Here Come The Scalpers

[44caliberkid]

I got an email ad from Cheaper Than Dirt yesterday touting that, "9mm Back in stock!" I clicked on the link. They had Armscore 115 FMJ and S&B, which were $9.99 a box before the shortage started, for $54.95 per box of 50. Carumba!

[Don Fischer]

They must be in business to make money, not friends!

[AffordableArmory]

Yep. And they had .380 for $150. Insanity. Never do business with them.


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[Warhammer]

Same old story for CTD. They lost my business forever the first time they pulled this crap years ago. That and the fact that the staff in their store are a bunch of puffed up mall ninjas. I used to live a few miles from their headquarters. Worst place to shop for guns that I've ever been. Saw more people get flagged by staff with guns in one trip than I've seen in every other gun shop I've been to combined.

[HiBC]

That may be what they are asking. They are only selling it that high if someone is buying.

I wonder if it will affect the price of pet rocks.

[TX Nimrod]

I have to lol at comments like these - the self-righteous indignation! How dare they charge so much! Oh the humanity!

Think about it as your business. Your costs are fixed, the suddenly you don’t have any inventory to sell. Your lesse payment is due, your employees want to be paid, payroll taxes are due, the utility company insists on payment - what ya gonna do? Well, if you want to stay in business you have to increase your income and with limited inventory to sell that means you charge more for what you have when you have it. This is called supply and demand. Or perhaps y’all would prefer a wage/price freeze? That works so well in the communist countries, yep.

Instead of your selfish whining, think about the effects of this pandemic on others. They want a life too, and many folks are just trying to pay for food and rent, not toys like guns. I don’t like price increases either, but it’s better than HoJo.....


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[50 shooter]

Yeah but CTD are known crooks!

Definitely not the place I would white knight for! As soon as there is ANY mention of something affecting the market, their prices go through the roof!

Buyer beware or well, you should already know to stay away from them! Let your money do your talking and buy elsewhere! When they go out of business, other businesses will get the message!

[Colorado Redneck]

This drama happens every few years. It gets really difficult to find supplies of ammo and reloading stuff. Keep cruising the online vendors and hit the local shops, then if you find stuff you need, jump on it. There is a local gun shop that is an older established business, and is usually one of the few stores that gets ammo and powder/primers/bullets during the shortages. And CTD can go to heck. I never visit their website.

[KyJim]

CTD can charge what they want. It's their right. Some people will pay it. That's their right.

I have the right not patronize them. I elected years ago not to do so and have never regretted my decision.

Yes, their costs on ammo have gone up for a variety of reasons and I understand this, but their costs on ammo haven't gone up 500%. As to the argument they have no stock to sell and have to charge a high price, I don't believe it. Ammo manufacturers are pumping it out as quickly as they can and it's all being sold as soon as it hits the retailers. Retailers are selling MORE ammo, not less.

[44 AMP]

Your costs are fixed, the suddenly you don’t have any inventory to sell.

ok, your bills are still due, but WHY don't you have any inventory to sell??

BECAUSE YOU SOLD IT ALL

And you made your expected profit on all you sold.

I understand supply and demand, but there's also a line beyond which its just greed, and I think CTD crossed that line and waved bye bye to it a long time before the current shortage, and its their right to be that way.

Doesn't mean its smart or something that will endear them to us, but its their right to be greedy and short sighted if they choose.

[TBM900]

ok, your bills are still due, but WHY don't you have any inventory to sell??

BECAUSE YOU SOLD IT ALL

And you made your expected profit on all you sold.

Yes, in May
Now it’s August and your suppliers are delivering a tiny fraction of expected stock..
So you mark it at normal price and it sells out in 10 minutes...
Now what?

[cptjack]

never liked them never dealt with the CHINESE JUNK DEALERS

[Nathan]

I bet you all call yourselves capitalists too!




As a side note, I’m still not doing business with them! Never have, never will.

As an American, I see the value of pricing a product based on supply and demand. At the current level of supply, a high price is supported. I won’t buy it, but if I didn’t reload, had a $8000 once in a lifetime hunt booked this month, and there were nothing else available, I would be thankful that someone raised prices enough that I could get 3 boxes.....1 for sight in, one for hunting, one for back up!

[JJ45]

The only way to prevent these bloodsuckers from taking advantage of us is to stock up when times are normal.

[gaseousclay]

I don’t understand why some are outraged by ammo prices. I was looking at 9mm ammo on some site the other day and there were actual comments left by customers saying stuff like, ‘why are you price gouging,’ or ‘why the high prices.’ These are the same people who don’t understand how supply/demand works and want something for next to nothing. Guess what? There’s millions of others that want what you want and will pay extra for it. Don’t like it? Don’t buy it.

[TBM900]

Originally Posted by gaseousclay

I don’t understand why some are outraged by ammo prices. I was looking at 9mm ammo on some site the other day and there were actual comments left by customers saying stuff like, ‘why are you price gouging,’ or ‘why the high prices.’ These are the same people who don’t understand how supply/demand works and want something for next to nothing. Guess what? There’s millions of others that want what you want and will pay extra for it. Don’t like it? Don’t buy it.

If prices were closer to normal, these same people would be screaming...

"Where is all the ammo? Everyone is sold out! Why aren't manufactures making it faster?"

I have yet to see any type of ammunition utterly unavailable
Yes you may have to search
Yes you will have to pay
But its out there

Think of the countless people freaked out by what is happening
They made the decision to protect themselves with a firearm
Bought their first and can actually buy some ammunition

No its not ideal
But its better than no option at all

This supposed "greed" of sellers
Is no different than the "greed" of buyers demanding cheap & readily avaiable

[Warhammer]

The people defending CTD's price gouging (yes, it's price gouging; look it up) by saying "that's how business works" have clearly never had exposure to the P&L of an actual retail business. Astronomically increasing the price of one product category to take advantage of current circumstances is not the way honest businesses operate. There are too many people speaking out of turn about that which they clearly have only the barest grade school understanding. (This is coming from a long-time retail manager.)

[ballardw]

I'm not so sure about the pure capitalist argument, i.e replacement cost for inventory, when it comes to CTD.

I stopped doing business with them when you started having to pick items from a single one of their warehouses because you would get charged a separate shipping fee from each warehouse. And the same product would have different prices, sometimes quite different, $9.99 vs $19.99 for example, depending on the warehouse. Almost like they were trying to "trick" you into purchasing from separate warehouses by manipulating prices to make something extra off the generally not best shipping rates.

[PolarFBear]

Utils. It's ALL about Utils. A rich starving man is "presented" a 2 pound sirloin steak ---- for $10,000. He gladly pays it and enjoys a life sustaining meal. He has demonstrated a high "UTIL" for the steak. Twenty minutes later he is offered he same meal for the SAME price $10,000. He offers $1.98. He has just demonstrated LOW Utils for the meal. Same with ammunition. Except "WE" are never satisfied. Let CTD charge what they will, use whatever questionable business practices they choose. My UTILS for CTD will remain low. I, at least at this point in time, do not need ammunition or shooting supplies to live. This MAY change.

[7.62 man]

Look at it as if CTD is providing a service.
When everyone is sold out of every ammo on the shelves, CTD will still have some for people that are too lame or stupid to stock up.
Call it a STUPID charge. They can sell you a $9 box of ammo with a $50 stupid charge.
No I won't buy from them because I stocked up. LOL

[HiBC]

I don't understand the emotion.
If CDT puts a ridiculous price on an item, I can simply scratch them as a source.
"Not a good place to buy" But I don't have any heartburn over it. Blood pressure stays the same. They never were a guns or ammo source for me.
I'm not giving them the power to ruin my day.
The good deals are where you find them. Don't try to pick tomatoes off of an elm tree.

I have not bothered to look at the store for a long time,but they seemed like an OK source for military surplus stuff...Like wool pants maybe.Or a stainless steel bedpan.

[gbclarkson]

Are any of you a CTD accountant?

How much is Armscor and S&B charging for their product?

[jag2]

If I remember correctly, at the Tulsa show in 2008 CTD had a table and security had to be called more than once. Very loud "discussions" about some of their business practices.

[Prof Young]

Let this be an inspiration to learn to reload . . .

Of course small pistol primers are really hard to come by right now.

Life is good.
Prof Young

[TXAZ]

TXAZ guaranteed results prediction:

When Trump wins his second term, the availability of evil-black-assault-guns and the ammo that feeds them will skyrocket while the price of both will precipitously drop.