Gun shops

[ozone]

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What is it with gun shops and the guns they advertise?

I have slots and money for a .223 and a .308 and I have
been looking for either/both since the end of last year so
I have been checking the most common gun sites and looking
for a good deal.

So called professional shops though don't deserve customers,
given the standard of the adverts.

Duplicated poor quality photos, photos out of focus, no photos,
no description, photos of rifles not for sale, photos of scopes,
moderators and bipods that aren't included in the sale.

Why would a professional go to all the trouble to take a crap photo,
poorly describe the gun and then pay for the advertising?

ozone

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[bofor]

have you looked at GUNTRADER, very poor on there for info as well.

But this is obviously down to the "shop" advertising. I found Private sellers gave the best info of course.

[ozone]

have you looked at GUNTRADER, very poor on there for info as well.

But this is obviously down to the "shop" advertising. I found Private sellers gave the best info of course.

Exactly, private sellers have a vested interest in making their gun look and be described
as best they can, shop's on the other hand seem to be in the quantity over quality method.

ozone

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[Kungfugerbil]

..because they want you to talk to them, either in person or on the phone.

RFDs are generally pretty old skool, not tech-literate or too busy to document every feature of a rifle to the 'nth' degree

If they take out an ad with a pic of a few No.4s and SMLEs, you are in with a decent shout that they have a few Enfields passing through their mitts. Ditto with something like a Howa/rem700/tikka - no one will carry every variant in every calibre so if they stick up a library pic and say "call to find out more" that's job done.

They also want to build up a relationship with the punter so they can upsell and get repeat orders. You have to go to the shop anyway (or speak to them to arrange an RFD transfer) so why bother?

I don't think it's right by the way - I'm of a generation that would be quite happy doing every transaction via text message and needs to know detailed specs of everything so extensive web research can be done beforehand. It's just not how it works in the firearms game for some reason.

[ozone]

..because they want you to talk to them, either in person or on the phone.

RFDs are generally pretty old skool, not tech-literate or too busy to document every feature of a rifle to the 'nth' degree

If they take out an ad with a pic of a few No.4s and SMLEs, you are in with a decent shout that they have a few Enfields passing through their mitts. Ditto with something like a Howa/rem700/tikka - no one will carry every variant in every calibre so if they stick up a library pic and say "call to find out more" that's job done.

They also want to build up a relationship with the punter so they can upsell and get repeat orders. You have to go to the shop anyway (or speak to them to arrange an RFD transfer) so why bother?

I don't think it's right by the way - I'm of a generation that would be quite happy doing every transaction via text message and needs to know detailed specs of everything so extensive web research can be done beforehand. It's just not how it works in the firearms game for some reason.

I think you have some valid points, but for me it's a trust thing
if I don't trust them with a description or a picture of the gun then
why would I trust them with a £1000 of my money?

ozone

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[Kungfugerbil]

if I don't trust them with a description or a picture of the gun then
why would I trust them with a £1000 of my money?

I've met some lovely blokes and genuine experts in their field who couldn't take a decent picture to save their lives.

I always phone - there's no way I'd set off for a gun shop without getting in touch with them first anyway as I live in the a**e end of nowhere so it's a decent drive to find even a mediocre gun shop :)

I totally understand your point and would in fact put 'poor awareness of stock and slow updates' right to the top, but if you're essentially a one man band then you most likely don't have the time to spend on the Internet all day.

The two most recent RFDs I've bought from were a) in the back of a lock and safe shop, and b) stuck as an afterthought in a fishing tackle shop. There are very few shiny megastores for firearms here; people like Sportsmanguncentre have a handle on what makes a modern web presence and consistent standards of information and pictures, but they will I'm sure have someone (or multiple someones!) dedicated to stock updates.

My nearest gun shop doesn't put any of his stock on guntrader/gunstar or maintain any meaningful web presence - I still pop in every time I go past as I like the surprise aspect of digging through his gunroom.

If you're after new guns it's a little easier - ask around to see who has one, what they think of it and where they got it. Someone might say "oh yeah, Bob at xyz arms in middle wallop did me a cracking deal on a Steyr supersoaker3000 as he gets ten a month into stock"

Used - I feel your pain. Phone is the only way really, sorry. We need more youngsters in the trade, but it's a gradual change...

[dromia]

As a gun dealer with a web sight who tries very hard to take decent photos of my stock I have to say that it is a real treadmill and very difficult to keep up to date, taking good photographs, setting up, resizing them, uploading, writing accurate descriptions and then publishing on the web site is very time consuming. If I am going to put something up there then I do want it to be informative as that is what I want to see. The main problem is that most stock isn't in long enough to get it up on the web site it gets sold to regular customers or to new customers by word of mouth.

I do get sales from my web site but it is less than 1/4 of my turnover, maybe it would be more if my website was updated everyday or week but there are not enough ours in the day to do that and the guns sell well without being on the web site. Finding guns, travelling to inspect and collect along with the selling process is very time consuming and leaves little time for the web.

To be honest if some thing was to happen to the web site I'm not sure that I would spend the time and money to replace it now, it served a purpose when I started but that purpose has been served.

Maintaining a web site is tedious, a real grind and the least enjoyable part of my job, all the guns I acquire are from phone calls, visits or customers.

I try and explain this on my website as the stock is constantly changing it is always best to ring.

[Christel]

I can totally relate to what Dromia is saying, maintaining a website, keeping it up to date, total pain!

The amount of times Ovenpaa and I agreed that now we would do xyz....and didn't.

Our customers emailing us asking...have you stopped selling xyz...we haven't just that it was out of stock on the website.

Ring us please is the standard answer :)

[ovenpaa]

One thing that always worries me is the written and even verbal description of something, more than once I have been told "It is mint, like new condition mate" Only to find something rather lacklustre when it arrives. In this respect it is down to managing my own expectations and these days I have to keep an open mind on any second hand item I buy sight unseen. Not really a satisfactory way to buy things is it, however in this internet age a myriad of sins can be hidden with the camera angle and careful cropping.

Of course I might be unintentional and I am equally I am crap at taking photographs, I often cringe when I look at our own product images however I try and mitigate this in my own mind by making sure they are prefect when they go out. The alternative is taking on someone who can do the photographing, product descriptions and web work. If you are box shifting grabbing existing product images is very easy, add a custom template and you can soon have a professional looking site. It is a completely different matter if you have unusual and/or varied products.

When it comes to rifle sales I would say give the advertiser the benefit of the doubt regarding description and images and equally expect nothing until you have seen the item. If it is in a different region post and see if there is someone local that can pop in and take a look and give an honest description for you.

[ozone]

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Maybe I'm being over critical, I do tend to
check and double check and I do travel a bit
so I can shop around on my travels.

Cheers for the advice guys, I've had my moan and
it is the weekend so what's to complain about.



ozone

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