question, answer please...(gun shop buying from wal-mart)

[Guest MOTOCIDE]

Is there anything, and I mean anything illegal about a gun shop buying ar-15s from Wal-mart as a customer, then selling them in their shop as new and  for a $600 dollar price increase and telling customers the price hike is because distributors are upping the price?

[Garufa]

No.

[Raoul]

stinks though

[Murgatroy]

Not illegal.

 

Immoral, but not illegal.

[Sam1]

You can post who it is, I'm sure they'll appreciate the notoriety. A lot of people here are faithfuls to people that run good shops and stay away from those types of shops.

[TripleDigitRide]

Funny you mention that, because I was wondering if the guy at the Springfield Wal-Mart was doing the same thing today. Edited December 21, 2012 by TripleDigitRide

[Garufa]

Wouldn't be the first time WalMart procured goods showed up in a gun store or on a gun show table.

[Guest MOTOCIDE]

Top Gun Arms in Ethridge, TN

[Oh Shoot]

Wouldn't be the first time WalMart procured goods showed up in a gun store or on a gun show table.

Seemed like half the gunshow ammo offered in 2007-9 came from Walmart.

 

- OS

[Caster]

In theory, he could use his ffl and buy them with no background check. Then resell them. As long as the paper trail requirements are met, I know of no restrictions as to where a dealer can buy his inventory so long as it is legally owned/ownable. That's a pretty sorry practice, but it IS a capitalist market. No one is forcing anyone to buy them at inflated prices and if he can get it .......shame on him for lying about his distributors though.

[Garufa]

Caster, I've been studying on this myself the past little while.  I don't know WM's policy on dealer transfers, I bet they don't allow it as it would likely cause someone's head to explode at the sporting goods counter trying to figure it out and is also probably against policy.

 

Dealer can easily walk in, buy it without license, take it back to his store and resell it.  Now, whether it needs to go on his books is another matter.

[Guest CCI]

Caster, I've been studying on this myself the past little while.  I don't know WM's policy on dealer transfers, I bet they don't allow it as it would likely cause someone's head to explode at the sporting goods counter trying to figure it out and is also probably against policy.

 

Dealer can easily walk in, buy it without license, take it back to his store and resell it.  Now, whether it needs to go on his books is another matter.

Wouldn't that make it a private sale? Even though he sells it from his shop!

 

One second thought, that is a private sale, the gun is in his name!

[xRUSTYx]

Wouldn't that make it a private sale? Even though he sells it from his shop!

 

One second thought, that is a private sale, the gun is in his name!

 

Not if purchased with his FFL ... It would be under the stores name.

 

Walmart would simply be acting as the distributor -- whether they new it or not.

[runco]

Two things, 20 years ago when I ran a small business, I use to keep a copy of my Tennessee sales tax documents on file at my local Walmart, it allowed me to bypass paying sales tax on anything that I was buying for re-sale.  Likely a gun shop today, would do the same.  2nd, either the local gun shop provided a copy of his FFL to the Walmart to avoid the 4473, or if the local Wally couldn't manage a transfer to the 4473, then the 4473 could be filled out by the legal purchaser.  No break in the paper trail.  If the gun acquired by the gun dealer who purchased it from Walmart, was used in a crime, it is still traceable to the seller that acquired it from the gun shop.  I recall buying several guns from pawn shops when I was a FFL dealer, I had forgotten to have a hard FFL copy on me at the time, and I just purchased them with the 4473.

 

Personally, as a consumer, I do not like this, however cudos to the gun shop for being resourceful, and this is a free market society in action just reacting to a supply and demand situation.  I would rather have a free market, then a dictated market.

[KaNuckles]

It may not be illegal but I bet if the manufacturers found out it would be a different story. I have seen a guitar manufacturer come down on a small shop for doing that. Once they are sold the warranty starts. (guitars) So technically the guy was selling used guitars as new. But they had no warranty because it is non transferable. And selling used as new I don't think is legal. Might be something to check into. 

[Jonnin]

Well, in some states (no clue about TN) there are laws against extreme markup of goods, some of these laws are only during "emergencies" and others are anti-scalping type laws, but you would need a full blown lawyer to figure out if he crossed those types of lines.  There are also anti monopoly laws and I *think* (again, ask a lawyer) that buying out the competition, marking up, and resell if done on a large scale is considered monopolistic and can be taken to court.

[QuietDan]

Sam's Club affiliates of Wal-Mart exist for this very purpose, so small businesses have a warehouse for supplies and other consumables.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Walmart will do transfers to other dealers.

Dolomite

[TGO David]

I'm failing to see the problem here. It sounds like sour grapes.

[bubbiesdad]

Wouldn't be the first time WalMart procured goods showed up in a gun store or on a gun show table.

During one of the ammo scares, some local gun shops would clean out Wally World to stock their shelves.

[dlm37015]

i buy where ever i can get the best price its how buisness works

[KaNuckles]

i buy where ever i can get the best price its how buisness works

 

That is a good point. Now I would say most of the time buying retail would not produce the best price for someone who intends on selling retail themselves. UNLESS the wholesalers are gouging and have raised their price to or above those of places like Wal-Mart. In which case it would be acceptable for a dealer to buy guns at Wal-Mart and mark them up. 

[dlm37015]

i dont have an ffl but i stopped at a walmart 3 weeks ago in manchester they had sig m600 for 697.97 i bought all they had 5 .

that price is about 270.00 below wholesale. if i had an ffl i wouldnt have any problem buying from walmart thats what there in buisness for

usually i can beat there price on reloading stuff and i only sell ammo by the case so they do me no good with that

but hey find you someone that works there to buy for you they get 10 per cent off  

[KaNuckles]

I didn't think about it but Wal-Mart cuts out the middle man and goes directly to the manufacturer. I guess I can see how they can get below wholesale. I hear they are brutal to their suppliers. 

[vontar]

The only concern I would have is would it really be considered used if brought at Walmart and resold?  I have over heard others talk about buying it and it is still new in box but after paper work is done, it is considered used goods.

 

Free Market supply/demand sets the price.  I guess we are used to big stores like Wal Mart not reacting as fast to the market as others. 

 

Plus what is the replacement cost to restock that AR in the future?