LGS Prices - How many middle men?

[Visto]

I was wondering if anybody could explain the flow of product as it relates to California gun stores and online gun stores. My current understanding is that big online stores buy direct from the manufacturer and offer some of the lowest prices possible while a California gun store buys from a distributor who buys from the manufacturer (manufacturer>distributor>LGS). Because there is a middle man the LGS can't match the price of the online stores without taking a significant hit to profits. How far off am I?

If I see a gun for sale on budsgunshop for 475 and my LGS quotes me 540, how reasonable or unreasonable is that LGS price?

[Go Navy]

I don't know, but I do know that I want to keep the local gun stores in business, and am willing to pay a little more to help towards that goal.

[Condorguns]

Some larger outfits can order directly from some manufactures. Where you see the big price difference is volume. I will order 5 s&w shields in a order. The big outfit will order 1000. They get a huge price cut that way.

[jingerale]

I was wondering if anybody could explain the flow of product as it relates to California gun stores and online gun stores. My current understanding is that big online stores buy direct from the manufacturer and offer some of the lowest prices possible while a California gun store buys from a distributor who buys from the manufacturer (manufacturer>distributor>LGS). Because there is a middle man the LGS can't match the price of the online stores without taking a significant hit to profits. How far off am I?

If I see a gun for sale on budsgunshop for 475 and my LGS quotes me 540, how reasonable or unreasonable is that LGS price?

Well, in your example, $475 from Buds, let's say $10 shipping. To transfer it, let's add another $50, so now you're at $535.So yea, $540 sounds reasonable to me. Is the LGS quote OTD? does it include DROS? if it does, then you're ahead by staying local.

[heldebrant]

Depends on mfg'er. Some will sell direct without a huge outlay of funding and some require a significant investment.

[BigPimping]

Considering what a ffl charges for paperwork to dros, many times by your local store is cheaper for sure. I like buying in the market place here because I can avoid tax.

[Marquand]

Some LGS's are direct with a given manufacturer but go to distributors for the remainder of their product line. Others are distributor only operations.

[SLO1911Fan]

It really depends on the size of the gun store. Most of the smaller ones will run through different distributors for most or all of their products. I've talked to several manufactures over the last year to set up direct distribution and most of them had a $25-40k minimum first purchase to buy into their distribution network. That kind of thing might be ok for Turner's but it definitely hurts the local FFL. That's why most FFLs deal with distributors. Obviously every link in the supply chain takes a cut and drives the price up, but in the long run many local shops are still cheaper than buying online and paying the fees.

[heidad01]

I was wondering if anybody could explain the flow of product as it relates to California gun stores and online gun stores. My current understanding is that big online stores buy direct from the manufacturer and offer some of the lowest prices possible while a California gun store buys from a distributor who buys from the manufacturer (manufacturer>distributor>LGS). Because there is a middle man the LGS can't match the price of the online stores without taking a significant hit to profits. How far off am I?

If I see a gun for sale on budsgunshop for 475 and my LGS quotes me 540, how reasonable or unreasonable is that LGS price?

$475 in Kentucky and $540 in CA sounds fair. A 2bdrm house in Ky in $68K and the same thing in CA is $650K. I'd say that is more than good enough.

[1lowluv]

we buy from a supplier that gets them direct. you have to be a pretty big retailer to buy direct

[Dattebayo]

As much people talk crap about them, this is why Turner's often has the lowest prices when an item is on sale. They often can beat out any smaller size gun shop because most gun shops will probably order only 10 or 20 of a particular firearm from a manufacture. Turner's deals direct with most of the gun manufactures out there, and orders on popular firearms are into the thousand counts.

[static2126]

Don't nickle and dime your lgs. They do a lot for the shooting community as a whole.