Margin on guns?

Profit??

The Kel Tec PMR 30 is a hard to get gun. They sell in the gun store as soon as they come in, the store even has a waiting list to get one. On gunbroker they sell anywhere from 500.00 to 600.00 and when the gun store has one they sell them for $425.00. When these guns come from the distributor they cost $278.00 shipping and all. There's even more profit in S&W's, Colts,Sigs,Glocks and Rugers.
The next time you're at a gun show, arrive early and see what kind of vehicle the dealers drive. If you have a fairly large and established store you can make a comfortable living. Most dealers will tell you they are barly making it, it's a sales pitch. I sell guns on the internet and you never know how bad someone wants that gun, some days are pure gold and others silver but it all averages out as good sales. I do posess a FFL.
 
That dealer is not being truthful. The m.s.r.p. on almost all guns is way, way more than 10% over the dealer's cost. My local dealer sells guns at 10% over HIS cost from the distributer, including shipping, and he will show you the paperwork. Ask that dealer to do that if he is really honest.
 
I agree, and I always wonder why stores don't cator to folks wanting to sell their firearms to them. But frankly, they really don't cator to these people at all and often offer 50% of value (often begrudgingly it seems). I can understand that on guns that don't sell, but I can't understand that on guns that move off the shelves.

I go into large gun shops with hundreds of new guns but maybe only 20 used guns on the shelf. I look at the price of the used guns and they approach new gun prices if they are in good shape.

My take on that is that they simply don't pay folks a reasonable price on a used gun. The price offered is almost insulting. Like cars, most people take the path of least resistance and with cars that usually means you trade as well as buy. I told one gun shop I would rather landfill the gun then sell it to them for the price they offered.

I do understand profit. But I also understand sales is all about volume for most stores.
 
I was about to order a gun online, and decided to give a local dealer a shot at the sale. When I quoted the online retail price, the local guy told me that it must be a used gun, as it was less than his wholesale. That's a pretty weird business model.
I bought a new gun last weekend, paid $595 (full retail), see reports on the 'net of people getting them for $535, and if the retailer is making any money, then wholesale must be 10% less than that? So, mark-up, from dealer wholesale to full retail, would be more like 20%.
 
My take on that is that they simply don't pay folks a reasonable price on a used gun. The price offered is almost insulting. Like cars, most people take the path of least resistance and with cars that usually means you trade as well as buy.
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Never sell your gun to a dealer if you want top dollar or even remotely close to it. Just like selling your car to a dealer, only do it if it's worth it to you in speed and convenience. Otherwise sell it privately.
 
We need to get away from the thought that a 10% markup is the same as a 10% profit, too. The markup pays for a mortgage, utilities, repairs, interest on inventory, employee salaries, wear and tear on display cases and cash registers and such, all before the owner makes a dime. My bet is that a 10% markup is a net loss for a small gun shop. I don't know how they are making it with internet sales keeping prices down. And for that reason, I don't begrudge them the bigger markup on used guns and accessories.
 
I don't know how they are making it with internet sales keeping prices down. And for that reason, I don't begrudge them the bigger markup on used guns and accessories.
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I agree.

Getting below MSRP is harder in California where you can't easily buy online, but to me it's worth paying the MSRP to help keep a gun store a short walk from my house. I hope they're in business a long time.
 
I also feel that way about local gun shops. Their pricing does have to be fair however. That doesn't mean they beat or match the online pricing for new guns.

I also realize that a 30% markup does not mean a 30% profit.

Most people that buy a handgun and find a holster they like at the same gun shop will pay the asking price on the holster just like they would at Walmart. The price is the price; No questions asked. Ammunition may be a different story depending on how frequently you buy.
 
Just a recent experience that fits in with this discussion:

I was recently in the market for a S&W J frame Bodyguard for my wife. Davidsons' has the gun for $432.00. My local gun shop had it in stock for $472.00. A $40.00 differance. When I considered the transfer fee of $25.00 for the Davidsons' gun, the savings was cut to $15.00.

I decided that the extra $15.00 spent in my town was better than sending $432.00 out of state.

I think about things like that.
 
The kicker for me is sales tax. As a business owner, I fully realize that they have no choice but it still directly affects the price. Using Wyoredman's example, that $15 difference at $472 becomes over $52 after adding the $37+ (8%) sales tax. $15 extra, I'd pay. $52, I won't.
 
Yes, despite the fact that most states require an individual to record online transactions with businesses done out of state and remit the appropriate sales tax, most folks dont do it. This can kill a brick and mortar store, even if they can match the online price.
 
wyoredman said:
8%! Ouch, thats steep! I thought 4% was bad!
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Yeah. It sucks. They have these commercials now with our illustrious governor and businesses who supposedly just moved into the state and they're saying "No other state could do for us what NY State did!"

I always thought, how is that possible? This state is an awful, AWFUL, AWFUL place to do business... and then I started thinking like a politician, you have to lie by implication while telling the truth with words...

Sort of like if you're running a business and the mafia makes you pay 50% protection tax. They come in one day and tell you they're lowering the tax to 49% and you're going to make a commercial for them. You can honestly say "No other organization could do for me what the mafia did!" because no other organization was charging you a protection tax in the first place, obviously no other organization could LOWER the tax, so you're being totally truthful in words but lying by implication.

Same thing here in NY.:mad::(
 
I think many rely on used gun sales. At the LGS that I frequent, I once saw the owner purchase a little Beretta .22 or .25 for $75 and when I saw it on the shelf a few weeks later, the price on the tag read $250. Whether he actually got that price or haggled it down a bit, it's still not a bad deal on the part of the LGS.
 
The kicker for me is sales tax. As a business owner, I fully realize that they have no choice but it still directly affects the price. Using Wyoredman's example, that $15 difference at $472 becomes over $52 after adding the $37+ (8%) sales tax. $15 extra, I'd pay. $52, I won't.
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In Washington state, FFLs are unpaid state employees, required to collect state sales tax on gun transfers. I used to save 9% by ordering online, but now I have to pay the 9% to my FFL when the gun is transferred.
 
Pawn shops usually run 100% mark up or more. Watched a man pawn his mod 94 for $75. 4 months later the same rifle was put on the sale rack for $275. It sold later that week.
 
In Washington state, FFLs are unpaid state employees, required to collect state sales tax on gun transfers. I used to save 9% by ordering online, but now I have to pay the 9% to my FFL when the gun is transferred.
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Some dealers in Florida do that, too. How does the dealer know how much you paid for it, unless the sellers sends an invoice?
 
They shouldn't collect tax in FL. I think they may just be sticking it to you.

Well, unless it is some local tax thing. Ive had a lot of tax free transfers.
 
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I suspect the sales tax in FL thing is pure profit for the dealer making the transfer.

Sales tax in TN runs about 9 > 9.5% depending on city and county increment. But there is no income tax. I would rather pay the sales tax any day than an income tax.

I have not done many transfers, but there was no sales tax charged on the transfer (or in other words, the price paid out of state).
 
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