Finders Fee Program Idea For LGS.

[arakboss]

It didn't go over any heads. Your best bet is to just STOP. You are digging yourself deeper and deeper and costing your employer customers.

Your advice is ironic considering how frequently you bash them.

 

[Kruel J]

Your advice is ironic considering how frequently you bash them.

I've mentioned them maybe 3 times in the last 3 or 4 years besides this thread. You post your grievances with them often including this thread. I also don't work for them.

Do you know what irony is?

 

[Knobgoblin]

If this is the place I think it is , your boss is a cool guy . His son is a nice kid too.
Your heart is definitely in the right place.

I have been working the same job , for the same owner, almost 15 years. I've had tons of big ideas that I offered him in that time. He's never once even pretended to be interested in my ideas.
So i hold down my corner and cash my paychecks. All is as it should be.

 

[arakboss]

If this is the place I think it is , your boss is a cool guy . His son is a nice kid too.
Your heart is definitely in the right place.

I have been working the same job , for the same owner, almost 15 years. I've had tons of big ideas that I offered him in that time. He's never once even pretended to be interested in my ideas.
So i hold down my corner and cash my paychecks. All is as it should be.

The father son combo were employees and have since both bailed. They were both very nice and I had worked with them often for many years as a customer. I started temporarily helping out the owner after the measure 114 debacle occurred and they asked me to stay on.

 

[MikeInOr]

I had a FFL buddy (gun smith) called me and ask if I might be interested in purchasing some guns. He had a buddy that was relocating to a new base and didn't want the hassle of having his guns in base housing.

I ended up with a Star .22lr pistol, a CZ45 (.25acp) and an Enfield Mark IV revolver converted to .45acp. The price was too cheap to pass up. This was back when person to person sales were permitted without an FFL and background check.

 

[Certaindeaf]

You can probably get a fidget spinner for $.35.
That's what I'd do.

 

[slimmer13]

From personal experience working with an FFL, I have seen a bunch of guns turned away because the customer wanted too much for them, they were going to be difficult sell, etc.

To have an opportunity to pick up one or more of these firearms, I am going to propose this idea to my favorite FFL and volunteer as a guinea pig to test out the viability of it.

I will give my FFL a certain amount of cash to keep in a safe. I will also give him a short list of firearms, I am looking for and at what price, to keep at the front counter.

If a customer brings in a firearm to sell but the FFL can't make a deal worthy of adding it to his own inventory, he can check the finders fee list and see if it is one I am looking for. If my price allows him to make the purchase then I will buy the firearm from the FFL.

Example.

I give the FFL $250 cash and tell him I am looking for a Glock 19, 23, 26 or 27 any Generation, good condition or better for $200. $50 is the minimum finder's fee (25%).


Customer comes in with Glock 23 Gen 4 in good condition but wants $200 firm and FFL won't pay more than $100 to add it to his inventory. The FFL can let the customer walk or he can use $200 of my cash to buy the pistol and pocket the rest as a finders fee. If he buys it with my cash, then I come in a month later, pay the $10 FFL fee, do the BG check and pick up my Glock 23.

There were a number of the guns the shop wouldn't buy that I would have snapped up in a second. A very old Colt Dectective was one memorable one.

Most FFLs that I've known have a set formula of what they need to buy it for vs what they can sell it for to make it worthwhile when you consider overhead (payroll, rent, utilities etc). For a good reputable shop, It's usually 50-75% of resale value. Operation outside of these parameters would be a poor business decision.

Also, if it's a specific gun that you are looking for, and it's not something that they would normally pick up because of poor demand or whatever, If you have a good relationship with them, they would likely be willing to pick it up for you if the deal fits within the set parameters.

Anyhow, it seems like a conversation best had with your FFL.

 

[arakboss]

Most FFLs that I've known have a set formula of what they need to buy it for vs what they can sell it for to make it worthwhile when you consider overhead (payroll, rent, utilities etc). For a good reputable shop, It's usually 50-75% of resale value. Operation outside of these parameters would be a poor business decision.

Also, if it's a specific gun that you are looking for, and it's not something that they would normally pick up because of poor demand or whatever, If you have a good relationship with them, they would likely be willing to pick it up for you if the deal fits within the set parameters.

Anyhow, it seems like a conversation best had with your FFL.

Those numbers seem reasonable to me and we would be turning away a lot fewer sellers if those were the parameters we worked within.

 

[gmerkt]

What you've described is essentially gunbroker.

But without the scale.

Aside from previous comments, the biggest drawback I see is that possibilities are just too random considering the limited exposure and scale of one shop. Unless the whole idea is about cheap.

I have been working the same job , for the same owner, almost 15 years. I've had tons of big ideas that I offered him in that time. He's never once even pretended to be interested in my ideas.

I worked for the federal government for 36 years. They had a suggestion program, which I submitted ideas to from time to time. Never had any action on them. It was all for show.

 

[bradsteen]

Not to throw wood on the fire, but the other issue is scale. FFLs have a client base limited by geography, and their product catalog is limited by what will sell with their client base. So, in order for an idea like this to be practical it would probably need to be a service multiple FFLs participate in that link specific customer needs to unmoved inventory that has been sitting on FFL shelves for enough time that they would be willing to take a cut to their margin to get it out of the shop. That means having a technology infrastructure to support both FFL and customer needs, and having customers (and FFLs) willing to use it. Some might be open to the idea, but others are perfectly fine with stuff sitting until it sells. I know of a specific gun at a LGS that has been in the case for over 3 years and it's way overpriced. I've made reasonable offers multiple times, to no avail.

You may have better chances of success by proving the concept is scalable beyond just guns - i.e. instruments, vehicles, tools, collectibles, etc. If you can prove the concept works in multiple markets, it may be worth investing in the tech infrastructure to build and market it.

Edited to include:

Now that I think about it, some elements of this exist already out there. Take for example Guitar Center. You can go online and browse their "used gear" inventory across all stores in the chain (which is priced however they choose to at that particular store). If you find something you like at a price you are willing to pay they will ship it to your local Guitar Center store at no cost.

A service like that which links FFLs used inventory and provides for intra-FFL shipping at rates that make participation worthwhile, merged with a customer-facing profile and subscription capability (set my likes /preferences and give me targeted marketing or push notifications for specific search results, i.e. "send me any used Ruger 10/22 listings under $250")... and all that built on a market-agnostic platform that can be rebranded for other specialities (knives, tools, cars, collectibles, etc.)... You know, there may actually be something to that. It's a stretch and would definitely take some serious effort to make into a viable service, but I could see something like that getting investment capital.

 

[Flopsweat]

Not to throw wood on the fire, but the other issue is scale. FFLs have a client base limited by geography, and their product catalog is limited by what will sell with their client base. So, in order for an idea like this to be practical it would probably need to be a service multiple FFLs participate in that link specific customer needs to unmoved inventory that has been sitting on FFL shelves for enough time that they would be willing to take a cut to their margin to get it out of the shop. That means having a technology infrastructure to support both FFL and customer needs, and having customers (and FFLs) willing to use it. Some might be open to the idea, but others are perfectly fine with stuff sitting until it sells. I know of a specific gun at a LGS that has been in the case for over 3 years and it's way overpriced. I've made reasonable offers multiple times, to no avail.

You may have better chances of success by proving the concept is scalable beyond just guns - i.e. instruments, vehicles, tools, collectibles, etc. If you can prove the concept works in multiple markets, it may be worth investing in the tech infrastructure to build and market it.

Edited to include:

Now that I think about it, some elements of this exist already out there. Take for example Guitar Center. You can go online and browse their "used gear" inventory across all stores in the chain (which is priced however they choose to at that particular store). If you find something you like at a price you are willing to pay they will ship it to your local Guitar Center store at no cost.

A service like that which links FFLs used inventory and provides for intra-FFL shipping at rates that make participation worthwhile, merged with a customer-facing profile and subscription capability (set my likes /preferences and give me targeted marketing or push notifications for specific search results, i.e. "send me any used Ruger 10/22 listings under $250")... and all that built on a market-agnostic platform that can be rebranded for other specialities (knives, tools, cars, collectibles, etc.)... You know, there may actually be something to that. It's a stretch and would definitely take some serious effort to make into a viable service, but I could see something like that getting investment capital.

Better yet, it should be online, and independent of the FFLs. You'd have way more reach and it won't have to meet the requirements that gun stores will inherently have. You could call it Broker Guns or something like that.

 

[arakboss]

I am going to take @Knobgoblin advice and focus on selling the inventory on hand. I will let the boss figure out, on his own, how to resupply the inventory. If the racks and cases get bare enough, he may decide to get more aggressive with offers when sellers come in with firearms.