by onebohemian on Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:37 am
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,
Mark
"Edited to remove prohibited content."(2009).
"It turns out that what you have is less important than what you do with it." (In honor of 'Goalie,' 2013).