Gun shop etiquette

[redcliff]

I feel like this exact same topic with exact same title was brought up a couple months ago?

^This. We JUST hashed this out.

Yes we did. http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=878742

Stealing a sale or trade-in while in the store owner's premises is always bad form.

[Excelsior]

It is unprofessional for a customer to conduct business in someone else's place of business without permission. I would have bounced you out not because of the transaction but because you failed to respect the fact that you think so little of my business that you think you can make deals under my roof for your own benefit. But first I would have given you the opportunity to pay me a commission for lining you and the customer up. The two of you would have never met if it was not for my shop so it would be fair to get a 10% commission off the sale otherwise you both would be banned. This has happened to me a few times. I have always got the commission and an apology.

I don't walk around Cabela's telling customers around the gun counter or in the ammo aisles that I can give them better pricing. I don't offer to buy guns they want to sell to Cabela's either.

It's pretty low for a guy to take over someones business. Do you do that kind of stuff at work? Do walk over your friends and family for a good deal too?

Bovine scatology.

In the case of my purchase, the potential seller wasn't going to sell it to the shop. The shop owner set a firm price and it was still 50% away from the reduced asking price.

"Conducting business" is done all the time in gun shops with P-P transfers which is exactly what we ultimately did.

[CSACANNONEER]

Why do people think that a gun shop is required to pay X amount for something they had no intention of buying before a prospective seller walked in? Seriously, if a shop paid wholesale on every gun that someone brought in to sell, they would go broke fast. If a shop really wants a particular gun, they can buy it wholesale, at auction, etc.

[BigPimping]

I would have paid a compliment to the seller and insinuated interest without saying a word. I hate seeing people get ripped off but that is as far as I would take it.

[audiophil2]

Bovine scatology.

In the case of my purchase, the potential seller wasn't going to sell it to the shop. The shop owner set a firm price and it was still 50% away from the reduced asking price.

"Conducting business" is done all the time in gun shops with P-P transfers which is exactly what we ultimately did.

Not quite. I've been in shops in CA. I've witnessed owners tell customers to take the business outside. While some owners might not have an issue with you exchanging funds on a law required PPT, this thread is not about that. If I was the dealer I would tell you I want a commission on the sale. You won't have to pay it but you also won't be doing anymore business with me either.

I've allowed customers to walk out on deals and they have come back in either the same day or later after shopping prices so you could have still blocked that deal.

The transaction is not complete until you are out of the store in my opinion. Maybe other dealers or even other businesses have no issue with losing business because someone was seeing their way into a 2 party conversation but I won't let it happen and I would not be that rude to do it to someone else.

I get private party transactions on occasion because some folks don't want to sell face to face in a parking lot. That is completely different from negotiating a sale.

[berto]

You could have said something but it likely would have made you unwelcome in that shop starting right then. Only you can decide if the deal would have been worth it.

[Ninask]

A shop is never going to give you what your gun is worth, they want to make a profit,
if you want full value you will have to sell the gun yourself
N

[redcliff]

Bovine scatology.

In the case of my purchase, the potential seller wasn't going to sell it to the shop. The shop owner set a firm price and it was still 50% away from the reduced asking price.

"Conducting business" is done all the time in gun shops with P-P transfers which is exactly what we ultimately did.

How do you know the owner wouldn't of made another offer as he saw him walk? Bottom line is if you insist on sniping a firearm do it outside and not in the dealer's place of business. That potential customer was there because of the expenses paid by the dealer to have a store, staff it, advertise and stock inventory.

It's best to learn from things we do wrong, not defend them.

[bsg]

attempting to steal business from a shop while on their premises is a sure way to quickly wear out your welcome.

[Doheny]

I feel like this exact same topic with exact same title was brought up a couple months ago?

That's weird, that never happens on CalGuns.


Sent from my iPhone; please pardon typos & edits.

[Excelsior]

Not quite. I've been in shops in CA. I've witnessed owners tell customers to take the business outside. While some owners might not have an issue with you exchanging funds on a law required PPT, this thread is not about that. If I was the dealer I would tell you I want a commission on the sale. You won't have to pay it but you also won't be doing anymore business with me either.

Naw. Your hostility towards customers is just silly -- and potentially costly. Did you miss the part where I typed that they had not reached a deal and that the gun owner was putting the rifle back into its soft case?

I've allowed customers to walk out on deals and they have come back in either the same day or later after shopping prices so you could have still blocked that deal.

Naw. The shop owner made it clear he wasn't going to pay over $200.00 for the rifle and the potential seller was equally clear he wasn't going to sell it for that price. If that was the shop owner's negotiating "technique", if he planned to counter once more then that's squarely on him.

The transaction is not complete until you are out of the store in my opinion. Maybe other dealers or even other businesses have no issue with losing business because someone was seeing their way into a 2 party conversation but I won't let it happen and I would not be that rude to do it to someone else.

You "won't let it happen", huh? LOL! Alrighty! Had that shop owner acted like a child and told us to leave, I would have looked the rifle over while standing on the sidewalk in front of his store and then I would have asked the seller to please follow me to one of the shop's competitors for the P-P transfer.

I get private party transactions on occasion because some folks don't want to sell face to face in a parking lot. That is completely different from negotiating a sale.

So?

[Excelsior]

How do you know the owner wouldn't of made another offer as he saw him walk? Bottom line is if you insist on sniping a firearm do it outside and not in the dealer's place of business. That potential customer was there because of the expenses paid by the dealer to have a store, staff it, advertise and stock inventory.

It's best to learn from things we do wrong, not defend them.

Because he said "not a penny more" at $200.00 -- 50% less than the minimum the seller would accept. If that was he negotiating tactic then he screwed himself.

I originally asked to shoulder the gun simply because I had never done so with that model. As I did I took a closer and closer look at it and it was really nice. Nothing wrong with me offering what he already said he would take -- a price that had been soundly rejected by the shop owner.

[redcliff]

Actually it was wrong because you were inside the shop. We're not talking about what is legal, we're talking about the subject of the title of this thread, i.e. "gunshop etiquette"; a code of behavior that delineates expectatiions for social behavior.

The simple fact that the vast majority of members here are telling you that you shouldn't do it is proof enough you violated the rules of etiquette. Many of us have been around gun shops for 40+ years and worked at them and seen this situation over and over again and seen people expelled from the business. It just isn't the respectful thing to do in another persons place of business. Open your own shop, pay all the expenses and costs and see if think a customer doing it to you is proper.

As I said before we all have made mistakes, the important thing is to learn from them and move on.

[Mitch]

Today this guy walks into a the gun shop, he wants to see how much he can get for his gun i am next to him at the counter and over hear the conversation with the store owner, not a clerk. He shows his gun and the gun shop owner says how much you looking to get for it. Dude says at least $600. Gun shop owner takes the gun apart looks at the barrel and says nah i couldn't sell it for much more than that. Then the seller says ok give me $500 for it. To which the gun shop owner says the best i can do is $450 take it or leave it. The seller pauses for a minute and then says ok i need the cash so yer ill take $450 for it.

My true story:

I walked into Turners one night about nine years ago and as I came up to the counter I could see this guy haggling with the manager over a Mini-30 (I recognized the rifle from ten feet away). I overheard the manager offering something idiotic, like $150 dollars. As I strode up to the counter, I said, "I will give you $250 for that rifle."

The Turners guy told us both to get the hell out of his store. I arranged to meet the seller at another gun store where we did the transfer.

I was not in the market for a Mini-30 at the time, but I recognized a great deal.

Some thoughts:

1. I do not blame the Turners guy for lowballing or for chasing us out of the store. The dealer lowballs because he has to make a profit when he resells the gun, so he can't possibly offer what it's really worth or even close to that. And once I made my offer in his store he no longer had any obligation to be civil to me, which is fair enough.

2. The seller certainly deserved to get more than $150 for the rifle, especially if there was someone within hearing who would offer more. The fact he was inside a gun store didn't change that.

3. I told the seller later that even the $250 I was offering was far less the the rifle was worth, and that the best way for him to sell it was as a consignment deal with another dealer. Sadly for him, he was in a big hurry to dispose of the rifle, so he didn't have time to make a better deal.

Anyway, that was the best deal I ever got on an individual firearm (aside from several I won at NRA banquets), but I ended up giving the rifle away, free of charge, to my girlfriend's son.

[trob]

Never in the shop, always let them have first crack at it. They are a business, but it's up to them to offer the right amount to get the deal.

I've done it once in CA where a guy was selling a sig 226 .40, he refused the shops offer and walked outside, I followed him out and made a deal. We went to another shop for the ppt. The shop wanted to give him 300 and then 350 bucks. He said he just wanted 400.