Buy cheap, buy twice. The "Sweet Deal" mentality.

[Cwood]

MAP often has a large markup involved. not saying this is the case for this situation, but i can tell you that Gibson's MAP is aaay above the dealer's cost. a good dealer (ie not Guitar Center) will knock 20%+ off the MAP.

There are some companies that strictly enforce there MAP pricing and will no longer sell to dealers that do not abide by them.

 

[LPMan59]

Guns and Gear Related

Colt
Gemtech (Idaho)
Advance Armament Corp (Georgia)
Troy Industries (Massachusetts)
MagPul (Colorado)
Surefire (California)
Badger Ordinance (Missouri)
BCM (Wisconsin)
LMT (Illinois)
LaRue (Texas)
KAC (Florida)
Eagle Industries (Missouri)
Viking Tactics (North Carolina)
Vickers Tactical (North Carolina)

Uniforms, Foorwear, and Non-Firearms Related

Crye Precision (New York)
The North Face (California)
Bates Footwear (Michigan)
New Balance (Massachusetts)
Kifaru (Colorado)
Mystery Ranch (Montana)

Who would have thought that a good majority of the BEST gear out there is made in the USA??? If you'd rather buy some cheap crap made in a sweatshop overseas go ahead, but every time I buy American I know I'm supporting someone's job in my country. Bring up the cars all you want, because that's everyone's cookie cutter defense for not buying American.

fixed

 

[E5RANGER375]

Thank you, I did not think you were insinuating otherwise.

BTW, Condor sends a list of its pricing with retail, MAP and wholesale at the beginning of the year with a new catalog.

ah i think i just found it. is the current price sheet white paper and have the date of 1/11/2010 ?? i usualy use the website so i hardly open the catalog envelope, lol. i think they use to use blue paper.

 

[Cwood]

ah i think i just found it. is the current price sheet white paper and have the date of 1/11/2010 ?? i usualy use the website so i hardly open the catalog envelope, lol. i think they use to use blue paper.

That is the correct date but mine is on yellow paper.

 

[E5RANGER375]

Guns and Gear Related

Gemtech (Idaho)
Advance Armament Corp (Georgia)
Troy Industries (Massachusetts)
MagPul (Colorado)
Surefire (California)
Badger Ordinance (Missouri)
BCM (Wisconsin)
LMT (Illinois)
LaRue (Texas)
KAC (Florida)
Eagle Industries (Missouri)
Viking Tactics (North Carolina)
Vickers Tactical (North Carolina)

Uniforms, Foorwear, and Non-Firearms Related

Crye Precision (New York)
The North Face (California)
Bates Footwear (Michigan)
New Balance (Massachusetts)
Kifaru (Colorado)
Mystery Ranch (Montana)

Who would have thought that a good majority of the BEST gear out there is made in the USA??? If you'd rather buy some cheap crap made in a sweatshop overseas go ahead, but every time I buy American I know I'm supporting someone's job in my country. Bring up the cars all you want, because that's everyone's cookie cutter defense for not buying American.

a lot of their materials are still bought from overseas. its not wrong to support american. i own a lot of those brands myself. but the question "was this made in america?" has never came before me handing my money to a dealer for their product.

 

[E5RANGER375]

That is the correct date but mine is on yellow paper.

i guess the sweat shop ran out of yellow ink for mine

 

[Vince49]

the name brand stuff could be had a lot cheaper if the dealers didnt jack up the prices. most of the time your getting screwed by them, not the manufacturer.

Sometimes but not always. I would hazard a guess that the honest dealers profit margin is the same or somewhat less than the Big Box stores. The problem is the small merchant can not purchase it either at the same price as Wal-Mart that buys in multiple truck load quantities. Maybe if the independant shop owners formed a purchasing pool they could compete.

 

[U.S. Patriot]

I agree that some stuff that is cheap, well is in fact junk. Take holsters for example. You can buy an Uncle Mikes, or Fobus paddle holster for around $30. Lets say you step up to a Bladetec, you are looking at around $70. I have used Uncle Mikes for years, and never had a problem. Weapon seats firmly in the holster, yet I can draw quickly with no hang ups. I used to work on plastic injection molds. I can tell you there is no difference, in what materials they use. The only affect would be how well they take care of their molds! They are all massed produced. You are paying for the name. For example a little off subject, but the same idea. When I bought my LCD TV. I looked at a brand that I had not heard of. Read reviews, and did side by side comparisons. Against brands like Sony, Samsung etc. I could tell no difference in picture quality. For the same size TV, I payed about half the price. I have had it for about four years now. Not one single problem.

The only UTG product I own is a drop leg holster. I compared it to a Blackhawk. Honestly I could tell no difference in visual quality, only in price. People can say Uncle Mikes holster are junk, however a few years of using their products I beg the differ. Plus not everyone likes the same brand as another. I will not use a piece of gear on a daily basis, that I think is junk. Like I said a lot of times, you are paying for a name. That goes with more then shooting accessories. My

 

[E5RANGER375]

Sometimes but not always. I would hazard a guess that the honest dealers profit margin is the same or somewhat less than the Big Box stores. The problem is the small merchant can not purchase it either at the same price as Wal-Mart that buys in multiple truck load quantities. Maybe if the independant shop owners formed a purchasing pool they could compete.

very true post!! like Cwood said, and me too, sometimes we purchase from distributers(wholesalers) who FIRST take their cut, and then sell to us. then you have dealers who bought directly from the manufacturer in bulk and sell on ebay lower than MAP and also what we could buy it for.

at gun shows though, people impulse buy. they dont do their homework so they pay almost any rediculous price because they want it NOW. thats why you see some outrageously high prices at gun shows. mostly local dealers at shows wont do this though because they actualy care about their customers and repeat business. i cant imagine the pissed feeling of a customer who goes home to find out he paid almost double of retail, lol. but in a way its his fault too for not being educated before buying.

how do we know we are getting a good deal when we buy? we compare prices. so my advice to anyone wanting a good deal is to DO YOUR HOMEWORK way ahead of purchase time. dont make impulse buys if your not sure its a good price. then if you get taken, dont come on INGO and complain about it because then you just look stupid, lol.

like was said earlier in this thread, BUY USED!!! if i can find what im looking for i will buy used 80% of the time when it comes to purchases. im more than happy to let someone else take the depreciation hit, as long as it hasnt affected the quality.

 

[Snayperskaya]

Guns and Gear Related

Gemtech (Idaho)
Advance Armament Corp (Georgia)
Troy Industries (Massachusetts)
MagPul (Colorado)
Surefire (California)
Badger Ordinance (Missouri)
BCM (Wisconsin)
LMT (Illinois)
LaRue (Texas)
KAC (Florida)
Eagle Industries (Missouri)
Viking Tactics (North Carolina)
Vickers Tactical (North Carolina)

Uniforms, Foorwear, and Non-Firearms Related

Crye Precision (New York)
The North Face (California)
Bates Footwear (Michigan)
New Balance (Massachusetts)
Kifaru (Colorado)
Mystery Ranch (Montana)

Who would have thought that a good majority of the BEST gear out there is made in the USA??? If you'd rather buy some cheap crap made in a sweatshop overseas go ahead, but every time I buy American I know I'm supporting someone's job in my country. Bring up the cars all you want, because that's everyone's cookie cutter defense for not buying American.

Best gear for what there Mr. Commando? I don't need a bunch of plastic crap on my rifles to make them good. I don't need a flashlight on my carry pistol, or a suppressor on it either. But what I do need is good optics. Are there good american optics? Sure. Are there better ones from Germany? You bet your @$$.

 

[LPMan59]

isn't trijicon based in the US? i hear they make decent stuff

 

[Cwood]

Yes, they are, they are made in Michigan.

 

[42769vette]

im of the mindset buy once cry once, but i was't always. in my quest to find a 1000 yd scope i ended up spending 2200 on a nf br scope that is 1300 almost anywhere. first i bought cheap rings and a ncstar 24x (i think) scope. well it was ok for under 200 yds so i kept the rings and bases and bought a osprey scope. the osprey was good for 200 yds as well. so im already up to 300 bucks and still no scope. then i bought a ss scope and although its a great optic for the money its not quite up to the 1000 yd task so now im in for 600. finally i bought a nf like i should have bought to begin with, and i bought uso rings and bases for a aditional 300 bucks

 

[Gungho_1989]

the name brand stuff could be had a lot cheaper if the dealers didnt jack up the prices. most of the time your getting screwed by them, not the manufacturer.

Its obvious to me your border line socialist.
Are there crooked dealers absolutely but your generalizing is getting rather old. What do you think it takes to keep a shop open? what kind of costs does a dealer incur weekly, monthly or yearly?
What kind of a percentage do you think is fair for a dealer to charge?
What Kind of a living do you think a dealer is entitled to?

 

[LPMan59]

Its obvious to me your border line socialist.
Are there crooked dealers absolutely but your generalizing is getting rather old. What do you think it takes to keep a shop open? what kind of costs does a dealer incur weekly, monthly or yearly?
What kind of a percentage do you think is fair for a dealer to charge?
What Kind of a living do you think a dealer is entitled to?

 

[Gungho_1989]

MAP pricing was a huge aggravation for me for a long time.

****** for example is a Company that has probably the strictest MAP agreement Ive seen, They actually employ people to peruse the net ensuring their policies are adhered to. But still I see their products being sold on Ebay and elsewhere for far less than I can price them at on the web.

I cannot even compete with those prices yet their product line is a necessity to my particular niche until someone else comes up with something better I am stuck with that.

We do offer better pricing in shop than we do even online on their products but it does little good there.
We did a business plan that had nothing to do with getting rich quick but had solid lines for over head and growth as well as allowing us to make a living. The reality of it is that the Margins were unrealistic compared to the reality of this particular business.

Some dealers I think react to this in a negative way by trying to find ways around it. Its sad because in the end they hurt themselves unless they have a captive clientele, but in a market where there is competition they simply do not survive.

The Clowns ( get rich quick dealers) at the shows... the same guys you see carrying around the same ol over priced stuff will never get it, They think they can make a big buck off the unwary and all to often they do, but never do they do enough business to make an honest living of it.
I always felt I needed to give a guy as good a deal as I could without hurting myself and still coming out ahead, I feel I have been at least close to the mark guys keep coming back to the shop for seconds and thirds of my abuse.

 

[SmileDocHill]

I buy cheap ammo AND expensive ammo and I still end up having to buy more, and more, what am I doing wrong? How much do I have to spend on ammo to not have to keep replacing it?

 

[t413]

Examples? As being in the business there is not a lot of mark up on most items.

You can find Surefires, Streamlights, and Inisght lights(current production LEDs) for about 25-35% cheaper from various online retailers and on eBay that you will from a gun shop.
Example, I can get a NIB current generation Strealight TLR-2 for about $200 shipped online compared to about $300-350 at the gun store.

Or a Surefire X300 shipped for $190 online compared to $250 at the gun store.

I would say that those are pretty good markups.

 

[IndyMonkey]

You can find Surefires, Streamlights, and Inisght lights(current production LEDs) for about 25-35% cheaper from various online retailers and on eBay that you will from a gun shop.
Example, I can get a NIB current generation Strealight TLR-2 for about $200 shipped online compared to about $300-350 at the gun store.

Or a Surefire X300 shipped for $190 online compared to $250 at the gun store.

I would say that those are pretty good markups.

The problem is the amount of discount that the dealers get from the distributor.

SOmeone that sells a few units a year is not going to get the same price from the distributor as someone that sells 1k units a year on ebay.

 

[t413]

Agreed, but Cwood was asking for examples.
So I gave them to him