Firing Line's New Transfer Fees-Price Gouging

[JohnFuller]

Today I took delivery of a new pistol I had shipped to The Firing Line. This is the fifth time in the last year that I have used Firing Line as a transfer agent. Their $30 fee was a little high, but they weren't that hard to get along with and are located conveniently. One of the clerks even remembered my name. Today, I was informed the new transfer fee is $50.00. First, the fee was still at $30 at the time the pistol was ordered, and only went up in this crazy lag time between every online place trying to get orders out and the Colorado Insta-Check lag time. More importantly, it just evidences that the Firing Line misses the point.

Each and every time I have a new gun shipped to them, I buy other stuff: Off the top of my head, a $2000 Nightforce Scope, several holsters, boxes of ammo, cases of ammo, magazines, an AR drag bag and other miscellaneous cleaning stuff. Further, each and every time I buy a gun online, it is only after calling them and asking if they have that specific gun in stock. If they did, I bought it from them directly. If not, and after calling around, I bought online.

I don't know if they resent someone purchasing a gun somewhere else and don't want to encourage that behavior, or if they just haven't thought this one through. But I have. By my calculations, they probably have about 30 minutes of labor invested in the average transfer. For one of their clerks at $18k a year, that runs out about $5.00. There is no investment required to get this business, just the FFL they already possess. At $30 bucks, the return was $25 or a 500% profit. Now, it is a ridiculous $45 or a 900% profit. To me, this is price gouging and is no different that a retailer jacking the price on a P-mag to $40 or $60 just to take advantage of the supply shortage. By way of analogy, in Florida, you might think plywood would become a hot commodity during hurricanes. It is actually illegal to profiteer from these situations. I'm not saying the recent shortages are the same as a hurricane, well, on second thought..., but merely that this business philosophy shouldn't be tolerated by the community.

Firing Line: you just lost a customer.

[BPTactical]

Paging Dave..............

[ray1970]

First off, let me say that I feel just about everything at the Firing Line is overpriced. Sneakerd will probably be along to stand up for the place shortly.

Anyhow, I think people ordering firearms direct from the distributors and having them transferred through an FFL is becoming pretty common these days and is really cutting in to the profits of the gun dealers. I'm not surprised to see them raising their transfer fees to try to keep their business in the black. They really aren't there to serve you or do you any favors. They are there to make money. We, as consumers, want the best deal possible but the dealers are looking to maximize their profits. Finding that middle ground is the ideal situation.

For what it's worth, last I checked Rapid Fire Bunker was still doing transfers for $15.

[Kraven251]

Bowers Tactical and the Shootin Shack do transfers for $25. I used to always go through the Shootin Shack because Jay is a pretty good guy, but now that Bowers has their FFL, I go through them.

[merl]

"overcharging" for a transfer is just a way of saying "we do not want to do transfers."

There are other places, use em.

[Batteriesnare]

You clearly have not thought this through.

First, I have serious doubts that Firing Line did this as a personal attack on you, which is how you seem to be taking it. I'm sure they appreciate your business, but even if you do purchase peripheral items from them, their business model is not there to support you and you alone. Consider the multiple factors at work here:

Inventory - with the recent run on guns and ammunition, their stock is much lower than normal. Less product on the shelf means less money coming into the business. Without goods, they need to make up for their income/overhead through other means. Since services (transfers) do not go out of stock in this case, it is a way to help sustain their business.

Re-order- I wish you could see what restocking previous inventory is going to cost us in the firearms business. In addition to the normal beginning of the year increases, the exponential demand on manufactures and distributors has caused them to go into a rationing mode. Most businesses have been told to expect 10% of what they order. Again, with lower amounts of inventory to sell in the future, the business must take action to account for that loss of potential revenue.'

Supply/Demand- Go back to school and take economics. When there is a higher demand for a good or service, the price goes up. To what it goes up will be up to each business, but it is expected to rise. If you do not like that rise, you have the option to shop elsewhere, as has been mentioned from previous posters. That is your option as a consumer, and should enough consumers go elsewhere, the business will have to readjust or go out of business. That is the nature of capitalism, and the market - it will regulate itself. But your getting online and whining and accusing them of price gouging merely shows your ignorance, especially since it seems that people are paying their increased rates. If people pay it, it's the going rate, whether you like it or not.

[Busta Prima]

I take it the OP is not a member? Spending that much there you should have probably joined. They seem to treat members a LOT better and I bet members don't pay $50 for transfers.

[sneakerd]

Yup- the resident FL "shill" is here- if just for a few minutes. The OPs breakdown of cost is totally inaccurate, but I'm not going to waste anyone's time countering it. He doesn't work with us- so his cost breakdown is pure fantasy. FL did raise transfer costs as of 1/12. Obviously not my decision as I'm just a worker bee there. Since the big box stores stopped doing transfers, we have been literally overwhelmed with them. Storage space is at a premium these days, and it has proven difficult to store both all of the transfers and the in-store purchases. As I recall, 5280s transfer fee is $100 now, according to another poster. If you aren't happy with the fee, then do your transfer somewhere else. It's not going to change in the near future, so I don't know what else to say about that. As far as high prices are concerned- what cloud are you on? Name any other store that will still sell ARs at near pre-panic prices. ARs still trickle in, and we are not pricing them that much higher than 6 weeks ago. The last NIB AR we got, last Monday? I think, was a CMMG heavy barrel carbine. It was priced at $1449. A Christiansen Arms CAR was also put out that day, at $3445. The CA pre-panic price was approx $3200. It is a high-end AR. The week before, a NIB Stag AR went out the door at $995. Just before that a Colt 6920 at $1450. Again, this is when they would have been priced elsewhere over 2G. Our prices are ALWAYS below MSRP, as we base our price on what we pay for the gun, not MSRP. We get comments all of the time over the counter about how good our prices are, but on the forums people say "They're sooo expensive." Where else can you still buy a Glock 17 mag for $36? Didn't raise prices one penny on hi-cap handguns. Where else can you get Magpul mags off the shelf locally for $39.95? They're $95 at the Shootist. Best I can do right now.

[brobar]

The last several firearms purchases I have made have all been transferred through Jay at the Shootin Shack! Great guy! $25 for the first transfer and $10 for each additional. It is a little out of my way to pick up transfers there... but I would much rather spend a little more in time and gas than give the Firing Line my money.

[sneakerd]

Members pay the same transfer fee.