Several manufacturers recently released new products and some seem to be pretty high in price for what they are. When i said this to a buddy, he stated he will wait a year until the new price falls a bit and that prices are usually crazy when they just release something. Anyone else find this true?
Do gun prices fall
- Thread starter Axis II
- Start date
fallout mike
Member
Prices are low in general now. You can buy new AR15's for under $500 now. During the last panic they were over $1,000.
CajunBass
Member
I've of the opinion that the prices for classic Smith and Wesson's has dropped from the highs of just a few months ago. At least at my LGS. I don't look at much of anything else.
D.B. Cooper
Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2016
- Messages
- 4,396
In some instances, a gun with very high demand, for example, you will see people paying higher than MSRP for guns and lots of that model of gun on back order. Over the next 1-2 years, as the initial hype and demand recede, you will see those prices come down slightly. The two best examples I can think of off the top of my head are when the first Colt re-launch of the Python came out and the recent launch of the Beretta A300 Patrol. Other than that...by and large...no...gun prices never come down. For that to happen, there would have to be either a complete collapse in the demand for guns (in other words, no one wanted to buy a gun) or there would have to a massive increase in the supply of guns to the point that the market was flooded with more guns than people wanted to buy. Neither case is very plausible.
dogtown tom
Member
If you are viewing the manufacturers website, it's likely you are seeing the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price. Few retailers actually sell at MSRP. Unless the manufacturer has a Minimum Advertised Price policy that restricts retailers from advertising a lower price than others.......its up to the retailer to calculate his selling price.
For Retailers, it the law of supply and demand. New products are often in high demand and low supply.....meaning if you want it now be prepared to pay more.
unclenunzie
Contributing Member
It is standard for prices to follow a simple trend. New product releases get a lot of marketing support which sets initial prices as high as they generally get. Waiting for a while will see the prices fall unless there is something really special about the supply and demand situation. It also helps by giving time to shake out bugs in the product engineering that only show up when large scale use takes place, or at least becomes publicly known.
Your buddy is right.
Your buddy is right.
dogtown tom
Member
Au contraire.
By and large they do. I know of hundreds if not thousands of examples. Sales/rebates/discounts are all examples. Dealer promos from manufacturers, like "Buy five, get one free" on Ruger 10/22's. PSA with buy a gun, get ten free Pmags.
Beretta routinely has rebates. Unlike most manufacturers who have rebates for a 30/60/90 day period.........Beretta has them for years.
Ruger drastically dropped the wholesale cost of the original LCP around 2011 and literally killed off the KelTec P3AT within months. Dealers were mad that they had dozens if not hundreds of LCP's in inventory, whose wholesale cost was more than what some sellers were retailing them for. Ruger sent them a free pistol for every 5 or 6 they had.
LaRue, just this last fall, sold complete AR 5.56 lowers for $200, normally $400. Their .308 AR lowers for $300, normally around $500.
If demand exceeded supply you wouldn't see that. Demand fluctuates, but gun manufacturers need cash tp stay in business. They either have promos/sales/discounts/rebates or lose sales to those that do.
Interestingly, some gun prices never seem to increase.....the wholesale price of Glocks hasn't increased in the fifteen years I've been in the gun business.
Outlaw75
Member
Yep. I've been looking at CZ P-10C's. Per CZ-USA's website the MSRP is $399, most places around here are selling them for a whopping $10 below MSRP due to the buzz they've been getting lately. I'm holding off till mid year when the street price will hopefully be more like $350.
It depends on the gun. Sometime a new gun will come out and retail prices will be higher than MSRP for a while and then slowly come down over years. Sometimes it doesn't take that long for prices to drop. Sometimes the gun sells so poorly it's gone within a year and they have to offer rebates and sales in order to move product.
earlthegoat2
Member
In my world of predominantly only buying pre-owned, yes they generally do come down from when they are new to a few years later when I buy them 2nd hand.
Sure, gun prices go up and down.
If you have to have a brand new gun that's getting great reviews and you have to buy it as soon as it comes on the market, you will pay more for it than if you wait awhile until the initial demand spike falls off. I think that expecting prices to drop by 40% in a year is a bit optimistic though unless there's really something unusual going on.
Also, prices usually bump up during panic-induced demand spikes and then fall off when the perceived catastrophe is over.
They can also effectively go down over time when the manufacturer maintains the same (or almost the same price) in spite of inflation. I've seen this happen a lot over the years. Manufacturers can manage this by either taking a bit of a hit on profit, or, more likely, improving manufacturing techniques and/or reducing manufacturing costs. For example, I bought a plain GP100 (4"bbl, stainless) new in 1990 for $395. Today, I could buy that same gun for about $850, but if you look at inflation over that time it should really cost about $930. The on-paper price has gone up, but in actuality it actually costs less than it did 34 years ago if you compare the prices of both in 1990 dollars.
If you have to have a brand new gun that's getting great reviews and you have to buy it as soon as it comes on the market, you will pay more for it than if you wait awhile until the initial demand spike falls off. I think that expecting prices to drop by 40% in a year is a bit optimistic though unless there's really something unusual going on.
Also, prices usually bump up during panic-induced demand spikes and then fall off when the perceived catastrophe is over.
They can also effectively go down over time when the manufacturer maintains the same (or almost the same price) in spite of inflation. I've seen this happen a lot over the years. Manufacturers can manage this by either taking a bit of a hit on profit, or, more likely, improving manufacturing techniques and/or reducing manufacturing costs. For example, I bought a plain GP100 (4"bbl, stainless) new in 1990 for $395. Today, I could buy that same gun for about $850, but if you look at inflation over that time it should really cost about $930. The on-paper price has gone up, but in actuality it actually costs less than it did 34 years ago if you compare the prices of both in 1990 dollars.
Are you looking at the folding carbine(M&P FPC) or the Response?
I'd be shocked to see either of them at $400. Maybe $500 for the FPC with rebates and the Response will be a little more than that. You might be able to pick one up used for $400 in a year from now.
Response.
CapnMac
Member
Markets rise and fall, and the "whys" behind that are often not so obvious.
In my "gun lifetime" prices have been all over the place.
For example, before the '94 AWB, an AR was running US$1500-1800 (in very roundish numbers). By the end of the AWB in 2004, "everyone knew" an AR was a couple grand, perhaps two-and-a-half. Retailers "knew" this as well. So, they could buy at $1200 or $1500 and have comfortable margins at sale.
By '05, AR prices were down to $800-900. Suddenly, the bottom dropped out of the market. A bunch of upside-down retailers took advantage of political events to make huge public declarations about not selling "AWs" omitted the fact that they were deeply upside down on product.
And, now, today, the "floor" for ARs is $400 to $500. Prices can drop, and precipitously. Often, you just have to be patient.
Used to be, a basement-level 1911 was going to be $800 or $900, then our Turkish and Filipino friends started offering us 1911 at $400 to $500, and without resorting to polymer.
Prices do their own thing. And, inflation often masks the changes, too.
In my "gun lifetime" prices have been all over the place.
For example, before the '94 AWB, an AR was running US$1500-1800 (in very roundish numbers). By the end of the AWB in 2004, "everyone knew" an AR was a couple grand, perhaps two-and-a-half. Retailers "knew" this as well. So, they could buy at $1200 or $1500 and have comfortable margins at sale.
By '05, AR prices were down to $800-900. Suddenly, the bottom dropped out of the market. A bunch of upside-down retailers took advantage of political events to make huge public declarations about not selling "AWs" omitted the fact that they were deeply upside down on product.
And, now, today, the "floor" for ARs is $400 to $500. Prices can drop, and precipitously. Often, you just have to be patient.
Used to be, a basement-level 1911 was going to be $800 or $900, then our Turkish and Filipino friends started offering us 1911 at $400 to $500, and without resorting to polymer.
Prices do their own thing. And, inflation often masks the changes, too.
2ndtimer
Member
They do sometimes. Bud’s gun shop currently is offering the CZ P-09 for $349.99. I paid $500 for mine at the local Sportsman’s Warehouse back in 2016. Of course, I can’t buy another one because it has a magazine capacity of more than 10 rounds.
doubleh
Member
Guns are like cotton. Not enough to meet the demand, prices rise and stay there until the supply exceeds the demand and they then drop. I used cotton because I grew up on a cotton farm and have inherited it so know a bit about cotton but it applies to everything.
dogtown tom
Member
Yep, many just introduced guns are sold at or above the MSRP initially. After a year or so the same guns can be found at a substantial discount. Springfield, Ruger and KelTec plastic guns are all guns that I have bought on sale at substantial discounts a year or so after introduction after the initial hype has died down.
plainsdrifter
Member
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2021
- Messages
- 605
Plastic fantastics go down but not revolvers.
Outlaw75
Member
Thanks, but I still have to wait a few months until SWMBO gets a little deeper into her spending. That way she won't give me any grief about buying a new pistol.
Yes they do come down, it's all about supply & demand. If a new gun or caliber comes out & while there is a wanted demand the price keeps going up but when production catches up the price starts coming down. If you remember back when AKs were being imported then were coming in dirt cheap & the price dropped, at the same time the price of a starter AR was about $1000. They started flooding the market with cheap parts for the people wanting to build their own & now a starter AR is about $350 to $400 while the AK that the supply of AK parts has been shut off has gone up to $700 to $1200.
Similar threads
- Locked
- Locked