Price gouging handgun sales

[Ignition Override]

When wholesale costs go up, if you don't raise your price a proportionate (etc) percentage, how do you know that you can cover the mortgage for your family in the future?

I've never owned a business, but demand Must be increasing wholesale prices as much as other prices.

A burglary took place this week at ShootPointBlank in Memphis, 30 guns were stolen.
If replacement prices somehow have gone up, retail prices must follow to some extent?

>>Imagine ammo costs for retail sellers (what they must pay).<<
Does anybody think that the widespread shortage of so many types of ammo has Not raised the dealer purchase costs due to simple demand?

 

[SHR970]

Tom Servo wrote: California is the only state I know of that has that specific statute, and even then, it only applies during a declared state of emergency.

(That particular law forbids raising prices more than 10%. I can see where that would be a very real problem if the replacement cost for the retailer goes up more than 10%. In that case, I'd imagine they just don't order product, which would make shortages worse.)

In the other states with "price gouging" laws, only "essential" goods are affected.

And I had wrote

Your state law determines what is "GOUGING".

and

And I happen to live in one of those 34 and the scenario presented in the OP IS in fact gouging in my state according to the PENAL Code. Specifically CPC 396.

That said how many of those other states have declared gun / ammo sales ESSENTIAL? Either the national declaration or the state declaration of "state of emergency" would then cover that scenario.

Tom Servo also wrote:(That particular law forbids raising prices more than 10%. I can see where that would be a very real problem if the replacement cost for the retailer goes up more than 10%. In that case, I'd imagine they just don't order product, which would make shortages worse.)

I also covered this.

The cost of new inventory is a defacto defense to the new higher prices. Bring the receipts and not only do you have a defense but also a challenge for court costs.

Certain grocery items like beef & pork had their prices briefly go sky high (like $15.99 lb. for chuck steak) but they suddenly went back in line quietly. Here G&A have gone up but are now on an "as available" basis. Want to import it in???? Again highly regulated and if you want to pay top$$$ even the big boys are going to be held to these laws just like they are held to the various other bans & restrictions if Kali thinks that they can bleed them for some $$.
But if you want to do a transfer and buy my Rem 58 for $1500 I won't even be touched as a private seller.

 

[gaseousclay]

Dick's Sporting Goods didn't gouge out of greed. They chose to discontinue some product

I noticed this last week. Stopped in their store last week hoping to score some ammo but was disappointed to see their entire firearms and hunting department completely removed from their store. I will not be buying from them now

 

[SHR970]

F Dick's Sporting Goods. They came into my area and didn't even bother with a Hunting or Fishing Dept. I was looking forward to a competitor in the region. Their loss as So. Cal has fleets of Fishing Boats that cater to anglers not to mention a real hunting community.

 

[SIGSHR]

It's only price gouging when it involves what you think is a necessity.

 

[HiBC]

OK,well,the comments on Dicks indicate you are not a powerless victim

Instead of crying about price increases,those who exploit times of chaos by extreme price increases have customers with long memories.

You can put them on your "Dicks List"

 

[TBM900]

Name one single regulation that has been enacted that was not enacted to address a problem. Just one counterexample will prove me wrong.

Your non sequiture noted...
I never said a word about "reasons".



I have a problem, I'm dead broke...
You have money so I use a gun and take it.
Now I have money, problem addressed.



I run a city, it's dead broke...
You have money so I use regulation to take it.
Now the city has money, problem addressed.






Oh look, here's another "reason"...









Someone had a problem...













Someone enacted a regulation...















Problem solved...

 

[TBM900]

Pharmaceutical companies in this country rape folks because they need insulin or they die. No alternative. Their price gouging is easy and it's legal. Don't mean it's ethical. Just greed. That's what gouging is, it's just greed mixed with poor ethics.

Then why don't you create your own pharmaceutical company?
Show us how it can be easily done with good ethics and no greed?
Were all waiting...

 

[HiBC]

Name one single regulation that has been enacted that was not enacted to address a problem.

A problem that exists in the mind of the beholder,or regulator,is not necessarily a problem to the rest of the citizens .

And it does not necessarily justify a regulation.

How about the ITAR reg . If I have a gunsmith business.I would be required to have a permit costing thousands of dollars and keep a mass of extra records if I did ANY machine work that improves a gun./ That would include drill and tap,rebarrel,cut and crown,or fit a brake.

ITAR is about import/export.This stupid reg applies to smiths who do no import export. The local gun store/local gunsmith.

Thats just one example where the only "problem" exists in political agendas.

And do not tell me "the majority of people want". Most bureaucratic regulations are not created by legislative process.No House vote,Senate Vote,executive signature. Just written by unelected bureaucrats.

Remember the Constitution? Supreme Law of the Land? Its not written to protect alleged poll results. Its written to protect the individual liberty of the minority .The lone individual from the tyranny of the majority.

I'll agree most regulations are bought and sold to address real or imagined problems that the government likely created.

And the price of each one is another piece of our fading liberty,gone forever.

 

[TBM900]

See Martin Shkreli, sentenced to 7 years in Federal Prison and fined 7.4 million dollars.

What did he do? He lead a company to buy up all manufacturing and marketing rights to Thiola and Chenodal, drugs used to treat a rare disease Cystinuria. Since he had raised a vast amount of capital to obtain a complete monopoly on these drugs and was the ONLY supply, he raised the price from $1.50 a pill to $20 a pill (thiola), simply because he could. Based on maneuvers to obtain a complete monopoly on a necessary drug for a rare and serious disease.

That is blatantly FALSE.
It was not the reason he was charged.
It was an entirely different and unrelated matter.

Do you agree with jailing people for profiting?

 

[buck460XVR]

Then why don't you create your own pharmaceutical company?
Show us how it can be easily done with good ethics and no greed?
Were all waiting...

Don't hold your breath....I have nuttin' to prove.

Lots of companies and retailers out there that make a good profit and a good living, with good business ethics. Funny how those same pharmaceutical companies sell their insulin at much lower prices outside of the U.S. where raping insurance is not so rampant. Also funny how folks are quick to jump on the bandwagon dismissing Cheaper Than Dirt for their price gouging, but when it comes to their store and their pockets........not so much. Doubling the MSRP of a handgun during a time when it's readily apparent that so many folks in the country right now think having a gun for protection is a necessity(as I believe most of us here do too), is a far cry from ethical. Thinking otherwise puts one in the same fantasy world as your sig line......

 

[TBM900]

Don't hold your breath....I have nuttin' to prove.

Obviously you do since you are going on about profits, ethics, rape, gouging, etc... not to mention your projection.
All in an effort to tell others how to live their lives and run their business.
So yes clearly you do.

Thinking otherwise puts one in the same fantasy world as your sig line.

Okay, then set me into reality...
What is the profit percentage that you deem as ethical?
The one that isn't greedy, rape, or gouging?

 

[vito]

A small local gun shop is still selling guns at what I consider very reasonable prices. While I am not in the market for a new gun right now, I will not forget that he was not taking undue advantage of his customers during this panic buying period, and will give him my business even if I could get the same gun at a lower price online. I would buy ammo from him as well, but lately the only ammo he seems to have available is some unknown brand stuff from Eastern Europe, and I don't really need ammo bad enough to try some unknown cheap junk.

 

[FITASC]

The thing is, sometimes there isn't a alternative besides going without. Charging $8 for a hamburger when one can go down the street and get one for $4, is not gouging, but charging $25 for one when there is none around anywhere is. Do you pay or go without(the "always" alternative) and maybe you or your kids starve? Is it capitalism? Of course it is, no one here is denying it. Kinda like insulin. Pharmaceutical companies in this country rape folks because they need insulin or they die. No alternative. Their price gouging is easy and it's legal. Don't mean it's ethical. Just greed. That's what gouging is, it's just greed mixed with poor ethics.

No, but what it does do is give others a reason to invest and create competition which results in prices going down. If you are the only place selling burgers for $25, someone else will come along and start selling them for $20 - then you'll either have to compete or go out of business and then things will settle where the market determines they need to be. It is the buyer who finally sets the selling price, not the seller. The seller starts with their asking price (always high as it is easier to go down than up) and prices accordingly until sales dictate a change.

 

[FITASC]

Lots of companies and retailers out there that make a good profit and a good living, with good business ethics. Funny how those same pharmaceutical companies sell their insulin at much lower prices outside of the U.S. where raping insurance is not so rampant.

Maybe you should research what a drug company in THIS country has to go through to bring as product to market - the decades of trials and billions of dollars - all because of the FDA; other countries have a lot less Federal regulation allowing faster to market timing with less red tape and as a result - less costs.

 

[44 AMP]

Doubling the MSRP of a handgun during a time when it's readily apparent that so many folks in the country right now think having a gun for protection is a necessity(as I believe most of us here do too), is a far cry from ethical.

So, it is then ethical to jack up the price of a handgun when there isn't a buying "panic"?



Because we've seen that kind of thing happen when there was just a "popular demand" and not a "panic". And we've seen it with guns when the "panic" wasn't a need for a gun to defend self, but a need to get one "before the ban".

Prices on CERTAIN guns did effectively double, during those times, and there was no general complaint about gouging or unethical behavior. Yes, people did grumble about the high cost, BUT they accepted it as the cost of getting what they wanted, in their hands, NOW.

Back in the early 70s when Dirty Harry made the S&W 44 mag THE gun to get, demand was so high the factory was two YEARS backordered. People paid as much as double MSRP to get one in their hands, without the wait.

During the panic before the 94AWB, I put my last AR (and a clone, at that) on consignment in a local shop. I had $450 into the gun. The shop sold it for $900. The guy who bought it was happy, the shop was happy, and I was happy. Was that unethical???

 

[HiBC]

Why does it cost more than 1 cent to buy a 1943 steel penny? Or more than $20 to buy a $20 Gold coin?

Is that ethical,or gouging? I know,its ridiculous. Point is,the value is subjective.
And I would retain free choice to buy or not buy.

Someone here is an advocate for regulations. This same person says (rightly so,IMO) that pharmacutical companies are gouging.

OK. Example,my eye Dr prescribe some drops. I went to my local chain grocery store pharmacy. The pharmacists eyebrows went up. For a 5 ml bottle of mostly water,my co-pay was $300 :Lets see,5 ml that means x20 for 100 ml ..$6000 for 100 ml,or $60,000 a liter. Oh but wait...Thats my copay.I don't know exactly,did I pay 20% ? So X 5 would be $300,000 a litre..but remember,its mostly water.
AND,we don't no what the priceless material is .It was for borderline glaucoma.Maybe some pot extract.

Seem like gouging? Ahhh,but the cost of development and approval!! Must be recovered!!!. OK. That is cost generated by over regulation.

Where is violence using guns most appalling? In the most gun regulated places!!

"We are the Government and we are here to help!!"


Right

 

[Onward Allusion]

Downright silly debate. Neither system in its pure form works.

No, no one would moan about someone making a $400 profit on a Lazy-Boy.

Just as almost anyone with half a brain would call charging $50 for a gallon of gas right before a hurricane hits price gouging. It's an essential necessity you say? Well, most States say the same for guns and ammo based on their Covid guidelines.

Now shut up - go outside and shoot!

 

[TXAZ]

...
Just as almost anyone with half a brain would call charging $50 for a gallon of gas right before a hurricane hits price gouging. It's an essential necessity you say? Well, most States say the same for guns and ammo based on their Covid guidelines.

Now shut up - go outside and shoot!

Under the right situation, I'd pay $500 for a gallon of gas and thank the guy...
It really depends, if it's a lifesaving measure, evey $1000 might be cheap if it contributes to a positive outcome.

 

[Onward Allusion]

You got it brother. No absolutes. It all depends.