The seemingly higher cost of buying ammo online

N

nogoer

Inactive
My last range trip had me run out of ammo and in my effort to save money i opted out of restocking from them. That night i went online to buy some after finding none at walmart and realized shipping adds alot to the cost. I'm not one to hoard since i could never store alot anyway and only want 100 or so rounds. Even at $16 a box of 50 the overall cost of ordering 2 boxes online jumps to $21 a box when you factor in shipping.

With most of the local gun stores carrying the ammo at even $19 a box im still saving 2-3 dollars a box even after tax. So my question is, why does anyone buy online, besides the obvious reason of not being able to get what they want locally? It would seem to me that the high cost of shipping makes buying normal ammo online not worth it.

Just for real world reference i bought 2 boxes of 50 rounds for $19 each or just over $40 after tax for 100 rounds of Winchester usa FMJ 180gr .40 from the local gun store. To get the same ammo and #rounds from midwayusa would cost me just over $53. thats $13 more to get it online...am i missing something?
 
Shipping...

Nogoer--If you buy in bulk the shipping works out much more advantageously. That said, I don't buy ammo nor bullets to be shipped if I can possibly help it, just because both are heavy, and the shipping is considerable even in bulk.

Fortunately for me, I live in an area where almost everything I want for ammo and bullets, is available locally. Surely it is different for people who happen to live in a remote area.
 
I find that if I order ammo from on line sites in a relatively significant quantity (500 rd. or more) the prices are competitive, and generally cheaper, than I can buy for locally. The exception is shot gun shells because their so darned heavy.

There is also a significant difference in ammo prices from the various on line sellers. I've found my best prices, including shipping, from Natchez and Wideners but I'm sure there are numerous other sellers with similar prices.
 
I was playing around with quantities, and although i dont know what constitutes "bulk" the cheapest i could get shipping down to was around $2 per box. Once you hit certain amounts shipping jumps to the next tier.

Yesterday was my lucky day though. The office i was relocated to sits right above a gun store which apparently is fairly unknown...it is a little hole in the wall down in a basement level shop. One entire wall is devoted to stocking ammo and even though he was out of the lesser expensive brands he still had plenty of other cost friendly options. The bad part though is now everyday i'll have the little devil in my ear saying its easy to swing by and browse for a new pistol :D
 
I prefer to purchase from my local range because it is a local business, even when the total cost might be a little more. My first choice for training ammo is a local reloader (yes I'm too lazy to do it myself). However, there are times when the total expense (gas+my workable hours cost vs. shipping+ five minutes online at night) online is a better solution, often 1k or more. As you mention, cost, caliber availability and number of rounds desired has to be looked at. For some friends who have no local option, the internet is very appealing.
 
I buy much of my ammo online and in bulk (500-1000 round lots). One additional expense that you must pay locally but NOT online is sales tax. If you live in a high sales tax state like I do ($.08/$1), the sales tax is often comparable to the cost of shipping! My last order of ammo cost ~$350, if I bought it locally it would have cost me $28 in tax. Shipping for the whole order was $35...PLUS I saved ~$30 on the purhase price of the order, so I'm still ~$23 ahead via online.
 
In TN, we have a 9.5% sales tax. :barf:

If I buy online, I plan ahead and order a bunch. The minimum shipping for most places is around $10 or so. For that $10, or maybe $11, I can also get 1000 rounds of 7.62X39 ($235) and various boxes of 50 of some other calibers. Locally, it'd cost me $5.99 for a single box of 7.62X39 ($300 + tax for 1000 rounds.) Even if our sales tax was a normal rate, I'm still saving a bunch.

On top of that, I can only get my surplus ammo online (8MM, 7.62X25, 7.62X54, etc.)

It is cheaper to buy online but you have to max out what you can get for the minimum shipping price. Buying 2 50 round boxes of ammo by mail order isn't efficient use of the shipping price.
 
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Price Shopping

Howdy All

I did a little price shopping before I purchased my last batch of SD Ammo. The Ammo in question is 500 round qty of Federal HST 124gr 9mm. Locally the best I could find for price was $261.32 after taxes and a bulk discount. Online the same was available for $207.04 after shipping fees.

Needless to say I purchased online and had an extra $54 to take with me to the gun show the following weekend.

Radioman
 
Find a good local FFL; he/she might be willing to assit; my guy helps me out a lot; incredible to deal with and his pricing is nice for 1000rds when I need it. In turn I buy guns when I want one; nice working relationship.
 
Before the prices started rising, if you bought in bulk, it usually cost about half of what the local dealers were selling the same ammo for.

Now that prices are up, the difference doesnt seem to be as much, but its still cheaper to buy on line most of the time.

You do have to watch who you buy from though. many places have prices that look great, until you get to the last page and they add the shipping. I find the practice to be very annoying, but it does seem to be pretty common. Not tellling you they are out of stock until after the order completes is another common and annoying issue.

I buy most of my ammo online from Ammoman. His prices seem a little higher at first blush, but they do include shipping. He's usually still cheaper than most of the others too. He also tells you up front if he has the ammo. If its listed for sale, he has it. He's also very quick to ship. I usually have the ammo in one to two days.

As was mentioned, you dont have to pay sales tax if your buying from out of state, which the price of ammo these days, can also add a god bit to the total.

Another advantage to buying online, is the availability of ammo not always found at your local dealers.

Around here, if you want premium self defense type ammo, you usually only find it in the small, 20 round boxes, and at premium prices. Online, you can buy the same ammo in 50 round boxes, usually from police warehouse type places, for only a couple of bucks more than the 2 round box. Same goes for the hotter +P, +P+ "Law Enforcement Only" marked ammo.
 
If I can buy locally, I usually do barring some extreme price. However, I often can't buy what I really want locally. For example, match ammunition for 22 rimfires is not sold many places and when you do find it, the price is often high. There may be a couple dollar per box difference in price. You save some money buying in bulk online as well and you can purchase all the same lot number usually.

So for me, an online purchase means I usually save the state sales tax, TN ammo tax ($0.10/box of ammo), and I'm not paying the cost to drive around searching for ammo. When gasoline prices were a bit higher, it didn't take much gas to offset your shipping costs via UPS even for heavy ammunition.
 
I do buy my range ammo from walmart,it's local and still 12.95 for a box of 50 and i get a 10% discount on it but i refuse to buy locally when buying s/d ammo.A box of 25 federal hydra-shoks in .40cal is 28.95 a box +tax.I go to www.ammunitiontogo.com and the same ammo is 25.95 a box of 50 rounds.

28.95 + tax = 31.68 total
X that by 2 = 63.36 for 50 rounds
X that by 2 = $127.20 for 100 rounds
this the local price

this is the online price
25.96 for a box of 50
X that buy 2 = 51.92
this is the total for 100 rounds.
+ shipping of $9.18 = $61.10

total price difference is 66.10,i'll keep ordering online :D

Oh and it's 9.18 shipping for the first box and it's about 8 cents for any additional ammo
 
Like a lot of others I buy what I can locally. Usually this means, 38,380,32,25. Most of the time these are purchased a box at a time.Wally has had the best prices on WWB (100's) but, now is constantly out of stock.
For my old commie ammo particularly 7.62X25 and 7.62X39 I buy online in quantities of 500 or more. Ammunitiontogo.com has had the best prices and shipping for these items for some time. J&G usually has good prices on 9mm Makarov as does SOG.
A month ago you could not have gotten a Keltec or Ruger no matter what you did. Last week, my local guy, has six used Keltecs and one used Ruger. I picked up a P3AT for just over 200 and a Polish P64 (9mm Makarov) for 149. (The price on the P64 was 20 lower than last month.)
Have faith this to shall pass.
 
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