How much do gun shops make?

[advantage1one]

Does anyone know how much markup a private gun shop makes on the sale of new guns, both pistols and revolvers, and rifles/shotguns? I'm not talking about the bigger stores like Turner's and Bass Pro, but rather the independent gun shops that I would like to buy from, but they are usually much more expensive. Also, is it likely they will negotiate their prices? I've never tried, just paid what they wanted...thanks in advance for any info you may have.

[Bongos]

From my experience, on new guns, the most on mark up is about 10%... and that is for large and small, gun store makes there money on the accessories..mark up is in the 100s of percentile. Used and consignment guns are also very good money makers (ever notice the price of a used gun is less than a new gun by about $50-$100?, well they buy guns at anywhere from 10% of the guns MSRP to at most 60%,,,this is all based on demand, rarity, and popularity of that gun...

[trashman]

Used and consignment guns are also very good money makers (ever notice the price of a used gun is less than a new gun by about $50-$100?, well they buy guns at anywhere from 10% of the guns MSRP to at most 60%,,,this is all based on demand, rarity, and popularity of that gun...

I have heard that repeatedly over the years from dealers on both coasts; the "big" money is in used guns. I think that's even more true today since for new guns now everybody runs to gunbroker to see if cost OTD =/< cost+shipping+dros+xferfee from an out of state dealer.

[glockman19]

Does anyone know how much markup a private gun shop makes on the sale of new guns?

Glocks cost around $75 to manufacture. Add a 250% markup to retailers & LEO and the price comes to about $190. Add the Retailer markup of 250% and you get somewhere around $465.

[kurac]

I also believe they make more on used guns. For consignment sales the going rate is 20% and used guns move at maybe 3-5 times the rate of new guns. A desireable S&W, COLT or Winchester will normally be gone within hours of coming in. New guns from the same manufacturers may take weeks to sell and I don't know that they make 20% on those. In addition to all that, when you have a full shelf of guns on consignment, its not your money tied up there in inventory, its other peoples money which makes it even more profitable cause you can invest your cash in other areas.

[FortCourageArmory]

Speaking as a retailer, the mark-up on new firearms is slim. Especially for those of us in small stores. Why? Because I can't afford to buy 100 of something to get the "good" deal from any of the distributors like Wal-Mart does or Turners or Bass Pro. I look for good deals on used guns because as someone said, that's where the $$ are in this business.

Auction houses are another source of great deals for the dealer....at least this dealer. And I don't mean Auction Arms or GunBroker. I mean actual auction houses like Rock Island. There are a few local auctions I go to as well looking for deals that I can turn a profit on. And as prices go, I am a firm believer that if I get a smoking hot deal on a gun, I want to pass that smoking hot deal on to my customer. Not to the point of losing money though.

As for using the Internet to buy guns to the exclusion of the local guy, remember that if you keep doing that, eventually you will drive the local guy out of business. Then who will do your transfer for you?

[Soldier415]

As for using the Internet to buy guns to the exclusion of the local guy, remember that if you keep doing that, eventually you will drive the local guy out of business. Then who will do your transfer for you?

+ 1,000,000

I refuse to buy from the internet. I would much rather spend a few extra dollars and support my local store. Then again, my local gun shop has excellent staff and service, so I enjoy going there for whatever reason as I usually end up spending an hour or two.

[zinfull]

Buying local is nice but if you collect C&R pistols the local shops do not have what you want. May be once a year a gun comes in and you are able to get to it before some one else does, especially the workers. So I do not like the high price for a internet transfer on something they would not carry. I am the one taking the risk if the gun or seller is good or not. I have to pay the shipping and up front money, they just have to file paper work. If I bought and brought the gun into CA it would cost $19. That is why I think anything over $40 is gross.

Jerry

[bear308]

Glocks cost around $75 to manufacture. Add a 250% markup to retailers & LEO and the price comes to about $190. Add the Retailer markup of 250% and you get somewhere around $465.

what the hell are you talking about,

When we sold here we were getting about 60 bucks on a Glock. I sure as hell never saw a Glock come in for less than $420 from the distributors. Maybe they make a big markup but we sure as hell weren't. I don't know what deals turners runs, but thats the way it worked here.

As to the original poster, it depends on the individual business. We worked on a fixed markup from wholesale, on everything. Guns around 15% and accessories is more. If you were to walk into a store that stocks a few and they're trying to get rid of em you might get lucky. Best advise I can give you is; DO NOT mention the internet and start slow. Try to talk them down $20 this and start increasing from there, if you insult them you'll never get a deal on it.

[kurac]

Glocks cost around $75 to manufacture. Add a 250% markup to retailers & LEO and the price comes to about $190. Add the Retailer markup of 250% and you get somewhere around $465.

Um, yeah, I am sure it takes more than an hour of maching time to mill the slide on a glock and maybe another half hour for the barrel. Thats an hour and half. Last time I was in the machining business we were getting $75-$110 per hour per machine so we can assume $112-$165 just to machine those two parts. All the other crap doesn't cost much but I would be willing to bet it costs $150-$200 to build a Glock.

[bwiese]

Glocks cost around $75 to manufacture. Add a 250% markup to retailers & LEO and the price comes to about $190. Add the Retailer markup of 250% and you get somewhere around $465.

You're nuts.

Glocks may indeed have a *raw* cost of materials of $75 to mfgr. What about direct-to-item labor? That's probably $10/gun alone for mfgr, testing, boxing, putting on the shelf, shipping out...

But if they sold at that $85 price they'd not only not break even, they'd go broke in a screamingly dramatic fashion.

That $75 you quote, if even remotely correct, certainly does not include corporate overhead, sales overhead, etc.

And it most certainly does not include insurance/legal overhead which alone will run $70-$100 or so per gun *alone*.

It also would not include compliance testing for states that require it, and would not include any allocations for R&D development of new guns, advertising/marketing efforts, or reserves for warranty replacements, etc.

I suspect the corporate break-even cost - given all the above costs - is gonna run at least somewhere around $240ish for a Glock.

You also have to figure there's a 10% Fed excise tax for handguns, and that the distributor is gonna clear a fair amount per handgun for tying up a big chunk of cash in inventory -- the distributor can often make a bit more than the dealer on a gun sale.

[rue]

Buying local is nice but if you collect C&R pistols the local shops do not have what you want. May be once a year a gun comes in and you are able to get to it before some one else does, especially the workers. So I do not like the high price for a internet transfer on something they would not carry. I am the one taking the risk if the gun or seller is good or not. I have to pay the shipping and up front money, they just have to file paper work. If I bought and brought the gun into CA it would cost $19. That is why I think anything over $40 is gross.

Jerry

[QuarterBoreGunner]

When I was in the biz, the basic mark was either 15% or $50 bucks, whichever was higher. Accessories and ammo is where you make your real money to pay the bills, plus we had the indoor range which is pretty low overhead (reloads from Bulls-X, targets in bulk from Alco or Plumfire and lights.) We didn't usually haggle or match prices, we usually didn't have to, having the lowest in the area. Though LC Action could beat us on Glocks as they were the local distributor. Don't know if that's still true or not.

Want to make a small fortune in the gun business? Start with a large fortune and...

[carl8808]

Maybe someone can clue me in as well on this. I have seen pistols out of CA go for a very reduced price compared to my local shops. High demand pistols like Glock, HK, and so forth usually there is not much give. however I have seen Sig's and Springfield's going for a hundred or more less online....that seems kinda strange to me.
I agree, buy from the local guys and keep it honest. However if I go into a shop and some prick who works there gives me the "well guess you should have bought if from that shop if they have it at that price" when the guy around the corner has the same thing for 40-50 less.... I will !!!

[QuarterBoreGunner]

Cali prices are usually higher than the national average for pretty much everything, that's part of it. Also I think a lot of the online prices are from smaller shops with in less expensive parts of the country - less overhead so they don't need to make as much on each sale to keep the lights on.
Or maybe it's the opposite for some online sellers; they're big enough that they get a break from the distributors (or maybe they ARE the distributors - we were for H&K for a long time and used to sell out of state all the time) and get a lower price 'cause they buy larger amounts.