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Circuits, you make a good point, thanks for the 101 class for businesses... seriously, there is no sarcasm there. Too many people don't get the fundamental concepts.
I've rarely seen your prices at a level that I can rationalize for my own budget, but I also accept that given the items I'm looking for, you are an exceptionally small fish in a fairly deep pond. Wish I could do more to support you and the other more honest business owners, but I have to deal with my costs and expenses as well. I, like you will always look for the best deal on the product I'm searching for.
What I see as gouging is what some have already pointed out.. $400 AK's going for $1K plus (and the fooking morons who buy them), $650 AR's being sold at prices that rival upper class AR's.
So here's what gets me.. folks who claim that their dealer prices have gone up when the manufacturer stills lists an MSRP well below their stated markup. I'm not pointing at any of the board dealers too much, but look at the bigger Internet sellers. I'll take an easy to confirm product price.. MagPul PMAG's .. still listing for $17.95 for the windowed version on the MP site. So I'm suppose to accept larger retailers blowing smoke up my ass by charging $20-25 a mag because they are supposedly being charged more by the disty?
Hmmm something there don't add the hell up, but hey, as long as there is a customer base to pay these obscene costs, go ahead and sell for what you can get for the product in question. Do NOT expect me to be a customer of yours, do NOT expect anything but snyde commentary and active efforts to discourage others from getting taken by someone's sense of oprotunity and playing off the fear mongering in the shooting community. Ain't happening and those who participate in these types of practices... well folks Karma's a hard core bitch, most of the industries sellers rely heavily on word of mouth support. Pull your crap today, the only words comming out of many of our mouths is going to be how much of a shit bag company you run.
Economics from the buyers perspective folks... Sell that :)
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First off, +1 Tim and Eow! [Awesom]
Yeah, it pisses me off when there is (what I consider to be) an unreasonable price tag on something I want/need. But here’s the rub: NEED DOES NOT EQUAL CLAIM. I don’t care if I need an AK, 1,000 rounds of ammo, gasoline, a house, bread, prescription medicine, or even baby formula. Let me say it again, my need does not equal a claim on anyone else’s labor or property. Zilch. Nada. Zero. If you think it does, then I’ll personally buy you a set of pom-poms because you might as well be cheerleading for Obama’s wealth redistribution (theft) since you are as immoral as those Socialist Progressives screaming for equality of outcome.
Sellers are free to try and charge as much as they possibly can for their goods and buyers are free to try and pay as little as they possibly can for those same goods. Personally I love that free market system. If you think that’s an unfair idea or that it leads to immoral price gouging, maybe we should just let the government set the “fair” price for all of our goods – that worked out so well in Russia.
"Gouging" is a pathetic, worthless, socialist word. Basically, we’re never going to have that utopia where everything is priced as you see fairly. Gouging is relative and subjective – its meaning is different for each person and there will always be someone who thinks they were unfairly gouged. The only way to eliminate gouging (from everyone’s perspectives) would be government price controls. And if you’re in favor of that, I’ll buy you a short skirt to go with your pom-poms so you can look cute while you’re cheerleading for Obama and socialism.
Captialism is the only moral economic system. Disagree? Brave enough to check your premises? Rand has a great collection of short essays on this subject in The Virtue of Selfishness. ;)
