Holding guns for regular

Travis Newman · 10-16-2009, 10:07 PM

What is your thoughts abouts gun dealers holding guns for regulars while they still advertise it for sale if there is no money down? Do you think they should do it? Would you? I tried to buy a Parker today and was told it was on hold for someone that was out of town. I was willing to purchase but was told to try back in a couple of days. To me a sale is still better than a maybe. Just wondering you thoughts?

Ross Berck · 10-16-2009, 11:05 PM

A good relationship with a honest dealer is worth a lot and appreciated by both parties. A lot of the quality dealers will hold a gun for you if you ask.

Brush Buster · 10-16-2009, 11:25 PM

I don't know all of your particular deal today but when I call a dealer I always ask first if the gun is available , If he is holding the gun for consideration, this is the time for him to say so !At which time I try to find out how long he gave the person who is holding the gun to make his decision . But if it is still available ,I will then ask if he has a time period he will give me to research and think about the gun before I make my final decision to purchase the firearm after we discuss the gun ,ser. # ,dimensions etc. including best possible price, w/ applicable trades etc. For my way of thinking ,you have to be on top of your game in the day of the computer, as there may be a thousand people eyeing the gun you just found on a sellers site. I like the idea that most will give you time to contemplate the purchase especially as pricey as our guns can be . I don't enjoy being the next in line but ,you can get the info. and be ready if the person holding the gun passes it up. It would irritate me to find out I had been skipped over , These guys are in business and they do want to make a sale and I would think most would call a customer back if they thought they were serious about the purchase and the fellow holding the gun passed on it ! For an example ,I recently purchased a CHE ,20 Ga. gun from a very popular ,and " Big Name " dealer and I traded two guns ,I needed three days to get my guns shipped and appraised by the dealer to know if our deal would work out , I really would have been dissapointed not to have gotten that C Grade because they wouldn't hold the gun for me for a few days ! Just my thoughts . Russ

Jim Kucaba · 10-17-2009, 12:17 AM

In my humble opinion, dealers and other sellers should require a small, easily REFUNDABLE, fee (Earnest Money) of say, $25.00 to be paid at the time of the inquiry with a credit card, or a debit card to put a gun on hold for seven consecutive days ... If a potential buyer isn't willing to put up a little "Earnest Money" he's wasting the seller's time and the seller should refuse to hold the gun ! ... That's just "My Humble Opinion," ... Take it or leave it for what it cost you.

Jim Kucaba ... AriZOOna Cactus Patch ... Email: JimKucaba@aol.com

terc · 10-17-2009, 05:31 PM

I think what Travis means by "holding for regulars", is the practice of setting desirable guns back before being offered to the general public. This is done often.Many sellers appreciate the fact that they have a buyer with cash who will take the guns without the hassles of shipping, rejection,ect. Sometimes it is frustrating.
This past summer Cabelas advertised a nice 20g VHE that I was intersted in. I called minutes after it hit the web. The gun room manager told me I couldn't buy it yet because there regular Parker buyer was out of town and couldn't be reached.They were going to try to contact him for two more days.If they couldn't reach him I could have it. To me that was a little over the top. I told them I wanted it and would give them my credit card #,now.
After I few minutes of discussions,off line,they came back and told me that I could have it. If they were going to give him first right of refusal they should not have advertised it.
Dave

Brush Buster · 10-17-2009, 05:58 PM

Hi Dave; Man ,I have never heard of a dealer foolish enough to make such a statement , Maybe that is what Travis means ,I would think this is being done ,you just wouldn't expect them to own up to it ! Just not the right way to do business ! Russ

Travis Newman · 10-17-2009, 09:31 PM

What I don't understand is why offer it for sale on the site if it is truly on hold. Offer to the regular than post it for sale. That way we never know about it until the regular customer sees it first. To hold it waiting for the customer to see it first and still having it for sale is wrong in my mind. When there is no money down it should be first come. That just my opinion.

George Lander · 10-17-2009, 09:46 PM

I'm with you on that one Travis. While I appreciate the fact that Sellers have regular customers, they should not advertise a gun that they have on hold just to have a "back up" Buyer in case their regular customer doesn't pan out. That smacks of fraud in my book.

Just My Humble Opinion.......George

Jim Kucaba · 10-18-2009, 07:22 AM

The Cabelas store in Lacey Washington did the exact same thing to me a few months back ... They SCREWED me out of a 14ga lifter gun that I called in and BOUGHT in the morning ... Only to be called back and told I couldn't have the gun in the afternoon ! ... I took my complaint to the manager of the gun department at the Lacey Washington store, to no avail, then up the ladder to the Store Manager in Lacey to no avail, and finally to the HMFIC over ALL of Cabelas gun departments at their Corporate Headquarters in Nebraska, and got no satisfaction from him either ... This is why I think a potential buyer should be required to put some "Earnest Money" up before he can get a gun put on hold ... Needless to say, I've been making up NEW swear words to call Cabelas ever since ... And I just bought a gun safe from Dick's Sporting Goods because it will be a 20 below zero day in AriZOOna before I spend a cent in a Cabelas store again.

Jim Kucaba ... AriZOOna Cactus Patch ... Email: JimKucaba@aol.com

Bill Murphy · 10-18-2009, 10:31 AM

OK, I will give an example of how I handled this situation when an out of town dealer advertised a Parker for sale in the Gun List. I knew that his phone would be ringing off the hook within hours of the time I called him. Knowing that a preferred customer would probably take the gun away from me, I had the dealer charge my credit card for the full price of the gun and read the transaction number to me. In retrospect, I should have had him fax the credit card receipt and store receipt to me. However, everything went great and I purchased a great fluid steel ten gauge at a fair price. Without the full documented payment, I doubt that I would have ended up with the gun. The dealer admitted that he had never had so many calls on a gun the day the ad broke.