Online gun stores NOT to buy from?

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I’ve ordered quite a few and had good luck with:
Grabagun
Palmetto State Armory
Whitaker Guns
Kentucky Gun Company
 
Only buy from big name, trusted sources, especially so in times of tumult.
If you haven’t seen an ad for them online, and only found them in an internet search, and their website looks sketchy and cheap, and they are the only ones with the pistol you are looking for...

Proceed with caution...:scrutiny:

Don't...
Cheaper than Dirt


CTD is one of the worst.
 
CTD is one of the worst.

Yeah. I guess my caution isn’t universal. They are a big, and not great company.
Why should there be extra shipping from three separate warehouses? All of them are in Texas, 1500 miles from me. It not like one is that much farther away!
And if you shop for everything to be in one warehouse, magically, one item will go out of stock and pop up in another warehouse, with separate shipping.

Squelch that noise!

Just say that you will over charge for shipping! You aren’t fooling anyone!

Whoo! I feel better.:)
 
I like Grabagun. Retail location is 20 mins from my office so no separate FFL or shipping when I pick up.
 
Yeah. I guess my caution isn’t universal. They are a big, and not great company.
Why should there be extra shipping from three separate warehouses? All of them are in Texas, 1500 miles from me. It not like one is that much farther away!
And if you shop for everything to be in one warehouse, magically, one item will go out of stock and pop up in another warehouse, with separate shipping.

Squelch that noise!

Just say that you will over charge for shipping! You aren’t fooling anyone!

Whoo! I feel better.:)
I ordered a cheap pleather iwb holster for my Glock 27 from them around 2006 holster was $14.00. Went to check out $25.00 total for a friggin flimsy holster. Last bit of money they gonna from me.
 
Yeah. I guess my caution isn’t universal. They are a big, and not great company.
Why should there be extra shipping from three separate warehouses? All of them are in Texas, 1500 miles from me. It not like one is that much farther away!
And if you shop for everything to be in one warehouse, magically, one item will go out of stock and pop up in another warehouse, with separate shipping.
CTD doesn't have different warehouses of their own....they drop ship, industry lingo for "we don't actually stock that item in OUR warehouse, but we'll have another company fullfill your order".

When you buy online, look for Gearfire, Gallery of Guns or Davidsons logos......that almost always means the dealer doesn't have jack squat in stock at his store, but will have Gearfire or Davidsons actually ship the product.
 
Hyatt guns

That's another store that , like buds, I've shopped at many times in the store but never bought online. Many years ago I did notice a good deal on a German p-220 and drove to charlotte to pick it up. Nice folks and they list a huge inventory of used guns on their site.
 
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What "issues"?:scrutiny:
I haven't had a week go by in the last eleven and a half years where I didn't have at least 3-4 guns arrive from Bud's. Other than the "I bought it on Friday night and Bud's didn't ship for three days!!!" crowd, I've found them honest, reliable and very good pricing. Same with Palmetto State Armory and dozens of others.

Late shipments. Missing tracking info. Sent the wrong gun. "New" guns that clearly aren't new and the customer refuses. Guns missing parts.

And the FFL in question doesn't give a flip about their prices as he doesn't stock new guns - 100% used. He just got sick of the BS.
 
Late shipments. "Late"? If its a transfer how does the dealer get his panties in a wad? It's not his order.
Missing tracking info. What transfer dealer needs tracking info?o_O I don't, I know a gun has arrived when I'm holding the box. As a matter of fact Buds has never sent me tracking info, neither do 99% of online dealers or distributors.
Sent the wrong gun. In 3,000 shipments from Bud's I can recall twice that the gun was "wrong"...once they sent a more expensive version at the same price and the other was S&W's fault for mismarking the gun and mismarking the box.
"New" guns that clearly aren't new and the customer refuses. In 3,000 shipments I've yet to have that happen.
Guns missing parts. Nope, not unless the manufacturer left it out.

And the FFL in question doesn't give a flip about their prices as he doesn't stock new guns - 100% used. He just got sick of the BS.
Your gun dealer must be cursed, as thats the exact opposite of my experiences.
 
Grab a gun is my main place if locals don’t have what I need. Really have not needed to look elsewhere. If they are oos sign up for the email as they usually will get one in st9ck but must be quick!
 
I've bought several guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition from sportsmans outdoor super store, but in the last 2 weeks they've raised their ammunition prices so much it's clearly price gouging. Sellier and Bellot 45 acp were 12.89 for 50 2 weeks ago, I just checked and they're charging 21.99 now. There's absolutely no excuse to raise the price that much. Target sports and bass pro have barely changed their prices. I'm done giving soss my business even if they come down in the future!
 
I've bought about 10-12 guns, new and used from Bud's and never had any sort of problem. All new ones are new, used ones are as described, and they hold the "Crazy fast" shipping record, where I ordered a gun online in the early morning, and it showed up at my FFL the same day! I had it in my hands 14 hours after I ordered it! Sure it's only one state away, but that's freaky fast. PSA of all places is the second fastest shipping ever. I bought the gun, I can't remember what it was anymore, and 46 hours later, I picked it up.

The only place I've had problems with is a company that is out of business now, and they had "Too good to be true" prices. I actually got the first gun I ordered without any issue, but the second one never showed up and after I called a few times, the phone was disconnected. My CC was never charged for the second one. I can't remember the name, but when I searched on the owner, he came back involved with all kinds of sketchy deals over the last 20 years.
 
Hey guys, I've been looking for a certain gun and happen to find one online. Having never bought a gun online I'm unsure of what sites are trusted and not trusted/ outright scams. Can anyone give some insight? The site I have suspicion about is "Global Gun Sales," where I found the gun I've been searching for.
Welcome to THR, CamaroZ28!

It looks like the THR membership has laid out a whole lot of their favorite sites for you. One of the things I like about THR is the way our membership responds to new members & new gun owners. They're genuinely helpful. As for me, I've been browsing online gun sites for about 15 years and I'd never heard of Global Gun Sales until your post, FWIW. I've at least heard of the ones our other members listed, and many of them have been in business for a long time.

I will add that now is a time for caution in trying to buy online. Demand for guns and ammo is very high, which means that there are going to be scams popping up and price gouging going on. Happens every time we see a spike in demand. Unless Global Gun Sales has something really really rare, I'd go back through the list that these THR members have given you and see if you can find it from somebody a little better-known.
 
Welcome to THR. Never heard of Global Gun Sales so can't comment.

BTW, here's "10 Best online gun stores [2020] new/used" by Pew Pew Tactical - https://www.pewpewtactical.com/best-place-buy-guns-online/

I have bought guns and AR/PCC receivers/parts/kits from these online vendors with good results (Also CA restriction friendly and will ship CA legal guns/receivers):
  • Bud's Gun Shop (Used to have best prices now offers "price match". I believe my LGS ordered my GSG 1911 from Bud's) - https://www.budsgunshop.com/
  • Grab A Gun (Great price and fast shipping but Texas only sales tax on purchases apply. Bought my Thompson Center T/CR-22 for $269 - Still came out cheaper even with Texas sales tax) - https://grabagun.com/sale.html


I understand that this is from Pew Pew, but allow me to add Keely Arms. It’s Ohio based and has grown. The owner is a great guy and I’ve visited his “shop” a few times for in-store pickup. 100% on the up and up. https://www.keelyarms.com/
 
Ive had no major issues with ANY online retailer at this point, and no problems with gunbroker...either as a seller or buyer.
Ive purchased guns and or/large parts from
Buds
Cdnn
PSA
Brownells
Midway
Cabelas
Ebay and Gunbroker for auciton sites.
OpticsPlanet

Most annoying thing for Buds is that there system is almost completely automated, and they ship (at least to hawaii) only on fridays, so the minimum wait is 4-5 days to ship, If theres a delay it can take a week or more.

Cdnn, for me is only annoying because I have to call in my order, and they ONLY ship ups so its a handguns only proposition for me.

PSA was slow to ship, and used slow shipping. Shipping was free, product was very nice, and the cost was low in general....Always remember the quote on WW airsmithings site "GOOD, FAST, CHEAP...you can pick 2".

Brownells, nothing bad of note

Midway, charges extra for shipping to hawaii.....I only make big orders and only buy "free shipping" products now to cut down on some of that cost.

Cabelas, nothing of note good or bad.

Ebay, and Gunbroker offer a number of pitfalls to new or inexperienced users/buyers.
Ive been buying stuff off ebay for 20 years or so, and only once had an issue....cost me 600 bucks, but considering ive literally spent 10s of thousands on there, thats not bad.
Gunbroker ive had zero issues having used them for about 10 years.
Buyer, and Sellers, need to understand how the system works and what to watch out for in listings, feedback, and practices.

Generally my opinion is that its pretty rare when someone is ACTIVELY out to screw you, sometimes it happens, and how YOU handle it can often be the defining difference on what the outcome is.
 
I’ve never had an issue with any of the companies that I have bought from. The only issue I’ve ever had was the manufacturer’s problem rather than the dealer. That said, the dealer was Kentucky gun company and they made sure the manufacturer got things straightened out for me. I couldn’t recommend Kentucky gun company enough because of that. They are a great company and usually have good prices.
 
I'd also endorse Grabagun for new guns, I've used J&G sales for some used ones, and for ammo, I like Outdoor Limited.

I'd also agree with the group, CTD is a sham. The price of Dirt has risen exponentially it times of struggle....
 
Only 2 retailers on my black list currently. Cheaperthandirt for the aforementioned price gouging, now and in the past. And optics planet. I had ordered a pistol light from there for about $350 several years ago. Item was labeled "in stock." I never got an order confirmation email or shipping notice email. And they charged my card. After about a month of calls and emails, I never heard anything about my order. I had to call my bank to get the money refunded and prove I never got my item. Even today, about 5ish years after I placed the order, it still says "In Process" in my optics planet account. I won't deal with that again.
That sucks. I have ordered from them quite a few times without issues. If I had your results, I'd never do it again.
 
Tactical-Store.com

When I ordered from them, I didn't realize they were a subsidiary of OpticsPlanet. I placed an order on November 9 (for two "in stock" items), and they keep shifting the order date (to reflect the day I check), while insisting that the "order is being fulfilled." When I click "cancel order," I'm told I can't because the item is being prepared to ship.

Avoid them.
 
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