get out of it. I am entitled to take notice and not patronize them. That is what I have done.

Does CTD price gouge? By the ordinary definition, they do. According to www.dictionary.com, the term "price gouge" means: "pricing above the market price when no alternative retailer is available." To my knowedge, CTD does not "price gouge" as defined by states which have such laws (my state does). Those laws are normally limited to true emergencies (floods, storms, etc.) and limited in the type of items covered.
 
If CTD actually had a good deal, I'd still buy from them. I have not bought anything from them in at least a couple years since I noticed some 41 mag ammo for a reasonable price. I seldom even check there prices anymore. So, I guess you might say I hold a bit of a grudge.

People complain when a retailer charges what they view as market price and complain about the other retailer charging standard pricing so the re-sale people stand in line for it.
 
I just bought my first gun online and it was from them. The shipping was a little slower than I would have liked, but they had it in stock and it was in fact cheaper than any one else.

I doubt there are going to be very many companies that I see eye to eye with 100% of the time. If they choose to raise their prices then good for them, especially if people are dumb enough to by. No one ever said I had to own a fire arm or any accessory for one, so I don't see their pricing as a problem. If your upset because you "wanted" something and you were not smart enough to buy before the election, well I can't help you. This is how a free market works.
 
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The inverse of all of you saying people paying higher prices because they want something NOW is how the free market works is that if NO ONE, or an extremely limited number of people, are gullible enough to pay those prices, merchants have the options of sitting on stock and letting it gather dust or dropping the price.

Gouging because people are either stupid enough, scared enough, or greedy enough to pay the price may in fact be the free market. It certainly does not mean you have to participate in being gouged. Especially by some asshat that buys the ammo at WalMart, or where ever, and then tries to screw you by raising the price to double what they paid for it.

I bought on a plan before the panic. I will not pay what I believe is a exhorbitant price for ammunition today. To me paying more than between $25 and $30 for a 525 round brick of .22lr means wait for another day. I don't need it that bad and if I ever run out of .22lr I will use my Gamo pellet rifle for plinking. Hell I can buy 500 rounds for that for around $5.00.
 
Mills Fleet Farm in my area was one of the retailers that, as far as I know, based on going there once every couple weeks, did NOT gouge the public. They did restrict the amount you could buy but their prices weren't much if any higher than before the panic started in January 2013.

I just bought a 333 box of Winchester 36 grain hollow point .22LR's for $15 there a couple weeks ago and they also had the 222 box on the shelf for $10.
 
Sportsman's Warehouse has been very fair with their pricing. Sure, prices on powder and primers (when they have stuff) have gone up some, but comparing them to many "online Retailers" they are treating customers fairly. For that reason alone, I try to patronize the store first before buying anywhere else.
 
OK, here is an analogy for ya.

In 1989 we needed a family hauler. We had decided on a dodge or Plymouth minivan. More specifically the Grand Voyager which was Plymouth. We lived in the LA area and with the large population and the huge popularity of that particular mini van, there was no dealer anywhere near us that would even sell one at sticker. why? Because there were enough people willing to pay $5 - $10k more than sticker, they could wait a day or two and get what they wanted.

We found one in Bakersfield where the demand wasn't nearly as high for this particular vehicle and bought it for sticker. Yes we had to drive 2.5 hours, but we got what we thought was a deal at the time. In retrospect I should have turned around and sold it for $5k more than I paid and gone even farther north and got another one and pocketed $5k.

Anyway, if a business is taking advantage of the supply shortage and pocketing more money that is our free economy working. If I want to shoot 22lr I guess it will cost me, won't it. Lucky for me I can wait and shoot some of my other stuff by reloading. At some point the supply will catch up on everything even 22lr. when it does the price will fall, but never back to where it was.

Just my .02.

Mel
 
guruatbol,

OK, here is an analogy for ya.

In 1989 we needed a family hauler. We had decided on a dodge or Plymouth minivan. More specifically the Grand Voyager which was Plymouth. We lived in the LA area and with the large population and the huge popularity of that particular mini van, there was no dealer anywhere near us that would even sell one at sticker. why? Because there were enough people willing to pay $5 - $10k more than sticker, they could wait a day or two and get what they wanted.

We found one in Bakersfield where the demand wasn't nearly as high for this particular vehicle and bought it for sticker. Yes we had to drive 2.5 hours, but we got what we thought was a deal at the time. In retrospect I should have turned around and sold it for $5k more than I paid and gone even farther north and got another one and pocketed $5k.

Anyway, if a business is taking advantage of the supply shortage and pocketing more money that is our free economy working. If I want to shoot 22lr I guess it will cost me, won't it. Lucky for me I can wait and shoot some of my other stuff by reloading. At some point the supply will catch up on everything even 22lr. when it does the price will fall, but never back to where it was.

Just my .02.

Mel
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I understand that the free market allows for supply and demand to control pricing. I also understand that buyers have to agree to pay the prices or stock sits until the retailer can't bear the cost of it sitting anymore. That is the simple truth that seems to escape many here.

It seems to me that if for one month people stopped buying ammunition that almost every retailer of ammunition would be hurting and dropping prices. If they raised the prices again, boycott again until the prices came down. Again, the free market, setting demand would control the price.
 
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You are absolutely correct. However just try to coordinate that with everyone that shoots.

Retailers know there are just too many people out there right now willing to pay what they are charging.

Just be patient and wait this out. Also if you are responsible and don't buy because it is there and buy when you plan on using it, you will not contribute to it. I also find that when I talk to the LGS owners and explain to them that since they are charging what I feel is too much I may be back, but until I see their prices get back to reasonable, I will not buy anything from their store, no matter how small. There is one major retailer that I will go into, but because of their attitude refuse to spend more than $20 in a 6 month period with them. I mostly only buy wood chips for smoking in the winter months when the other store doesn't have them.

Mel
 
I really wanted some Sellier and Bellot #1 buck and CTD had it at a good price, but I haven't forgotten. I don't care if they get brass cased 7.62x51 for 10 cents a round, they have lost my business forever. I'm saving up for a reloading kit anyhow.
 
People screamed and cried about CTD doing it, and now they seemed to have forgotten in favor of saving a few bucks. OK. Those folks can stop griping about the things Smith & Wesson and Ruger did or said twenty years ago, then.
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I neither gripe about CTD, or S&W or Ruger. I think it's kind of silly to paint them as a price gouging bad guy when they've got .22 in stock for a reasonable price. For what it's worth someone posted in the Where Is It thread a better 22 Deal, but you're limited to 2 boxes per day.

Also if you are responsible and don't buy because it is there and buy when you plan on using it, you will not contribute to it.
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Your failure to plan should lead to me not buying something I want why? I have no interest in buying something I don't want to put it up on Gunbroker in market speculation. But I also have no interest in running out when the stuff I do have gets used up and replacements aren't available then either.
 
Mark me down as another FORMER customer for CTD. After their price gouging in 2008, I'll never buy anything from them at any price. They still send me their catalogs, even though I haven't made a purchase in 5-1/2 years. They go into the trash unopened.

I'm not the "forgive and forget" type in issues like this.
 
So far I have stood firm in not ....

So far I have stood firm in not ....buying from that company. That is the only choice I have. They have the right to do business as they want to.... What they have done in the past is not against the law but I do have a vote at to how I spend my money.

Lemmon from Rural South Carolina
 
I will soon be purchasing a pallet of Pmags. I will keep them in my garage until the next rush then sell them for 2-3 times what I paid.

I avoid lCTD b/c past experience ordering from them, not because the take advantage of unprepared people who are making emotional purchases.
 
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