Cheaper Than Dirt Gouging!

[Willbird]

Look guys, it's not gouging, it's capitalism. You do not NEED what they are selling, they have it, you just want it, the rpice is whatever someone will pay. Gouging is taking advantage of a situation & selling something you must have. Kind of what the oil companies do with gas. If I had a bunch of 30rd Magpuls, I would sell them for that as well.

Well IMHO it IS a different matter if we make a deal today for you to purchase my widget for $99, you "make" the purchase by ordering.

Then the sale price for the widgets I have in stock rises, so I CANCEL you and other customers existing orders, and start selling them to other folks for $299. Those folks you put on a list, you might have to buy from them in the current madness IF you NEED a widget, but when things return to normal they are not in your list of people you buy from.

The price of Pmags has not risen from the mfg to the distro, so if the prices triples between there and the home buyer somebody is cashing in. And the companies who do NOT (like Brownells) will go on my "good guy" list. Buying and selling is all free market, and so is choosing who we buy and sell to and from.

I bought a 45 acp pistol that holds 1/3 of a box of ammo in one magazine in 2007, the old ban had been out 2-3 years, I started buying magazines for it each time I went to Cabelas at $25 or so each. My wife naturally asked "why so many?" I showed her what similar full cap magazines sold for under the previous ban ($99 new in wrap) and her next question was "did you get all they had, can we get more someplace else ?". I stopped when I had 30 of them...sounds like a lot but if a new ban goes into place a fair trade would be 3-4 magazines for 1 LNIB pistol. I told other customers who were buying new high capacity magazines to buy 10-20 magazines and they all looked at me like I was NUTS.

Bill

[W.R.Buchanan]

[QUOTE=Willbird;2047067]Well IMHO it IS a different matter if we make a deal today for you to purchase my widget for $99, you "make" the purchase by ordering.

Then the sale price for the widgets I have in stock rises, so I CANCEL you and other customers existing orders, and start selling them to other folks for $299. Those folks you put on a list, you might have to buy from them in the current madness IF you NEED a widget, but when things return to normal they are not in your list of people you buy from.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. And that is exactly what these guys are doing. And my stance comes from the last half of the last sentence.

when things return to normal they are not in your list of people you buy from.


Randy

[Green Frog]

My current pet peeve is a company who shall remain nameless (but whose initials are Aero Precision!) that is apparently delaying filling prepaid orders placed in November to sell their AR 15 lower receivers directly from the factory at triple the old price. They had a reputation as a good quality, affordable receiver, but I don't plan on giving any more of my business to them when things return to normal... in fact, as I search the various websites and forums today it looks like the wave has begun to break now. People are starting to get some things back in stock and prices are even beginning to fall a bit. I never ordered that much from CTD anyway, so they seem like good candidates for a list that also contains AP. Like old Santa Claus, I've got two lists and these guys definitely qualify as "naughty."

Froggie

PS I won't hurt my own interests with a "boycott," but I'll know to look more closely at the dealers... what they are doing now and what their general business practices have been.

[montana_charlie]

Then the sale price for the widgets I have in stock rises, so I CANCEL you and other customers existing orders, and start selling them to other folks for $299.

Did anybody claim that somebody (CTD) CANCELLED orders for items at 'normal' rates, and then raised the price for all new orders?

CM

[L1A1Rocker]

Did anybody claim that somebody (CTD) CANCELLED orders for items at 'normal' rates, and then raised the price for all new orders?

CM

I don't know if CTD has done that, but that is exactly what SOG did to me. Put an order in for 12 AK mags and got an email from them two days later telling me that the price went up, and asking me to reorder at the new price. I've filed a BBB complaint and may try a small claims case against them after I get a favorable ruling from the BBB.

[lwknight]

When you price your product to where people complain and buy it anyway , you got it priced just right.
As long as stupid people pay high prices the prices will remain. When sales get slow the price drops .
Like others said before , " you do not need their product or you would have found it earlier" Panic buyers are the guilty ones for making high prices.

[Lloyd Smale]

amen to that! its just as much the fault of the guys paying those prices as it is the ones charging those prices.

When you price your product to where people complain and buy it anyway , you got it priced just right.
As long as stupid people pay high prices the prices will remain. When sales get slow the price drops .
Like others said before , " you do not need their product or you would have found it earlier" Panic buyers are the guilty ones for making high prices.

[Gliden07]

There pricing before the insanity wasn't all that great to start with! And there shipping is ridiculous! I realize that shipping is a huge concern but there shipping seems much higher than most other places! Plus they have a handling charge! I won't buy from them.

[engineer401]

I never found them cheaper than anyone else. From what I saw, Cheaper Than dirt never lived up to the name. Therefore, I've always shopped elsewhere.

[ku4hx]

I reserve the right to not buy from places I don't want to buy from ... for whatever reason. As Smokey Robinson and the Miracles would say, "You better shop around".

[Finarfin]

If I were in charge at Magpul, I'd start selling them to CTD for about $85 apiece.

[1Shirt]

I don't like it, and have stopped doing business with them. That said, somebody sometime back said "the business of business is business!", and I guess that must be their philosophy!
1Shirt!

[montana_charlie]

If I were in charge at Magpul, I'd start selling them to CTD for about $85 apiece.

In a recent 'market report' on the gun industry, one of the items was that Magpul is a million magazines behind in filling orders.

It's probable that Magpul's asking price to CTD is a moot point now ... and will remain moot for a good while.

[lwknight]

Well, at least the good news is the the goobment will play the dickens to locate and try to take up all those millions of magazines out there in the vast US of A .Surely they will realize the senselessness of any bans.

[montana_charlie]

The way Feinstein, Cuomo and Jerry Brown are villifying 30-round magazines, the population has come to fear them so much you can probably succeed in robbing a convenience store by pointing one at the clerk.

[Jay561]

Welcome to ground hog day, they did this back in 08 also.

[Kent Fowler]

When I first started getting a CTD catalog back in the 90's, one look at their shipping costs convinced me they would never get any of my business. They can charge whatever they want, I haven't bought from them and never will.

[kavemankel]

I live in N Tex and am 45 miles from CTD store. They have plenty of black guns and black gun gear but have almost triple the prices. I agree with capitalism but how much markup does it take to drive customers away forever. Then again If they were to keep old prices (I will coin the term " Pre-Hoarding") then they would virtually have no buisness and have to close the doors untill they get their next shippment. There are plenty of idiots out there in this current hoarding atmosphere that will pay three times market value for an AR which keeps their doors open. I purchased lots of stuff from them in the past never any high dollar stuff because there are cheaper places for that but I will continue to get gear from them. Not many places carry the gun gear that they do in store where I can have hands on prior to buying it. Internet is great but I like to see and feel before buying.

[montana_charlie]

Well, CTD isn't the only place with an ability to gouge.
Glancing at the rotating banner ad at the top of this forum page, it was on an Ammo outfit when I happened to be looking.
Out of curiosity I clicked on it and checked their 5.56 supply.

Well, they have some. That surprised me.
But, as I am only interested in the two military loads, I didn't see much to absorb my attention.
Then I noticed they had 100-round boxes of Federal 55-grain FMJ American Eagle, which is about the same as M193.
They want $200 (before any discussion of shipping) for 100 rounds.

Then I saw where they have a thousand rounds of HSM ammo for $999.

Off brand ammo (with a questionable rep) for a buck per round, and they say the shipping weight is 60 pounds.
We all know a thousand rounds weighs about half of that, so I expect they charge about sixty bucks for shipping instead of the more normal thirty-five.

One thing that is left up to guesswork on the site is whether that HSM ammo is new stuff ... or reloads.

CM

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Price gouging is good and it serves a few very important functions.

First, it makes people conserve resources. So if you're a guy how has a few AR's already you're very unlikely to buy more when they are selling at twice the price, however if they were still at the old price, say through some stupid price gouging law, then people would be encoraged to hord them causing a shortage.

Second, the high profit margin is an important signal to the market. It says, produce more of this item. I know Ruger just hired 100 new employees and other business who want a chunk of that profit will expand too and meet the demand. Again if prices do not raise then there's no incentive to produce more, redirect resources where they are needed most or to invest more capital.