[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Gun show ethics??? (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 3/10/2017 1:10:32 PM EDT
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At my local midsized gun show, there is a local gunshop owner who every year, shortly PRIOR to the doors opening up to the public, goes around to all the tables and
buys all the good stuff and then resells it at his local gunshop( not at the gun show) at huge markup and most of the stuff he just keeps for his personal collection. Is there any ethical issue involved here? My point is, that gunshow patrons pay their entry fee and wait in a long line for the chance to purchase something that may be a deal. Thats why they GO. It sucks when this dude grabs everything before the doors open. |
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At my local midsized gun show, there is a local gunshop owner who every year, shortly PRIOR to the doors opening up to the public, goes around to all the tables and buys all the good stuff and then resells it at his local gunshop( not at the gun show) at huge markup and most of the stuff he just keeps for his personal collection. Is there any ethical issue involved here? My point is, that gunshow patrons pay their entry fee and wait in a long line for the chance to purchase something that may be a deal. Thats why they GO. It sucks when this dude grabs everything before the doors open. Wait. Businesses get together to do business and make money? No way! If it is an ethical issue, then spread the word and let consumers decide if they want to continue to pay to go to the gun show. |
| I was an NRA recruiter for 10 years. Did 4 shows a year. There are prices before the show opens and after it opens. All the vendors do a set-up and then a quick walk around. I took advantage of discounts offered to me because of my position. I only bought to add to my own collection. I paid for my table and gave my commissions back to the NRA, I don't feel wrong in any way. |
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It's that way everywhere. It works that way with car swap meets as well. A friend of mine bought a set of 57 or 58 Corvette hubcaps that were in like new condition just dirty for $60. He took them home and cleaned them up and sold them the next day for $300.
I would do the same if the opportunity arose. |
| I have worked a lot of gunshows and the early "Dealer Hour" (hour before the doors open for general admission) for table holders is one of the perks to paying for a table. Of course not everybody is ready for business and most Dealers aren't willing to pay or accept the price another Dealer has on their wares. |
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Ethical yes, it's business to business. He could call up the businesses before the gunshow and do the same thing. If the other businesses have no problem with it and potentially losing customers/traffic then they made their choice.
Is it tactful, no and it's bad marketing if anyone finds out which it seems someone has. [EDIT] I'm referring for resale not adding to private collection That's besides the point of why go to a gunshow in the first place?  Around here the big coordinators have all but driven out any good deals with high parking or high entry fees and then high table fees and restrictions. Last time I went years ago there were tons of tables of chinese "military surplus". Ammo isn't bad but there is always line a mile long for prices I can get on the internet. Add to that the people with dollies so they run out of ammo fast. I've never seen any deals on guns other than Heritage revolvers, Charles Daly stuff and RIA shotguns.
It makes sense though, since the internet has replaced gun shows and allows comparisons countrywide. I've heard that local gunshows in some of the smaller towns are still good, but no first hand experience. |
| Back in the 90s when comic books were the boom item I worked several big comic book shows... and the same thing happened. Before the doors opened the various sellers would walk the floor and look at the goods the other sellers had, snipe them and resell them at their tables or keep them for their own collections. I had a whole long box bought from me before a show opened and just taken over to another table and listed for like a dollar more on each book. |
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I would help a friend of mine at his table and we would find deals and when we got back to his table a dealer was pulling the cover off my friends table to see what he had for sale, my buddy lost his shit on the guy and asked him wtf he was doing touching his shit, the guy said he wanted to see what was for sale before others came and got the deals.
The other dealer was asked not to come back around the shows anymore as he would go around and uncover peoples tables before they even got there for the day and he would just leave money on the table for what he took. I don't see a problem with getting deals before the show but touching peoples shit before they uncover the table is bullshit even if you pay for it or not |
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I have set up a table at the local collectors show for about 20 years now. I am not an FFL, I usually sell militaria and gun related "stuff", with an occasional personal gun for sale on the table. It is common practice to walk around prior to opening looking for deals. But it is not that big a deal. Some shows I do not buy a thing before the opening.
Where the big money is made are the full time dealers that poach all the good collectible or under priced firearms being brought in by the public. Door hawking (standing at the door to buy guns before the public gets inside) is prohibited at our local show, but it still goes on. Some of the bigger dealers and collectors will actually have friends come to the show and do nothing but hang near enough to the entrance to scoop up deals without drawing the attention of the show staff. Same thing with table location. The old time "buddies" and cronies get the prime tables at the front of the show so that they get first dibs on anything that makes it past the hawker skirmish line. If you have a table in the middle or back of a show, you will rarely get a chance to buy a bargain priced or prime collectible firearm. I am not complaining, that is the way it goes pretty much any gun show. I suggested to the promoter a few times that it would be nice to rotate a couple of the front tables among the regulars that are stuck in the middle or back of the show to make it more equitable. Nothing ever changes. |
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Wait, you actually still go to those shit shows? http://reactiongifs.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/vladimir-putin-laughing.gif This..between 10 parking, 10 admission...squeezing between fat fucks even fatter than me with less shower time..fuck that |
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This..between 10 parking, 10 admission...squeezing between fat fucks even fatter than me with less shower time..fuck that Quoted:
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Wait, you actually still go to those shit shows? http://reactiongifs.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/vladimir-putin-laughing.gif This..between 10 parking, 10 admission...squeezing between fat fucks even fatter than me with less shower time..fuck that |
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A few years back I sold a big chunk of my collection so I decided to get a table at a show.
After noticing what you were saying I priced a bunch of my stuff $5-$10 cheaper than than I saw anyone else selling it for, and the next morning before the show opened the majority of what I was trying to sell was bought by other vendors lol Mission accomplished. |
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Anytime you're asking if something is ethical, it means it's not. By simply asking the question, the answer is before you. Not really. I used to work the South Florida gun shows for a buddy. While haggling was part of the fun, all the dealers had a "dealer price" to go along with their public price. During slow periods, I'd go wander around the tables. If I saw something I liked, I'd do my best to haggle the price down, just to see where they would go. Then I'd ask my buddy to go get the "dealer price." It was always five to ten percent lower than my price. If I liked it, he would buy it, dealer-to-dealer, then sell it to me at the dealer price. No straw purchase took place because he had his FFL and we would 4473 the sale to me. |
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Wait, you actually still go to those shit shows? http://reactiongifs.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/vladimir-putin-laughing.gif This. A cop friend of mine is always trying to get me to go to our twice-yearly gun shows. He attends every one. I'm always like "WHY???". They suck. It's a bunch of over-priced, beat-up shit. And I'd pay $5 for the privilege of walking past rows of tables of that shit. I stop going years ago. I think that I may have bought ONE gun at a gun show.. about 15 years ago. |
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Yep. The best deals I ever had were before the public is allowed in. Quoted:
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Get a table, join the fun. It's always better behind the scenes. Yup, and that goes for literally every kind of show where sellers buy tables tables and hang out for the weekend, it's not exclusive to gun shows at all. |
I used to hang out near the doors of the local gun show and watch the guns coming in. The guys would go around and get low-balled like hell, and more than a few would leave with their feelings hurt by the dealers. I'd follow them to the parking lot and offer them more than I knew they'd been offered inside. Most still said "no", but I scored quite a few great deals like that...until the dealers complained and the owner informed me that I wouldn't allowed back if I continued to do so. 
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| I thought you were talking about my local show where the promoter threw out dealers who undercut the prices of the promoters friends . Or maybe where the promoter has a dealer he works with that is right inside the front door of every show. The promoter died but his name is still on shows . |