B2Tall
Stirrer of the Pot
Over the last 6 months I've worked quite a few gun shows for a dealer friend of mine. I've learned quite a bit being on the other side of the table and I thought I'd throw out some advice and tips to make your trip to a show more satisfying.
1. If you see it....buy it.
If you're going to a show with the intention of buying a specific gun, and you see that gun for a reasonable price....buy it right then and there. Don't go wandering off in an attempt to find it elsewhere for 10 bucks cheaper. I see it 3 or 4 times every show just at our tables - shopper is really interested in a gun, says "let me think about it" (translation: I wanna find it somewhere else for a dollar less) and walks away, comes back 2 hours later looking to buy it, gun is sold and no more are in stock at the time. It happens all over the show. Demand is outstripping supply and dealers can't just pick and choose what guns to order like they could 2 years ago. It might be a while before you see "your" gun again. This is especially true for a number of hot (no, not stolen!) guns like the Shield, FN 5.7, XDS, Sig 938, PMR30, and a handful of others. Don't be one of those disappointed people walking out empty-handed saying "I should've bought it when I first saw it". It happens a lot more than you might think. If you see it and it's in your budget, buy it.
2. Do your homework
If you're looking for a specific gun(s), do a little research yourself. Check prices (remember - the Internet is always cheaper but we all know the risks involved in buying sight unseen from some dealer out in the online netherworld.) and determine a reasonable price range for what you're looking for. Also, if you have any really detailed questions about a firearm, look it up yourself. Most dealers work with 1000+ different firearms and nobody knows everything about all of them, so if you really need to know the exact length of the trigger pull in millimeters, or some detail about the steel used in the barrel, or how much an empty mag weighs for a certain pistol....find out for yourself. I actually heard those questions (and scores more like them). I'm convinced that most people ask questions like those just to try to impress anyone within earshot (like the morons at the range we've all had to deal with), but if something like that really is crucial in your eye then you should find out for yourself and not rely on a salesperson.
3. Don't Lie
Don't lie to a dealer about how much less you can get a particular gun for through another dealer. 95% of the time they're going to know you're lying. These gun shows are tight-knit communities and while a dealer might not know the exact price of every other gun from every other dealer at the show, they do know how other dealers tend to price their firearms and what kind of markup they have. Dealers also have internet access so don't try to BS anyone about online prices and availability either. And when a dealer knows you're lying, he/she now has the upper hand. Most of the time "the lie" is a loss for both the dealer and the customer. Once a customer's bluff has been called, 99% of the time they walk away and won't come back because they'd look like a fool. Some will now actually pay more elsewhere just to save face. So in the end the original dealer loses a sale and the customer either pays more elsewhere or leaves w/o the gun they really wanted, all because they didn't want to look like a fool. This also happens every show, most recently with an M1A.
4. Don't dicker too much on price
Either the gun is in your price range or it's not. If the dealer says "that's the price", then that's the price. Dealers aren't impressed with what some other guy is selling it for (assuming you're not lying as per above). Sure, go ahead and ask if they can do any better but don't expect a miracle. This isn't regular retail where the markups are 50-100%........not even close. Dealer "A" might have gotten a good deal on Glocks because he bought a ton of them while dealer "B" has a better price on S&Ws, and so on. Gun shows aren't cheap and a typical mid-size dealer needs to sell 40-50 guns just to break even. This ties in with point #1 - you snooze, you lose. A short while back we got 4 of the new Sig .308 ARs. We were the only ones who had them at the show. I was dealing with a guy who absolutely wanted one but kept quibbling over the price ($1699). We had one left and I kept telling the guy that it was a hot gun and that we'd have no problem selling it at that price. He wanted it for $50 less but we weren't budging. After 10 minutes of him begging and pleading (for $50 on a $1700 gun!!) my boss walked over, said "excuse me, I just sold this" and took it out of the guy's hands. The guy just stood there with his mouth open. Another customer heard we had one of these rifles, asked my boss the price, and said "I'll take it". End of story. One guy got his rifle, the other got the shaft all because he was being petty.
Anyway, those are some important lessons I've learned. Feel free to chime in with any of your own.
1. If you see it....buy it.
If you're going to a show with the intention of buying a specific gun, and you see that gun for a reasonable price....buy it right then and there. Don't go wandering off in an attempt to find it elsewhere for 10 bucks cheaper. I see it 3 or 4 times every show just at our tables - shopper is really interested in a gun, says "let me think about it" (translation: I wanna find it somewhere else for a dollar less) and walks away, comes back 2 hours later looking to buy it, gun is sold and no more are in stock at the time. It happens all over the show. Demand is outstripping supply and dealers can't just pick and choose what guns to order like they could 2 years ago. It might be a while before you see "your" gun again. This is especially true for a number of hot (no, not stolen!) guns like the Shield, FN 5.7, XDS, Sig 938, PMR30, and a handful of others. Don't be one of those disappointed people walking out empty-handed saying "I should've bought it when I first saw it". It happens a lot more than you might think. If you see it and it's in your budget, buy it.
2. Do your homework
If you're looking for a specific gun(s), do a little research yourself. Check prices (remember - the Internet is always cheaper but we all know the risks involved in buying sight unseen from some dealer out in the online netherworld.) and determine a reasonable price range for what you're looking for. Also, if you have any really detailed questions about a firearm, look it up yourself. Most dealers work with 1000+ different firearms and nobody knows everything about all of them, so if you really need to know the exact length of the trigger pull in millimeters, or some detail about the steel used in the barrel, or how much an empty mag weighs for a certain pistol....find out for yourself. I actually heard those questions (and scores more like them). I'm convinced that most people ask questions like those just to try to impress anyone within earshot (like the morons at the range we've all had to deal with), but if something like that really is crucial in your eye then you should find out for yourself and not rely on a salesperson.
3. Don't Lie
Don't lie to a dealer about how much less you can get a particular gun for through another dealer. 95% of the time they're going to know you're lying. These gun shows are tight-knit communities and while a dealer might not know the exact price of every other gun from every other dealer at the show, they do know how other dealers tend to price their firearms and what kind of markup they have. Dealers also have internet access so don't try to BS anyone about online prices and availability either. And when a dealer knows you're lying, he/she now has the upper hand. Most of the time "the lie" is a loss for both the dealer and the customer. Once a customer's bluff has been called, 99% of the time they walk away and won't come back because they'd look like a fool. Some will now actually pay more elsewhere just to save face. So in the end the original dealer loses a sale and the customer either pays more elsewhere or leaves w/o the gun they really wanted, all because they didn't want to look like a fool. This also happens every show, most recently with an M1A.
4. Don't dicker too much on price
Either the gun is in your price range or it's not. If the dealer says "that's the price", then that's the price. Dealers aren't impressed with what some other guy is selling it for (assuming you're not lying as per above). Sure, go ahead and ask if they can do any better but don't expect a miracle. This isn't regular retail where the markups are 50-100%........not even close. Dealer "A" might have gotten a good deal on Glocks because he bought a ton of them while dealer "B" has a better price on S&Ws, and so on. Gun shows aren't cheap and a typical mid-size dealer needs to sell 40-50 guns just to break even. This ties in with point #1 - you snooze, you lose. A short while back we got 4 of the new Sig .308 ARs. We were the only ones who had them at the show. I was dealing with a guy who absolutely wanted one but kept quibbling over the price ($1699). We had one left and I kept telling the guy that it was a hot gun and that we'd have no problem selling it at that price. He wanted it for $50 less but we weren't budging. After 10 minutes of him begging and pleading (for $50 on a $1700 gun!!) my boss walked over, said "excuse me, I just sold this" and took it out of the guy's hands. The guy just stood there with his mouth open. Another customer heard we had one of these rifles, asked my boss the price, and said "I'll take it". End of story. One guy got his rifle, the other got the shaft all because he was being petty.
Anyway, those are some important lessons I've learned. Feel free to chime in with any of your own.
