GB
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Crazy Ammo Deal - Or Not?
Frequent emails, from ammo dealers, get shot into my in-box on a regular basis. Most of them advertise great deals on ammo prices or notify that hard to find ammo now is now in stock (or both). I got one of the great price types today, the dealer's name is not important. It was for Blazer Brass, 124 grain, 9mm ammo @ (for the young, that means "at cost") $9.99 per box of 50 rounds and a case of it at the even better price of $194.99 (or $9.75 per box if you buy a case of it). They sure made it sound like a great price. In fact, it is a very good price considering ammunition prices as of late. I clicked on the link, went to their site, placed a case of it in my cart. Then I clicked on Estimate Shipping & Tax. The price of the order suddenly went from $194.99 to $225.82; that is a difference of $30.83 or the cost of the shipping to my area. That is more than the cost of three boxes of ammo (or a case of excellent beer) just for the shipping.
I went to my preferred ammunition dealer's website (preferred as of at least my last few orders) to see if they had the same ammo in stock. They have it, a lot of the same exact thing but there price per box and per case is significantly higher than the first site I checked or so it seemed at first glance. They offer it @ $10.95 per box or $219.00 per case and that is without shipping. If I were to order it from my preferred dealer by the box, and order 20 boxes (or 1,000 rounds of ammo), the shipping would be $13.93 bringing the total to $232.94. That is definitely a few bucks higher than tat he first place. If, however, I were to order it as a case from my poreferred dealer, guess what happens - the shipping charge is waived! In other words, I am now getting the same 1,000 rounds of the same exact ammo @ $219.00 total shipped, a savings of several dollars.
That deal offered by the first dealer, well it sure seemed good until I checked around a little and I do mean a little. The truth is that I only had to check one online ammo dealer to find a better price overall, than what the first dealer proclaimed as being crazy but to which he added a shipping fee resulting in an increase to the overall price. You can safely bet your arse, were I to have actually been buying a case of that ammo today, I would have been crazy not to have gone with a dealer who was offering it at a better total price when a shipping fee (or lack of one) was taken into consideration.
Granted, the amount I would have saved by using my preferred dealer, with free shipping of cases, would be a saving of only $6.82 from what the first dealer offered but a Rockefeller, Gates or Zuckerberg I certainly am not. My bet is neither are you. My bet also is that it would not have been easy to find a better price than offered by my preferred dealer. I say so because I checked around some more before just writing that. last sentence. I went to http://gunbot.net and took a look at what prices were being offered for the same exact ammo. The best price I found was $221.06 for a case shipped. Note that gunbot.net does not show prices including shipping so once I saw the lowest price offered on gunbot.net, I went to the site that offered it and checked their shipping fee. The total was the price I just mentioned which was still not better than my preferred dealer's offer.
One thing of note about using a site like http://gunbot.net, you really should double check their prices. Gunbot.net showed my preferred dealer's best price, for the same ammo, as being much higher (at least a few bucks per box of 50) than the actual current price offered by my preferred dealer. I imagine such ammo pricing sites have their glitches.
As for me, I know I can better use money saved on wisely made ammo purchases than to foolishly spend it at a higher priced dealer once all costs are considered. So, I usually do at least some comparison shopping before ordering to make sure I am not frittering away my cash on crazy ammo deals.
All the best,
Glenn B
I went to my preferred ammunition dealer's website (preferred as of at least my last few orders) to see if they had the same ammo in stock. They have it, a lot of the same exact thing but there price per box and per case is significantly higher than the first site I checked or so it seemed at first glance. They offer it @ $10.95 per box or $219.00 per case and that is without shipping. If I were to order it from my preferred dealer by the box, and order 20 boxes (or 1,000 rounds of ammo), the shipping would be $13.93 bringing the total to $232.94. That is definitely a few bucks higher than tat he first place. If, however, I were to order it as a case from my poreferred dealer, guess what happens - the shipping charge is waived! In other words, I am now getting the same 1,000 rounds of the same exact ammo @ $219.00 total shipped, a savings of several dollars.
That deal offered by the first dealer, well it sure seemed good until I checked around a little and I do mean a little. The truth is that I only had to check one online ammo dealer to find a better price overall, than what the first dealer proclaimed as being crazy but to which he added a shipping fee resulting in an increase to the overall price. You can safely bet your arse, were I to have actually been buying a case of that ammo today, I would have been crazy not to have gone with a dealer who was offering it at a better total price when a shipping fee (or lack of one) was taken into consideration.
Granted, the amount I would have saved by using my preferred dealer, with free shipping of cases, would be a saving of only $6.82 from what the first dealer offered but a Rockefeller, Gates or Zuckerberg I certainly am not. My bet is neither are you. My bet also is that it would not have been easy to find a better price than offered by my preferred dealer. I say so because I checked around some more before just writing that. last sentence. I went to http://gunbot.net and took a look at what prices were being offered for the same exact ammo. The best price I found was $221.06 for a case shipped. Note that gunbot.net does not show prices including shipping so once I saw the lowest price offered on gunbot.net, I went to the site that offered it and checked their shipping fee. The total was the price I just mentioned which was still not better than my preferred dealer's offer.
One thing of note about using a site like http://gunbot.net, you really should double check their prices. Gunbot.net showed my preferred dealer's best price, for the same ammo, as being much higher (at least a few bucks per box of 50) than the actual current price offered by my preferred dealer. I imagine such ammo pricing sites have their glitches.
As for me, I know I can better use money saved on wisely made ammo purchases than to foolishly spend it at a higher priced dealer once all costs are considered. So, I usually do at least some comparison shopping before ordering to make sure I am not frittering away my cash on crazy ammo deals.
All the best,
Glenn B
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