Bud's Gun Shop sale this weekend

[onebohemian]

Got an email from Buds Gun Shop out of Kentucky today. Said free shipping on all gun orders this weekend. Here's their main site: http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/index.php.

Today I picked up a rifle I ordered from them. Had it sent to Burnsville Pistol Range for the $15.00 FFL transfer. It took 12 days to get here but is exactly what I ordered. Price was the best I could find anywhere. I'd buy from them again, especially now that they started a new online order status checking system.

As for what might interest some of you, they have S&W M&Ps in 40 and 9mm for $439.00 with free shipping. If you pay by credit card, they add 3%. They update their website every hour. Prices are subject to change. E.g., the rifle I bought was 1167.37 when I ordered it. It jumped to 1192.00 two days ago. Today they list it for 1217.00, but there's free shipping on it this weekend.

[JoeH]

Soooooooooooooooo, what did you get?

Tease!

[onebohemian]

I was going to start a new thread to announce my new purchase, but since you asked, I finally entered the AR15 world. Got a S&W M&P 15T. I need to clean it before posting a pic or two.

[Tee]

Is their tax on the purchase?

[Tee]

Also, what is the process involved getting it shipped to the Burnsville Pistol Range?

[onebohemian]

If Bud's already has your FFL's license on file, you just pick it from their drop down menu. They keep on file any FFLs that people send them. I got a copy of BPR's but then didn't need to send it to Bud's because they already had it. There's other Minnesota FFLs listed on Bud's drop down as well. I chose BPR because they only charge 15 bucks. By the way, BPR told me that they get 4 to 5 guns a month shipped to them from Buds.

[Tee]

Thanks Mark
How about the tax, is their any when purchased from Buds?

[TC95GT]

No Tax.

The prices do reflect a 3% cash discount. So if you use a credit card you will have to add another 3%.

Burnsville Pistol is on their list. Just order the gun and tell them where to ship it. No need to arrange it with Burnsville Pistol. I put a note on my order asking BPR to please call me on my cell phone to let me know the firearm has arrived. I would still call BPR to check to see if your firearm has arrived though. They may or may not catch the note and call. One time they did and one time they didnt for me.

I noticed they have raised their prices at least enough to cover the shipping. They may have been going to raise them anyway. But I suppose it doesn't matter if your still gettting a good deal. Some discussion on THR about it. http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=299862

[onebohemian]

Here's the text of an email I received from Bud's yesterday. (My comments about it follow the email.)

Dear Budsgunshop.com Customer,

We are extending indefinitely the Free Shipping terms on all firearms purchased on Budsgunshop.com.

In response to continuous pressure from certain manufacturers to raise our firearm prices, we are actively seeking ways NOT to raise our prices. The "cancer" in the firearms industry today is MAP (Minimum Advertised Pricing). Some manufacturers, and more every day, are establishing a Minimum Advertised Price policy for their products. If we, the retailers, are caught advertising for less than these prices we are in jeopardy of being cut off by the manufacturers and/or distributors. The MAP prices are normally considerably higher than our normal advertised price. The MAP prices reflect high profit margins required by the "big chain" stores who operate with millions of dollars of overhead. The "big chain" stores put pressure on the manufacturers and distributors to create and enforce a MAP policy which will support there excessive overhead. They can apply this pressure as they amount to huge multi-million dollar accounts with each manufacturer or distributor.

In order to get our Budsgunshop.com advertised prices in compliance with certain MAP policies, you may notice us offering different "promotions" for special financing terms, free shipping, free goods(knives, etc.) or ?? Many of the manufacturers MAP policies also restrict what "extras" we are allowed to offer, so promotional offers will not always apply equally to all firearms. We are in the process of compiling and reviewing the numerous MAP policies in an attempt to come up with a solution that will address all current and future MAP restrictions.

You can be sure that we are doing everything we can to keep our hard earned reputation as being the best firearms value on the internet. With your help, we will attempt to grow our business into a large volume account which will allow us a louder voice among the manufacturers and distributors.

Your business is greatly appreciated,

Budsgunshop.com
Paris, KY
859-987-9929

_________________________________

My two cents:

I suppose what they argue is possible. In my own case, I somehow got the rifle I wanted for them when they were offering it at the lowest retail price I have ever seen anywhere. I did a ton of research for at least six months so I can honestly say I couldn't have purchased this gun retail from anywhere else for less money. Before the rifle arrived at my door, Bud's had already raised the retail price of ones remaining in inventory twice for a total increase of $50.00. I had to pay shipping on my order which with insurance came to $38.00. Now that they have free shipping, the rifle is only running $12.00 more than I paid, notwithstanding the $50.00 price increase. Maybe I'm just being a sucker, but again, it wouldn't suprise me to find out that big-box stores and the manufacturers have deals in the works that affect the price everywhere, regardless of what the individual dealer wants to charge in his/her own business.

Thanks,

[JoeH]

MAP pricing has been around for a long time. I wouldn't call it a cancer although for Bud's it is. It's the same reason that an iPod costs the same everywhere.

[TC95GT]

I believe Bud's has been dealing with this on the Berreta line for some time. When you search for a Beretta on their web site it will not give you a price until you place the item in your registered customers shopping cart.

I wonder why they couldn't do this with all the firearms? You would simply have to be a registered customer to view pricing by placing the item in your cart. Sounds simple enough to me. Of course, that's probably why it wouldn't work.

[onebohemian]

MAP pricing has been around for a long time. I wouldn't call it a cancer although for Bud's it is. It's the same reason that an iPod costs the same everywhere.

How does MAP benefit customers? Sure I don't have to research or chase around to retailers to find the best price, but with the internet, that's really not that much work these days. This may prevent the Walmarts and Best Buys of the world from undercutting and thereby harming competitors, but I don't think I can think of an example where this has happened to the point where the big-box stores then raise the prices after all the competitors are out of the market. Is MAP's only actual benefit to the manufacturers?

[JoeH]

MAP pricing gives the manufacturer control over the price of their product in the marketplace. It benefits an established dealer network. They can compete on service, selection, gunsmithing, etc. They don't need to worry about an Internet based FFL in a pole barn with zero inventory undercutting them on price.

[TC95GT]

How does MAP benefit customers?

It doesn't.

MAP pricing gives the manufacturer control over the price of their product in the marketplace. It benefits an established dealer network. They can compete on service, selection, gunsmithing, etc. They don't need to worry about an Internet based FFL in a pole barn with zero inventory undercutting them on price.

They also don't need to worry about internet based FFL's like Buds and others who have an established brick and mortar retail location, a very nice inventory and a business model that allows them to sell that inventory via the internet at prices less than the established dealer network while still turning a profit.

edited for spelling