Gun shop etiquette

[JackRydden224]

I've been at shops where a seller was talking to the FFL to see if they wanted to buy the firearm. Looking around you'd see 1-2 guys standing within earshot to see if the dealer closed the deal, or if the seller walked. they were waiting to see if the dealer passed so that they could talk to the seller as he left. In each occasion, none of the bystanders said a word during the negotiation, it wasn't their place to do so.

Yea, that's pretty much how it should go. In my case since my LGS knows me pretty well so he'll tell me it's cool to talk to the seller if he see me eyeing the gun and he isn't able to make a deal.

[BKinzey]

"....Nothing wrong nor "unprofessional" about what I did.

Yes there was. You should have waited until the guy had left the store to make an offer.

[CrippledPidgeon]

Bad form, you don't do business in someone else's shop.

[fullmd]

[TonyNorCal]

I haven't read all 70+ responses.

My take...

I don't think $450 is an unreasonable offer for a retail establishment to make on a gun which may sell for $700-$800. In fact, given that a store is the potential buyer, it's a fair offer.

It's pretty standard in my businesses for a retail business to make an offer that includes a decent margin for them. Businesses have a substantial cost, and aren't going to buy where they're just treading around a slim margin.

Interrupting the negotiation to make the seller a better offer would be hugely uncool. If I were a gun store owner and a customer did that, I'd ask them to leave.

Asking the guy outside, out of the store's awareness, seems fine.

[Norsemen308]

cash is king, there is a transaction cost to this...

having worked in the pawn industry, YOU KNOW THIS... 450 cash is worth a lot more than 450 on the street when you are operating a store, whether pawn or gun shop. the guy needed cash now, he got it...

the store is now out 450 with no physical profit, sure you can say it will sell for 700+, till that happens, that gun painted blood red.

what happens if they next guy who walks in wanting 450 bucks for a gun happens to have General Patton's revolvers?

see that 450 costs a lot more than 450....

[Excelsior]

Bad form, you don't do business in someone else's shop.

Says who?

I very much agree it would be very bad form to interrupt a negotiation. But once that negotiation has ended ("and not a penny more") and the guns going back into a case there's no breech of etiquette to make an offer.

[Excelsior]

Oh really? Defending bad manners is bad. You have NO RIGHT to conduct business in some elses shop. What is so hard for you to understand about that except that possibly greed overrides your common sense?

Your premise is wrong. It's not bad manners. You may not understand what gentlemanly etiquette entails. I do.

Someone else mentioned purposely breaking-up a sale that was in the middle of a negotiation (posting #59.) That would indeed be bad form. That's not what I did.

It would have made absolutely no sense to hand him back the rifle that I was shouldering, have him case it and then follow him outside to make an offer, only to return to remove it yet again from the case to do the paperwork.

[Tarn_Helm]

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.

In my mind i am thinking he just got ripped off and if i had met the guy outside the store and knew he was selling his gun i would of made an offer, i guess my question is how bad would of it been for me to interrupt them and make it known to the seller i would be willing to buy the gun on the spot for more than was being offered. I mean is that a capital offense in a gun shop.

I felt bad for the guy as i could tell he wasn't happy with the deal and me going up to him later wouldn't of helped the situation. Especially when i had just seen two very similar guns in the used section going for around $750 and $800.

So what would of you guys done, you see a guy selling a gun to the owner of the store who offers him way less than the gun is worth and you want that gun yourself, do you say something.

Ill go in there next week and i bet that gun is for sale for around $800 + tax.

That gun store is a business not a charity.

I would have done the exact same thing the owner did.

Bystanders who speak up on a deal between me and a customer will be banned from the store.

Business = money = life.

You wanna teach ethics?

Got get a degree in philosophy and then (try to get) a job in a college.

[Gutz]

Seller could always walk away.

If hone needs cash that bad, not true....

[JoshuaS]

A business is only open to the public for the sake of doing their business .

If I had you over to my house, say, and were discussing anything whatsoever that I didn't want you to, you may be uninvited. My property, my rules.

Business are private property that have granted the general public access for an express purpose.

Now, if any business in a store is not being done with that store, they have the right to throw you out. I am sure most owners wouldn't mind things wholly unrelated to their business, provided it doesn't cause a disruption. But even then, even selling candy bars would be bad form because it isn't your business. You are benefiting from their capital.

Yes, the physical store is capital. It enables business to be done. I may, out of kindness, let someone sell something at my store with no charge, I may well charge a commission. I pay/paid for that stre. You are using the benefits of my investment. Better be with my permission and under my terms.

It is made worse when the type of business is in direct competition, and here in CA made even worse yet by you then turning around and having me do a PPT for you, on which I lose money. The $10 dealer share does not cover cost.



Now were I a gunstore owner and some guy did not like my offer, I would not be offended if you asked me if you could make an offer. I might ask you to talk about it outside. That would be my attitude. Another owner might tell you to scram. But at least if you ask him, in his property, you have at worst shown a cautious ignorance, rather than become a persona non grata

[IVC]

I very much agree it would be very bad form to interrupt a negotiation. But once that negotiation has ended ("and not a penny more") and the guns going back into a case there's no breech of etiquette to make an offer.

Do your friends hit on your wife in your home and you also just say "it's fair to ask?"

[phil conrad]

If some one was to walk into my business and do that, it would be the last time they were allowed in it. Just to clarify I do not own a gun shop.

[bassbones]

If the gun shop owner / douche bag is going to low ball and rip of a guy. Yeah. Ill speak up and kick me out of your store. I don't frequent local shops much anyways unless I feel like getting gouged .
The only reason the owner would be butthurt is because he was being outed and shown that he is ripping of the guy trying to off load his pistol .
Case in point. I bought a Shotgun from a local shop I went back to that same shop a month later with the same rifle and wanted to trade it in tward a much more expensive rifle . The guy behind the counter offered me 200 LESS than I bought it for. I only paid 600 for it to begin with which was a fair price for gun shops in the area . When I showed him the receipt from his own shop less than 30 days ago he gave me some bulli***** about the market is trending down . It's now used etc etc. when I showed him it was used when I bought it he basically stfu and I took my shotgun and left . LGS are worse than pawn shops and used car lots all in one .

[j-shot]

Your premise is wrong. It's not bad manners. You may not understand what gentlemanly etiquette entails. I do.

Someone else mentioned purposely breaking-up a sale that was in the middle of a negotiation (posting #59.) That would indeed be bad form. That's not what I did.

It would have made absolutely no sense to hand him back the rifle that I was shouldering, have him case it and then follow him outside to make an offer, only to return to remove it yet again from the case to do the paperwork.

This is all just reaching... The bottom line is that this person was still in that gun store. This makes that person their customer. Regardless of what you think you know (not one penny more) you had no way of telling what would have transpired.

If the gun shop owner / douche bag is going to low ball and rip of a guy. Yeah. Ill speak up and kick me out of your store. I don't frequent local shops much anyways unless I feel like getting gouged .
The only reason the owner would be butthurt is because he was being outed and shown that he is ripping of the guy trying to off load his pistol .
Case in point. I bought a Shotgun from a local shop I went back to that same shop a month later with the same rifle and wanted to trade it in tward a much more expensive rifle . The guy behind the counter offered me 200 LESS than I bought it for. I only paid 600 for it to begin with which was a fair price for gun shops in the area . When I showed him the receipt from his own shop less than 30 days ago he gave me some bulli***** about the market is trending down . It's now used etc etc. when I showed him it was used when I bought it he basically stfu and I took my shotgun and left . LGS are worse than pawn shops and used car lots all in one .

If the horrible shop gave everybody $600 for their $600 gun you would have never made it to said shop to begin with as they would have long been closed and out of business.

Economics 101.